Chapter 12 – The Ones Who Stayed
Friday, 7:42 a.m.
The Eclipse Penthouse was quiet for the first time in days.
No Lysandra.
No pack of rabid Alphas trying to drag me into the open.
Just Kael asleep on my couch, shirtless, one arm thrown over his eyes, red choker crooked from where I'd tugged it during the night.
I was making coffee when the private elevator chimed twice (my private signal).
I opened the door to two people I never expected to see together.
Asher Yoon – Beta, photography major, campus gossip king, permanently attached to an old Leica camera. Soft brown hair, round glasses, always smelled like darkroom chemicals.
Rei Valdemar – Kael's youngest cousin, fourteen, technically not enrolled yet but lived on campus because no boarding school could handle him. Prime Alpha (already), silver hair like mine, eyes the color of old bruises.
They stood shoulder-to-shoulder like they'd been friends for years instead of mortal enemies for two.
Asher spoke first, voice low.
"We need to talk. About what happened under the lake."
Rei just stared at Kael's sleeping form and whispered, "He knelt."
I let them in.
Asher went straight to the kitchen island, set down a thick black folder, and started spreading photographs.
Rei stayed by the door, arms crossed, looking small and furious.
I poured three cups of coffee. Kael didn't stir.
"Explain," I said.
Asher pushed the first photo forward.
It was me (age sixteen) in the family estate's greenhouse, holding a dead Alpha guard by the throat with one hand.
Next photo: Lysandra watching from the doorway, face unreadable.
Third: Cur on his knees in the underground arena three nights ago, tears on his face.
"I've been following both of you for years," Asher said quietly. "Not for blackmail. For proof. That the world still has monsters worth fearing."
Rei kicked the couch leg. Kael finally opened one eye.
"Get up, idiot," Rei snapped. "Your boyfriend's cousin tried to burn the campus forums last night. Someone leaked the arena footage (no faces, just audio). Cur crying. Lysandra screaming. The entire internet thinks it's a cult."
Kael sat up slowly, hair wild, marks from my teeth still dark on his shoulder.
"And?" he asked.
Rei threw a tablet at him.
The top trending tag: #GhostPrinceCult
Kael looked at me.
I sipped my coffee.
Asher pushed another photo forward (this one new).
Kael on his knees in the arena, my hand in his hair.
But the angle was wrong.
It was taken from directly above.
"There's a second camera," Asher said. "Hidden in the ice. Lysandra didn't know about it. I did. Because I installed it two years ago when I thought you were going to kill Kael."
Silence.
Rei spoke again, softer.
"I watched the footage," he said. "Fifty-seven times. You didn't force him. He just… knelt. Like it was the easiest thing he'd ever done."
Kael stood, walked to me, and wrapped his arms around my waist from behind.
"Say what you came to say," he told them.
Asher met my eyes.
"I'm not here to expose you," he said. "I'm here to help bury it."
Rei nodded.
"And I'm here because if Lysandra comes for you again, she'll have to go through me first. Blood's blood, but Kael's family. And you're his."
I looked between them (the quiet Beta who had secretly protected me for years, and the angry little Alpha who had chosen me over his own species).
Something warm cracked open in my chest.
I set my coffee down.
"Sit," I said.
They sat.
Kael stayed behind me, chin on my head, arms tight.
I opened the folder.
More photos.
Documents.
A list of every student Lysandra had paid to spy on me.
"She's building a case for the Global Council," Asher said. "If she proves you're Enigma, they'll take you. Dissection. Or worse."
Rei snarled. "Let them try."
I traced one photo (me and Kael on the bridge the day her motorcade arrived).
Then I looked at Asher.
"You've been watching me for two years," I said. "Why?"
He adjusted his glasses.
"Because someone had to make sure the monster didn't eat the only decent Apex left."
Kael's arms tightened.
"And now?" I asked.
Asher smiled (small, tired, real).
"Now I'm done watching. I'm on your side."
Rei kicked the table leg.
"Same. But if you ever hurt him," he pointed at Kael, "I'll cut your throat and make it look like suicide."
Kael actually laughed.
I turned in his arms, kissed his jaw.
"Deal," I said.
Then I looked at my two new allies.
"Welcome to the very small list of people I won't kill," I said softly.
Asher exhaled like he'd been holding his breath for years.
Rei grinned (sharp, feral).
"Good," he said. "Because we have work to do."
He pulled out his phone.
"First," he said, "we're deleting every copy of that arena audio. Second, we're framing Cassian Valerius for leaking it. Third—"
Asher interrupted.
"Third, we give Lysandra a new monster to chase."
He slid one final photograph across the table.
It was Cur (on his knees again), but this time in the medical wing, eyes blank, whispering my name over and over.
"Lysandra's dog is broken," Asher said. "And he's starting to remember who broke him."
I smiled.
Kael kissed the top of my head.
"Let's go hunting," he said.
Rei and Asher stood at the same time.
Four shadows against the morning light.
The ghost prince had a pack now.
Small.
Loyal.
Dangerous.
And for the first time since I was fourteen, I didn't feel alone.
I looked at Kael.
He looked back, eyes soft.
"Thank you," I whispered.
He kissed me (slow, reverent).
"Always," he said.
Outside, the campus woke up to a new rumor:
The ghost prince had friends now.
And they looked a lot like war.