MIDNIGHT TRAP
1423 Words
Chapter 11:
*11:59pm. Blackwood Gardens. Oak Tree.*
Fog rolled low across grass. Cold. Smelled like wet earth + old blood. The oak tree stood ancient in the center, and branches twisted like arms.
Damien held my hand tight. Elena walked left, gun at hip, eyes scanning darkness. Kemi and 12 guards circled the trees, night vision on, silent.
My phone buzzed. Same unknown number.
_New: You came. Good. Walk to oak tree. Alone, Mrs. Blackwood. Alpha stays back, or I blow charges buried in roots. -K_
Damien’s grip tightened until my bones hurt. “No.”
“They want me,” I whispered. “If I don’t go, they kill everyone here.”
Damien looked at me. Eyes black, no silver. Terrified. Not Alpha. Just man. “3 years ago I sent you away to ‘protect’ you. Look what happened. Not again, Favour.”
I touched his face. Thumb over bite mark on his neck. Still silver, still glowing faint from council.
“If she’s been watching since we were kids, she knows I’ll come,” I said. “Let’s use that. Elena, drones?”
Elena nodded. Three drones hovered silent above fog. Live feed streaming straight to national Alpha council. No edits. No lies.
I kissed Damien fast. Hard. “Trust me.”
I walked alone to oak tree. 19-year-old version of me laughed here with him. 22-year-old Damien knelt here to reject me. Now, I, 25, walk toward ghosts.
Shadow moved between roots. The woman stepped out.
Auntie Morayo. Chief’s wife. “Dead” 2 years from heart attack. Hair grey now. Scar down right hand. Eyes like Damien’s but empty. She held remote. Thin wire ran into soil at the base of the tree.
“Hello, Favour,” she smiled. “You look like your mother. Weak chin. Strong eyes. She had those, too.”
My blood froze. “You knew my mother?”
“I raised her,” Morayo laughed, low. “Omega maid in Blackwood kitchen 30 years ago. Watched her fall for Alpha. Watched her die in childbirth because the pack doctor said ‘omegas are replaceable, save the heir’. I promised her dying breath: your daughter won’t die replaceable.”
She lifted the remote. “So I built you. File on you since birth. Photos. Blood from cut knee age 7. Hair from brush age 14. I made sure Damien’s blood touched yours at 16. Under this oak tree. Small cut. DNA transfer. Created ‘true mate’ signal artificially. Pack felt it. That’s why Bond called you both.”
Damien shouted from shadows: “Lies.”
Morayo didn’t look at him. Eyes only on me. “Not lies, Alpha. Science. I spliced your blood with hers 3 years ago. Night after funeral. While you cried over an empty casket. I told the pack bond that was broken. Truth: Bond was forged. Stronger than natural. That’s why rejection didn’t kill her. That’s why she came back.”
My wolf snarled. _She made us?_
Morayo saw it. “Don’t look so hurt, girl. Without me, Damien would’ve mated Vanessa. Political alliance. You’d be housemaid with 5 pups by now, cleaning their mess. I gave you an empire. I gave you him.”
Remote beeped. Timer on small screen: 00:30.
“Now choice,” she said. “Press this, oak tree explodes. Charges were buried 3 years ago. Damien dies instantly. You live, but bond shatters without Alpha. Or…” She pulled a silver knife. Same ceremonial kind from council. “Cut your palm. Drip blood on roots. Blood from ‘forged mate’ reverses splice. Bond breaks clean. You walk free. No Alpha. There is no target on the back. No Keeper watching.”
00:25.
Footsteps. Damien broke the line. Ran to me. Guards shouted. Elena raised a gun.
Morayo clicked remote once. Click. Didn’t press, just warning. “Stay back, Alpha. Or I finish what I started 3 years ago.”
Damien stopped inches from me. Looked at knife, then me, then Morayo. Chest rising hard.
“You think I’d let her choose alone?” he asked quietly. “Again? Like 3 years ago?”
Morayo smiled. “She will. She’s omega. Trained to obey. Trained to sacrifice.”
00:15.
