Chapter 7 - THE PROPHECY THAT MADE HIM WALK AWAY
Dashiell ended the call without another word.
Kiara stared at him.
He would not look at her.
“Dashiell.”
“We move in ten minutes.”
“What did she mean?”
“Later.”
“No.”
He checked his weapon.
Kiara stepped in front of him.
“You don't get to become emotionally unavailable because a kidnapped woman dropped a prophecy on us.”
His eyes finally met hers.
“You think that's what this is?”
“I think you've spent your entire life controlling rooms by refusing to react.”
“That usually works.”
“Not with me.”
“No.”
Something painful moved through his face.
“Apparently not.”
Tomas approached.
“I know the prophecy.”
Dashiell turned.
Of course he did.
“You really are determined to become my least favorite person.”
Tomas accepted that.
“The original text said: When Crown and Warden wake together, one will end the other, and the throne will fall.”
Kiara frowned.
“That sounds vague enough to sell coffee mugs.”
Bianca almost laughed.
Tomas continued.
“Lucian interpreted it to mean Dashiell might kill you.”
“And my mother?”
“She feared the same.”
Dashiell stepped away.
Kiara understood what he was doing.
Creating distance.
Immediately.
“Don't.”
He stopped.
“You saved my life.”
“Yes.”
“I nearly awakened you by being near you.”
“Lucian injected your blood into me.”
“My blood still worked.”
“Not the same thing.”
“You don't know that.”
“And neither do you.”
Dashiell looked toward the rain outside.
“If there's a chance—”
Kiara grabbed his hand.
Every wolf in the room went still.
She did not care.
“You do not get to turn fear into a decision for me.”
His eyes dropped to their joined hands.
“You want choice?”
“Yes.”
“Then I'm choosing to keep you alive.”
“And I'm choosing not to let you abandon me because of a sentence written by people who thought cassette tapes were secure technology.”
Tomas muttered, “They were.”
Bianca elbowed him.
Kiara continued.
“Your mother also wrote that a chosen bond could destroy the Hollow Crown.”
“That doesn't mean we should create one.”
“I didn't say tonight.”
Something flickered in his eyes.
“Good.”
Kiara's heart did an annoying little thing.
“I'm saying stop walking away before there's anything to walk away from.”
For several seconds, Dashiell said nothing.
Then he squeezed her hand once.
“Fine.”
It was possibly the least romantic agreement in history.
It felt enormous.
They planned the assault on St. Gabriel's.
The abbey sat in the foothills outside the city.
Three buildings.
Catacombs underneath.
Lucian would expect Dashiell at the ceremonial hall.
So they would not enter through it.
Tomas knew an old drainage route beneath the cemetery.
Bianca would lead a small Garcia security team to extract hostages.
Owen would find Sophie.
Tomas would locate Elena.
Dashiell and Kiara would find Lucian.
“No,” Dashiell said.
Kiara stared.
“We just had this conversation.”
“You're going with Bianca.”
“We absolutely did just have this conversation.”
“Kiara.”
“Dashiell.”
Tomas rubbed his forehead.
“I preferred being dead.”
Bianca smiled.
“I didn't.”
The words stopped everyone.
Tomas looked at his daughter.
She looked away.
Their relationship would not be repaired tonight.
But perhaps it was not entirely gone.
Dashiell finally compromised.
Kiara would enter with Bianca until the hostages were secure.
Then she could choose what came next.
They reached the abbey at 10:47.
Rain had become sleet.
St. Gabriel's rose from the trees like something that had been abandoned by God on purpose.
Broken stained glass.
Black stone.
A bell tower leaning slightly east.
Kiara felt the place before she entered it.
Blood memories.
Centuries.
Oaths spoken by frightened people who had been told obedience was sacred.
Her wrist burned.
Sweetheart.
Rosa again.
The throne must fall.
Kiara whispered, “How?”
No answer.
They entered through the cemetery tunnel.
The smell hit first.
Wolves.
Many.
Dashiell counted silently.
At least forty.
Possibly more.
Tomas whispered, “Lucian brought pack leaders.”
“To witness the bond,” Kiara said.
“And surrender afterward.”
They reached a split.
Bianca took Owen and four guards left.
Tomas went right.
Dashiell and Kiara remained together.
He looked at her.
“Last chance to go back.”
“Last chance to stop asking.”
Something almost warm entered his eyes.
Then they heard a child scream.
