Chapter 149 : Bitter Truths
Chapter 149 : Bitter Truths
KAI’S POV
I stood on the balcony with the morning sun warming my shoulders and a rare sense of calm settling in my chest. My phone buzzed. I answered quickly.
“Alpha, he made it,” the scout said. “Elias reached a quiet apartment above a bakery in neutral territory last night. He carried the baby inside and settled down. No trouble on the road. They look safe.”
Relief flooded through me so strongly that my knees nearly buckled. “Thank you. Keep watch from afar only. Report if anything changes.”
I ended the call and slipped the phone back into my pocket. Elias had stormed out furious, but at least he and our son had a roof and some peace. That had been my true goal from the start. The nightmare still haunted my sleep. In it I watched Elias bleed out on pack soil while I stood frozen. Sending him away with our child had felt like the only way to keep that vision from becoming real.
Liora stepped onto the balcony a few minutes later carrying two mugs of coffee. She handed one to me. Steam rose between us, but her expression stayed guarded.
“You seem almost happy this morning,” she said, her tone sharp. “After everything that happened.”
I took a slow sip and met her eyes. “I just received confirmation. Elias and the baby reached a safe place. They are okay for now. That matters.”
She set her mug down with a loud clack. “Of course it matters to you. You still worry about him while Lucien lies dead. Have you forgotten what he supposedly did to my husband?”
I placed my own mug beside hers. “He is my mate, Liora. He carried our son for months. I cannot turn those feelings off like a switch. I need to know they are fine.”
Liora crossed her arms tight across her chest. “You exiled him because I begged you to. Now you stand here smiling because he found somewhere else to hide. Pick a side, Kai.”
I pulled out my phone again and opened the investigation report. “New evidence came in yesterday evening. Five sets of footprints around the murder site. It could not have been only Elias and Lucien out there. The patterns suggest Lucien met three other people. Drag marks cut through the mud. He fought hard. Elias arrived later. His prints show he stood back, watching everything unfold.”
Liora stared at the screen, then at me. Skepticism hardened her features. “You want to believe this so badly. After the blood on his clothes and the way he was found beside the body?”
“More proof is still coming in,” I answered. “I will not ignore facts simply because they make things complicated.”
She opened her mouth to respond when a deep gong boomed across the castle grounds. The war alarm. Shouts exploded immediately after.
“Incoming attack from the south! Granaries are burning! Enemy wolves at the main gates!”
I dropped everything and sprinted down the stairs. Liora ran right behind me. We burst into the courtyard as vehicles smashed through the reinforced fence. Black trucks with tinted windows roared in. Armed attackers jumped out, some carrying rifles loaded with silver ammunition, others already shifting mid-stride into powerful wolves.
Clara led from the front, a silver dagger flashing in her grip. Gavin shifted beside her into a massive brown wolf. Seraphina directed operations from behind, gesturing sharply to her shooters.
I shifted in one painful rush of cracking bones and surging power. Xerxes form hit the ground running. I collided with Gavin like a freight train, jaws snapping for his throat. He twisted at the last second and raked claws across my ribs. Hot pain exploded along my side.
“You chose the wrong morning,” I snarled through our kind’s mental link.
Gavin’s wolf laughed inside my head. “This could not be more perfect. You actually sent the white wolf packing because you thought he killed your precious Lucien.”
The words stunned me for a heartbeat. Gavin used the opening to sink teeth into my shoulder. I roared and hurled him off with a violent twist of my body. All around us pack warriors crashed into the invaders. Gunshots cracked through the air. Wolves snarled and tore at flesh. Black smoke curled up from the burning granaries in the distance.
Seraphina fired two precise shots that forced me to dive behind a stone pillar. “Go on, Gavin,” she shouted. “Tell them how stupid they have been.”
Clara shifted back to human form a few yards away, breathing hard but wearing a vicious smile. “Elias did not kill Lucien. We did it.”
The revelation slammed into me harder than any bullet. I shifted back to human, blood running down my arm, and stared at them in disbelief. “Say that again.”
Gavin shifted to human as well and wiped blood from his mouth. He grinned like a predator. “Lucien lost his nerve. Wanted out of our deal. We met him in the forest that night. He tried to walk away from us. We cut him down. Elias showed up at the worst possible moment, yelling his name through the rain. We drugged the kid, covered him in Lucien’s blood, and arranged the scene perfectly. Easy.”
Seraphina chambered a fresh round in her pistol with cool efficiency. “Elias tried to protect Lucien. He got there too late and took the blame. You turned on your own Luna because of our setup. Truly pathetic.”
Fury ignited inside me like wildfire. I lunged at Clara and drove my fist into her jaw. She staggered but slashed back with the silver dagger, cutting a burning line across my chest. I ignored the pain and kept pressing. Pack warriors shouted my name as they fought to hold the line. One of our own trucks exploded near the gate in a fireball that lit up the courtyard.
I grabbed Gavin by the throat and slammed him against the side of a truck. Metal dented under the impact. “You framed him. You made me doubt my mate and exile him. All of this suffering.” My voice shook with raw anger. “For what? Power?”
Gavin laughed even while choking. “For everything. Your pack is tearing itself apart from the inside. And now the white wolf is gone with your heir. Better than we hoped.”
I punched him again. His nose cracked. Around us the battle grew fiercer. More enemy reinforcements poured through the broken fence. Silver bullets whistled past my head. Liora fought in wolf form a short distance away, ripping into an armed attacker with savage grace.
I wanted to call Elias back right then. I needed him here, fighting at my side where he belonged. But that nightmare flashed behind my eyes again. If he returned now with our son, these monsters would target them immediately. Clara and her group would go straight for the child.
“Stay away, Elias,” I muttered under my breath. “Keep our boy safe no matter what.”
Seraphina circled me with her pistol raised. “Too late for regrets now, Alpha. Your mate is out there alone because you chose wrong. Watch your precious pack burn to the ground.”
I charged her. She fired. The silver bullet grazed my thigh and sent liquid fire spreading through the muscle. I tackled her anyway and pinned her arms to the ground. Gavin leaped onto my back, claws digging deep into my shoulders. I roared in agony and rolled hard, throwing him off into the dirt.
The fight raged hotter around us. Smoke thickened the air. Wolves clashed in brutal tangles while gunfire echoed off the castle walls. Clara shouted fresh orders as she shifted once more. “Bring them down! The castle falls today!”