Alpha Kael's dangerous Obsession Chapter 75 – The Trap That Was Always Meant for Him

Chapter 75 – The Trap That Was Always ant for Him

POV: Kael

The report arrived just after sunrise.

I knew sothing was wrong before the guard even finished crossing the room.

Warriors who carried ordinary updates didn’t look like they were marching toward an execution.

The young soldier stopped in front of my desk and bowed imdiately.

"My Alpha."

I set aside the docunt I had been reading and looked up.

"Speak."

"Three border scouts failed to report back from the northern ridge."

The room fell quiet.

For a second I simply stared at him.

Missing scouts were not unusual. Injured scouts were not unusual. Wolves occasionally got delayed by weather, rogue activity, or sheer stupidity.

But three experienced warriors disappearing at the sa ti was different.

"How long?"

"Twelve hours."

That was long enough.

I leaned back in my chair, my gaze drifting briefly toward the window overlooking the courtyard.

Below, warriors moved through their morning drills while servants crossed between buildings carrying baskets and supplies. Everything looked normal.

It wasn’t.

Nothing in Blackmoor had been normal for months.

"Any signs of attack?"

The guard shook his head.

"No bodies. No blood. No tracks beyond the border marker."

My jaw tightened slightly.

That made even less sense.

A knock interrupted us before I could respond.

Damon stepped into the office and imdiately noticed the tension in the room.

"What happened?"

"Three scouts vanished."

His expression darkened instantly.

"Where?"

"Northern ridge."

Damon muttered sothing under his breath that sounded suspiciously like a curse.

I couldn’t bla him.

Neither of us liked coincidences anymore.

Not after Isolade.

Not after Seraphina.

Not after discovering half the fortress seed capable of keeping secrets from its Alpha.

The guard remained standing quietly while I considered the situation.

Under normal circumstances I would have sent another patrol to investigate.

Under normal circumstances I would have stayed here.

My gaze shifted again toward the courtyard.

Toward the western wing.

Toward the section of the fortress where Liora’s chambers were located.

A familiar feeling settled heavily in my chest.

I hated leaving her.

The realization irritated every ti it surfaced because it sounded dangerously close to fear.

Not fear for myself.

Fear for what could happen while I was gone.

Soone had already tricked her out of her chambers once.

Soone had already nearly killed her.

Elara was still recovering from injuries she suffered protecting Liora.

The entire fortress sohow knew about the pregnancy despite the fact that I had never formally announced it.

Every day I discovered another reason not to trust the people around .

And now soone expected to leave Blackmoor.

I didn’t like the timing.

I didn’t like the report.

Most of all, I didn’t like the feeling that this was exactly what soone wanted.

"Prepare a patrol," I said finally.

Damon’s eyes narrowed.

"You think it’s real?"

"I think if three warriors are missing, I don’t have the luxury of ignoring it."

"And if it’s a trap?"

I stood from my chair.

"Then whoever set it is about to discover I’m aware of that possibility."

The guard imdiately bowed again before leaving the room.

The mont the door shut, Damon folded his arms.

"You should tell her."

I knew exactly who he ant.

"Liora already has enough to worry about."

"She’s going to find out you’re gone anyway."

"Then she’ll find out after I’ve returned."

Damon looked unconvinced.

Unfortunately, so did I.

---

An hour later I found myself standing outside Liora’s chambers.

The irony wasn’t lost on .

I had spent weeks trying not to hover over her every movent.

Now I couldn’t even leave the fortress without checking on her first.

The guard stationed outside imdiately straightened.

"My Alpha."

I nodded before pushing the door open.

Liora was sitting near the window with a book resting in her lap.

At least she appeared to be reading.

The mont she looked up, I realized she hadn’t turned a page.

Not for a while.

Sothing about that bothered more than it should have.

"You’re staring."

Her voice pulled from the observation.

I stepped further into the room.

"And you’re pretending to read."

A faint look crossed her face.

Not quite amusent.

Not quite annoyance.

Sothing in between.

"I’m getting better at it."

"No, you’re not."

That earned an actual reaction.

A small one.

But real.

For a few seconds neither of us spoke.

The silence wasn’t uncomfortable anymore.

That still surprised sotis.

When we first t, every conversation felt like a battle.

Now it felt different.

Not easier.

Just familiar.

"I have to leave the fortress."

The words imdiately erased whatever calm existed between us.

Her shoulders stiffened.

Only slightly.

Most people wouldn’t have noticed.

I did.

"For how long?"

"A few hours."

"A few hours usually turns into longer."

I almost smiled.

"You’re becoming cynical."

"You spend enough ti around Blackmoor and it becos unavoidable."

Fair point.

I walked closer.

"Liora."

Sothing in my voice made her look at properly.

Not at the Alpha.

Not at the title.

At .

"I’ll be back before nightfall."

The response should have reassured her.

Instead she stared at for a second too long.

"You don’t sound convinced."

That was the problem with intelligent won.

They noticed things.

"I’ll be back," I repeated.

This ti it sounded more like a promise.

She studied carefully.

Then she nodded.

Not because she believed .

Because she understood there was no point arguing.

The realization left a strange weight in my chest.

I turned toward the door.

"Kael."

I stopped.

Her voice was quiet.

"Be careful."

The words followed all the way out of the room.

---

The northern ridge was three hours from Blackmoor.

The journey should have been uneventful.

