Chapter 48: Naked Bait

Chapter 48: Chapter 48: Naked Bait

A few minutes earlier, the Blackwood triplets had gathered around Caelus’s tablet like three wolves huddled around a dying campfire, watching the hotel lobby footage with the intensity of conspiracy theorists analyzing blurry footage of Bigfoot.

And there she was.

Azura.

Sitting in the lobby lounge like a spider waiting for flies, facing off against some Alpha—presumably the new Crimson Crest Alpha. She was slamming her hands on the table with such violent conviction that the furniture probably had PTSD, then immediately switched to a pose that suggested she was a holy messenger spreading the Holy Word of the Church of Absolute Chaos.

Then the Alpha stepped away to take a call. And Azura, left alone with her phone and her clearly unhinged thoughts, began scanning the room like a meerkat on caffeine.

Her eyes locked onto the elevator.

The triplets watched in silence as the elevator doors opened. As they stepped out with their uncle. As the stalker situation unfolded. As Kyler’s men dragged the three unfortunate souls away like sacks of potatoes.

And then—

Azura’s gaze fixed on them like a heat-seeking missile. She stood. She ran. She followed them.

Until that Alpha blocked her path.

The triplets stared at the frozen screen.

Silence stretched through the car like taffy.

"It’s really her." Caesar’s voice was hollow, his eyes still glued to the screen. "It’s TRULY her. I didn’t see wrong. I didn’t hallucinate. I am NOT crazy."

Caelian leaned over, a teasing grin spreading across his face like a cat who had just found a bowl of cream and a video of his brother falling down the stairs.

"Well, well, well. Congrats, Caesar—it’s really her, not your hallucination. For a moment there, I genuinely thought your brain had finally snapped from all that trauma. I was already planning your intervention. ’My brother, you are not being chased by a beautiful crazy woman. You are having a psychotic break. Please put down the imaginary pepper spray.’"

He patted Caesar’s shoulder with mock sympathy before turning to Caelus.

"So, Caelus, should we turn this chariot around and head back to the hotel? Or are we going to pretend we didn’t just confirm that the Woman of Mass Destruction is actively hunting us?"

Caelus didn’t answer immediately. His eyes were fixed on the screen, his brow furrowed in concentration.

"No need." His voice was flat, analytical. He gestured toward the tablet with a sharp, precise motion.

"Look. A few minutes after we left the hotel and were waiting for our car, she came out too." He zoomed in on the timestamp. "It looks like she wasn’t there anymore. She left the premises shortly after we did."

His brow furrowed, the gears in his analytical mind turning audibly. He replayed the footage again.

Caesar’s eyes went wide. A memory clicked into place like the last piece of a horrific jigsaw puzzle. His mouth opened. A sound came out—something between a gasp, a laugh, and the noise a drowning cat might make.

"If she left the hotel... then what I saw from the side mirror twenty minutes ago..." He turned to his brothers, his expression a mixture of horror and dawning realization.

"IT’S REALLY HER!" He slammed his palm against the car door. "THE CRAZY SCOOTER RIDER FROM HELL!"

Both Caelus and Caelian whipped their heads toward him, eyes wide.

"I SAW HER AGAIN EARLIER!" Caesar continued, his voice cracking like a teenager going through puberty. "BEHIND OUR CAR! NO—BEHIND UNCLE KYLER’S CAR! SHE WAS RIDING A DELIVERY SCOOTER THAT LOOKED LIKE IT WAS HELD TOGETHER BY PURE HOPE AND DUCT TAPE! AND THERE WAS A TINY WOMAN SQUEEZED BETWEEN HER LEGS LIKE A HUMAN HANDBAG!"

He was gesturing wildly now, nearly smacking Caelian in the face.

"SHE WAS DRIVING ZIGZAG! AT FULL SPEED! LIKE SOME KIND OF DEMON ON WHEELS! IT WAS SO ABSURD, I ACTUALLY THOUGHT CAELIAN’S JOKE WAS RIGHT—THAT I WAS HALLUCINATING!"

Caelus blinked.

Caelian’s jaw dropped.

The two brothers exchanged a look that said, "Our brother has officially lost his mind, and we are here for it."

However, Caelus’s brain, which was essentially a supercomputer wrapped in a handsome face and expensive suits, finally processed the key detail Caesar had just screamed at them.

A scooter.

Behind their uncle’s car.

His fingers stilled on the tablet. His eyes narrowed.

"Earlier, when I mind-linked Uncle Kyler to ask why his car had stopped, I only told you both the gist of his answer—that there was a problem on the road causing his delay. However..." his voice dropping to that dangerously calm tone that made his brothers instinctively lean in, "his exact words at the time were: ’Some lunatic hit my car. Minor delay. Keep going. Wait at the destination.’"

Caelian’s grin froze mid-cheek.

Caesar’s soul left his body.

"Wait." Caesar held up a hand, his face cycling through the five stages of grief in record time. "Wait, wait, wait. Are you telling me—are you implying—that she—"

"—is the lunatic who hit our uncle’s car?" Caelus finished for him, his tone as dry as a desert cracker. "Yes. That’s exactly what I’m implying."

Caelian let out a low whistle, leaning back in his seat like he was watching a particularly entertaining train wreck.

