CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR: CONFRONTING THE ALPHA

The next morning, I woke up with a determined resolve.

I was tired of everyone treating me like I was too fragile to handle the truth.

It was time to get real answers, starting with Kieran.

I found him in his office after breakfast, sitting behind his desk reviewing pack documents.

When I knocked on the door frame, he looked up with surprise and something that might have been hope.

"Laila," he said, his voice carefully neutral.

"Come in."

It was the first time we had been alone together since our fight four days ago.

I could feel his complex emotions - regret, longing, worry, and underneath it all, guilt about something much bigger than harsh words.

"We need to talk," I said, closing the door behind me and taking a seat across from his desk.

"I've been hoping you would say that," Kieran said.

"Laila, I want to apologize again for what I said the other night. I was frustrated and angry and I took it out on you unfairly."

I could feel the genuine remorse in his words, but there was something else - relief that I was talking about our personal fight instead of something else he was worried I might bring up.

"I accept your apology," I said.

"But that's not why I'm here."Kieran's emotions immediately shifted to wariness and fear.

"What can I help you with?"

"I want to know the real reason you brought me here," I said directly.

Kieran went very still and I felt a careful blankness from him as he tried to control his emotions.

"I brought you here because you needed help," he said.

"You were being rejected and abused and I wanted to give you somewhere safe to heal."

The words felt partially true, but there was a massive layer of deception underneath them.

He was telling me a reason, but not the complete reason.

"That's not the whole truth," I said.

Kieran's eyes sharpened with surprise.

"What makes you say that?"

"Because I can tell when people aren't being completely honest with me," I said calmly.

"It's a new ability I've developed."

I watched Kieran's face carefully and felt his emotions spike with shock, fear and something that felt like recognition.

"What kind of ability?" he asked carefully.

"I can sense people's emotions and tell when their words don't match what they're really feeling," I explained.

"And right now, I can feel that you're hiding something big from me about why I'm really here."

Kieran was quiet for a long moment and I could feel his internal struggle.

Finally, he spoke."Laila, there are some things that are complicated to explain."

"Then try explaining them," I said firmly.

"I'm tired of being treated like a child who can't handle difficult truths."

"It's not about you being too weak to handle the truth," Kieran said.

"It's about protecting you from information that could be dangerous."

"Dangerous how?"

Kieran rubbed his temples, and I could feel his exhaustion and conflict.

"If certain people knew the real reasons you're here, it could put both you and this pack in danger."

"What certain people?" I pressed.

"People like your ex-mate Damien," Kieran said.

"People who would use the information to hurt you."

I felt truth in his words, but also evasion.

He was giving me pieces of the real answer without revealing the full picture.

"Kieran," I said, using his name deliberately,

"stop dancing around the truth. What does Damien have to do with why you brought me here?"

Kieran's emotions flashed with surprise that I had made that connection.

He was quiet for several heartbeats, clearly weighing his options.

"Your ex-mate has something I want," he said finally.

"What does he have?"

"Information. About something that happened five years ago."

I felt a chill of recognition.

Five years ago was when Seraphina died.

"This is about Seraphina," I said.

The shock that rolled off Kieran was like a physical blow.

"How do you know about Seraphina?"

"People talk," I said.

"She was your mate who died in an enemy attack five years ago."

"Yes," Kieran said quietly and I felt deep pain mixed with anger.

"What does Damien know about Seraphina's death?"

Kieran's emotions became a storm of rage, grief and something that felt like vengeance.

"I believe Damien was involved in the attack that killed her," he said, his voice getting harsh.

"And you brought me here to get information from him?"

"I brought you here because taking you away from him would force him to make contact with me," Kieran admitted.

"I needed a way to draw him out so I could confront him about what he knows."

The truth hit me like a punch to the stomach.

I had been bait.

Kieran had rescued me not out of kindness, but because I was useful for his plans for revenge.

"So I was just a tool for your revenge," I said, my voice flat.

"It wasn't like that," Kieran said quickly, his emotions full of panic.

"Yes, initially I brought you here for strategic reasons, but that changed very quickly."

"How quickly?"

"Within days of you being here," Kieran said.

"Laila, what started as strategy became something much more personal."

I could feel truth in his words, but the hurt of learning his original motives was overwhelming.

"You used me," I said quietly.

"I saved you," Kieran corrected.

"Yes, I had ulterior motives, but the result was the same - I got you away from someone who was hurting you."

"And now? What happens to me now that you have what you wanted?"

"I don't have what I wanted," Kieran said.

"Damien hasn't made contact yet. But even if he does, even if I get my answers about Seraphina, that doesn't change how I feel about you."

"How do you feel about me?" I asked.

Kieran's emotions were a complex mix of love, protectiveness, guilt and fear.

"I love you," he said simply.

"I know that complicates everything,

and I know you have every right to hate me for not being honest from the beginning, but I love you."

The words should have made me happy, but instead they made me feel sick.

"Do you love me, or do you love the idea of having someone who's grateful enough to overlook being used?"

"I love you," Kieran repeated firmly.

"Not your gratitude, not your usefulness, not what you represent. I love who you are."

I could feel truth in his words, but I could also feel his ongoing guilt and fear that there were still things he wasn't telling me.

"What else are you hiding?" I asked.

"What do you mean?"

"There are other secrets," I said.

"I can feel them. This isn't the only thing you're keeping from me."

Kieran's emotions spiked with panic again.

"Laila—"

"What else?" I demanded.

"There are things about your heritage, about your abilities, that are complicated," he said reluctantly.

"What about my heritage?"

"Your parents weren't who you think they were," Kieran said.

"Your bloodline is much more significant than anyone told you."

"Significant how?"

"You're descended from a very powerful magical family," Kieran said.

"A family that certain people would want to eliminate."

I felt cold all over.

"Eliminate?"

"Your abilities aren't just unusual, Laila. They're incredibly rare and incredibly powerful. There are people who would see you as a threat."

"What people?"

"People like Damien," Kieran said grimly.

"People who want to maintain the current power structure and see abilities like yours as dangerous."

I sat back in my chair, overwhelmed by all the revelations.

I had been used as bait for revenge.

My heritage was something dangerous that people wanted to eliminate.

My abilities made me a target.

"Is anyone in my life telling me the truth about anything?" I asked.

"I'm telling you the truth now," Kieran said.

"Only because I forced you to," I replied.

"If I hadn't developed the ability to sense lies, you would have kept lying to me indefinitely."

"I was trying to protect you," Kieran said.

"You were trying to control the situation," I corrected.

"There's a difference."

Kieran was quiet and I could feel his acknowledgment that I was right.

"What happens now?" I asked.

"That depends on you," Kieran said.

"I understand if you hate me. I understand if you want to leave. But I hope you'll give me a chance to prove that my feelings for you are real, regardless of how this started."

I looked at him sitting behind his desk, this powerful Alpha who had rescued me and used me and fallen in love with me all at the same time.

"I need time to think," I said finally.

"Of course," Kieran said.

"Take all the time you need."

As I stood to leave, I turned back to him.

"Kieran, are there any other major secrets you're keeping from me?"

His emotions flashed with guilt and fear.

"There are things about Seraphina's death that are more complicated than I initially believed," he admitted.

"What things?"

"Things I'm still investigating," he said.

"Things that might change everything we think we know about what happened that night."

I left his office with my head spinning.

In the span of an hour, I had learned that I was brought here as bait, that my heritage was dangerous and that there were still more secrets about Seraphina's death.

But the most disturbing realization was that despite everything, I could feel that Kieran's love for me was genuine.

Which made everything so much more complicated than simple betrayal would have been.