I looked at Damien. Really looked. Scar on neck from my bite. Eyes that knelt in council before 200 wolves. Hands that held me through sniper, through rumors, through war.
“No,” I said. Voice steady. “I’m not omega trained to obey. I’m Favour Blackwood. Your wife.”
I grabbed a knife. Cut palm. Blood welled hot.
Morayo’s eyes lit. “Good girl—”
I didn’t drip on roots. I grabbed Damien’s hand. Cut his palm, too. Pressed our bleeding palms together over soil.
“Bond isn’t blood,” I said. “It’s choice. And I choose him. Every day. Forged or real. Spliced or born. I choose.”
Blood mixed. Sizzled on roots. Not explosion. Light. Silver + gold burst from ground, up trunk, through branches. Bond flared bright enough to burn fog away. Hot. Like the sun.
Morayo screamed. Remote flew from hand. Elena shot wire. Guards tackled her to the ground.
Light died. Silence fell like a blanket.
Damien looked at our joined bleeding hands. Then at me. Then, at the bond mark on his neck. Glow is stronger now. Not silver. Gold edges.
“It’s real,” he whispered. Voice broke. “Whatever she did 3 years ago… this is real now. Choice made it real. Blood made it ours.”
Morayo laughed from ground, guards pinning her arms. Blood at corner of mouth. Eyes locked on me. Not hate. Something worse. Pity.
“You fools,” she whispered. “Bond real means curse real. ‘Keeper’s Law’ - when forged bond turns true, Keeper dies. Blood for blood. I paid. You live.”
She convulsed. Blood from mouth. Eyes on me, soft now. “I kept you safe, girl. From Chief. From Vanessa. From pack that wanted omega dead. I kept you for him. Don’t waste it on fear.”
Last breath. The body went slack.
Sirens wailed. National council vehicles rolled through gates. Lights red + blue.
Elena ran to me, crying. Wrapped arms around both of us. “Dad was right. Love > control. He died believing that.”
Damien didn’t let go of my hand. Even as medics wrapped, cut palm. Even as council lead approached with tablet.
“Alpha Blackwood,” council man said. “We witnessed feed. Bond reversal valid. Charges against Favour dropped. Morayo’s crimes were exposed. Chief Adebayo was arrested at estate. Vanessa pending trial for attempted murder.”
Damien nodded once. Then, I looked at me. Only me. World gone.
“Favour,” he said, lifting our joined hands. Blood drying gold on skin. “3 years late. But you still choose me?”
I looked at blood mixing on our palms. Gold glow fading to normal silver. Real. Mine.
“Yes,” I whispered. “I choose you. Forged, real, broken, healed. All of it. No more running.”
He kissed my bleeding palm. Then my lips. Soft. Claiming. Not for cameras. Not for council. For us.
Above oak tree, drone light blinked once. Feed cut. Mission done.
Somewhere in the dark, the phone buzzed one last time. Unknown number.
_Last message from The Keeper: You chose. Now live with it. -M_
Then, the number disconnected forever. Signal dead.
*12:47am. 60th Floor. Blackwood Tower.*
Damien carried me to bed. Wrapped cut palm against his chest. Bite mark on neck glowed faint gold now, not silver.
“War over?” I whispered, exhausted. Eyes heavy.
He shook his head. Kissed forehead. “War with pack over. War with ghosts… just started.”
He pulled blanket up. Held me like answer to prayer he stopped saying 3 years ago.
Outside, Lagos slept. Inside, Alpha and rejected mate finally safe.
But my phone lit one last time before dying. No number. No text.
Just photo: Me, age 7, knee bleeding on playground. Woman in background. Young Morayo. Maybe 30. Smiling at camera.
Caption burned into screen before phone went black: _Blood for blood paid. But bloodlines remember. -M_
Damien saw it before the screen went black. Jaw locked.
He didn’t say word. Just held me tighter. Arm like steel.
Because if Morayo was Keeper… who was her mother? And why did bloodline matter?
Bite mark pulsed once. Warm. Warning.
War with pack ended at midnight.
War with bloodline started now.
_[End Episode 11]_
- Writer