"Honestly? That tracks. She was already a menace while she was unconscious. Remember when we tried to kidnap her while she was sleeping? Now she’s awake and full of energy, that means she’s a hundred times more chaotic. Possibly a thousand. I’m not ruling out the possibility of exponential chaos growth."

As for Caesar—he didn’t wait for further discussion. The moment Caelus finished speaking, he slammed his palm against the car door again, his eyes wild with a mixture of panic and determination.

"WE NEED TO GO BACK TO UNCLE’S LOCATION! NOW!" He mind-linked with their uncle while simultaneously shouting at the driver. "TURN AROUND! SHE MUST BE AROUND HIS CAR RIGHT NOW! I CAN FEEL IT IN MY BONES! MY BONES NEVER LIE!"

Caelus, meanwhile, ignored his brother’s theatrics and remained glued to the screen, his fingers flying across the tablet as he replayed the footage again and again. His expression was cold, but beneath it lurked the exhausted resignation of a man who had seen the future and it was filled with chaos, headaches, and the distant sound of a therapist’s voice saying, "And how does that make you feel?".

"I found something." He rewound, fast-forwarded, then paused. "Look at this."

Both brothers leaned in.

"When she scanned the lobby, she focused on three things: the fountain, the table where the elderly woman was sitting, and that potted plant."

He fast-forwarded. Paused.

"And our stalkers—all three of them—emerged from exactly those locations."

Caelian’s eyes went wide, his usual smirk replaced by genuine surprise. "No way."

"Yes way."

Caesar, who had completely forgotten he was still mind-linked with his terrifying uncle, severed his connection unconsciously as his attention snapped back to the screen.

Caelus spoke again, his voice flat and tired.

"I don’t know if this girl has surveillance-level detection skills... or..." He paused, letting the weight of his next words settle. "... if she’s actually part of the stalker group. That would explain why she knew exactly where they were hiding. "

The three brothers stared at the frozen image of Azura, her eyes scanning the lobby with predatory precision.

Silence filled the car. Even the engine seemed to hold its breath.

Caelian broke the silence with a chuckle that sounded like a man who had just realized he was sharing a lifeboat with a shark and had decided to make friends with it instead of panicking.

"So let me get this straight." He held up his fingers, counting off each point with theatrical precision. "The stepsister we tried to kidnap while she was sleeping like a tranquilized bear—is now stalking us. She’s riding a scooter like a demonic courier on a suicide mission. She hit our uncle’s car. She apparently has the tracking skills of a bloodhound on methamphetamine. And she might be the secret mastermind behind our personal stalker fan club."

He wiggled his finger, his grin widening into something that bordered on unhinged.

"But the main point—the critical takeaway here—is that she’s our stalker. Which means—" He mimed stripping off a shirt. "—we don’t have to waste resources tracking her down. We just need to stand in public, flex our abs like discount male strippers, and she’ll come running like a heat-seeking missile? How efficient! How romantic! How deeply concerning for our emotional well-being!"

He patted Caesar’s shoulder with the enthusiasm of a man who had just discovered a solution to all their problems.

"Caesar, you’re the bait. Just get naked in public—strike a few poses, do a little spin, show off those glutes you’re so proud of—and she’ll materialize out of thin air. It’s foolproof. Bulletproof. Therapist-proof."

Caesar’s face turned the color of a ripe tomato. He swung his arm at Caelian’s head with enough force to decapitate a lesser wolf—but Caelian, having anticipated this exact reaction, ducked 0.1 seconds before impact.

"OH, SHUT UP!" Caesar’s voice cracked. "If anyone’s the bait, it’s YOU! With that pretty face you use to seduce every she-wolf within a fifty-mile radius! Just lie naked on a couch like a sexy Greek statue and she’ll trip over herself trying to get to you!"

"She’s insane, remember? She probably has a type. And her type is clearly dumb muscle, which is your specialty!"

"MY MUSCLES AREN’T DUMB! THEY’RE VERY EDUCATED!"

"THEY CAN’T EVEN READ!"

"THEY CAN READ ENOUGH TO BEAT YOU UP! AND DON’T OVERLOOK THE FACT THAT SHE’S A STALKER! STALKERS ARE USUALLY INTO THE PRETTY ONES! THAT’S YOU!"

"THAT’S NOT HOW IT WORKS—"

Before their argument could escalate into a full-blown wrestling match in the backseat, Caelus’s voice sliced through the chaos like a cold blade.

"Enough. Both of you."

The twins froze mid-gesture, turning to look at their older brother. Caelus’s expression was unreadable, but there was a vein throbbing at his temple that suggested he was mentally calculating how much therapy they were all going to need.

"Uncle Kyler just mind-linked me." He turned his gaze to Caesar. "He sounded... cold. Icy. Possibly because of someone."

Caesar’s soul left his body for the second time that day.

"Wait. How cold?"

"Colder than your chances of surviving the next family dinner."

"...oh no."

"Also, you may want to remember that you severed the mind-link before Uncle could reply."

Caesar made a sound like a dying vacuum cleaner.

"Oh no. Oh no no no no no no—"

"I—I forgot—I didn’t mean to—I was distracted by the footage—"

Caelus continued, ignoring his brother’s spiral into existential dread.

"Uncle says we should head back to the hotel. Now."

The triplets exchanged a look.

The car fell silent, save for Caesar’s quiet, defeated whimper and the distant sound of their future therapist buying a new yacht.