KAEL'S POV
"Asher's alive."
Aria's voice broke on her brother's name as she stared at the photo, her whole body shaking. The picture showed Asher chained to a concrete wall, blood crusted on his face, eyes hollow with pain but unmistakably alive.
Three months. They'd kept him prisoner for three months.
"It's a trap," Luna said, her voice tight. "They left this here to lure us somewhere. To finish us off."
"I don't care if it's a trap!" Aria whirled on us, tears streaming down her face. "My brother is alive and being tortured! We have to save him!"
"We will," I promised, though my mind was racing through impossible scenarios. "But we need to think—"
"There's no time to think!" Aria grabbed the photo, studying it desperately. "Look at the background. Concrete walls. Metal pipes. This is a basement somewhere. And Maya—they said she dies at dawn. That's less than six hours away!"
She was right. The sky was already starting to lighten outside the windows. We'd wasted the whole night breaking into an empty office while Cross moved his pieces into position.
"The photo was taken recently," I observed, looking closer. "That blood is fresh. Asher's still wearing the same shirt from three months ago, but it's been washed. They're keeping him alive for a reason."
"What reason?" Aria demanded.
"Leverage," Luna said quietly. "They knew you'd come looking for him eventually. They've been waiting for you to show up so they could use him against you."
My phone buzzed. Another text from the unknown number.
"Want to see your friends alive? Come to the old gymnasium. Basement level. Alone. Both of you. You have one hour. Bring anyone else, and we kill the hostages. Try anything clever, and we kill the hostages. Your choice. —Cross"
"The old gymnasium," Luna said. "That building's been abandoned for ten years. It's on the far edge of campus, past the forest. No one goes there anymore."
"Because it's the perfect place for an ambush," I said grimly. "They'll have guards. Weapons. Probably tranquilizers to take us down without killing us—they'll want to make our deaths look like accidents, like all the others."
"So what do we do?" Aria asked. "We can't just walk into a trap, but we can't let Maya and Asher die either!"
I looked at Luna. "Can you track our phones? Create some kind of backup?"
"Already on it," Luna said, typing rapidly. "I'm setting up a dead man's switch. If you two don't check in with me every fifteen minutes, everything I've collected—all the evidence, all the files, everything—automatically uploads to every news outlet in the country. Cross won't be able to stop it."
"That's smart," I said. "But we need more than that. We need—"
"Marcus," Aria interrupted. "You said he was loyal. Can he help?"
I pulled out my phone and called Marcus. He answered on the first ring, sounding wired on adrenaline.
"Dude, that fire alarm thing was INSANE," Marcus said. "Campus security is losing their minds. What's going on?"
"I need you to trust me," I said. "And I need your help. Life or death situation. Are you in?"
Marcus didn't hesitate. "Always. What do you need?"
I explained quickly—the hostages, the trap, the timeline. Marcus listened without interrupting, and when I finished, he was quiet for three seconds.
"You're telling me the Academy's been murdering students for years?"
"Yes."
"And you've got proof?"
"Luna has it all. But we need to save two people first, and we're walking into an ambush."
"Then you need backup," Marcus said firmly. "Give me twenty minutes. I'll bring reinforcements. Good people who'll believe us."
"Cross said to come alone—"
"Cross is planning to kill you anyway," Marcus cut me off. "At least this way you'll have a fighting chance. Trust me, Kael. Twenty minutes."
He hung up before I could argue.
"Marcus is gathering backup," I told the others. "We've got twenty minutes to plan our approach."
Luna pulled up a blueprint of the old gymnasium on her laptop. "The building has three entrances—front, back, and a service entrance on the east side. The basement level has one main room and two smaller storage areas. If they're holding the hostages in the basement, they'll probably be in the main room."
"Which is exactly where they'll expect us to go," Aria said.
"So we split up," I suggested. "Aria and I go through the front entrance—the obvious choice. We keep Cross's attention while Marcus and his backup come through the service entrance and flank them from behind."
"That's still risky," Luna warned. "You'll be outnumbered. Outgunned. And the second they see you're not alone, they'll kill the hostages."
"Then we need a distraction," Aria said. "Something that makes them focus on us completely. Something unexpected."
An idea sparked. Dangerous. Possibly suicidal. But it might work.
"The mate bond," I said slowly. "Cross doesn't know about it. He thinks we're just two students investigating. But if he sees an Alpha and Omega bonding in front of him—actually completing the mate bond—it would shock him. Distract him. Give Marcus time to get into position."
Aria's eyes widened. "You want us to complete the mate bond? Now? In the middle of a rescue mission?"
"Not complete it," I clarified. "Just... start it. Enough to trigger the scent change and make them realize what's happening. Alphas and Omegas bonding is rare, powerful. It would throw them off balance."
"That's insane," Luna said. But she was smiling. "It's also brilliant. Cross is obsessed with genetics and bloodlines. Seeing a mate bond form would distract him completely."
Aria looked at me, her expression unreadable. "You'd do that? Risk the mate bond just to save my brother and friend?"
"I'd do anything to stop Cross," I said honestly. "And to save your family. You're not alone in this anymore, Aria. We're partners."
Something shifted in her eyes—trust, maybe. Or something deeper.
"Okay," she whispered. "Let's do it."
We had fifteen minutes before Marcus arrived with backup. Fifteen minutes to prepare for a confrontation that would either save everyone or get us all killed.
Luna gave us earpieces so we could communicate. She'd stay outside the gymnasium, monitoring from her laptop, ready to release the evidence if things went wrong.
"If you're not out in thirty minutes, I'm uploading everything and calling the real police," Luna said firmly. "Not campus security—actual police. FBI if I have to."
"Deal," I said.
Marcus arrived with six other Alphas—students I recognized from combat training. Strong, capable, and furious when Marcus explained what the Academy had been doing.
"We're ready," Marcus said, checking his watch. "Let's go save some people and take down some murderers."
We moved through the pre-dawn darkness toward the old gymnasium. The building loomed ahead, windows broken and dark, looking like something from a horror movie.
Aria's hand found mine, squeezing tight. "Thank you," she whispered. "For believing me. For helping."
"Thank you for being brave enough to come here," I replied. "Asher would be proud."
We reached the front entrance. Marcus and his team split off toward the service entrance, disappearing into the shadows.
Aria and I stood at the main doors.
"Ready?" I asked.
"No," Aria admitted. "But let's do it anyway."
I pushed open the doors.
The gymnasium was empty, dark except for light spilling from a stairway leading down to the basement. We descended slowly, every step echoing in the silence.
At the bottom, Professor Cross waited with four guards. And behind them, chained to opposite walls—
Maya, gagged and terrified.
And Asher, barely conscious but alive.
"Right on time," Cross said, smiling like a shark. "How predictable. Now, let's discuss the terms of your surrender—"
The lights went out.
Gunfire exploded in the darkness.
Someone screamed.
And when emergency lights flickered on three seconds later, Professor Cross was gone.
So was Asher.
Only Maya remained, still chained to the wall, eyes wide with terror.
And scrawled on the concrete in fresh blood were five words:
"CATCH ME IF YOU CAN. —RK"