Chapter 62: I Don’t Know!

Chapter 62: Chapter 62: I Don’t Know!

"Enough."

Kyler’s voice cut through the room like a blade through butter—cold, sharp, and leaving no room for argument.

Azura’s smugness evaporated instantly. Her foot, which had been arrogantly propped on the table like she owned the place, slammed back to the floor. She straightened her spine, folded her hands in her lap, and arranged her face into an expression of pure, innocent elegance—like a Victorian child who had never told a lie in her entire life.

As if she hadn’t just spent the last ten minutes describing a yandere witch who collected severed heads like Pokémon cards.

"That’s enough for today." Kyler’s dark eyes bore into her. "Go back to your room."

The triplets gaped.

"Uncle, why—" Caesar started.

But Azura—despite her fear of Kyler, despite the way her survival instincts were screaming at her to shut up and run—protested the loudest.

"WHAT do you mean ’enough’?!" She shot up from her seat, her fragile Victorian lady act crumbling like a cookie in milk. "You’ve been interrogating ME this whole time, but you haven’t given me a SINGLE answer to what I’m actually curious about!"

She jabbed a finger at Kyler, then at the triplets.

"Why do you think I’m your fated mate?! My wolf is in hibernation! I can’t sense ANYTHING! But shouldn’t YOU guys be the same?! You shouldn’t be sensing anything from me either, right?! Scent? Bond? Magical sparkly fairy dust? HOW can you possibly think I’m your mate?!"

She took a breath, then continued before anyone could interrupt.

"AND there are FOUR of you!! Uncle and nephews!! ALL ALPHAS!!! Normal people get ONE fated mate! ONE!! I know twins or triplets or octuplets can share a mate—fine, okay, I’ll accept that weird genetic lottery—but WHY do I get a BONUS UNCLE?! That’s like ordering a burger and getting a whole cow!"

She gestured wildly between Kyler and the triplets.

"Shouldn’t YOU be the ones who want answers?! Shouldn’t YOU be the ones dragging me to some ancient library or shoving me into a magical hot spring to test this bond?! Instead, you’re treating me like a suspicious stray cat you found in the alley!! WELL, I’M A VERY CONFUSED STRAY CAT WHO WANTS ANSWERS!!"

Silence.

The triplets stared at her.

Then at each other.

Then back at her.

Caesar scratched his head, looking genuinely lost.

"...She’s got a point."

Caelian nodded slowly, arms crossed. "For once, her nonsense actually made sense. That’s... unsettling."

Caelus turned to Kyler, his eyes steady. "Uncle."

The room fell quiet again, all eyes on the eldest Alpha. The triplets stood their ground. Azura stood hers. Even Wilson, still holding his half-eaten bag of peanuts, seemed to be holding his breath.

Kyler’s dark eyes swept over them all. Cold. Calculating. Unreadable.

Then he spoke.

"...Fine."

Azura let out a quiet, internal sigh of relief and sank back into her seat like a deflating balloon. On the outside, she looked composed. On the inside, she was doing mental gymnastics through a minefield.

Okay. Good. We’re talking. Talking is good. Talking means they’re not throwing me in a basement yet.

The truth was, she didn’t actually want to dig deeper into this "fated mate" nonsense. Every second spent discussing it was another second they might realize she was a fraud.

But she needed to know why they thought she was their mate. She needed to understand their logic so she could predict their next move. So she could outmaneuver them. So she could protect Selena from being dragged into this chaotic, quadruple-alpha disaster.

It was risky. Insanely risky. Like playing poker with a hand made of noodles.

However, her gut told her this was better than letting the male leads discover Selena was their real fated mate. That would be a catastrophe of epic proportions. The kind of catastrophe that ended with Selena being fought over like the last slice of pizza at a frat party, while Azura would be left to face execution, exile, or—worst case scenario—being sold to some sketchy brothel in the bad part of the supernatural world.

If I get caught.. let future Azura handle it.

She paused.

And if future Azura messes up... let even more future Azura handle it.

She nodded to herself, satisfied with this flawless plan.

I’ve already died a stupid death because of frozen dumplings. Compared to that, being caught as a fake mate is practically a vacation. Unless they sell me into a brothel. Then it’s a very bad vacation. But still—death isn’t that scary anymore.

