Chapter two: A Warning Written in Blood

The room went quiet in a way that made every muscle in my body lock up, a silence so total it felt like the air itself was holding its breath, and Kael still hadn't let go of my wrist.

The stranger looked between us, clearly enjoying himself, savoring the moment like he'd been waiting a long time for it. "So, you really did find her first."

"I recall telling you to leave," Kael said, his voice calm in a way that somehow made it more dangerous than shouting ever could have, and the six wolves behind the man shifted again, waiting for an order that hadn't come yet, muscles coiled and ready.

"Can somebody tell me what's going on?" I asked, my voice cutting through the tension, and nobody answered, which was somehow worse than any answer could have been, worse than being told something terrible.

The stranger smiled instead, placing a hand over his chest in a gesture that felt almost theatrical. "Silas Vane. And you must be Mira." His eyes never left mine, cataloguing every detail like he was memorizing me for later.

"I don't know you."

"No, but I know a lot about you," he said, and a cold feeling settled low in my stomach, spreading outward.

Kael stepped further in front of me, his shoulder nearly blocking my view entirely. "You shouldn't even know her name."

"I have good people."

"You have spies."

"I prefer informed," Silas said, and neither of them looked ready to back down, the guards along the wall frozen, unsure whose orders mattered more, caught between two men who clearly outranked whatever chain of command they normally answered to.

I tugged lightly against Kael's grip. He didn't budge, didn't even seem to notice.

"I can stand on my own."

"I know."

"Then let go."

"No."

Silas laughed at that, a short bark of genuine amusement. "I almost forgot how stubborn you are." Then, to Kael, his tone shifting into something sharper: "What do you want from me?"

"I came to see if the rumors were true," Silas said, smile fading into something more calculating. "That the great Kael Lyon finally found something he couldn't ignore." His gaze slid back to me, slow and assessing, moving over me like he was pricing something at auction. "I wasn't disappointed."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," I said, crossing my arms, trying to look steadier than I felt.

"I believe you," Silas said, and somehow that was worse than if he'd called me a liar outright, worse because it meant he knew things about my own life that I didn't.

"Leave before I make you," Kael said, voice gone colder, and one of the wolves behind Silas leaned forward, muttering something about giving the order, but Silas lifted a hand without looking away from me, a small gesture that stopped the entire room.

"Not tonight."

He took one slow step closer, testing something, and Kael's wolf answered with a growl that rumbled through the hallway low enough to make my heart race, a sound that seemed to come from everywhere at once and I felt it more than heard it, like something inside me was answering back, some instinct I didn't recognize surging up from somewhere deep. I stumbled, and Kael caught me instantly, one arm sliding around my waist without hesitation.

"You okay?"

"Fine," I said too quickly, because I wasn't fine, because for one impossible second I'd almost growled back, and that wasn't something a human body was supposed to be able to do, wasn't something I had any explanation for.

Silas noticed. Interest flashed across his face like he'd just found something he'd been hunting for a long time, something he'd started to suspect might not exist. "Interesting."

"Enough of this," Kael said, jaw tight, the muscle there flexing visibly, and Silas raised both hands in mock surrender, though nobody in that hallway relaxed an inch, the tension still thick enough to choke on.

At the door, he paused and looked back over his shoulder, his expression unreadable in the sim light. "You should keep a closer eye on her. There are people looking for things they don't understand." My chest tightened at the words, at the weight behind them.

"What does that mean?"

"It means Chicago isn't as safe as you think," Silas said, and walked out with his wolves trailing behind him in perfect formation, the clinic staying dead silent until the door shut with a heavy, final sound.

Only then did Kael let go of my wrist. I rubbed the spot immediately.

"Happy now?"

"No."

"You've been saying cryptic things since you walked in."

"You need to leave this place," he said, still watching the door like Silas might walk back through it at any second.

"There it is again."

"I'm serious."

"So am I. I have a job."

"I'll replace your income."

"I don't want your money."

"I don't care if you want it or not," he said, and that was what finally cracked me open into laughter, not because anything was funny but because the whole night had become unbelievable.

"You don't even know me."

"I know enough."

"No, you don't. I know you're in danger," he said, and I told him I was in danger because people kept showing up talking about me like I was some prize, and he didn't argue, which annoyed me more than if he had.

"What aren't you telling me?"

Silence.

"Kael." His name felt strange on my tongue, and he looked away for a moment before meeting my eyes again.

"If I tell you now, you won't believe me."

"Try me."

Before he could answer, a guard rushed in. "Alpha. We found two bodies outside."

The room froze.

"Ours?"

"No."

"Silas?"

"We're not sure."

Kael's face darkened. "Anything else?"

The guard hesitated, glancing at me before he answered. "There was writing. Painted in blood." His voice dropped low enough that I had to lean in to catch it.

"It said, return what's ours."