The Woman in the Photograph
985 Words
The world seemed to stop.
Elias stared at Kael.
Then at the photograph.
Then back at Kael again.
His mother.
The woman in the picture was his mother.
The woman whose face he couldn’t remember.
The woman he had spent his entire life wondering about.
His chest tightened painfully.
“You’re lying.”
The words came out weak.
Desperate.
Kael didn’t react.
“Why would I lie about this?”
Elias opened his mouth.
Then closed it.
Because he didn’t have an answer.
The Alpha was right.
There was no reason to invent something like this.
Still…
“I don’t remember her.”
His voice cracked.
A tiny fracture in the wall he had spent years building around himself.
Kael noticed.
Of course he did.
Nothing seemed to escape him.
“You were very young.”
“How young?”
“Less than a year old.”
Elias felt his stomach twist.
A year.
He had lost her before he could even form memories.
No wonder her face felt like a stranger’s.
No wonder every attempt to remember had ended in darkness.
Slowly, he picked up the photograph.
His fingers trembled.
The woman in the picture looked beautiful.
Warm eyes.
Gentle smile.
The kind of smile that made people feel safe.
And she was looking at the baby in her arms with absolute love.
Elias swallowed hard.
For some reason, tears threatened to rise.
He hated it.
Hated how much this hurt.
Hated how much he suddenly wanted answers.
“What happened to her?”
The question hung heavily in the room.
Kael’s expression darkened.
Immediately.
And Elias knew.
Whatever happened wasn’t good.
The Alpha walked toward the window.
Silent.
Thoughtful.
Then finally answered.
“She was killed.”
The words hit like a punch.
Elias froze.
“No.”
Kael remained silent.
“How?”
The Alpha’s jaw tightened.
“They called it an accident.”
“But?”
Kael turned.
Silver eyes cold as ice.
“It wasn’t.”
The room fell silent.
Elias stared at him.
The bond stirred uneasily.
As if it already knew what was coming.
Kael folded his arms.
“She was murdered.”
The photograph slipped from Elias’s hands again.
This time he didn’t even notice.
His mother.
Murdered.
Not dead from illness.
Not an accident.
Murdered.
The realization left him numb.
For several seconds, he couldn’t speak.
Couldn’t think.
Couldn’t breathe properly.
Then a new question appeared.
One that suddenly seemed far more important.
“How do you know her?”
Kael went still.
A dangerous silence followed.
Elias noticed immediately.
The Alpha was hiding something.
Something important.
“Kael.”
No response.
“Tell me.”
Kael looked away.
That alone was enough to confirm it.
The Alpha never avoided eye contact.
Never.
Elias stepped closer.
“What aren’t you telling me?”
A muscle tightened in Kael’s jaw.
For the first time since they’d met—
He looked uncomfortable.
Very uncomfortable.
Finally, he spoke.
“I made her a promise.”
Elias blinked.
“What?”
Kael’s gaze shifted toward the photograph.
Toward Amelia Vale.
“I promised I would protect you.”
The room went completely silent.
Elias felt his heartbeat stop.
For several seconds, he simply stared.
Trying to process what he’d heard.
“You knew about me?”
“Yes.”
“Since when?”
Kael’s answer came quietly.
“Since the day you were born.”
The floor seemed to vanish beneath Elias’s feet.
Twenty-one years.
Twenty-one years of questions.
And the man standing in front of him had known about him the entire time.
“How?”
His voice barely worked now.
“Who are you to her?”
Kael closed his eyes briefly.
As though remembering something painful.
Then he answered.
“She saved my life.”
Elias froze.
The bond pulsed.
Not pain.
Not fear.
Sadness.
Deep.
Ancient sadness.
Kael opened his eyes again.
“They were hunting her.”
The Alpha’s voice was low.
Controlled.
But Elias could hear the emotion beneath it.
“Your mother knew things she wasn’t supposed to know.”
“The Erasers?”
“Yes.”
Elias swallowed.
“What happened?”
Kael stared at the photograph.
For the first time, his usual cold mask cracked.
Only slightly.
But enough.
“She gave me evidence against them.”
A pause.
“Then she disappeared.”
The silence that followed felt endless.
Elias understood now.
At least part of it.
His mother had been involved with the organization.
She had discovered something dangerous.
And it had cost her life.
The room suddenly felt colder.
Much colder.
Then—
A loud explosion rocked the mansion.
BOOM!
The walls shook violently.
Glass shattered somewhere downstairs.
Alarms erupted instantly.
Red lights flooded the corridor.
Elias jumped.
Kael’s expression transformed instantly.
All traces of emotion vanished.
Replaced by something far more dangerous.
The ruthless Alpha was back.
His phone rang.
Kael answered immediately.
“Report.”
A voice shouted from the other side.
The words made Kael’s eyes darken.
“Where?”
More shouting.
Then silence.
Kael ended the call.
Elias felt his stomach drop.
“What happened?”
The Alpha looked toward the city visible beyond the windows.
Smoke was rising in the distance.
Dark.
Heavy.
Wrong.
Kael’s voice became ice.
“They’ve made their first move.”
Elias stared.
“What does that mean?”
The Alpha’s silver eyes met his.
And for the first time—
Elias saw genuine concern there.
Not for himself.
For Elias.
“The Erasers just attacked one of my facilities.”
The room went silent.
Then Kael delivered the news that changed everything.
“They aren’t hunting you anymore.”
A pause.
The Alpha’s jaw tightened.
“They’re hunting us.”
The bond pulsed hard.
As if confirming the truth.
The war had officially begun.
And somewhere in the city…
A masked assassin was already moving toward Kael’s mansion.
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