Chapter 126

**ROSALIE**

The silence in the control room is oppressive. I thought I would find Alex here, typing furiously on his keyboard, but I am alone. I am not a computer expert, but I know enough to find the recordings from the border cameras. I start watching them, hoping that one of my colleagues will join me soon. They're all panicking, everyone is trying to understand how our plan could have failed, but the others, like me, don't even know where to start. I watch the video from the northern border and... my mind must be playing tricks on me because it looks like a piece is missing. I rewind, press play, and again, and again, and again. A piece is missing.

Like a whisper, a small voice speaks in my head. The plan was Alex's, and he's in charge of community security. He's glued to his screens all the time; he would have noticed if something was wrong. Unless... My thoughts stop when I hear the office door close. I don't need to turn around to know who has just entered and to know that I'm in trouble. 

“Why did you do that? You've been part of this community for years. Adam is your friend.”He sniffs, his footsteps approaching me. “You're so naive, Rosalie. You're all so naive.” He sits down on the chair next to me and I turn to look at him, but I struggle to recognize the man in front of me. His gaze is hard and his features severe. "This can't go on. These children must not be born. Damn it, Rosalie! How can you agree with this?“

”How can you say that?" I ask him incredulously, trying to concentrate as hard as I can to send a message to Aria.

“This is beyond us. It's beyond me, but it's beyond you too. You have to think beyond this community, beyond their family.” He shakes his head. "It's unnatural. Vampires, werewolves, witches, and humans have lived side by side for millennia. That's how things should be. I really like you, and I like the others too, believe me, but babies? It's not possible. They'll never let hybrids be born naturally without transformation. We both know what that would mean. You can't deny it.“ 

”Of course I know what it would mean. It would prove that harmony is possible. That living together is possible."He bursts out laughing and shakes his head. I take advantage of this distraction to focus my powers and contact the others while trying to knock Alex down with my magic, but he doesn't budge an inch.

“Seriously, Rosalie? Did you think they would leave me unprotected, you...”

He is cut off by the door bursting open, revealing a furious Cassius, followed closely by Adam, Austin, Fares, and a large number of deltas. The room suddenly seems too small and drained of all energy, and complete darkness envelops me. 

**ADAM**

The crash of splintering wood echoed down the corridor as Cassius broke the door clean off its hinges. He didn’t hesitate, just stormed inside with Austin and a dozen deltas flanking him. My chest tightened as I followed them in, though I already knew what we’d find.

Alex.

He didn’t fight. Didn’t scramble. He just looked up from the console, eyes calm, almost detached, as if he’d been waiting for this moment. That calmness cut deeper than any blade. It was confirmation. A truth I had refused to accept until now.

Rosalie was at my side, her lips moving in a silent spell, her hand trembling as she tried to bind him. But nothing happened. Her magic slid off him like water on glass. Her eyes widened, and then she swayed. Before I could catch her, she crumpled to the ground.

“Rosalie!” Austin lunged, scooping her up a heartbeat before her head hit the floor. His voice was sharp, commanding, though I caught the undercurrent of panic. “Two of you—take her to the doctor. Don’t leave her side until Aria and Leila are with her. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Alpha!” Two deltas rushed forward, lifting her with care. They were gone in an instant, boots pounding against stone.

The room was heavy with silence now, broken only by the hum of machines still running under Alex’s hand. He looked at me—no, through me. As if I was nothing more than another problem he had already calculated a solution for.

I stepped closer, the anger inside me coiled tight, sharp as a blade. “Stand up.”

He obeyed, slow, deliberate. That obedience hurt more than defiance would have. It reminded me of all the times he had stood beside me, listened to me, fought with me, laughed with me. The friend I thought I had known was a mask, and I had been blind enough to believe it.

Betrayal burned in my gut, but shame… shame was worse. We had trusted him with everything. With our plans. With our lives. With Aria’s safety, and by extension, the lives of our unborn children. And all the while, he had been playing us.

Stupid. That was the word that looped in my head like poison. We had been so stupid.

I didn’t trust my voice, so I focused on the task. My hands were steady as I reached for the enchanted chains we’d brought, forged with silver and inscribed with runes meant to hold even the strongest hybrid. I approached him slowly, carefully. If Rosalie’s magic hadn’t touched him, then he had protections—layers of wards that could be hiding gods-knew-what. The wrong move could trigger anything.

“Don’t resist,” I said quietly. Not a command. A warning.

Alex tilted his head, almost amused, though his mouth never curved into a smile. “You think you’re ready for this, Adam?”

My throat tightened. Hearing my name on his lips was like a knife twist. There was too much familiarity in it, too much history. He wasn’t just a traitor—he had been my friend. Someone I had leaned on, trusted, confided in. And now every shared memory was corrupted, every word retroactively tainted.

I snapped the cuffs around his wrists. The runes flared briefly, reacting to his energy, then dimmed. He didn’t flinch. Didn’t fight. Just stared at me, his eyes flat, unreadable.

Austin moved to my side, his presence a steadying force. He growled low, unable to hide the disgust in his voice. “Get him out of here.”

I nodded, though my gaze stayed locked on Alex. I forced myself to breathe evenly, to keep my fury buried under the surface. Not here. Not yet. There would be time to demand answers. There had to be.

I guided him out of the control room, step by step, my grip iron on his arm. Around us, the deltas kept a tight formation, their faces grim, their silence heavy. No one spoke. No one dared.

And in the hollow space of that silence, all I could hear was my own voice, whispering the truth I didn’t want to face: We hadn’t just lost a comrade today. We had lost a friend we never truly had. And that made fools of us all.