Chapter Five:

Marisol's POV

Kael's transformation was nothing like the movies.

There was no dramatic pause, no Hollywood CGI shimmer. One second he was a man, the next his body exploded into something massive and lethal a wolf the size of a small car, midnight black with those silver eyes burning like molten metal. His clothes shredded, falling away in tatters, and the sound that came from his throat made my bones vibrate.

Pure. Alpha. Dominance.

The five creatures hesitated. Just for a heartbeat, but it was enough. Kael launched himself at the closest one, jaws closing around its throat with a sickening crunch. Blood sprayed across the expensive furniture, black and thick and wrong-smelling.

"Marisol, move!" Vera grabbed my arm, dragging me backward toward what looked like a solid wall. She slammed her palm against it, and a hidden door slid open. "Panic room. Get inside."

"What about Kael"

"He's an Alpha Sovereign. He can handle five betas." She shoved me through the opening. "Stay here. Don't open this door for anyone except me or Kael. Understand?"

I nodded, numb with shock, and the door sealed shut with a hiss of hydraulics.

The panic room was maybe ten feet square, lined with monitors showing different angles of the apartment. I watched Vera join the fight, her gun spitting silver bullets that made the creatures shriek when they hit. But she was human fast and trained, but still just human. One of them caught her across the ribs with claws like knives, and she went down hard.

"No!" I slammed my fist against the door, but it didn't budge. Bulletproof. Probably blast-proof. Definitely Marisol-proof.

On the monitors, Kael was a blur of black fur and rage, taking on three creatures at once. He moved like violence given form, all predator instinct and lethal grace. One creature tried to flank him and lost its arm for the mistake. Another went for his hindquarters and got its spine shattered by his back legs.

But there were still two more, and Vera was bleeding on the floor, and Marcus

Marcus just stood there, watching. Smiling. Like this was entertainment.

Something hot and furious rose in my chest. This man. This coward who'd cheated on me, lied to me, sold me out to monsters he was standing there watching people die over a baby he had no right to.

My baby.

The thought came with surprising clarity. Mine. Not Marcus's weapon, not some pack's political tool. Mine.

The heat in my chest spread, burning through my veins like liquid fire. On the monitors, I saw Kael take down another creature, but the last one managed to rake claws across his side. He stumbled, dark blood matting his fur.

Get up, I thought desperately. Please get up.

And then I felt it. The bond Kael had mentioned, that click of connection when he'd taken my hand. It was still there, thrumming under my skin, and if I just reached

The world tilted sideways.

Suddenly I wasn't just watching through the monitors. I was feeling what Kael felt. The pain in his side, yes, but also the battle fury, the absolute certainty that he would destroy anything that threatened his pack, his territory, his

Me. I felt how he felt about me, and it staggered me.

Protective didn't begin to cover it. It was primal, overwhelming, the kind of instinct that drove wolves to fight to the death defending their mates and young. Except I wasn't his mate. Was I?

The bond pulsed, and I felt my answer flow back to him: Get up. You're not done yet.

On the monitor, Kael's head snapped up. His eyes found the camera found me, somehow and I swear he nodded.

Then he moved.

The last creature didn't stand a chance. Kael hit it like a freight train, jaws closing on its skull with a crack that echoed through the speakers. It dropped, twitching, and went still.

Five bodies. Five dead werewolves. And Kael standing in the middle of the carnage, breathing hard, blood dripping from his muzzle and side.

Marcus had stopped smiling.

"Impressive," he said, backing toward the destroyed doorway. "But this was just a test, Mari. Next time, we'll bring more. We'll keep coming until"

Vera shot him.

Not a kill shot the bullet caught him in the shoulder, spinning him around. He screamed, clutching the wound, and stumbled through the doorway.

"Should've aimed for his head," Vera muttered, struggling to her feet. Blood soaked her shirt, but she was moving. Alive.

Kael shifted back to human form, the transformation somehow more disturbing in reverse. Bones cracking, fur receding, until he was a man again naked, bleeding, and absolutely furious.

"Seal the building," he snarled at Vera. "I want every exit locked down, every pack member accounted for. Someone told Redclaw about this location, and I want to know who."

"On it." Vera limped toward a control panel. "You should let Marisol out before she has a panic attack in there."

Kael's eyes went to the camera I was watching from. His expression softened slightly. "Can you hear me?"

I found a microphone button. "Yes."

"I'm opening the door. Don't look at the bodies if you can help it."

Too late. I'd already seen everything through the monitors. But when the door slid open and I stepped out into the actual space the smell hit me. Copper and musk and something acrid that made my stomach heave.

I made it three steps before throwing up in a decorative plant.

Kael was beside me instantly, one hand on my back, carefully not touching me with the parts of him covered in blood. "Easy. Breathe. You're safe now."

"Safe?" I wiped my mouth, laughing hysterically. "Marcus just sicced werewolf assassins on me, there's a traitor in your pack, and I'm pregnant with a supernatural baby that half the werewolf world apparently wants to kidnap. How is any of this safe?"

"Because you're with me." He said it like it was simple. Absolute. "And I don't lose what's mine."

"I'm not yours"

"The bond says otherwise." His voice was gentle, but his eyes were hard. "I felt you during the fight. You reached through the connection, gave me strength. Whether you accept it or not, Marisol, we're linked. You, me, and the baby. That makes you pack. That makes you mine to protect."

I wanted to argue, but I was too tired. Too overwhelmed. I'd thrown up in a plant, for God's sake.

