Chapter 138: Mother’s Legacy

Seraphine POV

I never wanted him to see me like this.Not as a scientist. Not as a woman who failed him. Not as the mother who turned his life into an experiment before he could even speak.

But when I saw Darius standing over my son like a king about to claim his prize… I stepped out of the shadows anyway.

“Step away from him.”

My voice rang through the ruined academy, sharper than I expected. Stronger.

Every head turned.

Elias froze first.

Then slowly… he looked at me. For a second, he didn’t breathe.

“…Mother?”

The word cracked. Soft. Disbelieving. It went through me like a blade.

“I’m here,” I said quietly.

Ronan shifted in front of him immediately, protective instincts flaring. His eyes narrowed as he studied me. Not hostile. Not trusting either.

“You picked a dangerous time to show up,” he said.

“I know,” I replied. “But if I hadn’t, you would already be dead.”

Darius chuckled softly from across the shattered hall. “Dramatic as always, Seraphine.”

I didn’t look at him.

My eyes stayed on Elias.

He looked stronger than the last time I saw him. Harder. Stronger. His pheromones filled the air, unrestrained, powerful, alive.

Alive in a way I had once feared he never would be.

“You shouldn’t be here,” he said finally. His voice wasn’t cold. That hurt more. “It’s not safe.”

A weak laugh escaped me. “It was never safe for me, Elias. Not after what I did to you.”

Silence settled between us.

Ronan glanced at him. “Elias…”

Elias didn’t look away from me. “Why now?” he asked quietly. “Why show up now?”

Because I couldn’t watch my son be turned into a weapon. Because I already made that mistake once.

Instead, I said, “Because Darius brought a capture device designed specifically for you.”

That got Ronan’s full attention. His head snapped toward Darius, then back to me. “Explain.”

Darius sighed dramatically. “Must you ruin every surprise?”

I ignored him and stepped closer. Slowly. Carefully. Like approaching a wounded animal.

“Elias,” I said, “the device he carries isn’t a simple restraint. It’s keyed to your pheromone signature. Once activated, it will suppress your autonomy and amplify your output.”

Ronan went still. “…He wants to turn Elias into a living pheromone weapon.”

“Yes.”

Elias’s expression hardened. “He already said as much.”

“No,” I said sharply. “You don’t understand. This device will override your consent. Your will. You won’t even know you’re being used.”

Silence.

Then Ronan’s voice dropped into something dangerous. “Where is it?”

Darius lifted a small metallic case in one hand, almost lazily. “Right here.”

I swallowed the spike of panic. “Elias, listen to me carefully. I can disable it…but only once. After that, he’ll adapt.”

“Then do it,” Ronan said immediately.

I hesitated.

Not because I couldn’t. Because I didn’t know if Elias would let me.

He saw it. Of course he did. He always saw more than people thought.

“You still think you don’t have the right,” he said softly.

My throat tightened. “I lost that right when I put suppressants into your body without telling you what they would cost.”

Ronan glanced between us, confused. “Suppressants?”

Elias exhaled slowly. “My mother designed them,” he said. “Every dose I took growing up… came from her lab.”

The weight of that truth pressed down on all of us.

I forced myself to keep speaking. “I thought I was protecting you,” I said. “Your pheromones were unstable. Too strong. If the council discovered you as a child, they would have taken you apart piece by piece to understand why you were different.”

“And instead you drugged me for years,” Elias said.

“Yes.”

The word tasted like ash.

“I was afraid,” I admitted. “Afraid of what you could become. Afraid of what they would do. Afraid I would lose you no matter what I chose.”

Ronan’s voice softened slightly. “So you chose the option that kept him alive.”

“I chose wrong,” I said. “I should have trusted him. Prepared him. Told him the truth.”

Elias stared at me.

For a long moment, neither of us spoke.

Then he asked quietly, “Are you here to fix your mistakes… or to make new ones?”

“Both,” I answered honestly. “But mostly to make sure you live long enough to hate me properly.”

To my surprise, a faint breath of laughter escaped him. It broke something inside my chest.

“Disable the device,” he said. “Please.”

That single word nearly brought me to my knees.

I nodded quickly and pulled a small remote module from my sleeve. My fingers trembled as I activated it. The interface flickered to life Darius’s device signature immediately appearing on the screen.

“Found you,” I muttered.

Darius finally moved, irritation flashing across his face. “You always did enjoy meddling.”

“Shut up,” I snapped. “You’ve done enough.”

I bypassed the first security layer. Then the second. His encryption was elegant but I built the base system years ago.

He never stopped using my designs.

“Almost…” I whispered.

Ronan shifted closer to Elias, scanning the room for threats. “Make it fast.”

“I am,” I said.

A final override sequence flashed across the screen. I pressed it.

Across the hall, the metallic case in Darius’s hand sparked violently and went dark.

He stared at it.

Then slowly… he crushed it in his fist.

“Impressive,” he said quietly. “But temporary.”

Elias let out a breath. “Temporary is enough.”

For the first time since I arrived, the tension eased slightly.

Ronan turned to Elias and reached for his hand. Their fingers intertwined instinctively, pheromones brushing together like a living current. The air warmed, thick with relief and something deeper.

Something intimate.

“You okay?” Ronan murmured.

Elias nodded, though his eyes were still bright with emotion. “Yeah. You?”

“Better now.”

Their foreheads nearly touched. I looked away. This was not my moment. It belonged to them.

Still, Elias spoke softly. “You stayed,” he said to Ronan. “Even when you knew what I am. What I could become.”

Ronan huffed quietly. “You say that like it scares me.”

“It should.”

“It doesn’t,” Ronan said simply. “You’re not a weapon to me. You’re… you.”

Silence wrapped around them.

Then Elias stepped closer and grabbed the front of Ronan’s uniform, pulling him down into a fierce, desperate kiss.

I turned fully away this time, giving them the privacy they deserved, even in the middle of a battlefield.

For a brief, fragile moment… there was peace.

Then Darius started laughing. Not loud. Not wild. Cold.

“So this is what you fight for,” he said. “Touching. Truly.”

Ronan pulled back slowly, eyes blazing. “You want to say something, old man? Say it.”

Darius dropped the crushed device to the floor. His expression had gone completely blank.

“You’ve forced my hand,” he said calmly.

Every instinct in my body screamed.

“No,” I whispered.

He tapped a communicator at his wrist.

“Release the hybrid,” he ordered.

The ground beneath us vibrated.

Elias stiffened. “What did he just say?”

My blood turned to ice.

Darius smiled faintly.

“Time to meet my final weapon.”