Chapter 163: The Confrontation
Chapter 163: The Confrontation
Kaden’s POV
I chewed slowly, my eyes never leaving Rebecca. She stood just two steps away from the table, staring at me as if I were a ghost.
I couldn’t blame her. A man who had treated her so badly, a man who had locked a silver cage around her neck and dragged her through hell, was now feeding her toast. It was shocking. It was completely out of character. But seeing the soft, rosy flush on her cheeks as she swallowed the food from my hand did something dangerous to my chest.
It awakened a possessive instinct I had no right to feel. I wanted to keep her safe... and selfishly, I wanted her to be mine.
The food tasted incredibly good—much better than the perfect, lifeless meals the mansion’s chefs made every day. She had made it.
Suddenly, the heavy bedroom door swung open without a knock.
Kane walked in. His eyes immediately locked onto the two of us, his face instantly turning hard and cold. He let out a sharp, angry breath, his shoulders stiffening as he looked at Rebecca.
"Rebecca, please excuse us," Kane said, his voice tight and demanding.
Rebecca blinked, looking ready to bolt, but before she could take a single step, I stood up. I reached out and grabbed her wrist, pulling her gently but firmly back to my side.
"She isn’t leaving," I said, my voice dropping into a dark, dominant rumble. I glared at my brother, my green eyes flashing. "Kane, know your place. Rebecca is still my breeder. She goes where I say she goes."
Kane scoffed, a look of pure disgust crossing his face, which looked exactly like mine. He stared at me, his fists clenching at his sides.
Then, a sudden, sharp pressure hit my mind. Kane was forcing a private mind-link, bypassing my mental walls with the sheer force of his Alpha power.
"You better let her leave right now," Kane’s voice hissed inside my head. "Or I will tell her the truth. I’ll let her know right here, right now, that you already know she is innocent."
My eyes widened slightly, a cold spike of panic hitting my chest. I looked at Kane, seeing the absolute seriousness in his gaze. If Rebecca found out I knew she was innocent—if she realized I was still keeping this collar on her even though I knew she didn’t kill Helen—she would never look at me again. She would run straight into Kane’s arms.
"Leave, Rebecca," Kane said out loud, his voice cold as he kept his eyes locked on mine.
Slowly, reluctantly, my fingers loosened around her wrist. I let her go.
Rebecca didn’t wait. She rushed out of the room, her quick footsteps fading down the hallway before the heavy wooden door clicked shut behind her.
The moment we were alone, the silence in the room turned lethal.
"What do you mean?" I growled, stepping toward him, my hands clenching into fists. "What did you find out?"
Kane crossed his arms, a mocking, bitter smile on his face. "Alpha Kelvin contacted me. He practically begged me to convince you to release Monica and Brandon. He explained everything that happened, Kaden. He gave me the proof. He told me how they set Rebecca up."
My jaw clenched. Alpha Kelvin would pay for running his mouth.
"Speak..." Kane demanded.
I didn’t want to argue about any of this. I turned my back on him, trying to walk away toward the window.
But Kane wasn’t finished.
Before I could take a second step, he lunged forward. His hand slammed hard against my chest, stopping me in my tracks, and his other fist flew forward, punching me right across the face.
The force of the blow snapped my head to the side. I stumbled back a step, the sharp taste of blood immediately filling my mouth.
"You are evil!" Kane yelled, his voice shaking the very walls of the room as he stepped into my space, his own brown eyes glowing with a furious light. "You know she is innocent, Kaden! You know she didn’t touch Helen! And yet... you still won’t take that damn collar off her. You still won’t let her go!"
I slowly reached up, using the back of my hand to wipe the warm, red blood from my lips. I lowered my hand, staring at the stain, before slowly raising my eyes to glare back at my brother.
"I am still investigating the matter," I growled, my voice low and furious as I spat the blood from my mouth onto the floor.
