All Chapters of The Alpha's Forbidden Heir: Chapter 71 - Chapter 80

"It’s not just stealing, Kael. It’s projecting. That isn't your memory," Lucien said, his grip tightening on the boy's shoulders until his own knuckles turned bloodless. "That’s the Directorate’s archive. They store their stolen lives in the buffer space of the grid. Don't look at it."Kael’s head lolled back against the cold, weeping stone of the mining wall. His breathing was a ragged, mechanical hitching sound. "But the woman... she’s crying, Lucien. Why is she crying? If this is just data, why does it feel like a funeral?"Arthur paced the narrow gap between the cave wall and the ledge, his boots crunching over pulverized slate. "Who cares if it’s a funeral? We’re about to have a real one if you don't go dark right now. The seismic sensors in this sector are linked to the refinery’s automated response. Every time your skin lights up, the mountain trembles. We are literally shaking the roof down on our own heads.""He’s not doing it on purpose, Arthur!" Lucien snapped, spinning aro

Kael let out a shuddering gasp, the sound less like breath and more like static discharge. His skin flickered, a faint, rhythmic bioluminescence pulsing beneath the surface of his forearms, casting long, frantic shadows against the weeping cave walls."He’s doing it again," Arthur hissed, his hand hovering over the heavy-duty pulse welder strapped to his hip. "Lucien, if you don’t find a way to damp that signal, we are walking coffins."Lucien didn’t look at Arthur. He kept his palms pressed firmly against Kael’s trembling chest, trying to ground the boy, trying to act as a dam against the encroaching digital tide. "Shut up, Arthur. Your pulse is spiking. You’re just feeding his anxiety. You want to save us? Breathe. Slow, rhythmic breaths.""I don't have the luxury of Zen, you corporate relic," Arthur spat, pacing the narrow, treacherous ledge. Above them, the granite groaned—a deep, tectonic protest. Dust rained down in thick, choking curtains. "We’re trapped in a dead-end shaft. Th

"A structural purge," Kael repeated, his voice vibrating with a harmonic frequency that made Arthur’s teeth ache. "They aren't hunting us anymore, Arthur. They’re erasing the architecture of the mountain to seal the leak."Arthur recoiled, his boots skidding on the slick, black slurry coating the floor. "You’re telling me the Directorate is burying the entire sector just to kill three people? That’s not a security protocol, that’s a war crime."Lucien didn't let go of Kael, his hands still steady against the boy’s chest, despite the way the ground beneath them began to heave like the back of a dying beast. "It’s efficient, Arthur. The Directorate has always prioritized the integrity of their network over the lives of those who inhabit it. If we are an infection, they aren't treating the wound; they’re amputating the limb.""Then we need to move," Arthur snarled, swinging his pulse welder around and aiming it at the structural support beam that was buckling under the weight of the over

"The signature isn't a map, Arthur," Kael whispered, his voice hitching as he clutched his side. The bioluminescent static in his eyes surged, casting long, frantic shadows against the weeping stone walls. "It’s a pulse. A heartbeat. If I follow the rhythm, I’m not just finding a path. I’m finding the Directorate’s primary intake vein."Arthur shoved his pulse welder into his harness, his knuckles white. "An intake vein? That’s for raw power and waste filtration. It’s a literal sewer, Kael. We’ll be swimming in toxic runoff.""Better than being crushed into paste by two million tons of mountain," Lucien said, his voice clipped and precise. He grabbed Kael by the shoulder, bracing the boy against the violent tremor that shook the cavern floor. "Kael, can you sustain the frequency to keep the security sensors blind while we descend? Or are we going to walk straight into a cleanup crew’s thermal optics?"Kael leaned heavily into Lucien, his breath coming in ragged, shallow bursts. "I can

"Which is exactly why the Directorate won't be checking it for human life," Lucien countered, his voice cutting through the rising rumble of the mountain like a blade through silk. "They assume we are rational actors, Arthur. Rational actors avoid death. We, however, are currently past the point of rationality."Arthur hefted his welder, the heavy iron casing scraping against his knuckles. "I prefer the term 'desperate,' Lucien. There’s a distinct difference between being crazy and having no other options. My gear is already screaming about atmospheric instability. We’re deep."Kael stumbled, his knees buckling for a split second before Lucien caught him, hauling him upright with a strength that betrayed his past as a desk-bound corporate titan. "Focus, Kael. The intake vein. Show us the way."Kael blinked, his eyes rolling back to reveal a flash of bioluminescent static that flickered like a dying bulb. "It’s… right there. Behind the pressure seal. Can you feel that? The hum? It’s no