CHAPTER 155: A TRAP?

He drove fast, like a man with nothing to lose, and he didn’t care about the consequences. Kaito’s mind was restless, chasing every possibility. The enemy they were facing was no ordinary one. This was someone clever, someone who knew the academy and everything that happened inside its walls.

That meant none of them were safe. If anyone was going to protect the academy and keep it standing, it had to be them, not Principal Valois. He couldn’t help but wonder how the other two groups were doing. Deep down he trusted that, no matter what, Hiro and Taros wouldn’t end up in the same mess as they were in now.

"I wish Hiro was here. He could have tried to reach Kael. I’m trying, but you know I’m not as good as him," Renn muttered, flipping through the papers in his hands.

"At least I caught the scent of the bastard who took Kael," Kaito said as he pulled into the school grounds. He forced himself not to think about Kael’s condition. Kael was strong. No matter what, he would handle himself.

"Yeah, but this town feels dead," Renn replied, his eyes roaming the quiet streets. The place had long recovered from the war between werewolves and humans years ago, but it was too calm, too slow. "I managed to translate the writing on the paper. It says something about labs and animals."

"It doesn’t make sense... at least not yet. But whatever it is, they’re ready to kill for it. Let’s get in there and uncover the truth," Kaito said firmly. He grabbed one of the guns, opened the car door, and stepped out.

The security guard was already waiting. Before the man could even lift his weapon, Kaito shot him twice in the legs. Another guard came rushing from behind, and Kaito didn’t hesitate. He fired without mercy, as if the man himself had been the one who kidnapped Kael. Two more burst out of the building, charging at him, but Renn took them down before they could get close.

They waited, guns raised, but no one else came. The silence stretched, heavy and unsettling. Kaito sharpened his senses, listening for the faintest sound. The air was still. Too still. It felt like they were the only ones left.

"We can go in," he said quietly, moving toward the corridor. But as he passed, his eyes fell on the first guard he had shot. The man was still alive, writhing in pain on the ground.

"He’s wearing sunglasses... at night?" Renn frowned in disbelief. He bent down, grabbed the torchlight beside the guard, and switched it on. The beam revealed the man’s face. His breathing was shallow, his body trembling, as if he was standing at the very edge of death.

"Who are you working for?" Kaito’s voice was sharp and heavy with threat, but the guard gave no reply. Kaito squatted and pulled the glasses off his face, and the sight before him made his blood run cold. The eyes staring back at him were not human, they were the same lifeless bluish eyes Evan had when they found his body.

Kaito staggered a step back, his gun aimed straight at the man. "These are the same eyes Evan had when we found him dead."

Renn, who had been scanning the area, turned and froze at the sight. His chest tightened as the truth sank in. If this guard was the same kind of creature as Evan, then it meant something far worse. It meant whoever was pulling the strings, the one commanding them, was the same person who had controlled Evan.

"I think we’ve found our guy," Renn muttered, his voice heavy. He gave a small nod and lowered his gun, though his eyes kept darting around.

"Where can I find your boss?" Kaito asked again, his tone harsher this time. He hated repeating himself. There would be no third time.

"If he won’t talk, let’s just kill him. He’s useless to us," Renn said flatly, raising his weapon and aiming at the guard’s head.

The guard’s lips parted as if to speak, but only blood spilled out, choking him before any words could escape. His body went limp, and his chest stilled.

Kaito’s grip tightened on his gun, anger burning in his chest. "He’s dead. Just like Evan."

"Do you know what he is?" Renn asked with a tired sigh.

"No. And I don’t know what the hell to do next either. How are we supposed to get to Kael now?" Kaito muttered as he stood and walked down the corridor. His eyes caught a door with a name tag that read Principal Office.

"Break it if you don’t have a key," Renn said behind him.

"Obviously, I don’t have a key," Kaito snapped without looking back. He wasn’t in the mood for jokes. All he wanted was to find Kael. And when he did, he swore he would put a bullet straight into the kidnapper’s face. If fate ever allowed that man to live another life, Kaito would hunt him down again and make sure he regretted every second of it.

"I’m trying my best not to get angry because it won’t end well," Renn muttered, shifting his stance as he faced the entrance, keeping watch. "You and I both have bad tempers. We shouldn’t even be working together. This is the worst kind of mix."