Instead, the further we traveled, the worse my mood beca.

Nothing felt right.

The forest was too quiet.

The air felt wrong.

Even the wolves accompanying had started noticing it.

Damon rode beside for most of the journey.

Neither of us spoke much.

There wasn’t much to say.

When experienced warriors vanished without explanation, conversations tended to beco shorter.

By the ti we reached the ridge, the silence had beco impossible to ignore.

I pulled my horse to a stop.

The warriors behind us imdiately followed.

Damon scanned the surrounding area.

"I don’t like this."

Neither did I.

The place was empty.

Completely empty.

No signs of a struggle.

No blood.

No broken trees.

No scent trails.

Nothing.

Three wolves had supposedly disappeared here.

Yet the ridge looked untouched.

I slowly dismounted.

Every instinct I possessed started screaming.

Leave.

Now.

The realization ca half a second before the explosion.

The ground erupted beneath us.

Earth blasted upward.

Several horses scread.

Warriors shouted.

The shockwave threw sideways hard enough that I felt sothing crack when I hit the ground.

Pain shot through my ribs.

Before I could fully recover, another explosion detonated sowhere behind .

Then another.

Then another.

This wasn’t an ambush.

It was a battlefield prepared in advance.

"DEFENSIVE FORMATION!" Damon roared.

The order barely finished leaving his mouth before attackers erged from the trees.

Not rogues.

Not random rcenaries.

Trained fighters.

Dozens of them.

My hand found my sword imdiately.

The first man reached .

He died before completing his attack.

The second lasted slightly longer.

The third managed to cut my shoulder before I buried a blade through his throat.

Around the battle exploded into chaos.

Steel clashed.

Wolves shifted.

Blood hit the forest floor.

But even while fighting, I couldn’t shake the feeling that sothing was wrong.

This wasn’t the real attack.

These n were distractions.

A wall.

Sothing designed to occupy .

Then I saw it.

A figure standing farther back among the trees.

Watching.

Waiting.

Holding sothing.

The mont my eyes landed on the object in his hand, every muscle in my body tightened.

A vial.

Not Seraphina’s.

But close enough.

Far too close.

The figure smashed it against a rock.

Dark liquid splashed across the ground.

The reaction was imdiate.

Agony slamd through so violently that my vision blurred.

I staggered.

Not because of any wound.

Because sothing inside felt like it had been set on fire.

No.

Not fire.

Poison.

My stomach dropped.

Soone knew.

Soone knew exactly what had weakened for years.

Soone knew enough to recreate it.

The realization hit harder than any weapon.

This wasn’t random.

This wasn’t political.

This was planned specifically for .

Another attacker rushed forward.

I killed him.

Then another.

Then another.

But my movents were already slowing.

The poison spread through my system with horrifying speed, turning every breath into work and every heartbeat into a struggle.

I kept fighting anyway.

Because there was no alternative.

If I stopped moving, I died.

If I fell, I died.

If I showed weakness, everyone around died.

So I fought.

A blade cut across my side.

Another struck my shoulder.

A third sliced through my thigh.

Normally my wolf would have already started repairing the damage.

Normally I would barely notice injuries like these.

Today nothing was healing.

Today everything remained.

Blood soaked my clothes.

The forest tilted slightly.

Sowhere nearby Damon was shouting orders.

Sowhere else warriors were dying.

The poison continued working its way deeper.

Patient.

Relentless.

Designed for this exact purpose.

A sudden impact slamd into my chest.

The force knocked the air from my lungs.

For a second I didn’t understand what happened.

Then I looked down.

A spear protruded from my body.

The world beca strangely distant.

The sounds around dulled.

The battle continued.

But it felt farther away now.

I gripped the shaft and broke it off before ripping the remaining piece free.

The movent nearly blacked out my vision.

Blood poured down my chest.

I forced myself upright.

Forced myself forward.

Forced myself to keep fighting.

Because there was still only one option.

Survive.

Another blade struck.

Then another.

Then another.

Eventually even stubbornness reaches a limit.

My knees hit the ground.

The impact felt strangely insignificant compared to everything else.

Across the battlefield, I could see Damon trying to reach .

Too many enemies stood between us.

Too much distance.

I attempted to stand again.

My body refused.

That was new.

I couldn’t rember the last ti my body had simply refused a command.

The realization settled heavily over .

This was bad.

Far worse than I originally thought.

The poison.

The blood loss.

The injuries.

Together they ford sothing even my wolf couldn’t overco.

For the first ti since the attack began, I accepted the possibility that I might not walk away from this.

My thoughts imdiately turned to Liora.

Of course they did.

I thought about the look on her face whenever she tried pretending she wasn’t exhausted.

I thought about the scars she kept hidden.

I thought about the fact that she only had two healings left.

Maybe less.

And suddenly I understood sothing with absolute certainty.

Even if she were standing beside right now, I wouldn’t want her using it.

Not for this.

Not when the cost would be her life.

The thought should have brought comfort.

Instead it hurt.

Because I knew exactly what she would try to do.

The bond felt faint.

Weak.

Barely there.

But I could still feel it.

And as darkness slowly started closing in around the edges of my vision, one final realization settled heavily into my chest.

Liora couldn’t save .

Not anymore.

Not without sacrificing herself.

And if fate had any rcy left at all—

She wouldn’t try.

Because this ti, more than any other, she wouldn’t be able to save .

Not this ti.