<h4>Chapter 217: Unfolding truths...</h4>


    <strong>Charis</strong>


    "Then you must make sure to always look at me, I’ll ground you." He paused. "But don’t worry, that’s the most difficult part. We’d definitely get to the fighting ring, which is brutal. You need to prepare to see a lot of violence, blood and watch how your kind are forced to hurt each other for the entertainment of others."


    My stomach turned slightly. "That’s horrible."


    "It is. But we can’t let the horror freeze us. We need to move fast, get ter, and get out before they can organise a defence."


    "How many Collectors will there be?"


    "Hard to say. Probably a dozen or more at the location. There would be guards, handlers, and greedy spectators who have bet a fortune for some particr wolves to win, and we’ll be outnumbered, which is why we need to be smart about this."


    "What’s the n?"


    Kael started telling me about multiple entry points, distraction teams, extraction protocol, and a few things we had to take precautions for when my phone rang.


    The sound made us pause for a minute; we’ve been so immersed in our conversation that we forgot to stay in the present. I pulled it out of my pocket and looked at the screen.


    My heart stopped. It was ter’s number.


    "Kael," I breathed. "It’s ter."


    His eyes widened. "Answer it now,"


    My hand shook as I swiped to ept the call. "ter?"


    There was a pause. Then a voice I didn’t recognise spoke instead.


    "Hello, Charis. I’m afraid ter can’te to the phone right now. He’s a bit... tied up at the moment."


    Fear shot through every part of my body. "Who is this? What have you done to him?"


    "My name is Bane Castor. And as for what I’ve done to ter—well, nothing yet. Whether that changes depends entirely on you and your friends."


    Kael was already on his feet, gesturing for me to put the phone on speaker. I did, my hands were already trembling.


    "What do you want?" I asked.


    "Smart girl. Getting right to business." I could picture the smile on Bane’s face. "I want to make a deal. You see, I have something you want. I have a very valuable young wolf named ter Riggs, and you have something I want."


    "What?"


    "Information."


    "Information?" I repeated, my brows crunching in confusion. I hadn’t been expecting that. "Information about what?"


    "I want to know who’s been investigating my operation. Someone’s been digging into the collectors, asking questions, requesting leads, and attempting to locate me. I simply want names."


    My eyes met Kael’s. His expression was nk, but I didn’t miss the calctions happening behind his eyes.


    "I don’t know what you’re talking about," I said.


    "Don’t y games with me, Charis." Bane’s voice hardened. "I know you’re an Alpha’s daughter, and so you’re connected to several influential packs. I also know ter is your mate. Give me the names of everyone investigating the Collectors, and I’ll return ter to you unharmed."


    "And if I don’t?"


    "Then ter bes a permanent addition to my fighting roster. And trust me, by the time I’m done training him, he won’t even remember his own name, let alone yours."


    The threat hung in the air. My mind raced, trying to figure out what to say.


    "I need time," I said. "To gather the information."


    "You have two hours," Bane said. "I’ll call you back at this number. If you don’t have names for me, or if you’ve contacted the authorities, ter pays the price. Understood?"


    "Yes," I whispered.


    "Oh, and Charis? One more thing." There was a pause. "ter asked me to tell you he loves you. Isn’t that sweet? It would be a shame if something happened to him before you could say it back."


    The line went dead.


    I stared at my phone, my whole body shaking. Kael immediately pulled me into his arms.


    "It’s okay," he murmured. "We’re going to get him back."


    "He’s using ter as leverage," I said, my voice breaking. "To find out who’s investigating them. To find out about you."


    "I know."


    "What are we going to do?"


    Kael pulled back and looked at me seriously. "We’re going to lie to him. Give him fake names. Buy ourselves time to organise the rescue."


    "But what if he hurts ter when he finds out we lied?"


    "He won’t have the chance." Kael’s expression was cold. "Because we’re going to be there in less than two hours. And we’re going to tear that ce apart to get ter back."


    "You have a n?"


    "I always have a n." He kissed my forehead. "Come on. We need to tell the others what just happened."


