C5

Serena POV

"He won't survive another full moon at this rate," Elder Thomas's gravelly voice echoes across the grand council hall, the heavy oak table surrounded by dozens of high-ranking Blackthorn wolves. "Look at him. His aura is leaking. He is a liability to the entire pack territory."

I sit in the lowest row of the gallery, my fingers digging into the fabric of my dress.

Kael sits at the head of the long stone table, the absolute picture of cold, unyielding authority. His dark hair is pushed back, his fitted black shirt buttoned to the collar, his posture as rigid as carved granite. His voice cut through the air like a razor when he answered.

"My capacity to rule is not open for debate, Thomas," Kael says, his tone devoid of a single drop of warmth. "If any elder sitting at this table believes otherwise, challenge me for the title right now."

Silence slams into the hall like a physical weight. None of the elders move. None of them dare to meet his gaze.

Yet beneath the polished surface, I see the truth. I see the tiny, violent tremor running through his left hand where it rests against the polished wood. I feel the sudden, unnatural drop in the room's temperature as his aura begins to fracture from the sheer weight of the blood curse.

"The territorial dispute on the southern border requires an immediate deployment," Kael continues, his voice growing noticeably darker, lower, vibrating with an unnatural rasp. "We move the third garrison at dawn--"

He cuts off abruptly.

A savage, golden light flashes violently in Kael's eyes. The air inside the stone hall ruptures, a wave of raw, uncontrolled pressure exploding outward from his body.

Elder Thomas flinches backward so hard his heavy chair screeches against the floor. several lower-ranking wolves in the gallery drop their heads, instinctively baring their throats to the suffocating Alpha power suffocating the room.

My wolf recoils inside my chest, then immediately leaps forward against my ribs, recognizing the immense, agonizing pain hidden beneath the violent surge.

Kael rises from his chair in one fluid, lethal motion. His knuckles turn white as he grips the edge of the stone table, his jaw locked so tight a vein bulges along his neck.

"Continue without me," Kael rasps out, his voice no longer human at all.

He turns on his heel and strides out of the council hall at a controlled, measured pace. To the elders, he looks like a disgusted ruler stepping away from a trivial argument. But I see the slight stagger in his step as he reaches the heavy archway.

"Where is he going?" Maren's fake, sweet whisper sounds right beside my ear in the gallery. "Look at him, Serena. He looks like a feral beast about to snap. You should stay right here where it's safe."

I don't answer her. I stand up from my seat, my heart hammering against my ribs like a trapped bird.

"Serena!" Maren calls out, her hand reaching out to grab my wrist, but I pull away from her grip before her fingers can touch my skin.

I step into the hallway, following the lingering scent of dark pine, winter frost, and burning ozone.

I descend the winding spiral staircase that leads deep beneath the manor's main structure. The air grows freezing cold, damp, and thick with the heavy scent of iron and stone. This is the underground isolation wing—built specifically for Alphas who have lost control of their inner beasts.

At the end of the long corridor stands a massive, iron-reinforced door covered in ancient binding runes.

Kael reaches the threshold, his heavy boots dragging against the floor. He shoves the heavy iron door open, steps inside the pitch-black chamber, and slams it shut behind him. The massive iron deadbolt drops into place with a final, echoing thud that vibrates through the stone beneath my bare feet.

The moment the lock engages, the full force of the curse erupts inside the vault.

A savage, agonizing howl explodes from behind the iron door.

It isn't a normal wolf's howl. It is a raw, shattered scream of pure, unadulterated suffering. The sound vibrates through the thick stone walls, crashing directly into my mind through our fragile mate bond.

It burns! Kael’s wolf-spirit howls inside my head, tearing at my mind with frantic, bleeding claws. The blood is on fire! Get away from the door, female! Save yourself before we break the iron!

I freeze three feet from the sealed chamber, my hands flying to my chest as tears spring to my eyes from the sheer intensity of his agony.

