Chapter 25
Dahlia’s POV
“Indispensable p>
The word felt like a slap. It wasn’t a word for a father; it was a word for a line of credit or a piece of machinery. It sat there between us, cold and metallic, poisoning whatever was left of the air in the master bedroom.
Nate looked at me with those intense, calculating eyes, and for a terrifying second, I didn’t recognize him. This wasn’t the man who had held me while I cried. This was the Alpha of Silver-Crest, a man who had spent so much time playing political chess with the Elders that he had started seeing his own flesh and blood as the most powerful pieces on his board.
“They aren’t assets, Nate,” I said, my voice coming out as a low, dangerous vibration. My hands were shaking, not with fear, but with a sudden, sharp clarity. “They’re children. And the second you decided they needed to be ’useful’ to this pack was the second you became exactly what we were running from p>
I didn’t wait for him to find a way to justify it. I knew he had a hundred excuses; safety, survival, the greater good and I didn’t want to hear a single one. I turned and ran.
“Dahlia! Stop!” Nate’s voice cracked like a whip behind me. It was the Alpha’s command, a heavy, invisible weight that tried to slam into my spine and force my knees to the floor.
I felt the pressure of it, that ancient, biological urge to obey, but my wolf didn’t give a damn about his rank.
She was too busy baring her teeth at the thought of our pups in a cage. I shoved through the command, my lungs burning as I sprinted down the long, glass-walled corridor.
Everything about this house; the minimalist art, the polished stone, the “perfect” lighting felt like a lie. It was a sterile, high-end prison, and I had been stupid enough to walk right into the cell.
I hit the heavy doors of the medical wing at a full tilt, the scent of antiseptic and cold electricity hitting me like a physical blow. It was too quiet. That was the first thing that set my teeth on edge. No kids laughing, no Aidan complaining about being bored, just the hum of the HVAC system and a rhythmic, electronic chirp coming from somewhere deep inside the hall.
I rounded the corner into the observation gallery. A massive pane of reinforced glass looked into a white-walled room. My breath hitched.
Ariana and Aidan were huddled together on a bench in the corner. They looked tiny, their faces pale under the harsh LED lights. Two guards stood by the door, armored and expressionless, looking more like statues than men. But it was Axel who made my blood turn to ice.
He was sitting on a stainless steel exam table in the center of the room. His shirt was gone. Tiny adhesive pads were stuck to his chest, his ribs, and his temples, with thin black wires trailing off him like a web. Elena was standing over him, her face lit by the blue glow of a tablet. She looked like she was checking a grocery list, not monitoring the heartbeat of a terrified six-year-old.
Axel wasn’t moving. He was staring at the far wall, his hands resting palm-up on his knees. The silver patterns under his skin; the “Heart” Nate was so obsessed with weren’t just shimmering. They were pulsing. They looked like liquid mercury moving under his skin, frantic and bright.
“Get him off that table,” I growled, kicking the door open.
Elena jumped, her heels clicking sharply on the tile. “Dahlia, stay back. We’re in the middle of a baseline scan. We need to see how the Heart responds to p>
“I don’t care about your scan!” I lunged for Axel, but the guards were faster. They stepped into my path, their massive frames blocking my view of my son. They didn’t draw their weapons, but they put their hands on their belts in a silent threat. “Move. Now. Or I will end you both p>
“Stand down p>
Nate’s voice roared from the hallway. He stepped into the room, his presence so heavy it felt like the oxygen had been sucked out of the space. The guards instantly backed off, bowing their heads, but Nate wasn’t looking at them. He was looking at the monitors.
“Dahlia, look at the screen,” he said, his voice strained, almost pleading. “We’ve found the frequency. The Heart isn’t just power; it’s a beacon. If we can map it, we can build a dampener. We can hide him from the Elders’ seekers. This is how we keep him p>
“By poking him with needles?” I screamed. I pushed past Elena and reached the table.
Axel’s eyes slowly drifted to mine. They weren’t brown anymore. They were flat, metallic silver, reflecting the room back at me like two mirrors.