Kyler’s sharp eyes caught every micro-expression that flickered across her face. The way her brows furrowed, the way her lips twitched, the way she seemed to be having an entire conversation with herself. It irritated him. It reminded him of yesterday, when she’d faked a fainting spell with the theatrical grace of a dying soap opera actress.

He spoke, his voice cutting through her internal monologue like a chainsaw.

"I asked you before," Kyler said, his voice flat and cold, "whether you can release your scent while your wolf is in a deep sleep—something that should be impossible. You said no. That makes sense. But the problem is—" His eyes narrowed. "We all smell your scent. The scent of our fated mate."

Azura blinked.

"However, without your wolf active, you shouldn’t be able to release that scent." Kyler continued, his tone flat and clinical. "And the bond... we don’t feel it. And judging by your reaction, you definitely don’t feel it either."

Azura’s brain stuttered.

Wait. What.

Their fated mate scent. Coming from MY body?

Or... maybe it’s a lingering scent from when I met Selena two days ago?

But can scent really linger after I showered? With soap? THREE TIMES?

"So... you’re saying... yesterday... you smelled a little scent from me and decided I’m—"

"It wasn’t a little. Your scent exploded for several minutes."

Azura’s brain made a sound like an old computer trying to run a modern video game.

Exploded? EXPLODED?! What does that even mean?! Do I smell like a bakery had a fight with a perfume store and they both lost?!

The questions that had already been multiplying in her brain since she transmigrated into this world suddenly felt like they needed a storage upgrade. A massive storage upgrade. Like, she needed to buy a whole new brain and install it as an external hard drive.

She didn’t understand werewolf biology. She didn’t understand fated mate mechanics. She didn’t understand anything about this world except that everyone was unreasonably hot but utterly perplexing.

This world is full of cryptic nonsense. Especially the people. Especially the ALPHAS. Why can’t anyone just say what they mean?!

Kyler flicked his wrist toward Wilson like he was shooing away a persistent fly.

"Alright. We’re done. Take her back to her room."

The triplets’ jaws dropped in unison. They had been sitting there, ready to give their side of the story, ready to argue their case—but one glance at their uncle’s face told them it was a lost cause. That face said: I have made my decision. If you speak, I will end you. Not kill you. But you’ll wish I had.

"Miss Azura." Wilson—who had already tucked away his half-eaten bag of peanuts with the solemnity of a man saying goodbye to a loved one—approached her, grabbed her arm, and began dragging her toward the door.

Azura’s eyes went wide. Then wild.

"LET ME GO! LET ME GOOOO!" She thrashed like a cat being forced into a bath. "Did you kidnap me here just to give me HALF-BAKED ANSWERS?! I WON’T ACCEPT THIS! I HAVE SO MANY QUESTIONS! MY BRAIN IS OVERHEATING! I NEED CLOSURE!"

She twisted around, trying to dig her heels into the floor.

"WAIT—GIVE ME BACK MY PHONE! I NEED TO CALL MY BROTHER! HE’S PROBABLY WORRIED SICK! OR WORRIED DRUNK! EITHER WAY, I NEED TO TELL HIM I’M NOT DEAD IN A DITCH!"

From the corner, Caelus’s voice came flat and final, like a judge slamming a gavel.

"No."

The door swung open. It swung shut. Azura and Wilson were gone.

But her voice wasn’t.

"AAAAAAHHHHH!! IF I’M YOUR FATED MATE, TREAT ME LIKE A BOSS LADY, NOT LIKE A TROUBLESOME CUSTOMER AT A RESTAURANT WHO GETS PHYSICALLY EJECTED!! THIS IS FALSE ADVERTISING!! I WANT A REFUND!! I WANT TO SPEAK TO YOUR MANAGER!!"

The sound faded into the distance, like a dying siren.

A beat of silence.

Then Caesar exploded.

"UNCLE! WE WEREN’T DONE TALKING! WHY DID YOU KICK HER OUT LIKE SHE OWED YOU MONEY?!"

Kyler didn’t even blink.

"What else is there to talk about?"

