Chapter 133
**ALEX**
The cell was cold, but I didn’t mind. I’d gotten used to worse conditions, years ago, when loyalty meant chains and silence. Here, the walls weren’t damp stone, but rune-etched concrete, reinforced with layers of magic designed to hold someone like me. A trusted friend. A betrayer.
The irony wasn’t lost on me.
I leaned back against the cot, staring at the faint lines of the protective wards that shimmered faintly under the flickering overhead light. I’d built systems for this community—digital ones, invisible barriers woven from code and strategy. But now, I was the one on the inside, and someone else was watching.
It wasn’t the silence that gnawed at me. It was their eyes. Adam’s disappointment. Austin’s anger, poorly masked by forced calm. Aria’s heartbreak. I’d caught her gaze once, as they led me through the hall. That was the worst of all. She’d looked at me the way she must have looked at Riley once—like she’d been burned again, betrayed again.
I hadn’t planned for that.
The sound of the door scraping open pulled me from my thoughts. Fares entered first, his tall frame tense, his fangs barely hidden. Adam followed, sharp-eyed, controlled as ever, but I could see the cracks. He wasn’t the same Adam I’d sparred with, laughed with, worked beside. This Adam was harder, colder.
They didn’t sit. They loomed.
“Talk,” Adam said simply.
I smiled faintly, though it cost me. “About what? The weather?”
Fares stepped forward, his voice low and sharp. “Don’t test us, Alex. You’re not behind a screen anymore. This isn’t code you can hide in.”
I stayed silent. Silence was safer.
But Adam leaned closer, eyes narrowing. “You slipped, you know. The trap—you masked the feeds, but you left a fragment of yourself in the logs. Rosalie found it. You’ve been sloppy. Why?”
I swallowed before I could stop myself. That question wasn’t supposed to matter. I was supposed to be invisible, perfect, the ghost in their system. But I had left something behind, hadn’t I? I hadn’t wanted to, but—
“Maybe I wanted you to know,” I muttered.
Fares’s hand slammed against the wall by my head. “Wanted us to know what?”
I almost laughed. If I laughed, maybe I’d stay sane. But the words came out instead, raw, unguarded. “That I’m not lying to you. That I chose this.”
Adam’s jaw tightened, but he didn’t interrupt.
“Alaric’s right,” I continued, my voice steadier now. “Hybrids are a threat. You think you’re building something new, something better, but all you’re doing is stacking wood for a fire. A fire that will consume everything.”
“You lived with us,” Adam said, voice cutting like glass. “You saw what we built. You called it family. Was that a lie?”
The word family twisted in my chest, sharp as a blade. I forced myself to meet his gaze. “It wasn’t a lie. But it wasn’t enough. You can’t rewrite nature without consequence. I’ve seen
the records—failed hybrids, monstrosities that had to be destroyed. You’re gambling with everyone’s lives.”
“And Alaric?” Fares pressed. “What does he promise you? That you’ll be spared when he burns it all down?”
I shook my head. “It’s not about promises. It’s about balance. About order. Someone has to maintain it.”
I should’ve stopped there. I knew I should have. But fatigue, frustration, and the weight of betrayal pried more out of me than I meant.
“He’s closer than you think,” I said quietly.
Both Adam and Fares went still.
I cursed myself silently. I’d said too much.
Fares’s eyes narrowed. “What does that mean?”
Silence. My only weapon now.
Adam leaned forward, his voice low, deadly calm. “Who’s with him, Alex?”
I didn’t answer. I couldn’t. The wards on the room weren’t the only thing holding me. There were other bonds, deeper, older, and the price of breaking them wasn’t one I was willing to pay.
But my slip had already given them what they needed. I saw it in Adam’s eyes—the spark of certainty. He knew Alaric wasn’t a distant threat anymore. He was here.
Adam straightened, his disappointment sharper than anger. “You were my friend,” he said quietly. “And you chose this.”
Fares’s lip curled, but Adam held up a hand before he could lash out. “He’s said enough. More than he wanted.”
They turned to leave, and the door closed with a hollow thud that echoed through me.
I sat back on the cot, closing my eyes. My pulse thundered in my ears. I hadn’t meant to give Alaric away. But maybe, deep down, some part of me had wanted to. Maybe I wanted them to know what they were facing, even if it came from the mouth of a traitor.
The wards hummed softly, the magic prickling against my skin. I let out a slow breath, whispering into the silence.
“He’s coming.”
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