<h4>Chapter 202: A familiar face.</h4>


    <strong>Charis</strong>


    I stared helplessly as I watched Kael’s eyes mist with tears.


    "He knew what I was," he said, his voice breakingpletely now. "He knew I was a Bloodborn Wolf. He knew my mother; they took me when they didn’t find her. You know, one thing I learnt about people like me is that we’re wild and dangerous. So we need to be tamed."


    "Kael," I tried soothingly, "Can you just take a deep breath?"


    "No, Charis!" he shook his head, swiping at a tear that had rolled down his cheek. "I need to let it all out. Elena said that they had purposely sold me off to the underground fighting masters after taking away my memory. I was seven years old when I started fighting. I was a baby, and the best way they thought to tame me was to move me from one fighting ring to another until I was tamed."


    The tears were falling freely now, streaming down his face, and he didn’t try to wipe them away.


    "To think I thought I was cursed back then," he shook his head. "I thought those violent spells were because something was wrong with me. The endless times I’ve spent with a therapist trying to work throughplex emotions, not knowing I am exactly what I was born to be. And he used that against me. He weaponised what I am."


    I stood up and moved around the table. I pulled him into my arms, and he buried his face in my shoulder, his whole body shaking with sobs.


    "I’m so sorry," I whispered. "I’m so, so sorry."


    The few other customers in the café were staring, but I didn’t care. I just held him, letting him cry out years of pain and confusion and trauma.


    After a few minutes, he pulled back and wiped his face with the back of his hand. His eyes were red and swollen, but there was something else there as well—something like relief.


    "I need to get my memories back," he said, his voice rough. "From before I was seven years old. Everything before that is just... nk. Fragments. Dreams I can’t quite remember when I wake up. All of them. I need to get them back."


    "Why seven?" I asked.


    "That’s when my master found me. Or took me to the fighting rings. I don’t know which." He took a shaky breath. "Elena told me something else. She said my mother escaped from that fighting ring. She was pregnant at the time—pregnant with me. She ran away and went somewhere else to give birth. Somewhere safe, where they couldn’t find her."


    My heart was pounding. "And then?"


    "And then the trail goes cold," Kael said. "There’s no record of her dying. Nobody was ever found. No death certificate. Nothing. I still don’t know how they found me, but they eventually did, and the solution was to have me be tamed in fighting rings."


    I saw where this was going. "You think she might still be alive."


    "I think there’s a possibility," he said carefully. "A small one. But a possibility." He looked at me, and his eyes were desperate and hopeful and scared all at once. "I need to find out what happened in those first seven years of my life. I need to know if my mother survived. Suppose she’s out there somewhere. If she’s been looking for me all this time."


    "How do you get those memories back?" I asked.


    "I don’t know," he admitted. "But I have to try. I have to know the truth about where I came from. About who I really am."


    I understood that needpletely. It was the same need that was driving me to find out about my own parentage, about whether Eva was really my mother or if I’d been lied to my whole life.


    "I’ll help you," I said firmly. "Whatever you need. I’ll help you find the answers."


    He pulled me close again, pressing his forehead against mine. "Thank you."


    We stayed like that for a moment, breathing together, findingfort in each other’s presence.


    "This is why I’ve been so on edge," Kael said quietly. "Since I had that vision, everything’s been different. I can’t stop thinking about it. About her. About what they did to her. About what my master did to me." He pulled back to look at me. "I took it out on you, and that wasn’t right. But I was drowning in all of this, and I didn’t know how to process it."


    "You should have told me," I said gently. "You should have let me help."


    "I know. I’m not good at asking for help." A small, sad smile crossed his face. "I’m not good at a lot of things when ites to rtionships. But I’m trying. I promise I’m trying."


    "That’s all I can ask for," I said. "H-How about the boys? You could tell them too. They can help, who knows?"


    He scoffed, shaking his head. "No! I’m sorry, but I cannot. Their parents were all involved in this one way or the other..."


    "ter’s father wasn’t there," I interrupted him. "My father was by the way."


    "We don’t know if he’s your father yet," he replied. "Besides, I trust you, Charis. The boys would give their support and help, but I’d rather not say anything to them at this point, until at least there’s a headway with my investigations."


    "Two heads are better than one, Kael," I said quietly. "There’s not much that I can do to assist you, and you know that. Of course, I can give my moral support and all that, but there’s not much I can do to help. I don’t want to be a burden to you. We’re mates..."


    "Charis, please!" he raised his hand, stopping me. "If you love me, let’s drop this issue. When it’s time, I’ll tell the boys myself. Besides, you’re forgetting that I grew up doing things like that solo, and I need you around because you’re mynding ce and my refuge. So it doesn’t matter whether or not I can get help from the boys."


    I didn’t want us to argue about it too much, so I nodded, giving him a quiet smile.


    "If you insist, then no problem."


    He kissed my forehead softly. "We should go. Don’t want you to bete for court."


    I nced at the clock on the wall. He was right. We needed to leave soon.


    Kael paid for our breakfast. As we walked back to the car, he took my hand. His fingers threaded through mine, warm and solid.


    "One more thing," he said as we got into the car.


    "What?"


    "The woman in the cage—my mother. Elena told me her name." He started the engine. "Her name was Isolde."


    My blood ran cold. "Wait. Isolde? Like Isolde Knox?"


    "No," Kael said quietly. "Isolde was my mother’s name. Isolde Knox must have been given the same name as her. Or maybe..." He paused, thinking. "Maybe they’re rted somehow. Mother and daughter. Or sisters."


    "Yeah," I nodded, maybe there’s a connection or a link, although from what Isolde told me, her dad had been a human and her mom an ordinary Omega. So..."


    "Now that you’ve mentioned it," Kael nodded reflectively, "I’ll look into it."


    "Okay," I nodded, and we pulled out of the parking lot.


    The drive to the court was quiet as both of us were wrapped in our thoughts. Fifteen minutester, we arrived at the court and drove into the arena. A lot of cars were already lined up, filling up the court’s parking lot.


    Kael and I drove around for a few minutes looking for a spot until we found one at the far end of the lot. Just as we arrived at the ce and Kael tried to park correctly, I spotted Isolde’s car in the adjacent area.


    I knew it was her car because each of her vehicle were customised with her name as the te number. As Kael finished parking the car and wanted to exit, I mped down on his hand, indicating he should hold on.


    "That’s Isolde’s care," I murmured, pointing to the car whose engine was still idling. "Let’s wait until shees down."


    Just as thest words left my mouth, the passenger door of the car opened and a wryly looking man stepped out, clutching a folder to his chest. He had the suspicious air of someone who might do something dangerous.


    Kael and I watched silently as the man started moving away from the car, when suddenly Kael eximed. "I know this man."


    "What?" I turned to him, "You know him?"


    "Yeah," Kael nodded, "remember that time at the summer camp when those blue creatures attacked you, he was one of those people who came to retrieve it. I know it’s been months, but it’s difficult to forget a face like his. If he’sing out of Isolde’s car, it means they must be working together."


    "So, what are you suggesting?" I asked.x