Caelian let out a frustrated sigh, running a hand through his hair.

"Uncle, at least she could’ve answered some of the things we don’t know—"

"Could she?" Kyler cut him off, his voice dry as a desert. "Are you sure? I bet she’d just say ’I don’t know’ to every single question you threw at her."

In his mind, an image formed. A very specific, very irritating image.

Azura. Grinning like an idiot. Hands clasped together. Tilting her head like a confused golden retriever.

"Ehehehehehe... I don’t know! :D"

And then again.

"Ehehehehehe... I don’t know! :D"

And then again, like a broken toy.

"Ehehehehehe... I don’t know! :D"

Kyler mentally shuddered.

Caelian’s beautiful face contorted as he processed his uncle’s words. His brow furrowed. His lips pursed. He looked like a man who had just been told the sky was actually green and was trying really hard to believe it.

Then, slowly, reluctantly, he nodded.

"...Actually, you’re right, Uncle. She would 100% answer ’I don’t know’ to everything."

Caesar was not satisfied. He grabbed another handful of chips and shoved them into his mouth, chewing with aggressive frustration.

"But at least we could’ve TALKED more!" He swallowed, pointing a greasy finger at the door. "We barely explained anything! Maybe she could’ve explained something back, and then—!"

Caelus cut him off, his voice smooth and sharp as an ice blade.

"And are you sure you would’ve gotten anything useful if she explained it to you?"

Caesar opened his mouth.

Then closed it.

His mind rewound to earlier. To when Azura had tried to explain why Mara wanted to skin her alive. The words that had come out of her mouth had been so confusing, so convoluted, so utterly nonsensical, that he had ended up not just more confused—but also experiencing a full-blown existential crisis.

Kyler leaned back in his chair, steepling his fingers like a villain in a bad courtroom drama. He glanced at the papers scattered across the table.

"Let me ask you something," he said, his tone flat but laced with barely concealed amusement. "Do you actually believe what she said? About a witch so obsessed with her brother that she’d fight a rhinoceros and let her own body become a snowboard?"

He paused, letting the absurdity hang in the air like a bad smell.

"Because that level of nonsense... statistically, that only happens in about 3% of the world. And I’m being generous."

The triplets exchanged glances. None of them spoke.

Because deep down—so deep it hurt—they all agreed with their uncle.

If anyone else had walked into that room and told them that story, they would’ve laughed them out of the pack. Called the asylum. Asked if they needed an exorcist.

But Azura had told it with such passion. Such drama. She had waved her arms. She had made sound effects. She had looked them dead in the eye and spoken with the conviction of a woman who had seen things.

And somehow, despite every logical bone in their bodies screaming "THIS IS INSANE", they had believed her.

Even Kyler, with his ice-cold logic and his "I-was-born-cynical"expression—even he had looked a little sympathetic toward Jonathan by the end of it.

Caelian finally broke the silence, rubbing the back of his neck.

"...I hate that I’m saying this, but she almost had me convinced that snowboarding is a valid life choice."

Caesar, mid-chip-crunch, nodded solemnly.

"We need to investigate everything she just said," Kyler declared, snapping back to business. "Send people to the Crimson Crest Pack."

Caelus gave a curt nod, his silver hair catching the light. "Already handled, Uncle."

Caesar sighed dramatically and nibbled on his chips like a depressed squirrel. "And what about this whole ’fated mate’ thing? We got nothing. She has nothing. We’re all just sitting here, holding hands and singing ’Kumbaya’ in the dark."

Kyler’s eyes narrowed. "Even if she’s clueless, she’s clearly hiding something. The best solution for now is to keep her on a short leash. As long as she’s staying with this pack, don’t let her escape back to hers. She can’t mind-link across that kind of distance, so don’t give her a phone either—or she’ll contact her family and we’ll have a full-blown rescue mission on our hands."

At that, Caelian’s grin returned—slow, sly, and triumphant.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a sleek device.

Azura’s phone.

He held it up like a trophy, the screen glinting in the dim light.

"Lucky for me, she brought up the phone herself. I almost forgot about it."

He turned it over in his hands, his grin widening into something almost predatory.

"Guess what I found on here?"