“Mommy?” His voice was hollow, like it was coming from the bottom of a well. “The machines… they’re loud. They’re telling me I’m not supposed to be here p>
“You’re okay, baby. I’ve got you.” I reached for the sensors on his chest, my fingers fumbling with the adhesive. “We’re going. We’re leaving this place p>
“Dahlia, don’t!” Nate grabbed my wrist. His grip was firm, his eyes flashing a frantic, desperate gold. “If you interrupt the flow now, you’ll trigger a surge. He’s grounded into the house’s power grid. The house is built into the mountain’s veins for a reason. You’ll hurt him p>
“The only thing hurting him is you!” I snarled. I twisted my arm, using my weight to break his grip.
As soon as I ripped the first sensor from Axel’s chest, the room changed.
A high-pitched, screaming whine erupted from the monitors. The silver lines on Axel’s palms erupted. It was a blinding, white-hot light filled the room, smelling like burnt hair and a coming storm. The observation glass didn’t just crack; it disintegrated, showering the room in a rain of crystalline dust.
“Axel!” the other two kids screamed, diving under the bench.
The floor began to vibrate, a deep, tectonic groan that felt like the mountain itself was waking up. Metal objects, surgical trays, pens, Elena’s tablet began to slide across the floor, drawn toward Axel like he was the center of a collapsing star.
Nate tried to reach him, his Alpha aura flaring out like a physical shield to try and dampen the energy, but the air around Axel was a wall of static. It threw Nate back, slamming him against the far wall with a bone-crunching thud.
I didn’t think. I didn’t care about the physics or the “surge.” I saw my son’s face crumple, his small body shaking as the energy of the mountain poured into him, far too much for one little heart to hold.
“Axel! Look at Mommy!” I threw myself into the static. It felt like walking into a fire made of needles. My skin crawled, my hair stood on end, and the taste of copper filled my mouth. “Axel, honey, let go! Just let go p>
I grabbed his hands.
The world didn’t just explode; it opened up.
I wasn’t in the room anymore. I was somewhere dark and ancient. I felt the weight of the ridge above us, the thousands of tons of stone, the ancient spirits of the pack, all of them pressing down, trying to find a voice through my son. I saw Axel standing in that darkness, holding a ball of white fire that was slowly consuming him.
It’s too heavy, his voice echoed in my head. Mommy, make them stop.
You don’t have to carry it, I told him, wrapping my soul around his. Drop it, Axel. Let the mountain have its fire back. You’re just a little boy. You don’t owe them anything.
A massive, silent shockwave ripped through the air.
I was back on the floor of the medical wing. The lights were out, the only illumination coming from the red emergency strobes. Silence followed, heavy and suffocating.
I was holding Axel. He was limp, his breathing shallow and jagged. The silver lines had faded to dull grey marks, and his skin was cold to the touch. Around us, the room was a total loss. The machines were melted husks, the floor was scorched, and the air was thick with the smell of ozone.
Nate was on his knees a few feet away, blood trickling from a cut on his forehead. He stared at the wreckage of his million-dollar facility with a look of pure, unadulterated horror.
“He almost brought the roof down,” Nate whispered. There was awe in his voice, and that was the final nail in the coffin. He wasn’t worried that Axel was hurt; he was amazed at the “output.” “If the Elders see that… if they realize he can tap into the ley lines p>
“They won’t see it,” I said. I stood up, my legs shaking, but my resolve was like iron. I hauled Axel into my arms, his head lolling against my shoulder. Aidan and Ariana scrambled over to me, clutching my legs like lifelines. “Because we’re done. I’m taking my children, and we are disappearing. And if you try to use that ’Alpha command’ on me one more time, Nate, I will tell Axel to finish what he started. I will let him level this entire ridge p>
Nate looked up at me, the red light of the emergency strobes making him look like a demon. “Dahlia, be reasonable. You can’t protect them out there. They’re too powerful now. They’ll be hunted p>
“They’re already being hunted,” I said, stepping over the glass toward the exit. “By their own father p>