Chapter 175

Chapter 175: Chapter 175

The brothers reached the section of the military grounds where their divine beasts were kept, as they had sensed that something was wrong.

The air was thick with restless energy. Growls rumbled through the enclosures, claws scraped against the floor, and their divine beasts paced restlessly, their bodies tense and their ears pinned back.

Reid slowed to a stop, his eyes moving from one enclosure to another. One of the beasts slammed its forepaws against the ground, making the workers nearby flinch.

"What the hell is going on here?" he demanded.

A worker hurried toward them, looking visibly relieved to see the three brothers. He stopped a few feet away and clasped his hands together nervously.

"It started when we tried to feed them, sir. They started reacting violently to the meat. We checked the enclosures, but nothing else seems to be wrong."

Reid’s brows drew together. "What do you mean, they reacted violently?."

The worker glanced uneasily toward the nearest trough. "This is the same batch we give to the higher recruits’ divine beasts. We’ve never had a problem with it before."

Reid walked over to the trough and crouched beside it. The meat looked perfectly normal, but the moment he leaned closer and took a breath, his expression changed. His nose wrinkled slightly, and he drew back, his eyes narrowing as he tried to identify the strange scent hidden beneath the smell of fresh meat.

"This meat is tainted."

The worker stared at him. "Tainted? That can’t be possible, sir. We received it this morning, and everything was checked before it was brought here."

"Then explain why it smells like this."

The worker hesitated before cautiously leaning down to sniff the meat himself. He straightened a moment later, looking even more confused.

"I don’t smell anything unusual."

Reid slowly rose to his feet, his gaze shifting toward the agitated beasts.

"How are the other beasts eating this without a problem?" he muttered.

Enzo and Dean had already moved closer. Enzo crouched beside the trough, examining the meat before taking a careful breath. The moment he caught the scent, his grey eyes hardened. Dean did the same, his expression growing noticeably colder.

Whatever had been done to the meat was subtle enough to escape an ordinary person’s senses, but their divine beasts had detected it immediately.

Enzo straightened, turning his attention toward the workers. His expression was calm, but the tension in his jaw made it clear that he was struggling to contain his anger.

"Are you trying to poison our beasts?"

The workers went pale.

"N-no, sir!" one of them stammered, shaking his head so quickly that his words nearly tangled together. "We would never do something like that. We genuinely didn’t know the meat was contaminated. We swear we didn’t!"

"Then someone has some explaining to do," Reid said, his gaze sweeping over them. "Because I find it very convenient that the meat meant for our beasts suddenly turns out to be tainted."

"If someone wanted to harm them, why use something that would be so easy for us to detect?" Dean asked. "Unless they didn’t expect us to come here."

That thought made Enzo’s expression darken further. Before any of them could respond, a woman’s voice came from behind them.

"What is all the ruckus? I could feel your presence from outside."

They turned as Amy walked into the enclosure area. Her gaze moved across the restless beasts before settling on the three brothers and the nervous workers.

"What happened?" she asked, approaching them. "Why are the beasts acting like this?"

One of the workers quickly explained the situation, stumbling over his words as he tried to make it clear that none of them had knowingly done anything wrong.

Amy listened without interrupting. When he finished, she walked over to the trough and leaned down to inspect the meat herself. She took a l sniff, then immediately straightened, her expression tightening.

"They’re right. The meat is tainted."

The workers began apologizing all at once.

"We didn’t know, Miss Amy."

"We checked everything before feeding them!"

"We would never put the beasts in danger!"

"Enough."

Amy’s sharp look silenced them.

s "Bring a fresh, verified batch of meat. Have it checked properly before you give it to them, and don’t let anyone touch the contaminated batch until we’ve figured out what happened. Understood?"

"Yes, Miss Amy!"

The workers hurried away, eager to carry out her orders.

Amy watched them go before turning back to the brothers. Her expression softened slightly, though concern remained in her eyes.

"By the way, how is Amelia? I haven’t seen her since earlier."

Enzo’s attention shifted to her. "She’s with Caleb. They went to meet the higher recruits."

Amy blinked.

"Caleb?"

"Yes," Reid answered, noticing the sudden change in her expression. "Why?"

