Eryon stood there, frozen for a long moment, as if the weight of Seraphine’s words had rendered him incapable of movement. Kael’s heart pounded painfully in his chest, his mind racing to catch up with the unsettling revelation. What did this mean for Bella? What was Seraphine talking about?
Seraphine’s golden eyes gleamed with a dangerous satisfaction, her lips curling into a cruel smile. She seemed to relish the confusion that clouded Kael’s mind. The ancient wolf took a deliberate step forward, her gaze never leaving Eryon’s face.
“So, you’ve been keeping secrets,” she purred, her voice smooth and mocking. “How quaint.”
Eryon’s silence was broken only by a small sigh. His eyes were filled with a mixture of regret and fear. It was clear he had been holding onto something, some part of Bella’s past, something that now threatened to unravel the fragile hope they had left.
Eryon finally spoke, his voice low and reluctant, “Bella’s mother, Misery… carries vampire genes. It’s a part of her bloodline—something her family has kept hidden for generations.”
The words hung in the air like poison, dripping with the weight of their truth. Kael felt his stomach drop as the realization sank in. Bella, the woman he loved, had vampire blood coursing through her veins? And that meant—
Seraphine laughed then, a sound so cold and vicious it sent a shiver down Kael’s spine. “You mixed wolf with vampire?” she sneered, clearly finding amusement in their shock. “No wonder she’s dying. Her body can’t handle the transformation.”
Kael felt his vision blur with frustration and fear. He stepped forward, his hands clenched into fists as he tried to process the revelation. He couldn’t allow Bella to die. Not like this. Not when they had come so far, when they had fought so hard for each other.
“What does that mean?” Kael demanded, his voice hoarse with a mixture of anger and desperation. “What’s happening to her? Why can’t you just save her?”
Seraphine turned to him, her gaze cold, calculating. She was studying him, weighing his words as if deciding how much to reveal. Then, with a cruel smile, she finally spoke.
“Bella is becoming something… far more than either wolf or vampire,” Seraphine said, her voice dripping with an almost sickening amusement. “She’s becoming a hybrid. An abomination—feared by both wolves and vampires alike. She’s caught between two worlds, two natures that are tearing her apart from the inside out.”
Kael’s heart sank as the weight of her words hit him. A hybrid? Was that even possible? And why hadn’t anyone warned him? Why hadn’t Misery told him this before?
The thought of Bella, his mate, trapped in such a horrific transformation, felt like a punch to his chest. His mind spun with the knowledge that the very thing they had tried to hide—her bloodline—was now threatening to destroy her. It was as though her very existence was a contradiction, a twisted combination of two powers that could never coexist.
He looked down at Bella, her fragile form lying motionless on the table. His heart broke as he saw her struggle to hold on, her breath shallow and labored, her life hanging by a thread.
Kael’s voice trembled as he spoke, each word a plea. “What do I do? How can I save her?”
Seraphine stepped forward, her icy gaze shifting to Bella. She bent over the unconscious girl, her lips curling into a smile that sent chills through Kael’s spine.
“To save her,” Seraphine said, her voice dangerously soft, “you’ll have to accept what she’s becoming.”
Kael’s breath hitched, his chest tightening with a mixture of fear and disbelief. “What are you talking about?” he demanded, his voice breaking. “You can’t mean… you can’t possibly mean that.”
Seraphine raised an eyebrow, clearly amused by his reaction. She straightened and turned her gaze back to Kael, locking eyes with him. “Bella is no longer just a wolf. She’s changing into something else. Her body is rejecting her wolf nature, and the vampire blood that runs through her is demanding to be accepted. She cannot remain in the middle forever.”
Kael clenched his fists, his heart hammering in his chest. His thoughts whirled with the implications of Seraphine’s words. He didn’t want to accept it. He didn’t want to believe that Bella had to lose herself to this transformation, to become something she had never chosen.
“I won’t let her change,” Kael said through gritted teeth. “I won’t let her become an abomination.”
Seraphine’s eyes flashed with amusement at his resistance. “You have no choice,” she replied. “Her survival depends on her acceptance of what she is becoming. If you deny it, you deny her life.”
Kael felt a deep pang of guilt stab at him. His love for Bella, his desire to keep her safe, was at odds with this brutal truth. Could he truly accept her becoming something… different? Something that wasn’t purely wolf? Could he stand by her, knowing the world would see her as an outcast, a creature of both darkness and light?
But the thought of losing her, of watching her slip away from him, was more unbearable than any other choice. He couldn’t let that happen.
“Tell me what I need to do,” Kael demanded, his voice raw with emotion.
Seraphine’s lips curled into a smile that was both wicked and knowing. “It’s simple, really,” she said, her tone almost mocking. “You must allow her to embrace both halves of her nature. You must help her choose to become what she is meant to be, and accept her for what she will become.”