Chapter 194: Almost Caught
Rebecca’s POV
After bathing and forcing myself to eat a small breakfast of dry toast, I decided to leave the four walls of my room. Staying inside alone with my spiraling thoughts was driving me insane. Every quiet second only reminded me of the small life taking root inside me and the heavy weight of the secret I was now forced to carry.
Stephanie had left earlier that morning to visit a relative who lived just outside the borders of Kane’s pack territory. Without her familiar presence around, the grand, quiet corridors of the estate felt eerily empty.
I walked slowly down the sunlit hallway, one hand resting absentmindedly over my stomach.
I was turning the corner near the main glass conservatory when a sharp prickle ran up my spine. My wolf was quiet under the silver’s power, but my human instincts still knew when someone was watching.
I turned my head—and instantly stiffened.
Alpha Kane was walking straight toward me.
He moved with a quiet, graceful confidence, his sharp brown eyes locked onto my face. I hadn’t seen him in two days, and my chest tightened as he stopped just a few feet away from me.
"Alpha Kane," I greeted him, my voice small as I lowered my eyes, forcing my body into a stiff, polite posture.
"There’s no need for formalities between us, Rebecca," Kane said smoothly. His voice was calm and soft, but his gaze was sharp—far too sharp. He took a small step closer, his eyes scanning my face with intense focus. "You look off today. Are you okay? You look pale... almost like a ghost."
A cold splash of panic hit my chest. I swallowed hard, trying to keep my breathing steady so he wouldn’t hear my heart racing.
"Should I call the pack healer to look at you?" he offered, his brows pulling together in genuine concern.
"No!"
The word burst out of my mouth far too quickly, far too loudly.
Kane raised a dark eyebrow, his eyes narrowing slightly as he caught the sudden edge of fear in my voice. The air between us grew heavy. He took another step forward, his tall frame looming over me as his eyes dropped down to my hands, which were tightly crossed over my chest.
"Rebecca..." Kane began, his tone dropping into a low, quiet murmur. "Is there something you’re not telling—"
"Alpha!"
A warrior came sprinting down the hallway, his boots skidding loudly against the polished floor as he stopped beside Kane, out of breath and pale.
"Alpha, you need to see this right now. At the northern perimeter," the warrior gasped out, his eyes wide with worry.
Kane turned his head, staring at the guard for a long, tense moment. Then, he looked back at me. His brown eyes held a deep, unreadable expression that made my stomach twist into knots.
"We will finish this conversation later, Rebecca," Kane said quietly, before turning on his heel and walking away with the warrior.
I leaned my back against the cold wall, letting out a long, ragged breath as my knees trembled beneath me.
"Shit," I whispered to myself, pressing a trembling hand against my forehead.
Kaden and Kane might have been twin brothers, but they couldn’t have been more different.
Kaden was raw power and pure, explosive force. He was loud, impulsive, and governed by his fiery temper. When Kaden was angry, the whole world knew it, and when he looked at you, his emotions blinded him to the smaller details. He reacted first and thought later.
But Kane... Kane was a quiet one. He was insanely smart, patient, and terrifyingly attentive. Kane didn’t rely on brute force alone; he watched everything, noticed every small change in body language, every subtle shift in tone. Kaden might be the dangerous Alpha King who ruled with an iron fist, but Kane was the strategist who could read a person’s soul just by standing in the same room.
And right now, Kane’s sharp eyes were dangerously close to picking apart my secrets.
Shaking off the chill crawling down my spine, I hurried back toward my room. I needed to get behind a locked door before someone else noticed how pale and shaken I was.
Back in my guest suite, I walked over to the tall glass doors leading onto the balcony and stared out over the sprawling green grounds. A sudden pang of loneliness tightened my chest.
I wished Kane’s mother were here.
I’d heard from the house staff that Kane’s parents had left the territory a few days ago for a private trip. With Stephanie gone too, I suddenly felt completely alone.
As my gaze drifted toward the open courtyard below, my loneliness was quickly replaced by unease.
Something was wrong. Very wrong.
The usual calm, orderly rhythm of the estate was gone. Instead, dozens of pack warriors were running back and forth across the stone paths. They were carrying heavy iron crates, strapping short swords to their waists, and loading sharp crossbows. Even from where I stood, I could feel the dark, electric tension hanging in the air.
Something terrible was happening, I thought, my heart thumping against my ribs.
Down below, an enforcer yelled out a sharp command that echoed all the way up to my balcony:
"Secure the packhouse! Lock down the lower gates now!"
Before I could process what was happening or make sense of the sudden chaos, the heavy oak doors of my bedroom burst open with a loud, violent BANG!
I gasped, spinning around in terror.
Two fully armored warriors rushed into my room, their faces covered in sweat and grime, their swords already drawn.
"Come with us, Lady Rebecca!" the lead warrior barked, his voice laced with pure urgency as he marched toward me. "Alpha Kane has ordered us to take you to the underground bunker immediately!"
"What? What’s happening?!" I cried, my hands instinctively flying to protect my belly as panic seized my throat. "Why is everyone shouting?"
The second warrior reached out, his thick, leather-gloved hand grabbing my arm in a firm grip and pulling me toward the open doorway.
"We’ve been ambushed!" he shouted over the rising noise in the hallway. "The borders have fallen!"