Amy looked between the three brothers, her brows drawing together. "That can’t be right. I just finished speaking with Caleb some moments ago. Amelia wasnt with him."

Heavy silence fell.

Reid took a step toward her, studying her face as though he hoped he had misunderstood.

"Wait. You’re sure you spoke to him?"

"Of course I’m sure." Amy frowned at his reaction. "Why are you looking at me like that? Did something happen?"

Enzo’s stomach tightened.

"Where is Caleb?" he asked.

"In his office, I assume."

The brothers exchanged a brief look before immediately heading for the exit. Amy followed, her concern growing with every step.

"What is going on?" she asked, hurrying to keep up with them.

They reached the upper-floor office, and Amy moved ahead to knock on the door. A guard opened it a moment later.

"Call Caleb," she instructed. "The Ellington brothers need to see him. Now."

The guard nodded and disappeared inside. The brothers waited impatiently, their attention fixed on the closed door. L

A moment later, the door opened again, and Caleb stepped outside. He looked mildly surprised to see all of them gathered there.

"What happened?" he asked.

Reid didn’t waste a second. "Wasn’t Amelia with you?"

Caleb frowned. "No. I haven’t seen her since earlier."

Dean stepped forward, his eyes fixed heail on him. "Don’t lie to us."

Caleb’s expression changed. "I’m not lying. What the hell is going on?"

Enzo stepped between them before the exchange could turn into an argument.

"You came to my room earlier," he explained, keeping his voice measured despite the growing dread in his chest. "You said you needed Amelia to meet with the higher recruits. She left with you."

Caleb stared at him for a moment before slowly shaking his head.

"I haven’t been to your room. I’ve been in this office the entire time." He glanced between the brothers, his confusion deepening. "And I haven’t met with the higher recruits yet. That meeting is scheduled for later."

Reid went completely still.

"So, if you were here the entire time..." He trailed off, his expression darkening as the truth became impossible to ignore. "Who the hell took her?"

Nobody answered.

They didn’t need to.

Caleb’s face turned grim as he processed what they were telling him. He looked toward the security guard stationed nearby.

"Get the security team to check the cameras. I want to know where Amelia was last seen and who she left with."

The guard hurried off, and Caleb led the others to the security office.

Inside, he immediately ordered the guards to pull up the footage from the estate’s corridors. Several screens flickered to life, displaying different sections of the territory. The guards worked quickly, searching through the recordings until one of them found what they needed.

"Here, sir."

Everyone turned toward the main screen.

Amelia appeared in the corridor, walking beside a man who looked exactly like Caleb. Everything looked natural.

Caleb stepped closer to the screen. The color drained from his face as he stared at the image.

"That isn’t me."

Reid moved beside him, his eyes narrowing as he watched Amelia follow the impostor down the corridor.

"Can you zoom in?"

The guard adjusted the footage, enlarging the image. For a few seconds, Amelia and the false Caleb remained clearly visible.

Then, without warning, both figures dissolved into smoke.

The screen showed nothing but an empty corridor.

A stunned silence settled over the room.

Caleb stared at the screen, his mouth tightening as he tried to make sense of what he had just witnessed.

"How did this even happen?" he demanded, turning toward the security team. "How did someone manage to infiltrate Moonfist Territory, impersonate me, and walk her out without anyone noticing?"

No one had an answer.

Amy stood with one hand pressed against her chest. She had seen Amelia face danger before, and she knew better than most how capable the young woman was of protecting herself.

But this was different. Someone was able to lure her away, and the footage showed that ordinary security measures had been useless against whatever power they had used.

Her eyes moved to Enzo, Reid, and Dean.

"This is bad," she whispered. "How are we supposed to find her if we don’t even know where they’ve taken her?"

Enzo’s hands tightened at his sides. He couldn’t stop thinking about the last time he had seen Amelia, how easily he had let her leave because he believed she was safe with Caleb. The thought of someone using that trust against her made his chest feel painfully tight.

They all knew who took her.

Dean, however, was already moving toward the exit.

"Swifty can locate her," he said, his voice firm.

Enzo turned toward him immediately. "You’re right."

"We leave now," Dean continued, not slowing down. "I bet its that zelda woman that took her."