Chapter 249 - 0249

Kaelen POV

"I was wondering when you’d finally come for me."

For a moment, I simply stared at the bastard sitting in front of me. He was in terrible shape, and even with his werewolf healing abilities, it would take at least a week for him to recover from the injuries he’d sustained. That was, of course, assuming I had any intention of letting him walk out of here alive.

What bothered me most was how calm he seemed. He was chained to an iron chair, his body covered in bruises and silver burns, yet he still had that irritating smile on his face, as though he hadn’t just been dragged through hell.

Under different circumstances, I might have found his words amusing. But I was in no mood for his games. I’d already had enough shit thrown my way lately, and the last thing I needed was an old man sitting in front of me, acting as though he had everything under control.

"You don’t seem scared," I remarked, watching him closely.

His smile faltered for a brief moment before he quickly recovered, stretching his lips into an even wider grin. "I’m not," he replied, sounding far too pleased with himself for a man in his position.

"Hmm." I tilted my head, taking in his battered face. "Then why were you running? Why were you hiding from me, knowing I was coming for you?"

"That’s because I love the chase." He chuckled, as though we were having a casual conversation instead of sitting in an underground chamber with him chained to a chair. "It makes things so much more..."

"Enough with the bullshit!"

The growl that tore out of my throat cut him off. I was already running out of patience, and his constant attempts to get under my skin weren’t helping.

I turned toward the two guards standing nearby and gave them a sharp nod. They immediately bowed their heads before leaving the chamber without another word. Their footsteps echoed through the passage until the heavy iron door slammed shut above us.

Once they were gone, the room fell quiet again, leaving only Darius, Augustus, and me. The flickering torches cast shadows across the stone walls, but the smell of burnt flesh was impossible to ignore. It only made my irritation worse.

I turned back to Augustus and walked toward him, stopping directly in front of his chair. He didn’t move, although I could see the faint twitch of his jaw as he waited for whatever I was about to say. I leaned down slowly until we were eye to eye, making sure he had nowhere else to look but at me.

"A few days ago, during the High Council meeting," I began, keeping my voice low as I stared down at him. "You made a whole scene in front of everyone, talking about whose condition looked like mine. What the fuck was that about?"

I watched his face closely, waiting for even the slightest change in his expression. I wanted to know whether he was going to deny it, lie to me, or finally tell me what the hell he’d been talking about.

Augustus tilted his head and let out a careless little sigh, as though the question bored him. "Oh, that?" He shrugged, wincing slightly at the movement. "I was just talking nonsense, Alpha. Don’t mind me."

For a second, I simply stared at him, wondering if he was seriously going to sit there and pretend he hadn’t said anything. Then whatever little patience I had left disappeared.

I swung my fist before he could say another word, landing a hard punch across his face. His head snapped to the side, and fresh blood spilled from his already split lip, splattering onto the stone floor. But I wasn’t done. I grabbed him by his torn collar and yanked him forward, forcing him to look at me.

"I didn’t spend two fucking days tracking you down just to listen to you play dumb!" I snarled, my grip tightening around his collar. My wolf was already on edge, and I could feel the anger building inside me. "You know about my condition, don’t you? You wouldn’t have stood in front of the entire Council and started talking about my health if you didn’t!"

For a moment, Augustus said nothing. Then a faint smirk appeared on his swollen lips, and I felt my grip tighten even more. Even after everything we’d put him through, he still had the nerve to look amused.

"How did you know?" I demanded, giving him a hard shake. "Who told you? I want a fucking answer!"

He stared back at me, his hollow eyes revealing nothing. Then, without warning, he spat a mouthful of blood onto my boots. His smile widened, and the bastard looked almost pleased with himself.

"And what if I refuse to tell you?"

I scoffed, tightening my grip on his collar until my knuckles turned white. "Then I’ll just kill you right here, right now."

I meant every word. My claws were already sliding out, and I pressed them against his throat, just hard enough to break the skin. A thin line of blood trickled down his neck, staining the collar of his already ruined shirt, but the bastard didn’t even flinch.

"You can’t kill me," he said calmly, as though he hadn’t just threatened to keep the answers I wanted from me.

My claws dug a little deeper, and I watched the blood run down his neck and over my fingers. Yet, even with my claws at his throat, he continued staring at me with that irritatingly confident look on his face.

"What makes you so sure?" I asked, lowering my voice. "I’ve kept my condition a secret for years. Do you honestly think I’ll let you walk out of here alive when I can just bury that secret with your corpse?"

I wasn’t making an empty threat. If I wanted him dead, I could make it happen. I’d already thought about what would happen if things came to that, from covering my tracks to making sure the Council had no reason to question his disappearance.

Augustus could vanish tonight, and no one would ever know what really happened to him.

But as much as I wanted to end his life right there, I needed answers first. I needed to know how much he knew about my condition and whether there were others who knew as well. More importantly, I needed to find out who was behind all this and how far their plans went. I couldn’t afford to leave anyone who posed a threat to me or Lorelei in a position to hurt us.

If Augustus refused to talk, I would kill him and find the answers myself, no matter how long it took. I wasn’t about to let a man like him walk away with something that could put everything I’d built at risk.

"You can’t kill me, Alpha," he repeated, still wearing that damn smile.

I was just about to lose the last bit of restraint I had left when he spoke again.

"Because if you do, how will you ever find out how to cure your curse?"