Chapter 4: If She Walks Out

KAEL POV

The rank registry was never supposed to be seen, let alone opened.  

It was forbidden. Sealed and bonded to something no one had been able to break for decades. 

For nearly fifty years, my father had paid the most brilliant hackers and also the tech experts he could find to force it open. They had used blood and magic but nothing ever worked. The ancient case had remained entirely here - completely useless and lifeless. 

Yet, a strange human girl had just opened it with a single drop of her blood.

The word still glowed across the body. 

BLOODLINE STATUS: ERADICATED.

SURVIVOR IDENTIFIED: SERYN VERYA.

I stared down at the glowing metal casing, grinding my teeth so hard that my cheek hurt.  

Every Alpha instinct I possessed screamed that this girl was not ordinary, from the moment I saw what had happened at her apartment. 

I had been right after all. But the problem was that I still didn’t know what she was. 

Decades ago, the ruling council had ordered the complete removal of the Verya name from our records. Every trace was to protect the hierarchy of the packs. If the outer factions discovered a survivor was standing in my manor; they would burn the entire building just to kill her. 

But it wasn’t just the text that had my pulse racing. 

I was focusing on my chest too. 

For the first time in years, the brutal, sharp-pain that had been slowly eating my lungs since I was a boy vanished. The same pain that usually left me struggling to breathe and reaching for redroot tonic just to remain standing had vanished the moment Seryn touched me.

"What... what is this?" Seryn’s voice broke the silence, low and hyperventilating.

She stumbled backward, ripping her hand away from the glowing case. She stared at her bleeding palm in absolute horror, her shoulders slamming against the back of my leather chair. "What does that even mean?” 

I made my face emotionless, back to the cold mask of my personality again. 

Most lower-ranked wolves would have collapsed in fear under the weight of my aura right now, but even in her panic, her eyes showed she refused to back down. 

“It means that right now, you are the most dangerous person walking around this city." I didn’t bother lying.

She let out a short, breathy laugh that carried no humor, wrapping her uninjured hand tightly around her cut palm. “I knew you were going to give a weird response." She moved forward. “I am a normal person! So how exactly am I dangerous?” 

“The second your blood opens a locked ancient case that hasn't blinked for fifty years, your normal life ends.” 

“So what? You’re just going to keep me here as your hostage?”

I didn’t answer. There was also no need pretending she had a choice when she didn’t. 

I reached out and hit the wall panel keypad on my desk, entering a private code. 

“Elena,” I barked into the intercom. “Executive tier, now!” 

The doors slid open a second later and Elena, the head of my executive household staff, stepped inside. She kept her head lowered respectfully, though her eyes flicked to the violet light pulsing from the desk with curiosity.

“Alpha,” Elena murmured.

“Take her to the Moonwater Room,” I commanded, not taking my eyes off Seryn’s defensive posture. “Take care of her there and lock the doors. She is to remain there until the perimeter network is hidden.”

The maid hesitated, her eyes lifted slightly before dropping again. “Alpha? The Moonwater Room?”

“Yes. Any problem?” My brow furrowed deeply. 

“ I thought you might have made a mistake.” 

My eyes moved to her. “Did I stutter?”

“No, Alpha. I’m sorry.” She said quickly as she directed Seryn out with her hands. “Please ma’am.” 

Seryn’s head snapped toward the maid, then back to me, her brows drawing together sharply. “I’m not done talking to you. Kael, look at me…”

“Go with Elena, Seryn. Before I decide to lock you in a cell now.” I slammed the desk hard. 

Her mouth opened. For a second, I thought she was going to argue. She probably was. 

But her gaze shifted towards the hallway and something in her expression changed. She gave Elena a stiff nod and turned angrily towards the door. 

But as she reached the hallway doorframe, she suddenly paused.

Seryn turned her head over her shoulder. Her eyes narrowed slightly, like she noticed something change in my face.

I kept my expression still giving her absolutely nothing to read. She let out a frustrated breath and let Elena guide her out.

The exact second she left. The pain returned instantly. 

I stumbled backward, my knees nearly giving out as the brutal pressure crawled right back into my lungs, hitting my bloodstream twice as hard as if making up for lost time.  I slammed both my palms flat against the dark wood desk, gasping breath tore out of my throat.

“F…fuck,” every breath I tried to draw felt like pulling a crushed glass through an open wound. I tried to straighten but couldn’t. 

The door slid open again.

Verek walked out into the light. He didn’t panic because he had seen this exact thing happen many times. 

“It started again,” Verek said, his rough voice completely serious as he lunged across the office floor. 

He didn't wait for my permission. He crossed to the cabinet set into the wall, opened the outer shelf, and pulled out a small, glass vial filled with a dark crimson liquid. He marched back and shoved the redroot tonic against my teeth. 

"Drink it," Verek growled. "Drink, Kael!"

I swallowed the thick bitter liquid, my throat burning as the tonic dulled the pain. 

It was enough to keep me upright, but the relief was incredibly cheap compared to the silence Seryn’s touch gives me. 

I sank slowly into the leather desk chair, leaning my head back against my chair as I wiped a line of cold sweat from my forehead.

“How long did it stop?” his eyes narrowing as he stared at the open, glowing registry box resting on the table. 

“The entire time she was in the room, Verek,” my voice raspy and rough. “From the second I grabbed her wrist in her apartment…”

“Wait, what?” Verek eyes shifted to my face. “Are you already holding her waist?” 

“I said wrist.” 

“Oh.” Verek stared at the text pulsing on the glass interface screen: SURVIVOR IDENTIFIED. “She did that right?” he pointed at the box. 

I only nodded. 

“I knew it!” He sharply turned facing me. “This is a total disaster, Kael.”

“It isn’t,” I muttered, my vision finally clearing as my Alpha strength came back. 

“What are you going to do with her?” His tone hardening. “The guards downstairs are already talking about what she did to Jace at the apartment. If word spreads through the lower pack levels that a living Verya girl is sitting on our executive floor, the council will demand for war.” 

"We keep this secret," I said, my strong voice making the window glass shake slightly. 

“What about Jace?”

"I will personally make sure the officials say he got sick from an unknown medical issue."

“That covers the pack, but it doesn't cover the full underground, Kael. Think man!” 

I looked down at my hand, still feeling the faint, lingering heat of her pulse against my fingers. 

That statement should have frightened me. 

Whatever the Veryas had been, the council had feared them enough to erase their name from history.

And now one of them was standing under my roof.

But she was also the only thing that had ever given my body a long moment of peace. And I can’t let her leave. 

“Let them come then,” I whispered, my eyes darkening.

Verek tightened his jaw, holding my intense stare for a long second before slowly taking a step backward toward the door. His eyes lingered on the metal case one last time.

“You’re playing with fire, Alpha.” He moved towards the door, his hand resting on the door handle. “What happens then, when she figures out she might be your only cure?” 

I looked at the metallic registry box then closed it. 

“Then I will make sure she never leaves,” I said quietly.

Verek went still. His mouth opened like he couldn’t close them anymore. 

I didn’t care. I just kept my eyes on the sealed registry. Because there was one truth I couldn’t afford to ignore anymore.

If Seryn walked out of this building, the pain would continue. 

And I didn’t know how much longer I could survive without her.

Author Note: Now that we’ve seen things from Kael’s perspective, what do you think about him? Is he keeping Seryn close because  he needs her, or is something else going on? Let’s talk!