Chapter 82 Captured
Thomas Reed’s hand closed around young Sera’s throat.
Not tight enough to choke her. Just tight enough to show he could. That he was in control. That she had made a terrible mistake.
“Did you really think I would make this easy?” Thomas whispered in her ear. “Did you really think I would just let you rescue Diana and walk away?”
Young Sera struggled but his grip was iron. Alpha strength against omega weakness. She could not break free.
Around them, the fighting continued. Lyra was battling three guards at once. Garrett had been knocked down and was trying to get back up. Young Sera’s own guards were fighting to reach her but more of Thomas’s warriors blocked their path.
This had been planned. Every detail. The fire distraction. The rescue attempt. Thomas had known exactly what they would do. Had prepared for it.
“Call off your warriors,” Thomas said. “Tell them to surrender. Or I break your neck right here.”
“Do not listen to him!” Lyra shouted, taking down one guard. “Keep fighting!”
Thomas’s hand tightened on young Sera’s throat. Just a little. Just enough to make breathing harder.
“I am not bluffing, Luna Queen. I want you alive, but I will settle for dead if you force my hand. Call them off.”
Young Sera could see Diana in the cage. The omega was crying. Screaming at Thomas to let young Sera go. But Diana was locked up. Helpless. Could not do anything to help.
Young Sera could see her warriors being overwhelmed. Thomas had too many guards. Too many fighters. They were outnumbered two to one.
If the fighting continued, her warriors would die. All of them. Just so Thomas could prove his point.
“Stop,” young Sera gasped out. “Everyone stop fighting.”
“Luna Queen, no!” Garrett shouted.
“I said stop!” Young Sera put authority into her voice. Luna Queen's authority. “That is an order. Stand down.”
One by one, her warriors stopped fighting. Lowered their weapons. Let themselves be surrounded by Thomas’s guards.
Lyra was the last to stop. She glared at Thomas with pure hatred. “If you hurt her, I will hunt you to the ends of the earth. I will make you beg for death before I am finished with you.”
“Such loyalty,” Thomas said mockingly. “Too bad it is wasted on someone who makes such poor decisions.”
He loosened his grip on young Sera’s throat slightly. Enough that she could breathe normally again. But he kept his hand there. A constant reminder that he could kill her anytime he wanted.
“Tie them up,” Thomas ordered his guards. “All of them. Make sure they cannot escape.”
Guards moved quickly. They tied up the Northern Kingdom warriors with silver chains. Silver that burned werewolf skin. That prevented shifting. That kept them helpless.
Young Sera watched helplessly as her friends were restrained. This was her fault. She had run into the warehouse without thinking. Had let emotion override sense. Had walked right into Thomas’s trap.
“What do you want?” young Sera asked, her voice raw.
“What do I want?” Thomas laughed. “I want you to understand your place. I want you to stop pretending you are powerful enough to challenge the way things have always been done. I want you to learn that actions have consequences.”
“So this is about revenge? About me refusing your marriage proposal?”
“This is about much more than that. You helped Michelle escape. You ruined Vincent’s wedding. You are building a network that threatens every Alpha’s authority over their omegas. You are dangerous. And dangerous things need to be controlled.”
Thomas pulled young Sera toward the cage where Diana was held. Unlocked it with a key from his pocket. Shoved young Sera inside with Diana.
Then he locked the cage again.
Young Sera immediately went to Diana and hugged her. The omega was shaking. Terrified. But alive. Not seriously hurt.
“I am sorry,” Diana sobbed. “I am so sorry. This is my fault. I let them take me. I was not careful enough.”
“This is not your fault. This is Thomas being a monster. None of this is on you.”
Young Sera looked at Thomas through the bars of the cage. “Now what? You have us trapped. You have my warriors tied up. What is your plan?”
“Tomorrow morning, you and I are going to the Council hearing together. You are going to tell them that you were wrong. That you helped Michelle escape illegally. That you abused your authority as Luna Queen. You are going to ask them to strip your title and ban you from pack leadership.”
“And if I refuse?”
Thomas walked over to where Lyra was tied up. He pulled out a silver knife. Pressed it against Lyra’s throat.
“If you refuse, I start killing your friends. One by one. Starting with your loyal Beta. Would you like to watch her die? See her blood pour out while you stand helpless in that cage?”
Lyra did not flinch. Did not show fear. Just stared at Thomas with cold eyes. “Do it. I am not afraid of you. And killing me will not break her.”
