Chapter 6

Bloodline and Betrayal

(Ella’s POV)

The night was too still.

I had learned to fear silence more than noise—it meant whispers were hiding beneath it.

From my chamber window, the Black Mist pack’s fortress looked like something out of an old tale. Watchtowers, torches, and dark spires blazing in the darkness. It was beautiful in a ruthless way, like Kael himself—cold steel wrapped in a velvet glove.

But beauty meant nothing when every shadow made me wonder if someone was watching me, waiting for me to slip, waiting for proof that I didn’t belong here.

That I wasn’t meant to be Kael’s mate.

A flicker of movement caught my attention. Below, near the east wing, a small group of guards stood too close together, voices hushed but urgent. My hearing sharpened. One advantage of being a wolf—I could catch things humans couldn’t.

“…the girl carries it. His heir. But if the blood is tainted—”

My stomach dropped.

“…what if the prophecy is true? The cursed bloodline reborn?”

I gripped the stone sill so hard it dug into my palms.

They were talking about me. About my child.

Heat rushed to my face, panic and rage tangled together. I wanted to storm down there, to bare my teeth and demand answers, but fear kept me rooted. Fear for the tiny heartbeat inside me, the one I hadn’t even told Kael about yet.

I took a step back and pressed my stomach with my shaking hand.. The words replayed in my head like knives: cursed bloodline.

What did they know that I didn’t?

Morning came too quickly, bringing no peace. The council was convening in the great hall, and Kael wanted me there. His voice, when he’d told me, had left no room for argument.

I should have refused. I should have run. But the bond—the cursed bond—pulled me into his orbit.

Banners of silver and black wolves bordered the enormous great hall.. The long table was carved from dark oak, heavy with history and power. Councilors sat like vultures, their gazes sharp, their whispers sharper.

Kael sat at the head, a king without a crown. His presence filled the room, commanding silence the moment he lifted his hand. His eyes—those merciless silver eyes—found mine briefly, grounding me, even as the pit in my stomach deepened.

“We speak today of threats to the pack,” Kael began, his voice cutting through the tension like a blade. “The rogues at our borders are not random. They move with purpose. Someone is leading them.”

One councilor, old and wolf-bent, leaned forward. “And the girl?” His gaze flicked to the night of the attack, she showed up.. Fate may have bound her to you, Alpha, but bloodlines… bloodlines carry curses.”

The words were deliberate, and the hall seemed to close in around me.

Kael’s jaw tightened. “Careful.”

But the councilor pressed on. “Her pack is gone. Slaughtered. Do we even know why? Or is she here to finish what her family started?”

My chest constricted. Gasps rippled through the room.

I wanted to scream that I was innocent. That I had lost everything.that I was the one who survived, not the curse. But the weight of so many eyes held me silent, and Kael’s warning glare—don’t speak—burned into me.

The meeting dragged, every word heavy with suspicion. By the time it ended, I was suffocating. I fled before Kael could stop me.

But I didn’t make it back to my chamber.

My feet carried me to the forbidden wing—the old archives, sealed since the time of Kael’s father. Dust hung thick in the air, the scent of old parchment and secrets filling my lungs.

I don’t know what I expected to find. Maybe nothing. Maybe hope.

But what I found shattered me.

The records weren’t just history. They were blood-soaked truths.

I traced trembling fingers over the scrolls, each word hammering into me.

“The massacre of the Silver Crest pack, ordered by Alpha Alaric Carter.”

Kael’s father.

My pack.

My family.

The words blurred, my vision swimming with tears I refused to shed. My heart pounded so hard it hurt.

It hadn’t been rogues. It hadn’t been chance.

It had been the man whose blood ran in Kael’s veins.

The bond between us seared like fire. I wanted to claw it out of me, to tear it from my soul.. Fate had tied me to the son of my family’s murderer.

“Ella.”

His voice. Behind me.

I turned, scroll clutched in my fist, fury and betrayal burning hot enough to scorch.

Kael stood in the doorway, silver eyes darkened with something unreadable.

“You knew,” I hissed.

His brow furrowed. “What did you find?”

I threw the scroll at his chest. “Read it. Read it!”

He caught it, his gaze flicking down. When he looked back up, his expression was carved from stone.

"That was my father's doing," he said in a low, menacing voice.

“Your father’s doing?” My laugh was broken, jagged. “My entire pack was butchered. My parents, my friends, everyone. And you—” My voice cracked. “You share his blood.”

For the first time, Kael looked almost human. His jaw clenched, his hand tightening on the scroll until the parchment crumpled.

“I didn’t know,” he said finally. “I swear it.”

But how could I believe him? The bond pulled, yes, but trust? Trust was ash.

“You should have told me,” I whispered.

“I didn’t know,” he repeated, and this time his voice cracked like thunder. “Do you think I would hide this from you? That I would take you as my mate, knowing?”

The hall between us was heavy with everything unsaid.

I wanted to believe him. Moon above, I wanted to. But the ghosts of my pack howled louder.

“Blood doesn’t lie, Kael,” I said coldly. “And yours runs red with theirs.”

---

The bond tugged painfully that night, a cruel chain dragging me toward him even as my heart rebelled. I lay awake, staring at the ceiling, my hand protectively over my stomach.

For the first time, I hated the bond.

For the first time, I wondered if fate was my enemy.

But dawn brought no answers—only worse news.

Kael burst into my chamber, his face grim. A sealed letter was clenched in his hand.

“What is it?” I asked, already fearing.

He handed it to me. The wax bore a sigil I didn’t recognize, but the scent—wolf, but tainted—raised every hair on my arms.

I broke it open with shaking fingers.

The words inside chilled me to the bone.

“Blood calls to blood. The girl carries the heir that belongs to me. Return her, or watch your pack burn.”

Signed,

Vandar.

Kael’s half-brother.

The world tilted, my stomach lurching. The enemy Alpha wasn’t just coming for the pack. He was coming for me.

And worse—he claimed my unborn child as his.

The letter slipped from my fingers.

The war had already begun.