Chapter 145 CHAPTER 145
The cave had learned his pacing.
Kael moved back and forth along the same narrow stretch of stone, claws scraping softly against the floor, breath low and restless in his chest. The walls curved inward like ribs, close enough that the air felt trapped, heavy with old magic and damp earth. He had traced every crack, every shadow, every uneven stone more times than he could count.
There was no exit.
Not a real one.
The healer had told him that the first day - had said the cave was only a shell, that the prison was not stone or earth but something woven deeper, something older. Kael hadn’t believed him then. He believed it even less now.
His wolf bristled under his skin, hackles raised, instincts screaming that confinement was wrong. Wolves were not meant to be still. Not meant to wait.
Sebastian’s face burned behind his eyes.
Kael stopped pacing and lifted his head, ears twitching as if he might hear him - feel him - the way he used to. The bond was still there. Fractured. Thin. Like a thread pulled too tight.
“I know you’re there,” Kael muttered, voice rough, unused. “I know you are.”
Silence answered him.
The healer was gone. He had left earlier that morning, herbs slung over his shoulder, eyes sharp as he warned Kael not to try anything. As if Kael hadn’t already tried everything.
That was when Kael noticed it.
The stones.
Near the back of the cave, where the wall dipped inward, several rocks sat loose, misaligned, as if something had struck them once – hard - and never returned to finish the job. Kael’s breath caught.
Kane.
He remembered Liam’s magic flaring, remembered the force that had cracked stone when he had tried to save Kane a few days ago. Kael hadn’t thought much of it then. He hadn’t been thinking clearly at all.
Now, hope sparked.
He moved toward the wall, muscles coiling, claws digging into the stone. He scraped, slow at first, then harder. One stone shifted. Then another. The impact had left the cave wall weak giving Kael an advantage.
Pebbles tumbled to the floor.
Kael growled under his breath and dug in, ignoring the ache in his forelegs, the warning pulse in his skull. He clawed and pulled until a section gave way with a dull crumble, revealing a narrow opening beyond.
Cold air rushed in.
Kael froze.
He leaned forward, just enough to press his muzzle through the gap. The moment his head crossed the threshold, something snapped into place.
Sebastian. He could feel his human.
Raw and immediate.
The bond flared, sharp and sudden, and Kael staggered as the weight of it hit him. His breath caught - not from pain this time, but from the flood of sensation that was not his own.
Confusion. Thick and suffocating. A mind grasping for something just out of reach.
Kael’s ears flattened as the feeling rushed through him - his human’s thoughts looping, circling the same empty space, reaching and reaching and finding nothing there. Panic pressed against the bond, quiet but relentless, like water rising in a closed room.
Fear followed.
A slow, sick dread of not trusting your own mind. The terror of knowing something was wrong and not knowing where to start looking for it.
Kael growled softly, claws digging into the stone.
Sebastian was lost inside himself.
There was a frantic edge to the bond, a pulse of distress that made Kael’s chest ache. His human was trying to hold himself together. The feeling was disjointed, fractured - like thoughts slipping through fingers, like waking up in the middle of a story with half the pages torn out.
Kael felt the moment Sebastian questioned himself.
Felt the shame. The doubt. The fear of being seen.
And beneath it all - loneliness.
A deep, hollow sense of being untethered.
Kael’s heart slammed against his ribs.
This was why he had to reach him - he couldn’t stay silent.
Something had happened to Sebastian that had shaken his sense of self. And Kael could feel it clearly now, feel his human struggling not to fall apart in a place full of people who could not see how close he was to breaking.
“Sebastian,” Kael pushed into the bond, voice rough with urgency. “I’m here.”
The static answered - but Kael did not pull back.
He pressed harder.
His breath hitched as the bond flared, painful and bright, like a nerve exposed. He closed his eyes and focused, pouring everything into it.
“Sebastian,” he pushed, voice tearing from him. “Sebastian, listen to me.”
Static answered.
A distortion that buzzed through his skull, tearing at the connection.
