Chapter 50 - Duplicity

Kai explained to his mother about what had happened so far with Adalyn, her kidnapping and his suspicions about the council.

"Have you told your father about this?" Ophelia asked concerned.

"No, and he doesn't need to know. Mother he's sick enough as it is. I'll sort this out on my own"

"Kai! Why are you like this? You don't need to fight the world on your own!"

"Mother please..."

Ophelia huffed. "You do realise the cat is pretty much out of the bag with regard to her though, right? Half the guests saw what happened and how you reacted around her. Your father should at least hear from you that's she's your mate."

“Okay, I’ll tell him about her,” Kai conceded. It would honestly be a miracle if his father didn’t already know with the amount of people that saw what had happened.

"About the council, I can keep quiet about that for now..."

Kai sighed with relief. He didn't need his sick father having to worry the betrayal of some of his own council.

"But!" she added. "On the condition that you keep me in the loop on anything new that you find out. As the lady of this house, I won't tolerate threats against my children. ANY of my children. Is that understood?"

"Yes," he nodded. His mother could be scarier than his father and Matias combined sometimes.

"Good." Feeling more satisfied Ophelia smoothed out her dress and stood up. "I'll check back in on you both later" She patted her hand on Kai's face affectionately then left

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Adalyn slowly started to wake up. Her whole body felt heavy and stiff and her throat was itchy and dry. As she looked around, she couldn't recognise where she was but it smelled of Kai's familiar peppermint and oak scent which offered her some comfort. Sensing the presence of another in the room, she rolled her head over to face the other side of the bed. Kai was sleeping quietly next to her, holding her hand. Even asleep he looked gorgeous. His hair was slightly dishevelled and he had on a loose black t-shirt and matching sweat pants.

Memories of what happened at the ball slowly started to return to her. She could recall the fear and pain she felt in her throat and then after that everything went black.

As she shifted in the bed she noticed a drip attached to her arm on the opposite side of her. Something bad must have happened for her to be laid up like this.

Her mouth was now really dry and she was desperate for water. She turned her head back to face Kai and tried to call his name. "Kai..." It came out as a little squeak but instantly roused him.

Kai blinked a little before his eyes fully opened realising that Adalyn was awake. He sat up and crawled a bit closer to her. "Hey, you're awake. Are you okay?"

Adalyn tried to speak but just trying to say his name early with such a dry mouth had her coughing and spluttering.

"Woah, hang on." Kai leaned over the side of the bed and retrieved a large bottle with a greenish liquid in it. He held her head up then tentatively brought the bottle up to her mouth.

"Take a few sips."

Adalyn took a small sip then coughed again both at the feel of it relieving her dry throat but also at how bad it tasted. She scrunched up her face reflexively at the bitter taste.

"I know it doesn't taste very nice, but try and swallow some okay. It will help." Kai brought the bottle up to her mouth again, and she forced down a bit more. Despite the bitter taste, the relief to her mouth and throat was still satisfying.

"Where am I? What time is it?" The sun was already high in the sky and streaming in through the balcony doors.

"You're in my bedroom. It's about midday You've been out for a couple of days."

"A couple of days??" Adalyn asked a bit louder this time. She tried to sit herself up.

"Woah, woah. Take it easy. I know you heal pretty fast, but you're still not well enough to get up yet."

"But I..."

Kai held on to her shoulders to stop her from getting up. "Relax, I spoke with your friend, Leona. She called on your phone yesterday. I know she knows about us, so I answered when she rang. She said she'd cover for you, with your aunt. She said she already agreed with you to cover for you for Friday night. You were planning to stay?"

Adalyn blushed a little as she recalled their conversation at the ball and how she had intended to spend the night with him. She nodded silently and Kai gave her a small smile in response.

"What happened? I feel like I've swallowed a car battery."

Kai frowned just recalling what had happened. "Somebody put something in your drink. You gave me a real scare."

Kai stared down at the end of the bed. He was still feeling guilty and was struggling to look at her in the face. "I'm sorry. This is my fault. I shouldn't have allowed myself to get too relaxed. I should have been more observant. Somebody must have recognised you and took the opportunity to take advantage of the situation."

"It's alright. I'm okay."

"No, don't say it's okay. It's not okay. You nearly died." Kai held on to her hand and with the other hand he started balling up the bed sheet in frustration. "Arrow and I have been trying to work out who's responsible whilst you have been asleep. We've been speaking with the staff that were working in the ballroom that night, but from the alibi's we've gathered, it's not any of them, which makes us think it was somebody that shouldn't have been working there that night. If you saw a picture of them, do you think you could recall the face of the person that gave you the drink? "

"Yeah, I think so" Adalyn replied.

"Good. We have photo books of the staff here so I'll get Arrow to bring them up so you can take a look, if you're feeling up to it."

Adalyn nodded silently and then stared in the palm of his hands.

Kai quietly mind linked Arrow to come up before he noticed her apprehension. "What is it?" Kai asked softly. He held on to the hand that she was staring at to see if anything was wrong with it.

"Someone really seems determined to hurt you don't they..." Adalyn looked up at Kai with a concerned look in her eyes. With everything that had just happened she was worried more about him than herself.

