Chapter 148

Chapter 148
ARIA

I don’t wait for permission.

Austin and Adam flank me as we move down the stone corridor, the air cold and damp, the smell of blood and fear clinging to the walls like a second skin. My body still hums from the fight, power coiled tight beneath my skin, but my mind is frighteningly clear.

“We’ll be faster apart,” I say without slowing. “Separate interrogations. We keep the link open. The moment one of us gets anything, we signal.”

Adam’s jaw tightens. “Aria—”

“I know,” I cut in, not unkindly. “But Matteo and Leon don’t have time for caution.”

Through the bond, I feel Austin’s agreement before he speaks. She’s right. A flash of grim resolve follows. I’ll take the right wing.

Adam exhales, sharp and controlled. Left for me.

I nod once and turn down the central passage alone.

The first cell is lit by a single harsh light. A werewolf hangs restrained against the wall, arms and legs bound with enchanted restraints that hum faintly, suppressing his shift. He looks up as I enter, eyes feral, lips curled back in defiance.

I close the door behind me.

“Where is Alaric?” I ask calmly. “And where are my children?”

Silence.

He spits blood onto the floor and laughs, a short, ugly sound. “You think you scare me?”

I study him for a moment, really look at him—the tremor in his shoulders, the way his pulse jumps in his throat. He’s afraid. He just doesn’t know how afraid he should be.

“I don’t need to scare you,” I say quietly. “I just need answers.”

He says nothing.

I step closer. Slowly. Deliberately. I let him feel the weight of my presence, the hybrid power I’m no longer trying to hide. His pupils dilate despite himself.

Still nothing.

I touch the restraint on his wrist and tighten my grip just enough to make the magic bite. He grunts, jaw clenching, but he doesn’t scream. He’s stubborn. Loyal. Or stupid.

Minutes pass. I escalate carefully, methodically—not in a frenzy, not in rage. Every movement is measured, every reaction catalogued. I’m not losing myself to this. I don’t have that luxury.

Finally, he meets my gaze and smiles, blood on his teeth. “You’ll never find them.”

Something cold settles in my chest.

“Then you’re no longer useful,” I say.

I end it quickly.

When his body goes slack, I don’t linger. I don’t look back. I step out of the cell and move on, breath steady, mind already shifting to the next door.

One dead, I send through the bond. No information.

Austin’s response is immediate. Same. They’re trained to resist. We need leverage.

Adam’s presence pulses at the edge of the link—focused, furious, contained. I’m close to something. Not yet.

The next few cells blur together—defiance, silence, lies. I break two more, get fragments that lead nowhere. Alaric planned this well. His people were conditioned to die before betraying him.

By the time I reach the cell at the end of the row, frustration claws at my ribs. Inside, a young female werewolf sits slumped against the wall, restraints cutting into her wrists. She looks barely older than twenty. Her eyes flick up when I enter, wide and glassy with fear.

I don’t speak right away.

I crouch in front of her, lowering myself to her level. “What’s your name?” I ask.

She hesitates. “Mira.”

“Mira,” I repeat softly. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

A lie. But not a complete one.

Her lips tremble. “I don’t know anything.”

Through the bond, Austin’s voice cuts in, sharp and urgent. Aria. I’m with her cousin. Same pack. He’s holding—but barely.
I inhale slowly. What’s his name?
Eli. Austin’s anger burns hot beneath the words. He’s protective. Overprotective.

I glance back at Mira, noting the way her breathing stutters when I say nothing. The way her gaze darts to the door, as if expecting someone to burst in and save her.

“Mira,” I say gently, “your cousin Eli is in the next wing.”

Her head snaps up. “You’re lying.”

Say something, I tell Austin.

Austin doesn’t disappoint. Through the bond, his voice bleeds into my words, low and brutal. Eli’s alive. For now.
Mira’s composure shatters.

“Please,” she whispers. “He doesn’t know anything. I dragged him into this.”

“Then help me end it,” I say. “Tell me where Alaric took my children.”

She shakes her head, tears streaking down her face. “He’ll kill us all.”

“He already plans to,” I reply evenly. “The difference is whether your cousin dies for nothing.”

The silence stretches. I feel Austin pressing his prisoner harder, feel Eli’s panic spike through the bond like a flare.

Mira sobs. “There’s… there’s a safehouse. Old monastery in the ravine. North-east. He said—he said it was warded. That no one would look there.”

Got it, Austin sends, fierce and immediate. She’s telling the truth. His heartbeat changed when I mentioned the ravine.

My chest tightens. Relief and terror crash together.

“Thank you,” I tell Mira.

She looks up at me with desperate hope. “You’ll let Eli go?”

I stand.

“No,” I say.

I end her life swiftly, before she can scream.

When I step back into the corridor, Austin is already there, blood on his hands, eyes dark with the same grim resolve I feel in my bones.

“He talked,” he says.

“I know,” I reply.

Adam joins us seconds later, his expression hard, controlled, lethal. “Monastery. Ravine. North-east.”

We don’t say anything else.

We don’t need to.

Alaric made a mistake. He thought love would make me hesitate. He thought fear would slow me down.

He was wrong.

And now I know where my children are.