The Listening Device

Two days passed after I found the black feather.

Two days of Kael training. Two days of me watching from the window. Two days of pretending I didn't notice the way his eyes lingered on me when he thought I wasn't looking.

The spy was still out there.

We just didn't know who.

---

It was Marta who found it.

I was in my room — Kael's room now, since he'd moved me there for safety — folding laundry. Mindless work. Something to keep my hands busy while my mind raced.

"Miss Elara." Marta's voice was tight. "Come here."

She was kneeling beside the bed. My old bed. The one in the room I'd slept in for the first week.

"What is it?"

"Look."

She pointed underneath the bed frame. A small black disc. No bigger than a coin. Taped to the wood.

"What is that?"

Marta's face went pale.

"A listening device. The council uses them to spy on surrogates." She reached under and pulled it off. "It's been recording everything you've said in this room."

My blood turned to ice.

Everything.

My conversations with Lila. My phone calls with Marta. My tears in the middle of the night when I thought no one was listening.

Everything.

---

I ran.

Straight to the training yard. Kael was there, shirtless, sweating, his fists wrapped fresh.

"Kael."

He turned. Saw my face. Dropped his stance.

"What happened?"

I held up the device.

Marta had followed me. She stood behind me, silent, her face unreadable.

"We found this under Elara's bed," Marta said. "The old bed. It's been there since she arrived."

Kael took the device. His hands were steady, but his eyes weren't.

"Who planted it?"

"I don't know," Marta said. "But only someone with access to this house could have done it. Someone trusted."

Kael looked at the device.

Then he looked at me.

"We're going to catch them," he said. "Tonight."

---

The plan was simple.

We would leave the device in place. Let whoever was listening think we hadn't found it. Then we would feed them false information — a fake meeting, a fake location — and see who showed up.

"We need bait," Kael said.

"I'll be the bait."

"Absolutely not."

"Kael —"

"You're pregnant. You're carrying a two-soul child. I'm not putting you in danger."

"You're putting me in danger every day by keeping me in this house." I crossed my arms. "The council already knows about me. They already want the baby. Using me as bait isn't increasing the risk. It's just using what's already there."

He stared at me.

"You're impossible."

"You've said that before."

A muscle in his jaw jumped.

"Fine. But you don't go alone. I'll be close. Marta will be closer."

Marta nodded. "I won't let her out of my sight."

---

That night, we set the trap.

I sat in my old room — the one with the listening device still taped under the bed — and spoke aloud to no one.

"I'm meeting Marta at midnight," I said. "In the garden. By the fountain. She has information about the council."

I waited.

The device was silent. But somewhere in the house, someone was listening.

Someone was planning.

---

At 11:45 PM, I walked to the garden.

Kael was hidden in the shadows. Marta was waiting by the fountain, her gray hair silver in the moonlight.

I stood beside her.

"Now we wait," Marta whispered.

We waited.

Five minutes. Ten. Fifteen.

No one came.

"Maybe they didn't believe it," I said.

"Give it time."

Twenty minutes.

Then — footsteps.

Not from the house. From the woods. A figure emerged from the treeline, moving fast, head down.

My heart pounded.

The figure stepped into the moonlight.

It was Dorian.

---

"Dorian?" I stepped forward. "What are you —"

He looked up.

His face was wrong. Twisted. Not the loyal beta I'd seen serving Kael dinner. Someone else. Someone desperate.

"I'm sorry," he said.

Then he lunged.

---

Kael moved faster than I'd ever seen.

One moment he was in the shadows. The next, he was between me and Dorian, his arm across Dorian's throat, pinning him against the fountain.

"Explain," Kael growled. "Now."

Dorian choked. "The council — they have my brother —"

"Finn?"

"He's been spying for months. They said if I didn't help them, they'd kill him." Dorian's eyes were wet. "I didn't want to. I didn't —"

"You planted the listening device."

"Yes."

"You told the council about the pregnancy."

"Yes."

"You put Elara's life at risk."

Dorian closed his eyes.

"Yes."

Kael's arm tightened.

"Kael, stop." I touched his shoulder. "He's telling the truth. His brother —"

"His brother is a spy."

"His brother is a child." I looked at Dorian. "How old is Finn?"

"Eighteen."

"He's a boy. Scared. Manipulated." I turned to Kael. "This isn't the way."

Kael stared at me.

"He could have gotten you killed."

"But he didn't. And now he's telling us everything." I held Kael's gaze. "You're not a killer. Not like them. Don't become one tonight."

---

Kael let go.

Dorian slumped against the fountain, gasping.

"Where's Finn?" Kael asked.

"The old pack house. The council has him locked in the basement. They're using him as leverage."

Kael looked at me.

Then at Marta.

Then back at Dorian.

"We're going to get your brother," he said. "But if you ever — ever — put Elara at risk again, I won't let go next time."

Dorian nodded.

And for the first time that night, I breathed.

---

We didn't sleep.

Kael and Dorian planned. Marta made tea. I sat in the corner of the library, my hand on my belly, feeling the two heartbeats that had started this whole thing.

Two heartbeats.

Two souls.

And a father who was learning, slowly, how to love.

"What are you thinking?" Kael asked. He'd crossed the room without me noticing.

"That I didn't sign up for any of this."

"Neither did I."

"But here we are."

He sat beside me. His hand found mine.

"Here we are."

"Kael?"

"Hmm."

"When this is over — when the council is gone and the baby is born and we're safe — what happens to us?"

He was quiet for a long moment.

"I don't know," he said finally. "But I'd like to find out."

That wasn't a promise.

But it was enough.