Chapter 13
Royal instinct saved me.
I dropped beneath the blade — the silver edge passing so close it sliced three strands of hair — and drove my palm upward into the attacker's jaw.
His head snapped back. I grabbed his weapon arm, twisted, and felt the satisfying crack of bone. He crumpled.
Four left. Closing in fast.
"ARIA!" Serena screamed from her cell. "BEHIND YOU—"
I spun. A silver knife sailed past my ear, embedding in the wall behind me. The second attacker was already lunging.
My wolf surged to the surface — eyes blazing gold, Royal aura erupting from me in a shockwave.
Two of the attackers staggered, their wolves cowering involuntarily under the Alpha pressure.
I used the opening. Grabbed attacker two by the throat, slammed him into attacker three. They crashed into the wall.
The fourth came from the side — faster than the others. Trained. Professional.
His silver blade caught my arm. The burn seared through me — hot, toxic, weakening.
But I was the daughter of Alpha King Dominic Cross.
Silver slowed me down. It didn't stop me.
I caught his wrist, redirected the blade into his own thigh, and kneed him in the temple as he buckled.
The fifth attacker hadn't moved. He stood at the end of the corridor, watching. Calculating.
Then he removed his mask.
I didn't recognize his face. But the Council insignia tattooed on his neck told me everything.
"The Celestial Wolf," he said calmly. "Vale was right. You're too dangerous to live."
He raised something — not a weapon. A device. A detonator.
"This facility is rigged," he said. "If I press this button, the entire underground structure collapses. You, me, the prisoner — all buried."
"Then you die too," I said.
"I'm a soldier. I accepted death the moment I took this mission."
The alarms continued screaming. Somewhere above, I could hear combat — my father's warriors engaging hostiles.
"My mother sends her regards," the man said. And I realized with ice in my veins — he wasn't talking to me.
He was talking to Serena.
Serena's face behind the barrier was pure terror. "Marcus — Marcus, please — Mom promised she'd get me OUT—"
"Plans change." He looked at her with cold pity. "You were always the loose end."
His thumb moved toward the button.
"THE DRIVE IS IN THE LIBRARY!" Serena screamed at me. "Ashford University library — basement archives — locker 847 — combination is my birthday — PLEASE DON'T LET ME DIE—"
The man pressed the button.
Nothing happened.
He pressed it again. Again. His face shifted from calm to confusion to fear.
Behind me, a voice like thunder:
"Did you think I'd let you waltz into MY territory without disarming your toys first?"
My father stepped from the smoke like a god of war. His generals flanked him, weapons drawn. The corridor filled with black-armored warriors.
The fifth attacker tried to run.
My father caught him by the throat with one hand. Lifted him off the ground like he weighed nothing.
"You'll tell me everything about the Vale faction," my father said calmly. "Every name. Every safehouse. Every plan."
The man spat blood. "I'll die first."
"Oh, you'll wish for death." My father's eyes burned crimson. "But I won't grant it for a very, very long time."
He handed the man to his generals. Then he was at my side, checking my wounded arm, his hands gentle despite the fury radiating from every pore.
"Are you hurt?"
"Just a scratch. Dad—" I grabbed his arm. "Serena talked. The proof exists. Ashford University library, basement archives, locker 847."
My father's eyes flared. He turned to his general.
"Send a team. NOW. Secure that drive at all costs."
The general vanished.
I looked back at Serena's cell. She was collapsed on the floor, sobbing uncontrollably.
"They — they tried to kill me—" she wept. "My own mother — she was going to bury me alive—"
I looked at this broken, pathetic woman who had tortured me. Who had tried to end my life. Who had torn my trauma open for entertainment.
And I felt nothing.
No sympathy. No pity. No rage.
Just cold clarity.
"The deal," Serena begged through tears. "Please — the deal — I gave you the information—"
I crouched at the barrier's edge.
"If the drive is real," I said quietly, "I'll recommend exile instead of life imprisonment."
"Thank you — thank—"
"But Serena." I held her gaze. "If it's not real. If this is another lie. Another trick."
I let my eyes flash gold.
"I'll put you in a cell so deep that even God won't find you."
She nodded frantically. "It's real. I swear on everything — it's real."
I stood and walked back to my father.
Behind us, the alarms finally went silent.
Above us, the battle was over.
And somewhere in a university library, the truth about my mother's murder was waiting to be found.