“Maybe not. But killing all of them might. How many deaths can you watch before you break, Luna Queen? Five? Ten? Shall we find out?”
Young Sera felt sick. This was worse than facing Victor Kane. Worse than fighting her father. Victor had just wanted to kill her. This was torture. This was being forced to watch people she loved die unless she surrendered everything.
“I will do it,” young Sera said quickly. “I will go to the Council. I will say whatever you want. Just do not hurt them.”
“Sera, no!” Garrett protested. “Do not give him what he wants.”
“I have to. I cannot watch you all die.”
Thomas smiled. Satisfied. He removed the knife from Lyra’s throat. “Smart choice. I knew you would see reason eventually. Omegas always do when their loved ones are threatened.”
He walked back to the cage. Looked at young Sera like she was an interesting specimen. A bug he was studying before crushing.
“You could have been powerful,” Thomas said. “If you had accepted my marriage proposal. If you had aligned with me instead of fighting me. Together we could have controlled multiple territories. Built real power.”
“I do not want power built on forcing omegas into unwanted bonds.”
“That is your weakness. You actually care about them. You see omegas as people instead of resources. That is why you will never succeed. You are too soft. Too emotional. Too weak to do what is necessary.”
“And you are too cruel to understand that strength is not the same as cruelty.”
Thomas’s smile vanished. “We will see who is right. Tomorrow. When you stand before the Council and admit you were wrong. When you give up everything you fought for. Then we will see who understands strength.”
He turned to leave. Then paused. “Oh, and do not think about trying to escape. I have guards watching this warehouse all night. I have more guards watching the Northern Kingdom. If Kael tries to send rescue teams, I will know. And your friends here will die. Understand?”
Young Sera understood. Thomas had thought of everything. He had her trapped. Had her friends trapped. Had created a situation where any attempt to fight back would result in death.
She nodded silently.
“Good,” Thomas said. Then he left. His guards followed him. The warehouse became quiet except for the sound of breathing and Diana’s quiet crying.
“We need to get out of here,” Lyra said from where she was tied. “We need to escape before tomorrow.”
“How?” Garrett asked. “We are tied with silver chains. The cage is locked. Guards are everywhere.”
“There has to be a way. There is always a way.”
Young Sera looked around the cage. Metal bars. Solid lock. No obvious weaknesses. Even if they could break out of the cage, her warriors were tied up. They would have to free everyone. Get past the guards. Escape before Thomas came back.
It was impossible.
But impossible was what they did, right? Young Sera had survived impossible things before. Had killed Victor Kane. Had rescued three omegas from dangerous situations.
She could figure this out too.
“Diana,” young Sera said quietly. “When they captured you, did you see anything useful? Anything that could help us escape?”
Diana thought hard. “The guards change shifts at midnight. For about five minutes, there are fewer guards while the new ones arrive and the old ones leave. That is the only time I noticed any weakness.”
Young Sera checked the time on a clock on the warehouse wall. It was almost eleven. They had one hour to come up with a plan.
“What about the lock on the cage?” young Sera asked. “Did you see what kind it is?”
“Just a regular padlock. Thomas carries the key.”
A regular padlock. That meant it could be picked. If they had tools. If they had time. If they could do it without guards noticing.
Young Sera pulled a small pin from her hair. It was thin metal. Bendable. Possibly strong enough to work as a lock pick.
“I need you to be very quiet,” young Sera whispered to Diana. “I am going to try to pick this lock. If I can open the cage, we can work on freeing the others.”
“Do you know how to pick locks?”
“No. But I am going to try anyway.”
Young Sera worked on the lock for twenty minutes. Her hands shook. The pin kept slipping. She had no idea what she was doing.
But slowly, she learned. Felt the mechanism inside the lock. Understood how it worked. Found the right angle to push.
At 11:40, the lock clicked open.
Young Sera froze. Waited to see if any guards had heard. But no one came running. The guards were lazy. Bored. Not paying close attention to prisoners they thought were helpless.
“It is open,” young Sera whispered to Diana. “But we cannot leave yet. We need to wait for the shift change. When the guards are distracted.”
The next twenty minutes felt like hours. Young Sera and Diana sat perfectly still. Pretending they were still locked up. Waiting for midnight.
Finally, at exactly midnight, voices came from outside. Guards talking. The old shift is complaining about being tired. The new shift is joking around.
