Chapter 99: Two sides of one story.

July 16 2026, 8:25pm.

Rhys Stormborn was no fool. Even before he asked Nyx’ara that question, he already feared that she would be unwilling to respond.

As he spoke, he watched her face for all her tiny micro-expressions, taking notice of how she seemed taken aback when he uttered that statement.

Her arms shook when she tried to cross them over her chest and he could not help but notice the relief... was that relief... crossing her face.

"I’ll start by asking; what does he want?"

"I don’t know." She rasped, her words clear and steady. But Rhys was not having it.

"You spoke to him." He argued and she shook her head.

"No." She said, "I-I didn’t. You did."

Rhys went quiet. Her answer seemed to irritate him even more. "You expect me to believe you have no idea why he keeps calling?"

"Yes."

His eyes remained fixed on her and she could not help but swallow uncomfortably. There was something almost suffocating about his attention. Something that made her mind scream at her to flee.

"You’re very tense," Jemima remarked casually. Her voice snapped Nyx’ara out of her trance because truth be told, she had almost forgotten she was still there.

She immediately turned to shoot her a look, then rolled her eyes.

Not helping.

Rhys noticed. His mouth twitched with something that was not quite a smile. He watched her face for a moment too long, then he leaned his back against the wall, smirked provocatively at her, and drawled;

"You’re afraid of me." He said suddenly. It was not a question, it was an accusation, and before she could respond, he added; "And you’re also curious to know what Flynn wants. In fact, you’re considering meeting with him..."

Silence.

His brows drew together and her breath hitched when something akin to realization suddenly crossed his face.

He rasped; "He wasn’t lying, was he? You really did not push Elara? You were indeed framed?"

Nyx’ara’s eyes snapped back to his and her nostrils flared as she nearly screamed; "No."

"Liar."

Her heart kicked in her chest. Her body zapped with sensations she could not name. She hated that he could see through her so easily, but what she feared most was whether he really wanted to know the truth or was simply looking for something else to pin on her.

Her bottom lip quivered and she instinctively lowered her lashes as she said softly; "Al-alpha..."

"Tell me the truth, Nyx’ara... you may not know, but I have the power to save you and protect you if protection is what you want."

Her throat closed up at his words, and she found herself gulping in both anticipation and worry. For so long, she was already used to doing everything alone. She was sure she could handle most of her troubles herself, but this was the first time in ages that someone was asking to help her.

Not commanding. Asking.

Her lips pressed into a thin line and her heart raced so much, she feared she would hyperventilate. For a fraction of a second, she contemplated lying to him. She thought about telling him something that was not a lie, but not the truth either. So she opened her mouth and—

"I a-am not the one who-who needs protection. The person who needs it is my friend, Berlin."

Berlin?

Rhys tilted his head to the side, his eyebrows drawing together. He watched her face for any signs that she was lying. There were none.

Interesting.

With a dismissive wave of his wrist, he waved Jemima off who was extremely glad to be finally sent out of there, and then crossed his arms over his chest. He asked; "Why?"

"I’ll t-tell you why after you’ve gotten her out of S-Stormborn pack. She is not safe there."

Rhys wanted to believe her but he had seen too much shit happen in the past for him to simply just... wave his wand and become Santa Claus.

He stalked over to the bed and clipped his finger under her chin. Like this, she was forced to look into his eyes and when she was met with the swirling mass of molten gold, her breath hitched. Her heart raced, and her lips went dry.

She stuck out her tongue to lick the dryness only to have herself squirming when she saw his eyes follow the movement for only a second before they went completely dark.

Rhys, on the other hand, felt his body stiffen the moment his eyes landed on her tongue. He didn’t know if she was doing this to get into his head, and if that was her plan... then she certainly was succeeding.

A sardonic smile spread across his face as he slowly let her go, unwilling to torture himself further by giving his body more reasons to act up when she was the last person he wanted to be touching.

She was a problem. A virus. And he didn’t want that.

"What do you take me for? A fool?"

The question fell out of his lips so suddenly that Nyx’ara flinched. Her eyes met his briefly and her body stilled when she found him glaring right at her— so intensely it almost felt like he could see through her.

His hands were buried into the bedsheets and she could not help but wonder if he wanted them buried into her face instead.

She gulped. "W-what do you mean?"

He did not hesitate, not even for a second. He snapped; "Do you think I would rush to save someone simply because you asked me to?"

At the time, Kieran had been passing by, and upon hearing their voices, peeked through the slightly open door into the room.

His eyebrows twitched when he found Nyx’ara and Rhys all alone at this time of the day. But that wasn’t all, the tension between them was intense enough to power a full city if they allowed it.

He subconsciously paid attention to their conversation for a brief moment before he decided to step in, and when he did, he was remorseless about eavesdropping. He said;

"She’s not asking you to save someone simply because she asked for it... She’s seeking leverage."

"Leverage?" Rhys asked as he turned to look at his brother. Kieran had an uncanny ability to see through people, and while all brothers possessed that, his own was to a slightly higher degree— suppressed only by his curse. "How do you know that? Have you been feeling better?"

By ’feeling better’, he wondered if his brother’s abilities were getting stronger. He wanted to know if he was the only one who’s been feeling stronger as of late.

Kieran did not answer right away but turned to look at Nyx’ara. He did not ask her any questions, he simply said; "Your friend, Berlin... she’s the leverage your people have over you. She’s the reason you’ve been stalling from telling the truth. Right?"

Nyx’ara gulped. Then slowly nodded.

"We’ll get her out." He answered, and something about that made Nyx’ara smile. She could not explain why but she knew she believed him... and her sureness was the reason she raised her head and lifted her eyes to meet his.

Rhys however did not like that she smiled the second Kieran stepped into the picture.

He was mad, infuriated and jealous.

However, he snapped out of his jealousy when she began to talk. She said; "I w-was framed. I-I never pushed Elara off the rooftop three years ago. I n-never tried to steal from y-you or kill you. I-I didn’t even murder your sister... all of those things w-were done by someone else."