In my past life, I was never down here. Maren had kept me locked in my room, feeding me lies about how Kael was spending his nights indulging in luxury while I rotted. I never knew he was down here in the dark, chained to stone floors, fighting a monster that was tearing his soul to pieces every single night.

My own wolf answers his cries against my will. She let out a soft, distressed whine behind my ribs, desperate to reach him, desperate to soothe the burning pain in his blood.

I step forward. My legs tremble, but I do not run. I raise my arm and press my bare palm flat against the freezing metal of the isolation door.

"Kael," I whisper against the iron.

The chaotic, frantic thrashing inside the vault stops instantly.

The agonizing howling falters, cutting off into a low, ragged gasp. The sudden silence behind the door is deafening.

Serena...? the wolf-spirit whispers inside my mind, its voice weak, trembling, and utterly broken. You are... at the door?

"I am here," I say, my voice steadying as I press my forehead against the cold metal. "I'm not going anywhere."

The realization hits me like a physical blade through my heart. The cold rejections. The locked doors. The harsh, biting words he used to drive me away. None of it was hatred. None of it was cruelty. It was a desperate, starving cage he built to protect me from himself.

"How touching," a soft, malicious voice purrs from the far end of the damp corridor.

I pull my forehead back from the door and turn my head.

Maren glides down the stone steps, her silk gown dragging through the damp dust, her eyes shining with cruel calculation. She stops ten feet away, her nostrils flaring as the heavy, suffocating pressure still leaking from the door makes even her steps pause.

"You really are a fool, Serena," Maren says, her sweet smile returning as she looks at my hand resting on the iron door. "You are standing outside the cell of a monster who could tear your head off with one swipe of his claws. Father is going to be so disappointed when he hears you've developed feelings for your executioner."

"Get out of here, Maren," I say, my voice dropping an octave, cold and ringing with lethal authority.

"I came to save you," Maren lies smoothly, taking a small step closer, her eyes glittering. "Ethan is waiting at the south gate. He has the horses ready. If you walk out with me right now, we can leave this nightmare behind before Kael breaks those chains and drains you dry."

I look at my sister. I look at the sweet face that guided me to my death in my past life.

"Tell Ethan to go home," I say, my voice steady as polished steel. "And if I catch you down in this wing again, Maren, I won't just tell Kael. I will handle you myself."

Maren’s sweet mask shatters completely. Her eyes flash with dark, ugly fury. She opens her mouth to snap a reply, but a low, dangerous growl vibrates from deep within the isolation chamber—a sound so dark and monstrous that the stone walls themselves seem to shake.

Maren pales, backing up two quick steps, before turning on her heel and hurrying back up the stone stairs.

The corridor falls dead silent once more.

I turn back to the iron door, keeping my palm pressed against the freezing surface. The heat radiating from my skin seeps into the iron, bridging the gap between us.

Inside the darkness of the vault, the wolf-spirit let out a long, shuddering sigh.

Stay... away... the spirit whispers through our mental link, the words barely coherent, laced with dark, desperate exhaustion. Please, Serena... stay away... or I will break... and I will claim you...

I close my eyes, feeling his racing, chaotic heartbeat through the bond, pulsing right alongside my own.

"I am not leaving," I whisper softly against the metal, ensuring my words carry through the heavy wood and iron. "I am never leaving you in the dark again."

Inside the pitch-black chamber, a sharp gasp cuts through the air. Kael's golden eyes snap open in the dark, wounded, raw, and fixed directly on the door, staring through the iron as if he can see my face standing on the other side.

His wolf lets out a single, quiet whimpering sound—not of pain, but of a starving, desperate hope that threatens to shatter his last remaining wall of ice.

A loud, sudden vibration echoes through the quiet stone corridor.

I pull my hand back from the door and reach into my coat. My phone screen glows brightly in the dim light. A new text message sits on the glass, sent from the encrypted, black-market number I've been tracking.

My thumb swipes the glass open.

‘Ethan refused to leave the south gate. He just breached the outer perimeter wall with three armed rogues. They are heading for your quarters now. —K.’