“Now,” young Sera whispered.
She pushed the cage door open slowly. Quietly. Moved out with Diana right behind her.
They crept toward where Lyra was tied. Young Sera used the hairpin to work on Lyra’s silver chains. The metal burned her fingers. Silver hurt omegas too. But she ignored the pain.
After five agonising minutes, Lyra’s chains came loose.
Lyra immediately went to work freeing Garrett. Then the other warriors. Moving quickly but quietly. Racing against time before the guards finished their shift change and came back inside.
They had freed eight warriors when a guard walked in.
He saw them. Saw the empty cage. Saw warriors freeing themselves from chains.
His eyes went wide. He opened his mouth to shout.
Lyra moved faster than young Sera had ever seen anyone move. Crossed the distance in two seconds. Her hand clamped over the guard’s mouth before he could make a sound. She twisted his neck. Quick. Efficient. Fatal.
The guard dropped dead.
“We need to move now,” Lyra said. “Before anyone realises he is missing. Before they come investigate.”
“What about the rest of the warriors?” young Sera asked. Four were still tied up.
“We come back for them. Right now we're getting you to safety. That is a priority.”
“I am not leaving them.”
“You do not have a choice. If we stay, we all get caught. If we go, we can come back with more warriors. Free them properly. You being safe is more important than all of us being together.”
Young Sera hated it. Hated leaving anyone behind. But Lyra was right. If they stayed, Thomas would return. Would realize they had escaped. Would make sure escape became impossible.
“Fine. We go. But we come back for them. Tonight. As soon as we can.”
They moved toward the loading dock exit. Eight warriors, Diana, and young Sera. Moving through shadows. Avoiding guards.
They almost made it.
They were ten feet from the exit when alarms started blaring. Lights flooded the warehouse. Guards came running from everywhere.
Someone had found the dead guard. Had realized prisoners were escaping.
“Run!” Garrett shouted.
They ran. Bursting through the loading dock door into the night. Guards chasing them. Shouting. Firing weapons.
Young Sera felt a bullet graze her arm. Pain exploded but she kept running. Could not stop. Stopping meant capture. Capture meant death.
Vehicles were waiting three blocks away. Their original getaway vehicles. They ran toward them desperately.
Guards were gaining. Getting closer. Young Sera could hear their footsteps. Feel them right behind her.
She was not going to make it. Was not fast enough. The guards would catch her before she reached safety.
Then Kael appeared. Emerging from the shadows with twenty Northern Kingdom warriors. They formed a wall between the escaping group and the pursuing guards.
“Go!” Kael shouted. “We will hold them off! Get Sera to safety!”
Lyra grabbed young Sera and dragged her to the vehicles. Pushed her inside. Diana climbed in after her. Garrett jumped into the driver’s seat.
They drove away. Fast. Leaving Kael and the warriors behind to fight.
Young Sera watched through the rear window. Saw Kael fighting multiple guards. Saw Northern Kingdom warriors outnumbered but holding the line.
“We have to go back,” young Sera said. “We cannot leave them.”
“We have to keep you safe,” Lyra said firmly. “That is what Kael ordered. That is what we are doing. He knew the risks.”
“But what if Thomas captures him? What if he uses Kael to force me to surrender?”
“Then we deal with that when it happens. Right now we run. We get you somewhere safe. We regroup.”
The vehicle raced through the night. Back toward Northern Kingdom territory. Back toward safety.
But young Sera did not feel safe. She felt like everything was falling apart. Thomas had captured her. She had escaped but left warriors behind. Kael was fighting without knowing if he would survive.
And in less than twelve hours, she was supposed to appear before the Council of Alphas.
A Council hearing she could not attend now. A hearing where failing to appear would result in her being stripped of her title automatically.
Thomas had won. Even with her escape, he had won. Because she could not go to the hearing without being captured again. And not going meant losing everything anyway.
Young Sera looked at Diana beside her. At Lyra in the front seat. At the warriors who had risked their lives to save her.
She could not let Thomas win. Could not let him destroy everything she had built.
There had to be a way. Some solution she was not seeing. Some plan that would let her save her title and save her people.
She just had to figure out what it was.
Before morning came. Before the Council hearing started. Before Thomas destroyed her completely.
The vehicle drove on through the darkness. Racing against time. Racing against impossible odds.
Young Sera closed her eyes and tried to think. Tried to find the answer that would save them all.
But she had no idea what that answer was.