ARIA'S POV
I woke up strapped to a cold metal table, bright lights burning my eyes.
My head pounded like someone had hit me with a hammer. My mouth tasted like chemicals. And my wrists were locked in metal restraints that bit into my skin when I tried to move.
"Kael?" I called out, my voice hoarse and weak.
"He can't hear you," Professor Kane's voice answered from somewhere to my left. "I've placed him in the next room. Soundproofed, of course. Can't have you two communicating during the experiments."
Terror shot through me. I turned my head—the only part of my body I could move—and saw Kane standing at a counter filled with syringes, vials, and equipment I didn't recognize.
"Let me go," I demanded, trying to sound brave. "You can't do this. People know we're here. Marcus and his team—"
"Are standing outside the combat training facility wondering where you disappeared to," Kane interrupted calmly. "This laboratory has six different exits. I could leave right now through any of them, and they'd never find me." He picked up a syringe filled with green liquid. "But I'm not leaving. Not when I finally have such perfect specimens."
"We're not specimens! We're people!"
"You're science waiting to happen," Kane corrected, walking toward me. "An Omega with Alpha-level courage and intelligence. A dominant Alpha with unusual empathy and emotional control. And both of you showing signs of a mate bond that should be impossible given your current suppressant levels." His eyes gleamed behind his glasses. "Do you know how rare your biology is? How much I can learn from studying you?"
He brought the needle closer to my arm.
"Don't touch me!" I screamed, pulling against the restraints so hard that blood trickled from my wrists.
"The more you fight, the more you'll hurt yourself," Kane said pleasantly. "Just relax. This first injection is simply a baseline marker—nothing harmful. Yet."
The needle pierced my skin. I felt cold liquid spreading through my veins, making my whole body feel numb and heavy.
"There," Kane said, stepping back. "That wasn't so bad, was it?"
My vision blurred. The lights overhead seemed to pulse and swirl. Whatever he'd given me was affecting my brain.
"What... did you... do?" I slurred.
"Temporarily enhanced your sensory perception," Kane explained, making notes on a tablet. "It will help you feel the mate bond more clearly. I want to observe what happens when an Omega in distress calls to her bonded Alpha through the connection."
Horror cut through the drug haze. He was going to use the mate bond to hurt Kael. To torture him through our connection.
"No," I whispered. "Please. Don't hurt him."
"I'm not going to hurt him," Kane said. "You are. Through the bond. Let's see how strong your connection really is, shall we?"
He pressed a button on a remote control.
Pain exploded through my body—every nerve ending on fire, muscles seizing, lungs unable to draw air. I screamed, the sound tearing from my throat like something animal and desperate.
And through the mate bond, I felt Kael's answering roar of rage from the next room.
Kane smiled, taking notes. "Fascinating. The Alpha responds to the Omega's distress even while unconscious and separated by soundproof walls. The bond truly is remarkable."
He pressed the button again. The pain stopped, leaving me gasping and shaking.
"Please," I begged, tears streaming down my face. "Please stop."
"I'm afraid I can't," Kane said, not unkindly. "Science requires data. Pain produces the strongest bond response. Therefore, pain is necessary."
He was insane. Completely, utterly insane.
"What about Luna?" I asked desperately, trying to distract him. "Where is she?"
Kane gestured to another table across the room. Luna was there, still strapped down, electrodes covering her head. But her eyes were open now, watching me with terror.
"Your friend is helping me map the Beta brain's response to Alpha and Omega pheromones," Kane explained. "Fascinating work. Did you know that Betas can be chemically altered to respond to Alpha commands the same way Omegas do? I've been testing the formula for years."
"Sage," Luna croaked from her table. "You did this to Sage."
Kane's smile widened. "Miss Martinez was an excellent test subject. Willing, even, once I explained the benefits. She wanted to be stronger, more valuable to you. I simply gave her what she asked for."
"You killed her!" Luna screamed.
"Her body rejected the final formula," Kane said dismissively. "Unfortunate, but that's the nature of research. Not every experiment succeeds."
He was talking about Sage like she was a failed chemistry assignment, not a person. Not someone Luna loved.
I saw Luna's expression change—grief transforming into pure rage.
"Luna, don't—" I started.
But Luna had been working on her restraints the whole time we'd been talking. The electrodes on her head were just stickers—not actually connected to anything. She'd been faking unconsciousness, waiting for an opportunity.
Now she had one.
Luna ripped free of the restraints and launched herself at Kane. They crashed to the floor, Luna's hands wrapping around his throat.
"You killed her!" Luna screamed again, squeezing harder. "You killed Sage!"
Kane gasped for air, his face turning purple. His hand fumbled for something on his belt—a panic button, probably, that would bring his guards running.
"Luna, the guards!" I shouted. "You need to run!"
