Luna. Chapter 51

(Kael's POV)

The call came at three AM. Magnus's voice was tight with panic.

"Seraphina's escaped."

I was out of bed before I fully processed the words. "What do you mean escaped?"

"Federal transport was hit twenty minutes ago. Professional job, inside help. She's gone."

"Where was the transport headed?"

"Maximum security facility in Colorado. But Kael, that's not the worst part."

"What's the worst part?"

"They found evidence in her cell. Maps of Moonlight Pack territory. Photos of Lyra and Asher. Detailed schedules of when security changes shifts."

My blood went cold. "She's coming for them."

"That's what we think."

"How long do we have?"

"Unknown. But probably not long. She's had months to plan this."

I was already pulling on clothes, grabbing weapons. "What's the current security status?"

"Council guards are in position, but they don't know Seraphina the way we do. They don't know how creative she can be."

"I'm on my way."

"Kael, there's something else. Lyra doesn't know yet. She's in the medical wing with one of the rescued children who's running a fever."

"Keep it that way until I get there."

The drive to Moonlight Pack territory was the longest forty-five minutes of my life. Every scenario played through my mind, each one worse than the last.

Seraphina had been obsessed with destroying Lyra even before she'd discovered the pregnancy. Now, with a baby involved, her hatred would have twisted into something even more dangerous.

I called Derek while driving. "Status report."

"We've swept the entire territory. No signs of intrusion yet. But she could be anywhere."

"What about the children?"

"All accounted for and under guard. But Kael, if she's planning something during the night shift change..."

"When's the next change?"

"Twenty minutes."

"Shit."

"Exactly."

I pressed harder on the accelerator, pushing my truck to dangerous speeds on the winding mountain roads.

My phone buzzed with a text from unknown number: "Miss me? -S"

She was close. Close enough to have current intelligence on my movements.

I called Magnus immediately. "She's here. In the area."

"How do you know?"

"She just texted me."

"From where?"

"That's what we need to figure out. How many ways are there into the medical wing?"

"Main entrance, emergency exits on east and west sides, service entrance through the basement."

"Cover all of them. And Magnus? Get Lyra and Asher somewhere secure."

"Already on it."

But even as he said it, I had a terrible feeling we were too late.

I reached Moonlight Pack territory as the security shift was changing. In the brief window between guard rotations, I saw a figure moving through the shadows near the medical wing.

Seraphina.

She moved like someone who'd spent months planning this approach, avoiding security cameras and guard positions with precision that suggested inside knowledge.

I abandoned my truck and followed on foot, using Alpha stealth training to close the distance without being detected.

She was heading for the service entrance.

I was fifty yards away when she disappeared into the building.

"Magnus!" I called through my phone. "She's inside. Service entrance, moving toward the medical wing."

"Security is already responding."

"It might not be fast enough."

I reached the service entrance just as alarms started blaring throughout the building. Emergency lights bathed everything in harsh red illumination.

Inside, I could hear running footsteps, shouts, the sound of doors slamming.

And from somewhere above me, Lyra's voice calling for help.

I took the stairs three at a time, following the sound of chaos toward the medical wing. In the corridor ahead, I could see Council guards running toward an emergency situation.

Room 237. The same room where Emma had been recovering from her fever.

I burst through the door to find a scene from a nightmare.

Seraphina had Emma in a chokehold, using the child as a human shield while she held some kind of syringe in her other hand.

"Hello, Kael," she said calmly. "Right on time."

"Let the girl go, Seraphina."

"I don't think so. She's my insurance policy."

Lyra was pressed against the far wall, holding Asher protectively. Her eyes were wide with terror, but her voice was steady.

"What do you want?"

"What I've always wanted. For you to disappear."

"Then let's make a trade. Me for Emma."

"No," I said immediately. "No trades."

"Kael's right," Seraphina agreed. "No trades. Because I don't want just you anymore, Lyra. I want your bastard child too."

"Over my dead body."

"If necessary."

Seraphina adjusted her grip on the syringe, and I could see liquid inside it. Clear, odorless, but knowing Seraphina, definitely lethal.

"What's in the syringe?" I asked, trying to keep her talking while I figured out how to get close enough to stop her.