Owen broke formation.
“Sophie!”
He ran.
Bianca cursed and followed.
Dashiell and Kiara raced after them.
The tunnel opened into an underground chapel.
Seven families were locked behind iron barriers.
Children.
Parents.
Elderly wolves.
Sophie stood behind one gate.
“Dad!”
Owen reached her.
The gate carried a blood seal.
He touched it.
An invisible force threw him backward.
Kiara approached.
Dashiell caught her shoulder.
“Careful.”
She touched the seal.
Pain shot through her arm.
A voice entered her mind.
Obey.
The command did not sound like Lucian.
It sounded older.
Centuries of Alphas reinforcing the same idea.
Kiara understood.
The gate was not locked by metal.
It was locked by an oath.
Do not release those claimed by the Crown.
Kiara looked at the frightened families.
“I release you.”
Nothing happened.
Tomas's teaching came back.
Intent mattered.
Choice mattered.
She closed her eyes.
“You owe no loyalty to the person who imprisoned you.”
The symbol cracked.
“You owe no blood because someone stronger demanded it.”
Another crack.
“You belong to yourselves.”
The seal shattered.
Every gate in the chapel opened.
For one second, no one moved.
Then Sophie ran into Owen's arms.
He collapsed to his knees, sobbing.
Kiara nearly cried with him.
Bianca began directing families into the tunnel.
Then applause echoed from the balcony.
Slow.
Mocking.
Lucian Vale stood above them.
He was younger than Kiara expected.
Mid-forties.
Silver hair at the temples.
Beautiful in the way some dangerous animals were beautiful.
Elena stood beside him.
Unrestrained.
Kiara frowned.
Dashiell whispered, “Mom.”
Elena looked down.
Tears filled her eyes.
“I'm sorry.”
Lucian smiled.
“Told you she lied.”
Dashiell's face changed.
“Come down.”
Elena did.
Slowly.
Alone.
Tomas entered from the opposite corridor and stopped when he saw her.
“Elena.”
She looked at him.
For six years, he had believed her dead.
For twelve, she had believed him dead.
Neither moved.
Then Elena looked at Dashiell.
“You need to leave Kiara.”
Lucian smiled.
Dashiell stared at his mother.
“Why?”
“Because the prophecy is true.”
Kiara shook her head.
“We don't know what it means.”
“I do.”
Elena's voice broke.
“I found the complete text.”
She looked at Kiara.
“When Crown and Warden bond, one bloodline ends.”
Dashiell released Kiara's hand instantly.
Elena continued.
“If you choose each other, the Warden line may disappear.”
Kiara looked at Dashiell.
“So?”
His expression hardened.
“The Warden line is Bianca too.”
Bianca froze.
Elena nodded.
“And every living Garcia descended from it.”
That changed everything.
A bond between Kiara and Dashiell might destroy the Hollow Crown.
But it might also kill his family.
Dashiell took one step away from Kiara.
Then another.
She understood why.
And this time, she could not tell him not to.
Lucian descended the staircase.
“You see how simple this becomes?”
Kiara glared at him.
“No.”
“Bond with me, and the Garcias live.”
Dashiell's wolf surged.
Lucian smiled.
“I don't need her love.”
He held out his hand.
“Only her blood.”
Kiara stared at it.
Then at Dashiell.
Then at Bianca.
If the prophecy was true, choosing Dashiell could kill them.
If she chose Lucian, every pack might lose its freedom.
Lucian stepped closer.
“Midnight is seventy-one minutes away.”
His smile widened.
“Choose carefully.”
Elena suddenly grabbed Kiara's wrist.
The moment their skin touched, a memory exploded into Kiara's mind.
Elena was not warning her away from Dashiell.
She was showing her something.
The complete prophecy.
Not the version Lucian had quoted.
Kiara saw the final missing line.
And realized everyone had misunderstood it.
“One bloodline ends” did not mean death.
It meant something else entirely.
Before Kiara could speak, Elena collapsed.
A dart protruded from her neck.
Lucian caught her.
His smile disappeared.
“You should not have done that.”
Dashiell moved.
Lucian drew a blade across Elena's throat.
Not deep enough to kill.
Deep enough to stop everyone.
“Midnight,” he said.
Then the abbey doors slammed between them.
May you like
And Kiara realized she had less than an hour to convince Dashiell that bonding with her would not kill his family.
It would destroy the very thing that made them Alphas.