Kaito sighed and kicked the door hard with his foot. It flung open without resistance, and strangely enough, he found himself liking the sound of it. "Hand me the torchlight," he said.

"You don’t need it, you can see in the dark," Renn reminded him, but still passed the torchlight over. Once his brother stepped inside, Renn stayed back to guard the hallway. His body was tense, restless, waiting for an unlucky soul to appear so he could release the storm burning in his chest.

Ten long minutes passed before Kaito’s voice came from inside. "Can you come in here?"

Renn pushed the door and walked in. "What happened?" he asked, his eyes catching the piles of files scattered across the table.

"I went through all the files of form three students," Kaito said, his face grim. "There is no record of Angela." He picked up another file and flipped through it. "But then I checked the files of form five students, and here she is. The same name, the same reports, the same grades... but the passport photo and the house address don’t match."

Renn frowned, his mind spinning. "Wait... the name and reports are the same?" He leaned over and stared at the passport. It wasn’t Angela at all.

"Yes. The name is Angela. No surname, just like before," Kaito explained, pointing at the blank space. "Look at her reports. The record of her behaviour, her poor grades, all of it matches her. She was an F student here. But the picture is not hers."

Renn exhaled slowly, his chest tight. He didn’t know what to think. "Maybe this isn’t her file after all," he said weakly, though the doubt was already there.

"I am one hundred percent sure it is hers," Kaito said firmly, his voice low but sharp. "I was the one who gave her admission into the academy. Do you remember?"

"Yeah... Hiro mentioned something like that," Renn admitted. His jaw tightened as the truth began to settle. "This means someone doesn’t want anyone to find Angela."

"That’s right," Kaito muttered darkly. "He is erasing everything about her, hiding her as if it’s meant to be protection. But I don’t believe it’s protection, because if it was, he wouldn’t have tried to kill Hiro... Angela’s mate."

"The person wasn’t trying," Renn argued. His voice grew harsher, more bitter. "Our brother would be dead from that bullet if we hadn’t reached him on time that night." He shook his head. "But what I don’t get is this... if he knew we were coming, why wasn’t the welcome stronger? A few security guards? That’s all? They can’t stand against us. We’re not just ordinary men, we carry power in our blood."

"Wait..." Kaito paused, sliding the files back into place. He grabbed the paper that had the principal’s address written on it and straightened. "Let’s go back to the car."

Outside, nothing seemed unusual, so they got into the car and drove out of the school premises.

"Those papers we found in the truck, can you show me again?" Kaito asked as he kept his eyes on the road. He wanted to take a closer look this time. Renn handed them over, and Kaito studied the sketches carefully. The face was poorly drawn, but clear enough to recognize, and beneath it was a rough scrawl of words: the healer.

"There’s a drawing of Kael here, and they think he’s your Beta?" Renn’s eyes widened in disbelief. He was shocked at how well they captured Kael’s face and powers, yet got his brothers completely wrong. "Wait... they think you’re Taros?"

"Exactly. Whoever kidnapped Kael is after Taros, but he mistook me for him," Kaito said with a shake of his head. His tone carried both anger and mockery. "The person who began this game thought he was clever, but he wasn’t as smart as he believed. I don’t think Evan really knew much about us at all."

"I think his main target was Angela. He couldn’t touch her directly because she was always with us, so instead he tried to scare her, to drive her out of the academy and back into this town," Renn muttered.

"Exactly," Kaito agreed, though his voice grew quieter, unsure. "But what do they want from her..."

He never finished the thought. His eyes snapped back to the road and his heart leapt to his throat as he slammed the brake. A body was lying in the middle of the road, and the car screeched to a halt just inches away.

Kaito’s senses sharpened instantly. The scent that filled the air was familiar. Without hesitation, he stepped out of the car, gun drawn, every muscle tense. Renn stayed behind, his eyes darting around, ready for anything, watching the shadows for danger.

Kaito moved closer, his chest tightening with every step. When the headlights fell fully on the figure, his heart skipped a beat. It was Kael. He was lying unconscious, sprawled across the cold ground, his face pale and lifeless.

Kaito froze, struggling to believe what he was seeing. Kael had been kidnapped by strangers—so how was he here, lying helpless on the road? None of it made sense.

Was this a trap? It felt too easy, far too staged to be real. His gut twisted as his eyes scanned the darkness around them. Was the kidnapper nearby, watching their every move, waiting for them to fall right into his game?