đș Chapter III: The Traitor's Truth
The Moon was a crimson disc tonight, fitting for the blood Lia intended to spill. She had chosen the old sparring groundsâa clearing tucked deep into the woods, far enough from the manor that no passing guard could hear the struggle, but close enough to the sacred spring mentioned in the pack records. He won't escape his destiny here, she thought, the silver dagger cool against her palm.
Lia had lured him with a simple, irresistible claim: she had felt a strange, irresistible pull toward this clearing fueled by their bond, an urgent need to meet him here alone. Kael, protective and mystified by the Mate Bond's unpredictable nature, arrived quickly, his Alpha aura a palpable force even before she saw him.
"Elara, what is this?" Kael's voice was low, tinged with concern as he scanned the empty woods. "This place is far too exposed. Tell me what you sensed."
She turned, her face a mask of false distress that quickly melted into cold fury. "I sensed the truth, Alpha," she spat, tossing the innocent picnic basket she carried aside. The silver dagger was in her hand, the blade catching the moonlight. "I sensed the place where you sent your wolves to slaughter my family."
Kael's granite eyes widened, not in fear, but in devastating comprehension. The surprise vanished, replaced by an ancient, weary sorrow. "Lia. I knew you would not be able to hide forever."
"Lia is dead!" she screamed, taking a swift, aggressive step toward him. The Mate Bond screamed in protest, twisting in her chest, but Lia drowned it out with ten years of bottled-up hate. "She died with the scent of burning flesh in her lungs! You did this! You gave the order!"
She lunged. It wasn't a wolf attack, but a rogue's desperate strike. The silver tip grazed his arm, drawing an immediate, dark line of blood. Kael didn't attack back. He didn't even shift. He simply caught her wrist, immobilizing her with terrifying ease.
"Yes," he said, his voice raw, close to her ear. "I took the blame. But look at me, Lia. Look into the bond the Moon Goddess forced between us, and tell me I am the monster you seek."
"You are worse!" She struggled wildly, tears of pure hatred finally flooding her eyes. "The log. The order to 'neutralize immediate threat.' I saw it! I know you are the killer!"
Kael's grip tightened, an intense, fiery heat radiating from his skin. The pain wasn't just physical; the Mate Bond was turning the shared nerve endings into agony. He released a low, gut-wrenching growl, not of rage, but despair.
"The log is real, Lia, but the threat wasn't your parents. It was Valerius."
His words hit her with the force of a full shift. Lia froze, her breath catching. "Valerius? Who...?"
"My brother," Kael confessed, the word tasting like ash. "My rogue brother. The unit deployed that night? It was led by him, wearing the Pack uniform, carrying my sigil. He wanted the sacred spring for himself. He wanted to shame me, weaken my reign, and watch me fall."
Kael shoved the dagger away and trapped her body against his, his powerful chest heaving. "I tracked him immediately. I followed the scent of the blood back to that clearing. I found your parents, Lia... and I found Valerius standing over their bodies, laughing. He hadn't just murdered them for trespassing on the spring; he did it to frame me."
The moonlight illuminated Kael's face, revealing the depth of his decade-long secret. "I killed him, Lia. I killed my own brother right there and then. But the damage was done. If I had revealed the truth, my pack would have been plunged into civil war. I took the shame. I took the blame to protect the only family I had left."
The silence was deafening, broken only by the frantic beat of Lia's heart. Her hatred, the solid foundation of her life, had just been vaporized. The man she had hunted was a victim tooâforced to kill his kin and bear the guilt of another's atrocity.
Then, the true drama began. As the shock paralyzed Lia, the energy of the Mate Bondânow fueled by Kael's terrifying, honest confessionâreached a fever pitch. A sudden, searing heat radiated from Kael's chest, mimicking the wound she had grazed with the silver.
Lia cried out, not from the physical pressure, but from an overwhelming internal sensation. A bright, burning scar, the color of fresh crimson, suddenly manifested high on her collarbone, mirroring the shallow cut on Kael's arm.
"What is this?" she gasped, touching the burning skin.
"The Moon Goddess," Kael whispered, his eyes wide, looking at the same mark appearing on his own chest. "The bond is complete. It is not just Mate, Lia. It is Blood Bond. Your hatred and my confession have sealed it."
The Blood Bond, a legend among werewolves, was the ultimate declaration of destiny: an intense, inescapable connection that ensured either absolute unity or agonizing mutual destruction. The pain from the mirrored wounds was a warning.
Kael's touch was no longer gentle; it was desperate, possessive, and fiercely protective. He lowered his mouth to the new scar on her neck, tracing the fresh mark with his tongue, instantly turning the raw pain into an electrifying wave of belonging.
"You are mine, Lia," he growled, the Alpha claiming his destiny. "We are tied by fate and by the blood of my traitor brother. You almost destroyed me, but now you will help me destroy the rest of his lingering shadows. This ends here, but our fight is just beginning."
Lia could no longer fight. The truth had disarmed her; the blood bond had enslaved her. The monster was gone, replaced by a tragic, fierce man who had sacrificed everything. Her revenge was shattered, replaced by an intensely hot, inescapable need to protect the mate she had almost murdered.
The dagger clattered to the ground, forgotten.