Kai swept a hand over her cheek. "You're really worried about me after what has just happened? You don't need to. As long as you're okay that's all that matters. I'd feel a lot more at ease if I can find out who did it and get you out of the palace. Too many people already know about us now and I don't know who I can trust here anymore."

Kai looked over towards the door sensing Arrow's presence. "Arrow's here... do you think you have the energy to take a look at those photos now?'

"Yeah sure..." Adalyn nodded.

Arrow knocked then came in. He had a thick book binder under his arm. and a smaller paper wallet "Hey Ady, you're looking better since I last saw you." He gave her a sympathetic smile. He handed the thick binder over to Kai who then laid it out in front of her.

"Take your time going through them. If anyone matches or resembles who you saw, let me know."

"Okay..." Adalyn opened the book and slowly started going through the pages

Arrow mind linked Kai, *'Can we talk in private for a moment?'* he asked through the link.

Kai looked over at him curiously as to why he was trying to hide this from Adalyn.

*'Sure,'* Kai responded.

Kai sat up from the bed. "Arrow and I will be just outside for a moment. Call for me if you spot anything."

Adalyn nodded then continued to flick through the book.

Kai didn't want to go far from her so he led Arrow out on to the balcony. Arrow closed the door behind him as he followed him out.

"What is it?" Kai asked him cautiously.

"Sorry, I didn't want to bring this up in there but I thought it was important for you to know sooner rather than later."

Kai's eyes widened. It was rare for Arrow to get so serious so quickly. "Go on." Kai prompted.

Arrow opened up the other paper wallet that he was carrying. "You know you asked me before to dig some more in to Adalyn's family. Gabriel specifically, but her aunt Mya as well."

Kai nodded.

"Well, I was finally able to get some of the pack registries for Eclipse Fang in Grayson's absence. I searched for their full names in the records and all three of their names came up like they did in the original search that I carried out." Arrow pointed his finger down the list where their names were highlighted.

"Their birth records appear and they all show under Eclipse Fang."

Kai raised an eyebrow puzzled. He was convinced that they were born outside of Galas. It would explain why his alpha tone didn't work on Adalyn and why Gabriel didn't feel any sense of intimidation by him.

"Not what we were expecting right? Given what you mentioned about your alpha tone not working on her. So, I dug a little more and I found these duplicate records under the same names. Adalyn Caddel, Mya Caddel and Gabriel Masters."

"Duplicates?" Kai wasn't following.

"Right, these duplicate names are actually the original owners of these entries, but they were erased and replaced with Adalyn's family details. If you look at the original records here...." Arrow pointed across the page for each of the highlighted names.

"Deceased?" Kai recalled.

"Right. The original Adalyn, Mya and Gabriel died 12 years ago in a house fire. Then their identities were erased and assumed by whoever is living in that house now."

"What does that mean?" Kai asked confused.

"It means...whoever is sat in your bed right now, is not Adalyn Caddel. Whoever she is, she's not traceable. There's no way of knowing who she is or where she's come from. Grayson would have had to be involved to get this updated in their register. I don't want to say this but, with him missing, there's every possibility that this was part of a bigger collusion with some of the other council members, perhaps in attempt to get her close to you for malicious reasons. It could even explain why they made it so easy for us to find her when she was originally kidnapped."

Kai couldn't comprehend any of this. In his mind he had believed Adalyn and her family were refugees or rogues from Sirran but from what Arrow was describing, it sounded like they were deliberately trying to hide who they were, but for what reason? Kai had never sensed any level of deception from her, even though her childhood recollections were pretty vague. He also couldn't believe that Grayson, the Eclipse Fang alpha, could have been involved in any attempt on his life. He was one of the few good ones. None of this added up.

"For what purpose? This doesn't make any sense. Even if she's not who she says she is, she's my fated mate Arrow. You can't fake that. To suddenly present her to me, they would have had to have known that we were fated mates before I even knew about her. How would that even be possible? And how could they convince her to go along with it, if the plan was to kill her in the end?" Kai swept the hair out of his face and sighed. He was constantly unearthing more questions than answers. He started pacing over to the other side of the balcony.

"Think about it Kai, the more time you spend with her the stronger your bond becomes, even if you haven't claimed her yet. It's not incomprehensible to think that they would have handed her to you and then decided to remove her from the equation now that you've gotten closer. She might not even know about that part. If she were to die now there's no telling what the impact would be on you now."

Arrow didn't want to believe Adalyn was involved with the council either but he also couldn't deny the deception laid out in front of him in black and white. "I don't want to believe this either, but until we find and speak to Grayson, there's no way to confirm that's she's not involved. The only option you have right now is to take a step back and be more cautious around her. Where you've not yet claimed her, taking some space from her would reduce the strength of your bond and reduce the risk."

Kai sighed again. "It's too late for that Arrow. This is beyond her just being my fated mate. Regardless of who she is, even if there is a chance she's involved somehow, I can't walk away from her."

"What do you mean?" Arrow asked as his eyes followed Kai's pacing.

Kai turned and looked at his friend. "I can't deny these feelings anymore. I'm in love with her."