"Something that will make this all very quick and painless. For the children, anyway."

"Seraphina, think about what you're doing. These are innocent kids."

"Innocent?" She laughed, the sound sharp and broken. "There's nothing innocent about her spawn. That thing she's holding will grow up to be a monster, just like its mother."

"Asher is just a baby."

"A baby with abilities that could destroy everything natural about our world."

I could see Lyra calculating distances, probably planning to rush Seraphina despite the danger. I caught her eye and shook my head slightly.

"What's your plan here, Seraphina? Kill the children and then what? Live happily ever after?"

"My plan is to save the supernatural world from contamination."

"By murdering a baby?"

"By preventing a future catastrophe."

Emma whimpered in her arms, and something in that sound made my wolf rage against every instinct for patience and strategy.

"You're terrifying a child who's already been through hell."

"I'm doing what needs to be done."

"You're doing what Morrison programmed you to do."

That got her attention. "What?"

"Did you really think your escape was your idea? Did you think Morrison didn't plan for you to come here?"

Confusion flickered across her features. "I escaped on my own."

"Did you? Or did someone make it very easy for you to get free, make sure you had access to maps and schedules, point you in exactly the direction they wanted you to go?"

"That's impossible."

"Is it? Because Morrison wants Lyra and Asher, but he needs plausible deniability. If a deranged former Luna kills them during an escape attempt, that's just tragic. But if federal agents take them into custody afterward for their own protection..."

"No." But I could see the doubt creeping in.

"Check your jacket pocket, Seraphina. The one you don't remember putting anything in."

She shifted Emma slightly, reaching into her pocket with her free hand. What she pulled out made her face go white.

A tracking device. Still active, still broadcasting her location.

"They've been following you since the moment you left that transport," I said quietly. "They know exactly where you are."

"That's not possible."

"Morrison played you, Seraphina. Just like he played you before. You were never the one in control."

The syringe in her hand wavered as the full weight of the manipulation hit her.

"But I planned this. I figured out how to get here."

"You followed breadcrumbs they laid out for you."

"No!"

"Yes. And in about five minutes, federal agents are going to storm this building to rescue the hostages from the crazy woman. Except some of those hostages might not survive the rescue attempt."

Lyra was watching our exchange with growing understanding. "He's using you to justify taking us."

"I won't let that happen," Seraphina said, but her voice lacked conviction.

"Then put down the syringe and let Emma go."

For a moment, I thought she might. The tracking device had shaken her confidence, made her question everything she thought she knew about her own choices.

But then the sound of helicopters filled the air outside.

"They're here," I said grimly.

"Right on schedule," Lyra added.

Seraphina's face twisted with rage and humiliation. "If I can't have you, then no one can."

She raised the syringe toward Emma's neck.

I didn't think. I didn't plan. I just moved.

The distance between us closed in a blur of desperate speed. I hit Seraphina with enough force to send her flying backward, releasing Emma in the process.

The syringe went flying, its contents spilling harmlessly across the floor.

But as I grappled with Seraphina, trying to pin her down, I felt a sharp pain in my shoulder.

She'd had a second syringe. Hidden in her other hand.

"Kael!" Lyra's scream seemed to come from very far away.

The room started spinning. Whatever she'd injected me with was working fast.

"The... tracking device," I managed to say. "Morrison... still coming."

"I know." Lyra's voice was getting fainter. "Derek's handling it."

"Take... Asher. Run."

"I'm not leaving you."

"Have to. Not safe."

But even as I said it, I could hear federal agents in the corridor. Shouting orders, coordinating their assault.

They were too late to save me from the injection, but just in time to take Lyra and Asher into "protective custody."

"Lyra," I whispered, using the last of my strength to focus on her face. "I love you. Both of you."

"I love you too," she said, tears streaming down her cheeks. "Stay with me."

"Can't. But... promise me."

"Anything."

"Protect Asher. Whatever it costs."

"I promise."

The world faded to black, but the last thing I heard was my son's voice, clear and impossibly articulate for a seven-month-old baby:

"Daddy sleep now. Daddy wake up later."

I hoped he was right.