CHAPTER 71: THE BELIEVER

BO

The kitchen was warm. Steam rose from the pot on the stove. I stirred the broth slowly, watching the vegetables tumble in the liquid. The scent of herbs filled the air. Rosemary. Thyme. A hint of garlic.

I was making snacks for the Omegas who worked the night shift. Simple food. The kind that stuck to your ribs and kept you going through long hours.

Then I heard it.

Footsteps. Quick and urgent. Voices raised in the hallway just outside the kitchen. Not shouting. But loud enough to carry. Excited. The kind of noise people made when something big had happened.

I turned down the heat on the stove. Wiped my hands on my apron. Walked toward the doorway.

Three Omega girls stood in the corridor. Their heads were close together. Their hands moved as they talked. One of them saw me and her eyes went wide. She elbowed the girl next to her.

They all looked at me.

"What is going on?" I asked.

The first girl opened her mouth and then closed it before she looked at the others.

I felt my jaw tighten. These girls were supposed to be working. The hallway floors needed scrubbing. There were linens to fold. Instead they were standing here gossiping like they had nothing better to do.

Lazy. That was what they were. Push-overs who did the bare minimum and spent the rest of their time talking.

But I was curious. Something had happened. Something big enough to pull them away from their duties.

"You haven’t heard?" the second girl said. Her voice was breathless. Like she had been running.

I looked at her and waited.

"The Grand Luna," the third girl said. She leaned forward. Her voice dropped to almost a whisper. "She doesn’t have the rot."

I felt something cold slide down my spine.

"What?" The word came out sharper than I intended.

"She was poisoned," the first girl said. "It wasn’t the rot at all. Someone was poisoning her."

My heart started beating faster. I kept my face neutral. Calm. I was just another Omega hearing shocking news.

"How... How... did they find out?" I asked.

The girls exchanged glances again. The second one smiled. Like she was about to tell me the best part of the story.

"Funny story actually," she said. "The new Omega Luna. She was the one who exposed it. Can you believe that?"

My stomach dropped.

"She must be really good," the third girl added. She turned to look at me directly. Her eyes were bright with something. Interest maybe. "You’re close with her, right? Given you were put in her charge?"

I ignored the question. Pushed past it like it was nothing.

"Have they gotten anyone?" I asked. "This is big."

"Yes," the first girl said. She nodded rapidly. "Ten people. They brought them in for questioning. Some sentinels were among them too."

Ten people.

The knot in my stomach tightened. It pulled taut like a rope about to snap.

"Who would do such a thing?" I said. I made sure my voice sounded horrified. Shocked. Like the thought of someone poisoning the Grand Luna was the worst thing I had ever heard.

"Well, they got six Omegas," the second girl said. She started counting on her fingers. "Mira. Nella. Tessa. Rynn. Sola. And Verena."

Each name hit me like a stone. But I kept my face blank. Concerned but not panicked.

"And four sentinels," the girl continued. "Kayden. Marcus. Jorin. And Thale. Makes sense, you know? They were all in charge of the Grand Luna’s care at some point."

Kayden.

The knot in my stomach twisted. Became something sharp and painful. Something that made it hard to breathe.

"I have to check on the food," I said quickly.

I turned and walked back into the kitchen. My legs felt wooden. Stiff. Like they did not quite belong to me.

The girls’ voices faded behind me. They went back to their gossiping. Already moving on to the next piece of news. The next scandal to pick apart.

I grabbed the dish I had been preparing. The snacks were ready. Still warm. I packed them carefully. My hands moved on autopilot while my mind raced.

Kayden was caught.

They had Kayden.

I picked up one of the plates and left the kitchen. I moved through the corridors toward the Luna Suite. My heart was pounding. Fast. Strong. I could feel each thump in my throat, almost like someone was pushing from the inside.

I needed to think. I needed to figure out my next step. But first I needed a place where no one would look for me. A place where I could breathe.

The suite was silent when I reached it. I knocked and waited. Nothing. I knocked again, harder this time.

Still nothing.

I pushed the door open. The sitting room was empty. The bedroom door was open too. Also empty.

She was gone. The new Luna was not here.

Good.

I set the dish on the table. My hands trembled, and the plate rattled against the wood. The sound felt sharp in the quiet room. Too sharp. Too loud. It made my pulse jump even more.

I stared at the food I had made. Then at the door.

"Luna Fia?" My voice scraped out of me. High. Unsteady. I sounded like someone begging.

There was no answer.

I checked the bathroom. Empty.

She was really gone.

I walked back to the main door and locked it. The click sounded final. Heavy. I leaned against it and pressed my forehead to the wood. I stood there for a long moment, breathing in slow, shaky pulls.

Then I took out my phone.

My hands would not stop shaking. I had to unlock the screen twice before it opened. I scrolled through my contacts until I found his name.

Alpha Aldric.

I pressed call. Lifted the phone to my ear. Each ring crawled by, slow like something dragging through mud.

Then he answered.

"How did this happen, Bo?" His voice exploded through the line. Rage crashed into me. "Tell me how the fuck this happened!"

I flinched. Closed my eyes.

"I don’t know," I whispered. The words felt thin. Almost hollow.

"You don’t know?" His shout hit my ear like a slap. "This has been running clean for a long while now. No mistakes. No suspicion. Everything was perfect. Then suddenly the whole plan is blown open? Especially when Morrigan is so close to croaking out?"

"I heard the new Luna figured it out," I said. My voice was quiet again. Small.

Silence filled the line. Not empty. Heavy. Sharp. I could almost feel him thinking.

"I thought she was just an Omega," he said at last. His voice had changed. Low now. Cold. "What happened? Are you useless after all?"

The words slid straight under my ribs. They cut deeper than they should have. They landed in places where old wounds lived. Places I never spoke about. Places he knew how to hit.

"Fix this," he said. "Fix this before it’s traced back to me. They still believe Gabriel is responsible for all this mess and I have to keep it that way. Do you understand?"

"Yes," I said.

"If you cannot do it," he continued. "Tell me now. Tell me so I know what to do next. So I can handle this myself."

I straightened up. Pulled away from the door. My reflection stared back at me from the mirror across the room. I looked so pale and frightened. But nothing could take away my determination.

"I am your greatest soldier," I said. My voice was stronger now. "I believe in your mission. I... love you. I will fix this. Nothing will be traced to you."

I took a breath.

"They got Kayden," I said. "But it will end there. I will make sure to take him out. Whatever they know dies with him."

"So the bitch gets to live then?" Aldric asked.

I hesitated. "We will cross that river. I assure you."

There was another pause. I could hear him breathing on the other end. Thinking.

"Perhaps I underestimated the Omega," he said finally. "Make her a problem for Cian. If you survive this."

"Of course, Alpha," I said.

The line went dead.

I stood there for a moment. The phone still pressed to my ear. The silence on the other end ringing louder than any words.

I had not gotten to say I love you again.

I lowered the phone. Stared at the screen. His name was still there. Alpha Aldric. The man I had followed for years. The man whose vision I believed in. The man who would reshape everything.

And now it was all falling apart.

No. This was fixable. I could fix this.

Kayden knew things. Not too many things. But he did know me. I also knew Kayden would not talk. Not now at least.

But... He was not invincible. He would be broken eventually. Before that happened I had to make sure he would not talk. Whatever it took. Whatever I had to do.

Fia had figured out the poison. Had exposed everything. She was smarter than i thought. More dangerous than I had expected.

Perhaps getting close to her was dangerous to my safety.

No. No. No

Make her a problem, Aldric had said.

So I had to do just that and proximity helped. But first... Kayden.