Chapter 31: She Will Bleed
The heavy iron doors banged shut, but the air inside the grand hall remained charged, thick with the lingering, toxic scent of Kaleb’s unchecked aggression.
"Why did you do that?" Kat demanded, her voice cracking. She wiped a fresh streak of tears from her face, her hands trembling. "You know the laws of the Grand Council, Kaleb! No one touches a messenger. You’re inviting their executioners to our gates!"
"And no one touches my son! Especially not her!" Kaleb roared back, his golden eyes flashing with a dangerous, erratic light.
"Instead of throwing useless threats around, why don’t you just give her the truth so my baby can come home?" Kat screamed, the sweet scent of her perfume completely souring with grief.
"I will not do this on her terms!" Kaleb snapped, his jaw locking so tightly the bone pop echoed in the quiet room. A vibration rattled in his chest as his wolf paced restlessly beneath his ribs, demanding blood.
"She has to bleed for this!" the beast growled viciously in his mind. "You are the Alpha King! She has crossed the line. Mocked your crown!"
Kaleb turned to stalk away, needing to escape the suffocating weight of his own panic. But before he could take two steps, Kat threw herself to the floor, her fingers clawing desperately at his leather boots.
"Please, Kaleb," she begged, her voice breaking into a raw, pitiful sob. "I am begging you. Just bring my son back."
Kaleb looked down at her, his expression hardening into an unyielding mask of ice. "My decision is final. She will bring him back on her knees, or it will be the last thing she does in this lifetime."
Without an ounce of warmth, he reached down, peeled her gripping fingers off his leg, and shoved her away.
Kat collapsed against the stone floor, watching him walk away. She pressed one trembling hand tightly over her pregnant stomach, trying to steady the erratic rhythm of her heart. "If you won’t bring him back," she whispered, her voice suddenly dropping, "then I will have no choice but to do whatever it takes to bring my child home myself."
Kaleb froze in his tracks. He snapped around, his nostrils flaring as he caught the scent of her defiance. He didn’t even look at her as he bared his fangs at his Beta. "Daniel. Take her to her quarters and lock her inside until she regains her goddamn senses."
"What? You can’t do this to me, Kaleb!" Kat shrieked, scrambling to her feet as her eyes widened in disbelief. "What the hell has come over you?"
She barked the question after him, but Kaleb didn’t stop walking, his heavy boots clicking rhythmically until he vanished into the dark corridors. Daniel stepped forward, his expression grim as he reached for her arm, and Kat exploded.
"Don’t you dare lay a single hand on me! Don’t even think about it, Beta!"
—
Hours later, the mountain air grew biting and cold.
Up on the private overlook of BloodVeil, Rhea paced the stone ledge. Inside her chest, River was completely feral, clawing restlessly against her ribs as Rhea craned her neck every few seconds, her sharp silver eyes scanning the tree line for any movement in the dark woods.
Suddenly, River lifted her phantom ears, a low rumble vibrating in Rhea’s throat. "He’s back. I smell the rider."
Rhea’s gaze snapped to the tree line just as the midnight messenger broke through the fog. Without wasting a single heartbeat, she gathered her cloak and flew down the stone stairs, her breathing shallow as adrenaline flooded her veins.
The moment her boots hit the bottom, a BloodVeil enforcer stepped out of the shadows, his expression grim. "The Alpha King has summoned you to the private council room," the warrior said, his voice flat. "Immediately."
Rhea didn’t argue. She followed him, her strides quick and urgent. When she pushed open the heavy oak doors of the private room, the suffocating wave of alpha pressure almost pushed her back.
Adam sat at the head of the table, his massive frame rigid, flanked by Bernard and the elder war councilors. Their faces were carved from stone.
"What happened?" Rhea asked, striding directly to the center of the room to stand before the battered messenger.
The rider looked up at Adam, who gave a slow, dark nod. With trembling fingers, the messenger pulled back his torn tunic, exposing his throat. Rhea’s eyes widened, her breath catching in her throat. A deep, jagged laceration marred his skin, still oozing dark blood where a blade had been pressed hard enough to kill.
"Did Kaleb do this?" she whispered, her heart hammering against her ribs.
"That is only the preamble, Rhea," Adam said, his deep baritone dropping into a dangerous, growling register that made the air in the room grow thick. His amber eyes burned with an icy, suppressed irritation. "My nephew has left a personal message for you."
The messenger swallowed hard, his voice cracking as he repeated the threat. "He says you have until sunrise. Bring his son back, crawl on your knees to beg for his forgiveness, or he will march the entire Ironfang pack into this valley and burn BloodVeil to the ground with every one of you trapped inside the ash."
A sharp, mocking laugh escaped Rhea’s lips before she could stop it. She tilted her head, her silver eyes glinting with amusement. "He never learns. He thinks a bigger title makes his teeth sharper."
"He just threatened the total annihilation of my pack, and you are standing there laughing?" Adam shot back, slamming his massive fist against the table. The wood groaned under his strength, his dominant alpha musk flooding the room in an angry wave. "The joke is over, Rhea. Give back the boy."
Rhea’s head snapped toward him, her amusement instantly evaporating into pure ice. "No way," she snapped, her voice cutting through his alpha pressure like a razor. "That is not happening."
"It is already too late for a debate," Bernard cut in, his tone cold and practical. "The boy is currently being retrieved from the servants’ quarters by my enforcers as we speak."
Rhea’s stomach dropped. No. They couldn’t. If Kaleb got the boy back now, she would lose the only leverage she had left.
"No! You will not touch him!" she roared, her silver eyes flaring blindingly as she took a predatory step toward the Beta. Her hand instinctively darted beneath her furs toward her blade.
"I brought that pup across the border. He is my leverage, and he is my responsibility! No one in this house has the right to undo my work, and anyone who tries will have to go through me first!"
Bernard’s hand dropped to his sword. Rhea’s fingers tightened around her blade.
Nobody in the room breathed.
