Chapter 3 - The Eighth Bloodline
Kellen raised the gun.
The man descending the stairs stopped before his face entered the light.
"Put it down."
Kellen almost smiled.
"No."
"Still stubborn."
"Come closer."
Evelyn moved Mara behind her.
"Rowan, don't."
The man laughed softly.
"You always did protect the wrong child, Evelyn."
Kellen's eyes narrowed.
The stranger stepped into view.
He was in his late fifties.
Tall.
Broad despite his age.
Silver threaded through dark hair.
A deep scar crossed one eyebrow.
Kellen felt recognition without memory.
Not because he knew the man.
Because he knew his own face.
The same eyes.
Same shape around the mouth.
Same way the jaw tightened when irritated.
Mara saw it too.
"Oh my God."
Rowan Mercer smiled.
"There he is."
Kellen kept the weapon aimed at his chest.
"Give me one reason not to shoot you."
"Because you'd spend the rest of your life wondering why your mother lied."
"My mother didn't lie."
"Didn't she?"
"You have ten seconds."
Rowan descended the final step.
"Killian Croft stole you from me."
Kellen's finger rested against the trigger.
"Nine."
"He murdered your mother."
Evelyn's face changed.
Kellen noticed.
"Eight."
"And every woman who fled this house was trying to protect you."
"Seven."
"Mara is the last."
That stopped the countdown.
Mara whispered, "Last what?"
Rowan's gaze found her.
"The last compatible heir."
Evelyn stepped in front of her.
"Don't look at her."
"You can't hide her anymore."
"I hid her from Killian. I can hide her from you."
Rowan's smile disappeared.
"Killian was an amateur."
Kellen moved between Rowan and the women.
"Explain."
Rowan looked almost amused by the command.
"Your mother's line and mine were separated generations ago. Strong individually. Stronger together. When you were born, you carried traits neither family had seen in a century."
"Superstitious nonsense."
"Is it?"
Rowan took another step.
Kellen's eyes changed.
Not visibly enough for an ordinary person to notice.
But Mara did.
His pupils contracted in the low light.
His hearing sharpened.
He heard Rowan's heartbeat.
Forty-nine beats per minute.
Calm.
Too calm.
Rowan smiled.
"You can hear mine, can't you?"
Kellen said nothing.
"Killian feared what you'd become."
"Enough mythology."
"This isn't mythology."
Rowan pointed at Mara.
"Her blood carries the counterline."
Mara recoiled.
"I am not a bloodline. I'm a person."
Something flickered in Rowan's expression.
Approval.
"I see Evelyn raised you well."
"Leave her out of this," Kellen said.
"That isn't possible."
Kellen moved closer until only several feet separated them.
"Make it possible."
Rowan looked at his gun.
"If I'd come to kill you, you'd already be dead."
"Try."
"Kellen."
Mara's voice.
Quiet.
He looked back.
She shook her head once.
It shouldn't have mattered.
Yet he lowered the weapon slightly.
Rowan noticed.
"So fast."
"What?"
"The bond."
Evelyn snapped, "Don't."
Mara frowned.
"What bond?"
Rowan ignored Evelyn.
"Seven women entered this estate carrying partial compatibility. Each experienced heightened fear, agitation, and physiological rejection within hours of being near him."
Kellen thought of them.
One shaking uncontrollably.
Another vomiting.
Another crying.
One begging the driver to move faster.
He had assumed his presence caused it.
Mara looked at him.
"And me?"
"You fell asleep."
Rowan smiled.
"The first true match in twenty-seven years."
Kellen's expression hardened.
"Do not use that word."
"Match?"
"Yes."
"Why? Because you think I'm discussing romance?"
Mara crossed her arms.
"Are you?"
"No."
"Good."
"Initially."
Kellen's stare became lethal.
Rowan laughed.
"Relax. You two decide what happens between you. Biology doesn't make vows."
Evelyn said, "That's not why he wants her."
Mara looked at her mother.
"What?"
Evelyn's face had gone gray.
"Rowan needs you."
"For what?"
Rowan's tone changed.
"To survive."
Silence.
He unbuttoned the top of his shirt and pulled the fabric aside.
Dark branching lines spread from his chest toward his collarbone.
Mara stared.
"What's that?"
"Genetic degradation."
Evelyn's voice was cold.
"That's what happens when generations of powerful men treat blood like property."
Rowan ignored the insult.
"The old Alpha traits are collapsing. Strength turns into instability. Heightened senses become neurological damage. Longevity becomes cellular failure."
Kellen lowered the gun another inch.
"And Mara fixes that?"
"Potentially."
"No," Evelyn said.
Rowan continued.
"Her blood contains a stabilizing variant."
Mara's eyes hardened.
"So this is why you found us."
"I didn't find you tonight."
"Then who did?"
Rowan looked at the black envelope.
"That is what worries me."
Kellen's attention sharpened.
"You didn't send it?"
"No."
"The photograph?"
"No."
"The security system?"
"No."
Kellen believed him.
Which meant another player was inside the game.
"Who?"
Rowan glanced toward the ceiling.
"Someone who knows all eight women."
Evelyn whispered, "Killian."
Kellen turned.
"My father is dead."
Evelyn shook her head.
"I watched him die."
"Did you?"
Kellen stared at her.
"You signed the death certificate."
"Because Rowan told me to."
Rowan's jaw tightened.
"It was necessary."
Kellen let out a humorless laugh.
"So everyone in this room has lied to me."
Mara raised one hand.
"I haven't."
He looked at her.
For one absurd second, he nearly smiled.
Nearly.
Then the estate lights returned.
Every lamp ignited simultaneously.
The security screen changed.
Seven camera feeds appeared.
Seven rooms.
Seven women.
Each woman from the photograph was being held somewhere.
Not tied.
Not visibly injured.
But locked behind identical steel doors.
Mara covered her mouth.
Kellen stepped toward the display.
Rowan whispered, "No."
A timer appeared beneath each image.
05:59:59.
It began counting down.
A distorted voice filled the room.
"Seven fled."
Kellen scanned the feeds.
"Trace it."
The voice continued.
"One stayed."
Mara's pendant suddenly became warm against her skin.
She gasped and pulled it away.
A tiny light glowed inside the silver symbol.
Evelyn grabbed it.
"Tracking device."
Mara stared at her mother.
"You gave this to me!"
"I didn't know."
Rowan walked toward them.
"Take it off."
Evelyn yanked the chain free.
A sharp beep came from inside the walls.
The security screen changed again.
A map appeared.
Eight points.
Seven clustered inland.
One inside Kellen's estate.
Mara.
Then a ninth point appeared.
Kellen stared.
"What is that?"
Rowan's expression went rigid.
Evelyn whispered, "There shouldn't be nine."
The distorted voice returned.
"The king has until sunrise."
Kellen said, "Until sunrise for what?"
A line of text appeared.
CHOOSE THE EIGHTH OR LOSE THE SEVEN.
Mara stared at it.
Kellen's face hardened.
"I'm not choosing anybody."
The speaker crackled.
A new voice replaced the distortion.
Older.
Familiar.
Kellen's blood went cold.
He had heard that voice thousands of times as a child.
Correcting his posture.
Ordering him to train.
Calling weakness shameful.
Kellen whispered, "No."
The voice said:
"You always were sentimental, son."
Rowan turned pale.
Evelyn backed away.
Mara looked between them.
"Who is that?"
Kellen stared at the speaker.
The dead man laughed.
May you like
Then Killian Croft spoke clearly.
"Bring me the girl before dawn."
