Killian's pov
The interior of the SUV was heavy with silence.
I kept my eyes on the road, my hands steady on the wheel, even though guilt sat heavy in my stomach. I shouldn't have left her. Despite everything Mina had done to lift my mood, none of it had worked. I had never run from a fight in my life, so why had I done it? And why Lucian had not interrogated me about it remains a mystery to me.
My phone buzzed in my pocket. A private line. I didn't need to look to know it was Mina. She was hidden in her grandmother's house three miles from the estate because lately, Lucian had been looking at her like she was something rotten stuck at the bottom of his shoe. When all of this is over, I will need to have a talk with him.
"We're two minutes away from Elias's house."
Lucian said nothing, instead he kept looking out from the window.
I pulled the SUV into the gravel driveway of the small, unassuming human house. Standing on the porch were four of our elite Enforcers—Blood Marshals hand-picked for their lethality. But they weren't standing at attention nor were they being lethal.
They were sitting on the steps, a deck of cards spread between them, laughing as Elias, Elara's father held a beer in his hand.
Before the guards could even register the Alpha's scent, Lucian was on the porch. He simply stood there, and the weight of his aura slammed the four men face-first into the wood.
"Alpha!" one of them choked out, the sound muffled by the porch boards. "We... we were just—"
"You were assigned to watch this house," He stepped over them, his boots grinding into the hand of the man who had been holding the cards. "I didn't send you here to make friends with him."
Elias stood frozen. The beer bottle slipped from his hand and shattered on the porch. The man looked awful, pale and exhausted like he hadn't slept in days.
"Lucian?" Elias wheezed. "What happened? Where is my daughter."
Lucian turned his gaze on the human. The gold in his eyes was blinding. I moved up the steps fast, placing myself close enough to intervene if he decided to tear the man's throat just for asking questions.
"Inside," Lucian said.
We pushed into the house but the moment I stepped through the front door, I noticed something different from the last time we were here.
"Elias," I said, my voice low. "Where are the photos?"
He blinked at me. The walls were covered in pale, empty rectangles where picture frames used to hang. Every photo of Elara was gone.
*That's strange.*
"I... I don't know," Elias stammered, backing into the kitchen. He looked around like he was seeing the room for the first time. "Why are you asking about photos? Did something happen to my daughter?"
Lucian dragged out one of the kitchen chairs and slammed it down hard before sitting it backwards, directly in front of Elias.
"Did you tell anyone about Elara being an anchor?"
"No one! I swear!" Elias cried, his voice cracking.
"Liars always say 'I swear,'" Lucian hissed. "Someone bypassed my wards a few days ago and your daughter was taken, so I will ask again. Did you have anything to do with it."
"I... met a man. He said he was your uncle."
"What man?"
"He looked like you both," Elias whispered, a tear slipped down his cheek. "Only older. He said you were hurting Elara. That you were draining her and that she was dying."
"He is no uncle of mine."
"He promised to bring her back to me!" Elias shouted, grief overpowering his fear. "He said if I gave him my family heirloom, he could use it to protect her from you."
"This heirloom, can you describe it?" I demanded.
"It's a pretty rock, wrapped in some kind of twisted metal. It's been passed down through my family for generations. I even had plans of giving it to Elara on her wedding day."
"The Sanguine Cipher," I said quietly.
Lucian's eyes cut to mine. "It wasn't destroyed. It was hidden with the human."
"Was he with anyone?" Lucian asked.
Elias nodded shakily. "I saw him talking to another man on the road. A tall man. Gray hair. He had a look of a man who doesn't care about hierarchy."
"Did he have a sigil on his lapel?" I asked. "A silver scale?"
Elias nodded slowly. "Yes. If you had given me more time to pay back the debt, my daughter would have been here with me. Safe."
As he wept, a dog ran to him, barking at us with frantic, useless bravery. As Lucian stood up, the animal whimpered and retreated behind Elias's leg.
"The Council," Lucian whispered.
"Think about it," I said, stepping closer. "Who has been fighting Elara's status from the beginning? Who knows the inner working of the pack and lastly whose daughter did you refuse to marry?"
"He tipped Malakor," I continued. "The ward schedules. Everything."
***
We walked back out to the porch. The four guards were still on their knees, sweat pouring down their faces.
"Why wasn't i alerted the moment a stranger stepped on this grass."
The guards began to stutter, their voices thin with terror.
"We thought...we thought he was part of the inner circle. He said you sent him to ensure everything was fine here...we didn't think —."
"Of course you didn't think."
Lucian turned back and gave me one specific look. A look I was accustomed to. And I understood.
I stepped forward. I was on them before the first one could react. A hand to the throat, a sharp twist, a wet crack—then another, and another. Four bodies hit the porch in heavy thuds. The cards scattered at their feet were sprayed red.
"Victor," I snapped into my comms, stepping over the corpses. "Send a fresh squad to Elias's house. Make sure they are committed to doing their job."
I looked at Lucian. Something had changed. The anger was gone and it was replaced by a terrifying, absolute stillness.
"The hunt for the traitor is over," Lucian whispered, his voice sounding like grinding bone. "Now, the massacre begins."