But Luna wasn't listening. She was lost in rage and grief, determined to make Kane pay even if it cost her life.
Kane's fingers found the button. He pressed it.
Alarms blared through the laboratory. Heavy footsteps thundered from the corridors.
Luna realized too late that she'd made a mistake. She released Kane and ran toward me, working frantically on my restraints.
"Come on, come on," she muttered, fingers flying over the lock mechanism.
The laboratory door burst open. Six guards rushed in, weapons drawn.
"Stop!" Kane wheezed, climbing to his feet. "Take the Beta alive. I still need her for testing."
Luna got one of my wrists free. I grabbed a scalpel from the nearby tray and slashed at my other restraint. The metal lock broke.
I rolled off the table just as a guard grabbed for me. The scalpel sliced across his arm—not deep, but enough to make him pull back.
"Aria, this way!" Luna ran toward a side door I hadn't noticed before.
But there were too many guards. They surrounded us, cutting off every exit.
"It's over," Kane said, touching his bruised throat. "Both of you, back on the tables. Now. Or I'll have my guards shoot you with enough tranquilizers to stop your hearts."
Luna and I stood back to back, surrounded, with nowhere to go.
Then the main laboratory door exploded inward.
Not opened. Exploded. Like someone had set off a bomb.
Through the smoke and debris, a figure emerged—tall, powerful, eyes blazing with silver fire.
Kael.
But something was wrong. His movements were too fast, too fluid. His eyes weren't just silver—they were glowing. And the growl that came from his throat sounded more animal than human.
"What did you do to him?" I whispered.
Kane's expression shifted from anger to excitement. "Oh. Oh, this is unexpected. The serum I gave him shouldn't have metabolized this quickly. Unless..." His eyes widened with realization. "Unless the mate bond accelerated the process. Your distress triggered his Alpha instincts so strongly that his body processed the enhancement serum in minutes instead of hours!"
"What serum?" I demanded.
"The same one I gave your brother," Kane said, backing away from Kael's advancing form. "A formula designed to unlock an Alpha's full potential. To remove the mental limiters that keep them from accessing their true strength." He laughed, delighted. "But I've never seen it work this powerfully before. The mate bond is amplifying everything!"
Kael's glowing eyes fixed on Kane. When he spoke, his voice was layered—human and animal mixed together.
"You hurt her," Kael growled. "You hurt my mate."
"Guards!" Kane shouted. "Restrain him!"
The guards rushed Kael.
It was over in seconds.
Kael moved like lightning, taking down trained fighters like they were children. Bones cracked. Bodies flew. Blood sprayed across white laboratory walls.
I'd never seen anything so terrifying and beautiful at the same time.
When the last guard fell, Kael turned to me. For a moment, I wasn't sure if he'd recognize me—if he was still Kael or if the serum had turned him into something else entirely.
"Aria," he said, his voice rough but recognizably his. "Are you hurt?"
"I'm okay," I managed. "But Kael, your eyes—"
"I know." He looked at his hands, which were covered in other people's blood. "I can feel it. The serum. It's changing me."
"We need to get out of here," Luna said urgently. "Before more guards come."
"No," Kane said from where he'd been cowering. "No, no, this is all wrong. The serum needs to be refined. Controlled. You're not supposed to maintain consciousness during the enhancement phase—"
Kael crossed the laboratory in two strides and lifted Kane off the ground by his throat.
"Where's the antidote?" Kael demanded.
"There... isn't one..." Kane choked out. "The changes... are permanent..."
"Then you've made your last mistake," Kael said coldly.
"Kael, don't!" I grabbed his arm. "Don't kill him. We need him to testify. To prove what he's done."
Kael's glowing eyes met mine. For a long moment, I thought he'd ignore me—thought the serum had taken away his humanity.
Then he dropped Kane, who crumpled to the floor gasping.
"For you," Kael said softly. "Only for you."
Luna was already working on freeing the other test subjects in the laboratory—I could see at least three more tables with unconscious students strapped to them.
My phone buzzed. Still in my pocket, somehow. I pulled it out and saw a text from Marcus:
"Police are here. FBI too. They're securing the campus. Are you okay? Where are you?"
"We're in the underground laboratory," I typed back quickly. "Beneath the combat training facility. Send help. Multiple victims. Kane is here."
Marcus's response was immediate: "On our way. Hold tight."
Kane started laughing from the floor—a broken, hysterical sound.
"It doesn't matter," he said. "You think you've won? You've only made it worse. The serum is in your bloodstream now, Ashford. Changing your DNA. Making you into something more than Alpha. Something new." His laughter grew louder. "You're my greatest creation! My masterpiece! And there's no going back!"
Kael's hands clenched into fists. The glowing in his eyes intensified.
And that's when I realized the real horror of what Kane had done.
He hadn't just experimented on Kael.
He'd created a weapon.
And that weapon was bonded to me.