Vera approached, phone in hand, her other arm pressed against her bleeding ribs. "Kael. We have a problem."

"Another one?"

"The building's surveillance was hacked. Someone looped the feeds, made it look like nothing was happening down here. By the time security realized we were under attack, it was already over." She paused. "Whoever the traitor is, they have high-level access to pack systems."

Kael's jaw clenched. "How many people have that kind of clearance?"

"Including you and me? Eight."

"So one of my most trusted advisors is trying to kill me." He laughed, dark and bitter. "Perfect. Just perfect."

"There's more." Vera's expression went grim. "I just got word from our contact in Redclaw territory. They're calling a Conclave."

Whatever that meant, it made Kael go very still. "When?"

"Three days. They're invoking the old laws, claiming you've created an illegal bloodline bond with a human outside pack approval. They want the Conclave to rule on whether the child is legitimate."

"And if the Conclave rules against us?"

Vera looked at me, then back to Kael. "Then by pack law, the child must be terminated. And Marisol..." She trailed off.

"What about me?" My voice came out smaller than I wanted.

Kael answered, his tone careful. "Humans who conceive children with pack members without formal mating bonds are considered... complications. If the Conclave rules the pregnancy invalid, they'll order it terminated. Along with you."

The room tilted again, but this time it wasn't the bond. Just pure terror.

"They'll kill me? For getting pregnant with a donor sample I didn't even know was werewolf?"

"They'll try," Kael corrected. "But they'll have to go through me first. And every pack member loyal to me. And the wards around my territory. And"

"Kael." Vera's interruption was soft. "A Conclave ruling is absolute. Even you can't ignore it. If they rule against the child, and you refuse to comply..." She didn't finish, but she didn't have to.

They'd kill him too.

I looked at this man this alpha, this stranger who'd become the center of my universe in less than twenty-four hours and saw him clearly for the first time. Not just powerful or protective. Desperate. He was fighting an entire politcal system to keep me and a baby he'd never planned to have alive.

"Why?" I asked quietly. "Why risk everything for us? You don't even know me."

Kael met my eyes, and what I saw there made my breath catch.

"The bond isn't just magical convenience, Marisol. It's recognition. My wolf knew you before my human mind did. You're mine because you were always supposed to be mine. The baby just... accelerated the timeline."

"That's insane."

"Probably." He almost smiled. "But it's also true. And in three days, I'm going to stand in front of the most powerful werewolves in North America and convince them that you and our child deserve to live. That our bond, accidental or not, is valid."

"And if you can't convince them?"

His expression went hard. Dangerous. "Then we run. We take you somewhere they can't find you, and we disappear. Forever, if necessary."

"You'd give up everything? Your pack, your territory, your position?"

"Without hesitation."

Vera cleared her throat. "As touching as this is, we have more immediate problems. Like the fact that Garrett and Marcus got away, and they now know our defensive capabilities. They'll come back with more firepower next time."

"Then we move her," Kael said. "Take her to the mountain compound. It's remote, heavily warded, and we can control who has access."

"It's also where the Conclave will meet," Vera pointed out. "You'll be bringing her right into enemy territory."

"It's also my stronghold. My land. If they want to challenge me there, let them try." Kael turned to me. "Pack a bag. We leave in an hour."

"I don't have a bag. I don't have anything except the clothes I'm wearing and trauma."

Despite everything, he smiled. A real smile this time, warm and unexpected. "We'll get you new clothes. New everything. Whatever you need."

"What I need is for this to not be happening."

"I know." The gentleness in his voice almost broke me. "But it is. And running from it won't make it stop. The only way through is forward. With me."

I looked around the destroyed apartment, at the bodies being covered with sheets by pack members who'd apparently arrived during my panic room imprisonment, at Vera's bleeding ribs and Kael's wounded side that he was ignoring like it didn't hurt.

Forward. With a werewolf alpha who claimed I was his mate. Toward a mountain compound where supernatural politicians would decide if my baby deserved to exist.

"This is insane," I said.

"Completely," Kael agreed.

"I'm going to regret this."

"Probably."

I took a deep breath. "Okay. Let's go to your mountain fortress and prepare for supernatural court. Because apparently that's my life now."

Kael's hand found mine, warm and solid and surprisingly reassuring. "Welcome to the pack, Marisol Vega."

Vera's phone buzzed. She checked it, and her face went pale.

"Kael. We have a bigger problem."

"What now?"

"I just got a message from an unknown number." She turned the phone so we could see.

The text was simple, chilling: Congratulations on surviving round one. Round two starts when you reach the mountain. P.S. - One of your most trusted companions is working for us. Good luck figuring out who before they strike. -R

Kael stared at the message, his jaw tight. "R. Redclaw's alpha."

"He's playing with us," Vera said. "Psychological warfare."

"Or he's telling the truth." Kael looked at me. "Which means when we get to the mountain, surrounded by my pack, one of them will be trying to kill you."

"Can we trust anyone?" I asked.

Kael's silence was answer enough.

We were walking into a trap, and we all knew it. But staying here meant more attacks, more creature assassins, more danger.

Between certain death and probable death, I guess probable was the better option.

"One hour," Kael repeated. "Then we drive into the mountains. Together."

I squeezed his hand, feeling the bond pulse between us. Feeling his determination and fear and that overwhelming protective instinct that should have terrified me but somehow didn't.

Whatever was waiting for us in those mountains, at least I wouldn't face it alone.

Even if one of the people standing beside me was planning to betray us.