    When we came downstairs, we saw Alpha Terry, Rhett and Alpha Raymond in a deep conversation. When they heard footsteps, they all turned to look. As they saw using down, their eyes darted between us suspiciously.


    Kael scoffed. "Don’t act like saints, I can be with my mate whenever I want to; there are no rules."


    "Have you made up your mind yet? Have the foolishness, the lust for a woman’s breast, cleared from your eyes?" Alpha Terry asked coldly.


    "I was going to do that until we received this..." Kael matched his coldness and raised his phone in the air.


    The conversation between I and Bane Castor started ying. As the conversation progressed, their expressions shifted from shock to surprise. By the time the recording was done ying, Alpha Terry and Alpha Raymond turned to each other and mouthed "Castor" at the same time.


    "You know him?" Kael asked.


    "Yes, we know who Castor is. He’s an alpha, and he used to have a son called Bane Castor. A very prime, promising man with a bright future. In his final year at Ravenshore, the school called the Alpha one winter morning to tell him his son hadmitted suicide. So it couldn’t be him."


    "It is him," Kael said, firmly slipping his phone back into his pocket. "Listen, there’s so much to unpack from this right the moment, and for the sake of a lot of things, there are certain things I cannot disclose now, but you see that Bane Castor is the same Bane Castor you’ve always known; turns out he didn’t die."


    As Kael spoke, his gaze was fixated on Alpha Terry.


    "It’s been more than two years since he was dered..." Alpha Raymond started saying.


    "It’s the same thing that happened to your daughter, Alpha. Riley was dered dead by the academy, but her body was never sent. Doesn’t that ring a bell to you?"


    Both men stared at Kael with confusion on their faces. Kael sighed and turned to me, "I knew they wouldn’t get it. Anyways," he turned back to the men, "We need to be in the human world before two hours pse. This is also proof that ter is fine and he’s with the collectors."


    "What should we do first?" Rhett, who had been quiet the entire time, suddenly asked.


    "First, can we alle to an agreement that Charis must go on this mission? Her presence is going to influence so many things."


    "Wait!" Alpha Terryughed. "Are you going to walk straight into their trap?"


    Kael turned to him andughed. "Yes, except of course you have another n to outwit a living, modified version of you who has anticipated every possible ie and blocked them off except the one he mentioned."


    Alpha Terry stared at him for a minute and shook his head. "Can you speak in clear terms for once? What is going on? What the hell are you hiding?"


    "Uhm, nothing much," Kael shrugged, other than the fact that Ravenshore and Ebonvale have been used for channels of wolf trafficking for a few years now, precisely when Headmistress Vale came on board. In the beginning, it was just a few missing cases and mostly children from small packs who no one would miss..."


    "Your point?" Alpha Terry said through gritted teeth.


    Kaelughed and let his eyes roam around the room before turning back to Alpha Terry. "Are you seriously going to look me in the face and act like you didn’t know that a lot of perverted things happen in Ravenshore and Ebonvale? There’s ab where they harvest omegas, force them to carry hybrid babies, most of them die in the process, and when they couldn’t get what they desire, they started using girls with Luna wolves. All the daughters of Alphas sent to Ebonvale are allowed to fuck at discretion..."


    "Kael!" I called out, biting my lips anxiously. I would never get used to Kael speaking profanity. It actually did surprise me; he could talk like that. "Language."


    "Sorry, my love," he smiled and turned back to Alpha Terry, who had quietened now and was watching Kael. There was no expression on his face.


    "Did I mention that the school allow students to sleep with each other without discretion? Why on earth do you think the board would suddenly insist that both standalone academies, which have been that way for years, suddenly merge and be one? Someone is bing desperate."


    "You can’t use my father of being a part of it, Kael," Rhett suddenly said, rising from his chair toe and stand next to his father. "Just because we’re on the board and founding members doesn’t mean we’re the loop of everything that goes on in Ravenshore. My father does not own the school."


    "Rhett, you should go sit and allow Daddy to defend himself."