Kaelen and Alarik were there, just beyond the dark, and they had stopped.
Alarik’s voice rang out, cold and precise. “We wouldn’t want to do this, would we, Castiel?” His tone was measured, a sharp edge of menace underlying his slow, calm words. “What would be the point of coming all this way, only to ruin your plans now?”
Castiel chuckled, the sound all nonchalance, though Reiya felt the tension radiating from him. “I’d say the torment on your faces as you watch her die would be prize enough,” he said, his voice lilting as if he were savouring the thought.
“You despise Alphas, it’s quite clear,” Kaelen’s voice cut through the air, sharp and biting. His figure loomed closer, his hand resting on thehilt of his sword. “But leave her out of it. If you want to fight, fight us. If you want to kill, kill us—if you can.”
The words hung between them like a gauntlet thrown down, daring Castiel to respond. For a moment, silence stretched—the only sound the wind whispering through the rocks.
Reiya’s pulse thundered in her ears, each beat loud and insistent as she kept her gaze fixed ahead. The sight of her Alphas centred her.
The trust that they’d survive this, somehow, kept her calm.
She would go home with them, together.
“Bold words,” Castiel said, his tone deceptively light, but she imagined his eyes gleaming with malice. “But tell me, Kaelendrin, do you even know where your limits lie? How far are you willing to fall for her?”
Kaelen’s lips curled into a faint, humourless smile. “The better question is, how far areyouwilling to fall? Because I promise you, I’ve got farther to go.”
Reiya’s breath hitched, the weight of their standoff pressing down on her like the very walls of the cavern. Her throat bobbed against the blade, the chill biting into her. Her mind raced, searching for a way to tip the balance, to break the deadlock before blood was spilled.
“Castiel,” she whispered, her voice steady enough to reach him. “You don’t have to do this. You’ve let me go before—on the ship. You left the cabin door open. You gave me a chance to escape.”
Her words hung in the air. For a moment, she thought she felt it—a faint quiver in the hand against her skin, that crack making itself known again.
Then, he laughed, long, low, and bitter.
“Escape?” he echoed. “Is that what you thought? That I wanted you free?” He shook his head, the chuckle returning, darker now. “No, dove. I left that door open hoping you’d jump. Hoping the ocean would take you. It was the only kindness I could give you.”
The words were a fist to the ribs, knocking the air from her lungs. Her chest clenched, a hollow ache spreading beneath her sternum, leaving her raw and trembling inside. For a moment, she couldn’t speak, couldn’t breathe, couldn’t hear anything but the soundless shatter of something breaking deep within.
“Kindness?” The word barely scraped past her throat, thin and cracked.
Castiel leaned closer, his tone calm and calculated.
“A quick death in the sea is better than what was waiting for you at our destination.” He chuckled softly, the sound devoid of mirth, of warmth. “I wanted to spare you that. But you just had to survive, hadn’t you?”
Her pulse pounded in her ears, but the rest of the world seemed muted, distant. That memory—of the door creaking open, of the faint glimmer of hope she’d clung to—shattered, its pieces cutting deep.
He hadn’t wanted to save her. He’d wanted her gone. Dead.
Her mind turned to the boy she’d once known, the one who’d cowered at storms and garden snakes but had always found safety with her. She searched for some trace of him now, some sliver of regret, of humanity, but there was nothing.
A hollow ache yawned wide. An irretrievable piece of her had been lost. Castiel’s cruelty wasn’t just calculated—it was final. That last shred of hope she’d held onto, that faint belief he could still bethat boy, vanished.
Her hands shook, but she steadied herself. There was no room for grief now, no space for the pain clawing at her chest.
He wasn’t her friend, perhaps never was.
He was her captor, her enemy.
Reiya’s gaze darted to Alarik and saw his focus solely on her, and saw the trust she knew how to get herself out of this situation. Her breath steadied, her hand curling into a fist as she recalled his patient instructions during their training session.
Leverage. Surprise. Go for the wrist.
Castiel didn’t notice her shift in stance, still too absorbed in the revelation. He still saw her as helpless, unaware of the resolve hardening within her.
He wouldn’t see it coming.
