Rejected By My Mate; Claimed By Lycan Quadruplets Chapter 168

Kael's POV

FIVE YEARS LATER

I pushed open the heavy doors of Enzo’s office, the wood creaking like it carried the same exhaustion weighing on my chest. Five years. Five damn years of searching, running down leads, chasing whispers across borders, only to end up back here with nothing real to show. My boots echoed on the marble floor as I stepped in, and the sight of him—Enzo, hunched over his desk with papers scattered like dead leaves—made the guilt knot deeper in my gut.

He didn’t look up immediately. He never did, not until he sensed whether I carried news worth hearing. I cleared my throat, my voice low but steady. “Alpha…”

His pen stilled, then he lifted his gaze. Those eyes were colder than they used to be, shadowed by years of waiting and disappointment. “Tell me you have something.”

I hated what I had to say. My fists tightened. “The hunters were trying to con us. The woman they showed me—she wasn’t Lisa.”

For a second, silence filled the room. He leaned back, exhaled through his nose, and rubbed his temple with two fingers. I could see the hope drain from his expression, though he tried to hide it. Enzo had gotten good at masking the cracks, but I’d been around long enough to see them form.

I stepped closer, my voice rough. “I followed every lead. I pushed, I threatened, I paid them. But they kept stalling. The moment I demanded proof, they caved. The woman was just some poor rogue they’d dressed up to match her description. It was a scam.”

Enzo sighed, and the sound wasn’t anger—it was something heavier, a weariness that settled over him like a shroud. He leaned forward, elbows on the desk, pressing his hands together as if prayer could hold him steady. “Five years, Kael… Five years, and this is what we get?”

My chest tightened. I hated being the one to remind him of how long it had been. “I’m sorry, Alpha. I really thought this time—”

The doors slammed open before I could finish. Atlas stormed in, his chest heaving like he’d run all the way here. His face was pale, eyes wide with urgency. He didn’t even wait for Enzo’s permission to speak.

“Alpha, there’s a plague,” he blurted out, his voice trembling. “It’s spreading fast—packs in the northern territories are collapsing. Wolves are falling sick by the dozens. It’s… it’s nothing like we’ve ever seen before.”

Enzo’s head snapped up, his sharp focus locking on Atlas. The exhaustion that had weighed him down a moment ago evaporated, replaced by that terrifying authority only he carried. “What do you mean a plague? Be precise.”

Atlas swallowed hard, his hands shaking slightly as he gestured helplessly. “It starts with fever, then the body weakens rapidly. Wolves can’t shift—some die within days. Healers are overwhelmed. Alpha, it’s moving faster than anyone can control. If it reaches the core packs, it won’t just cripple us—it could wipe us out.”

The words dropped into the room like stones into water, sending ripples of dread through the silence that followed. I clenched my jaw. A plague? Now? As if we didn’t already have enough weighing on us.

Enzo stood slowly, the chair groaning as he pushed it back. His voice was sharp, commanding. “Kael.”

“Yes, Alpha.”

“Get Mira. Tell her she’s needed immediately. Gather every renowned healer within our reach—I don’t care if they’re allied, rogue, or hiding in the mountains. Pay them, beg them, drag them here if you must. We can’t waste time.”

I nodded, already turning for the door.

But he wasn’t done. His voice carried across the room, heavy with urgency. “And Kael—call Ash. Tell him to prepare an emergency council meeting. Tonight. No excuses, no delays. If this plague spreads any further, we won’t have a council left to govern.”

I froze for half a second, the weight of his words sinking in. Then I forced my legs to move. “Understood.”

As I left the office, Atlas fell into step beside me, his hands running through his hair nervously. He kept glancing at me like he wanted me to confirm what he’d just seen, what he’d just said.

“You believe me, right?” he whispered, his voice shaking. “Kael, I’m not exaggerating. I saw wolves coughing blood. Their eyes… it’s like the life’s draining out of them. Even the strongest can’t hold on.”

I didn’t look at him. My jaw was tight, my steps quick. “If Enzo believes you, that’s all that matters. And he does.”

“But what if the healers can’t stop it?” Atlas pressed, his voice breaking. “What if this is—”

I snapped my head toward him, my tone low and sharp. “Don’t finish that sentence. We don’t need more fear right now.”

He flinched but nodded, biting down on his lip. His hands balled into fists at his sides, and for a moment he looked less like the cocky warrior I knew and more like a boy who’d seen too much too quickly.

We reached the corridor, the air colder here, and I stopped to face him. “Go. Tell the others what you saw, but keep it contained. No panic. If the packs lose their heads before we even act, we’re finished.”

Atlas swallowed and nodded. Then he took off down the hall, leaving me in the shadows of the corridor with a storm brewing inside me.

Five years of chasing ghosts. And now a plague threatening to tear through what was left of our world.

I dragged a hand down my face, exhaling slowly. Mira, Ash, the council—everything had to move faster than ever before. Because if this plague didn’t kill us, despair would.

And despair had already taken root in Enzo’s eyes.