Chapter 161

Nobody moved after Ryder spoke.

The silence inside the house became painfully tense as the meaning behind his words settled over all of them. Ariana could feel the pressure in the room changing again, heavier now, tighter around the edges. Kael stood near the doorway without moving, but the stillness in him no longer felt controlled. It felt dangerous.

"And Mira woke up asking for you, Alpha."

The words lingered heavily in the air.

Ryder already looked uncomfortable for being the one forced to deliver them. His breathing was still uneven from rushing there, and the tension in his face made it obvious the situation outside had worsened faster than expected.

Kael’s jaw tightened visibly. "Who else knows?"

"The council," Ryder answered carefully. "And most of the healers."

Ariana immediately felt her chest tighten.

Of course they knew.

Nothing stayed hidden inside wolf territory for long, especially not something connected to the Alpha bond. By now the rumors were probably already spreading through the packs.

The Fifth Blood destabilized the bond.

The Alpha’s Lycan rejected its chosen mate.

The council lost control.

Kael looked at Ryder again, his expression growing darker with every passing second. "What exactly happened?"

"The healers said the bond reacted after the council wolves left here," Ryder explained. "Mira collapsed soon after. They tried stabilizing it, but something keeps resisting."

Ariana understood the meaning immediately.

Not something.

Someone.

The Lycan.

Kael understood it too. She saw it in the sharp shift that crossed his face before he forced it back under control.

Ryder hesitated before continuing. "The council thinks your connection with Ariana is interfering with the bond directly."

Kael let out a quiet laugh under his breath, though there was absolutely no humor in it.

"Interfering," he repeated.

Nobody answered him because everyone in the room already understood the truth was far worse than that.

The bond was not weakening because Ariana was interfering with it.

It was weakening because the Lycan was rejecting it.

Ariana crossed her arms tightly, trying to steady herself against the tension pressing through the room. "So what happens now?"

Ryder glanced toward Kael before answering carefully. "The council wants Alpha Kael brought to the healers’ hall immediately."

Kael’s expression hardened. "Brought."

The single word carried enough warning that Ryder instinctively straightened.

"They think reconnecting the bond quickly might stabilize Mira before it breaks completely," Ryder explained.

A cold feeling settled in Ariana’s stomach.

Reconnect the bond.

The words felt wrong now after everything she had learned. Nothing about the bond sounded natural anymore. Not after discovering Mira forced it into existence in the first place.

Kael remained silent beside her, but Ariana could feel the tension building beneath his control again. It was not panic. It was conflict.

"You can’t seriously be considering this," she said quietly.

Kael did not answer immediately, and somehow that silence hurt more than she expected.

Ryder looked increasingly uncomfortable standing between them. "The council’s afraid," he admitted quietly. "If the bond breaks publicly, the territory will panic."

Kael finally looked directly at him. "So they’d rather force it back together."

Again, Ryder had no answer.

The silence stretched heavily through the room before Kael finally turned toward Ariana. The moment he looked at her, the tension in his expression shifted into something quieter and far more difficult to ignore.

"I need to go there," he said softly.

Ariana stared at him. "Why?"

"Because if I don’t, the council will use this against you before sunset."

The truth of it landed immediately.

Ariana already understood what the wolves would assume if Kael refused to go to Mira. They would see it as proof that he had already abandoned the bond for Ariana. The Fifth Blood would become the reason the Alpha line destabilized, and once the council convinced the territory of that, the wolves would stop seeing her as an outsider.

They would start seeing her as a threat.

Kael stepped closer slowly. "I’m not going there for the bond."

"Then why does it sound like you’re leaving anyway?"

Something painful crossed his expression after that because he understood exactly what she meant.

"You think I’m going back to her."

Ariana looked away briefly before answering. "I think the council wants you to."

Kael exhaled slowly and closed the remaining distance between them. "The council wanting something doesn’t mean I do."

The honesty in his voice made her chest tighten again, but fear still lingered beneath it.

Not fear of Mira.

Fear of what the bond could still force.

"You said the bond was forced," Ariana said quietly. "But it still affects you."

Kael held her gaze steadily. "Not like before."

The answer settled heavily between them.

Ariana searched his face carefully, trying to decide whether that reassured her or made everything worse. Because the truth was obvious now. The bond was weakening, and something else was replacing it.

Ryder awkwardly cleared his throat, immediately regretting it when both of them looked toward him at once.

"The council won’t wait long," he said carefully.

Kael’s expression hardened again. "I know."

Ariana looked toward the doorway where wolves still waited somewhere beyond the trees. "You think they’ll blame me publicly."

"Yes," Kael answered immediately.

The speed of the answer made her stomach tighten.

"They already wanted someone to blame," he continued. "Now they think they found one."

Ariana crossed her arms tighter against herself. "And if Mira dies?"

The question changed the room instantly.

Ryder looked away.

Kael went completely still.

Nobody answered because none of them wanted to say the truth aloud.

If Mira died while the bond collapsed, the territory would turn against Ariana completely.

Kael stepped closer again before speaking quietly. "She’s not going to die."

But Ariana noticed something immediately.

He sounded like he was trying to convince himself too.

Outside, movement shifted faintly through the trees again. More wolves were gathering now, watching the house from the shadows while rumors spread through the territory faster than any of them could stop.

Then Kael reached for her without warning.

His hand closed firmly around hers, grounding her attention back on him immediately.

"Ariana."

The way he said her name made her chest tighten painfully again.

"You stay here," he said quietly.

Ariana stared at him in disbelief. "Absolutely not."

"Ariana..."

"No." She stepped closer immediately. "You really think I’m letting the council drag you into that place alone while they blame me for destroying the bond?"

Kael’s expression tightened. "That’s exactly why you can’t come."

"And that’s exactly why I am."

For several seconds they simply stared at each other while tension stretched tightly between them.

Then Kael lowered his voice slightly. "If they provoke the Lycan there, I don’t know what happens next."

Ariana’s heartbeat quickened. "But you know what happens if I stay behind."

The silence between them became painfully real because they both understood the truth.

If Kael walked into the healers’ hall alone while the bond destabilized around Mira, the council would try to force him back into it.

And if Ariana stayed away, they would try to erase her from the equation completely.

Kael closed his eyes briefly like he already understood there was no good outcome left.

Then Ryder suddenly stiffened near the doorway.

"Alpha," he said carefully.

Kael looked toward him immediately. "What?"

Ryder swallowed hard before answering. "The council sent Mira’s brother."

The room went completely still.

Ariana frowned slightly. "Mira has a brother?"

Ryder nodded once, but the tension in his expression changed enough to make Ariana’s stomach tighten before he even continued.

"He’s outside."