I dropped beneath the blade — the silver edge passing so close it sliced three strands of hair — and drove my palm upward into the attacker's jaw.
His head snapped back. I grabbed his weapon arm, twisted, and felt the satisfying crack of bone. He crumpled.
Four left. Closing in fast.
"ARIA!" Serena screamed from her cell. "BEHIND YOU—"
I spun. A silver knife sailed past my ear, embedding in the wall behind me. The second attacker was already lunging.
My wolf surged to the surface — eyes blazing gold, Royal aura erupting from me in a shockwave.
Two of the attackers staggered, their wolves cowering involuntarily under the Alpha pressure.
I used the opening. Grabbed attacker two by the throat, slammed him into attacker three. They crashed into the wall.
The fourth came from the side — faster than the others. Trained. Professional.
His silver blade caught my arm. The burn seared through me — hot, toxic, weakening.
But I was the daughter of Alpha King Dominic Cross.
Silver slowed me down. It didn't stop me.
I caught his wrist, redirected the blade into his own thigh, and kneed him in the temple as he buckled.
The fifth attacker hadn't moved. He stood at the end of the corridor, watching. Calculating.
Then he removed his mask.
I didn't recognize his face. But the Council insignia tattooed on his neck told me everything.
"The Celestial Wolf," he said calmly. "Vale was right. You're too dangerous to live."
He raised something — not a weapon. A device. A detonator.
"This facility is rigged," he said. "If I press this button, the entire underground structure collapses. You, me, the prisoner — all buried."
"Then you die too," I said.
"I'm a soldier. I accepted death the moment I took this mission."
The alarms continued screaming. Somewhere above, I could hear combat — my father's warriors engaging hostiles.
"My mother sends her regards," the man said. And I realized with ice in my veins — he wasn't talking to me.
He was talking to Serena.
Serena's face behind the barrier was pure terror. "Marcus — Marcus, please — Mom promised she'd get me OUT—"
"Plans change." He looked at her with cold pity. "You were always the loose end."
His thumb moved toward the button.
"THE DRIVE IS IN THE LIBRARY!" Serena screamed at me. "Ashford University library — basement archives — locker 847 — combination is my birthday — PLEASE DON'T LET ME DIE—"
The man pressed the button.
Nothing happened.
He pressed it again. Again. His face shifted from calm to confusion to fear.
Behind me, a voice like thunder:
"Did you think I'd let you waltz into MY territory without disarming your toys first?"
My father stepped from the smoke like a god of war. His generals flanked him, weapons drawn. The corridor filled with black-armored warriors.
The fifth attacker tried to run.
My father caught him by the throat with one hand. Lifted him off the ground like he weighed nothing.
"You'll tell me everything about the Vale faction," my father said calmly. "Every name. Every safehouse. Every plan."
The man spat blood. "I'll die first."
"Oh, you'll wish for death." My father's eyes burned crimson. "But I won't grant it for a very, very long time."
He handed the man to his generals. Then he was at my side, checking my wounded arm, his hands gentle despite the fury radiating from every pore.
"Are you hurt?"
"Just a scratch. Dad—" I grabbed his arm. "Serena talked. The proof exists. Ashford University library, basement archives, locker 847."
My father's eyes flared. He turned to his general.
"Send a team. NOW. Secure that drive at all costs."
The general vanished.
I looked back at Serena's cell. She was collapsed on the floor, sobbing uncontrollably.
"They — they tried to kill me—" she wept. "My own mother — she was going to bury me alive—"
I looked at this broken, pathetic woman who had tortured me. Who had tried to end my life. Who had torn my trauma open for entertainment.
And I felt nothing.
No sympathy. No pity. No rage.
Just cold clarity.
"The deal," Serena begged through tears. "Please — the deal — I gave you the information—"
I crouched at the barrier's edge.
"If the drive is real," I said quietly, "I'll recommend exile instead of life imprisonment."
"Thank you — thank—"
"But Serena." I held her gaze. "If it's not real. If this is another lie. Another trick."
I let my eyes flash gold.
"I'll put you in a cell so deep that even God won't find you."
She nodded frantically. "It's real. I swear on everything — it's real."
I stood and walked back to my father.
Behind us, the alarms finally went silent.
Above us, the battle was over.
And somewhere in a university library, the truth about my mother's murder was waiting to be found.