Kane let out a harsh, dry laugh, his face twisting in disgust. "Fuck you, Kaden! There is nothing to investigate! The proof is right there. Rebecca is completely innocent!"
"So what if she is innocent?!" I snapped, my green eyes flashing as I took a menacing step toward him. "What do you want, Kane? You want her too? A woman your brother has already had... you want her for yourself?"
Kane’s brown eyes flared with a furious, golden light. "Take that choker off her neck and announce to the pack that she is innocent! Do it now!"
"I will do it in my own time," I snarled, my chest rising and falling as my anger boiled over. "You will not force me to do anything in my own territory."
"If you won’t do it, I am taking this matter to the Council," Kane threatened, stepping closer until we were chest-to-chest. "I will let them know how you are abusing your power to keep an innocent she-wolf caged."
That was when I completely lost it.
With a roar of pure, feral rage, I lunged forward. I grabbed Kane by the collar of his shirt with both hands, slamming him hard against the bedroom wall. The wooden frame rattled, and the glass of the window beside us shook from the force.
"Kane," I hissed, my face inches from his. "You won’t dare tell the Council, and you won’t dare tell Rebecca about this. You are forgetting who you are talking to. Aside from being your brother... I am the Alpha King."
Kane didn’t flinch. He gripped my wrists, his own grip tightening as he glared back at me, refusing to back down. The air in the room grew heavy and thick, suffocating with the pressure of two Alphas ready to tear each other apart.
"Are you going to kill your own brother, Kaden?" Kane mocked, a dark, fearless smile stretching across his lips. "Is that what the great Alpha King has reduced himself to? Killing his own blood just to keep a captive girl?"
A cold, vicious calm washed over me. I leaned in even closer, my grip on his collar tightening until the fabric groaned under the strain.
"I won’t have to kill you, brother," I whispered, my voice dropping to a low, chilling purr that made the hairs on his arms stand up.
"But if you breathe a single word of this to Rebecca, or if you even think about walking to the Council, I will strip you of your title. I will label you a traitor to the crown. I will throw you into the darkest dungeon of the silver mines, and I will make sure you never see the light of day again."
Kane’s eyes widened slightly, his body going rigid against the wall. But instead of backing down, a sudden, fierce rage flared in his brown eyes. He bared his fangs, his voice cracking with a raw, desperate anger that shook me to my core.
"She is my mate, Kaden!" Kane roared, the confession ripping out of his chest like a physical blow. "She is my fucking mate! And you have her locked up in a silver cage!"
The words felt like a bucket of ice water poured over my head. My chest tightened, a dark, possessive fury rising up to replace my shock.
"She is not your mate!" I snarled back, my grip tightening on his shirt. "You don’t know that! You are just attracted to her!"
"Then take the choker off!" Kane shouted, his face twisting in pain and anger. "Take it off and let her wolf wake up! Let the bond speak for itself if you are so sure!"
"I will!" I yelled back, my breathing heavy and ragged as I stared into his identical face. "I will take it off... in my own time. But not a second before."
For a long, silent moment, neither of us moved. The tension between us was like a stretched wire, ready to snap.
Finally, Kane let out a cold, sharp breath. He raised his hands and roughly shoved my chest, forcing me to let go of his collar. I stepped back, smoothing down my shirt as I watched him with guarded eyes.
Kane adjusted his jacket, his face filled with disgust. He looked at me as if I were a monster—and maybe I was.
"You are sick, Kaden," Kane said, his voice flat and empty. "You think you can chain her to you forever. But a lock can only hold for so long. When she finds out the truth—and she will find out—she will hate you more than she already does."
Without waiting for my reply, Kane turned on his heel. He walked toward the door, threw it open, and stepped out into the hallway. The heavy wooden door slammed shut behind him, leaving me completely alone in the quiet, sunlit room.
I stood there, my hands trembling slightly as the anger faded, replaced by a cold, hollow fear.
He was right.
If Rebecca ever learned the truth... she would never forgive me.