“Seb…” Kael snarled and forced it again. “You have to listen. You’re not safe. They…”
The image of Lisa flashed through his mind. Liam. Kane. Celia.
“I don’t know what they did,” Kael said desperately. “But you have to be careful. I heard them talking. They don’t want me near you.”
The static thickened.
“Kael?”
Sebastian’s voice - faint, broken - reached him like an echo through water.
Kael’s chest tightened. “Yes. Yes, it’s me. You can’t trust….”
The bond fractured violently.
“Trust?” Sebastian’s voice came back, confused, panicked. “Trust who? Kael, what are you saying?”
Pain exploded behind Kael’s eyes.
His head slammed against the edge of the opening as the bond recoiled, magic lashing back through him. He snarled, claws scraping wildly as his strength failed.
“Lisa – Liam- Kane….” Kael forced out, each name shredding his skull. “They’re not…”
The pain spiked - Something cold and Sharp.
Sarah.
The bond screamed as her presence pressed against it like a blade. The trace of magic she had left inside Sebastian that day in the locker room had not faded. It was still lodged in him like a splinter, and through the bond, Kael could feel it scraping, cutting, disturbing the fragile connection between them.
Kael howled as a sharp pain cut through his mind, the sound raw and feral as the connection shattered completely.
He fell backward into the cave.
Stone met his ribs. His head struck the ground. White-hot agony tore through him, breath coming in jagged bursts as he curled in on himself, claws scraping uselessly at the floor.
It took him a moment to realize someone was shouting.
“What have you done?”
The healer loomed over him, herbs scattered at his feet, eyes blazing. “What have you done, Kael?”
Kael tried to rise. His forelegs buckled. He snarled instead, teeth bared. “I had to warn him.”
“You nearly killed yourself,” the healer snapped. “You tore at a bond that’s barely holding together.”
Kael’s breath shook. “You’re lying. All of you are.”
The healer stilled. “What?”
“You won’t let me see him. You won’t tell me everything. You keep saying you’re protecting me.” Kael forced himself upright, muscles trembling. “Protecting me from what?”
The healer’s jaw tightened. “From what brought you here in the first place.”
“Then make me understand,” Kael growled. “Because right now, I don’t trust you. I don’t trust any of you.”
“You don’t have your memories,” the healer said quietly. “That’s the problem.”
“Try me.”
The healer shook his head. “We already did. We told you about the bewitching. About Sebastian’s girlfriend.”
Kael’s eyes burned. “And why should I believe that? All I remember is waking up sick and finding myself dragged here.”
The healer stared at him. “What advantage would that give us? Kane risked his life to save you.”
“Who says you didn’t poison me? Kane waking me up could have been all an act. Besides, I don’t even remember him waking me up.”
There was a pause.
Kael hesitated. Then his voice dropped. “Celia said we were supposed to be mates. Lisa too. Sebastian rejected them. That means they have reason to hate us.”
The healer exhaled slowly. “Lisa is not that kind of a person.”
“Then why don’t I feel anything?” Kael snapped. “Shouldn’t I at least feel the bond?”
Silence stretched between them.
“That’s why we’re keeping you here,” the healer said at last. “Until your memory comes back. Until you can see the real enemy.”
Kael laughed, sharp and broken. “The only one I trust is Sebastian. And you won’t let me speak to him.”
“Because even he doesn’t know,” the healer replied. “His enemy is right beside him.”
Kael’s hackles rose. “Then send me to him.”
“And watch you die?” the healer shot back. “Have you forgotten why you’re here? You were ill. Your bond was tearing you apart.”
“That’s all coming from you.”
“If you go back now, it will finish the job. You ought to appreciate us trying to save your life. Stop making things difficult by trying to go back.”
Kael’s voice dropped to a growl. “I’ll find a way anyway. If it kills me, so be it.”
The healer’s gaze hardened. “You don’t know how literal that statement is.”
Kael lifted his head, eyes burning with defiance and fear tangled together. The healer’s expression softened, just for a moment. “If you go back to your human,” he said quietly, “it will – kill you.”
The words settled heavy in the cave.