Chapter 216: The Other Option
Rebecca’s POV
Alpha Kane didn’t say a word, but the cold look in his eyes told me everything. Deep down, I already knew the truth before he even spoke.
They didn’t find the key.
"I just got off the phone with Logan," Kane said, his voice flat and heavy. "He searched Kaden’s entire bedroom and his private study. He couldn’t find the key anywhere... and he doesn’t think he ever will."
I swallowed hard, staring down at the polished floorboards beneath my feet. I wasn’t even shocked. Somewhere deep inside me, a quiet voice had already known they would come up empty-handed. Kaden was too paranoid. He was a man who hid his secrets so deeply that no ordinary search would ever uncover them.
The room fell into a suffocating, heavy silence. Beside me, Stephanie gave me a pitiful, worried look, her fingers tightening squeeze-tight around mine to give me strength.
"So what do we do now?" I asked, looking up at Kane, my voice barely above a whisper.
Kane let out a tired, ragged breath. "The only option left is to tell Kaden the truth."
"No!" I shook my head violently, panic rising fast and hot in my chest. "Never! I don’t want to! You can’t!"
"Then what do you want me to do, Rebecca?" Kane asked, his voice rising in sharp frustration. "Without Kaden knowing about you—without him knowing about his erased memories and the baby—we will never get that key! That choker is slowly poisoning you and his child. What other choice do we have?"
I swallowed hard, the words freezing in my throat. I couldn’t speak. I went completely silent, squeezing my eyes shut as tears burned hot behind my eyelids.
I wished they could just understand. Was it really that hard to see why I was terrified? For months, I had been nothing more than Kaden’s prisoner. I had lived in constant terror of his cold eyes, his suffocating possessiveness, and the dark walls he locked me behind. Now, for the first time in my life, I was free. Kaden didn’t even know my name anymore. The heavy iron chain around my life had finally broken—and if they told him the truth, he would drag me right back into that living nightmare. I didn’t want to be bound to him ever again.
Kane’s voice softened, but the heavy weight of reality remained. "Rebecca, if there were any other way, I would take it. You think I’m not scared? If Kaden finds out we wiped his mind and kept his mate and child hidden, he will lose his mind. He will execute Logan and me for treason. But there are no other options left. We have to tell him."
"I have another option," a voice spoke up from the doorway.
Everyone in the room snapped their heads around. Elder Maeve stood at the entrance, her eyes scanning the three of us.
My breath hitched in my chest. "Can you help?"
Maeve stepped into the room, closing the door quietly behind her. She looked straight at Alpha Kane. "I can do something to help you get that key... something that does not involve telling Alpha King Kaden a single word."
She stepped further into the room, her gaze turning serious as she laid out the details.
"The magic bound to that collar tells me the key has never left the territory. If it had, I would have felt the connection break. The key is still inside the Full Moon packhouse." Maeve said, looking directly at Kane. "But searching blindly room by room will get you nowhere."
"So how does that help us?" Kane asked, his brow furrowing in frustration. "Logan already searched his private quarters and came up completely empty."
"Because Logan doesn’t bear the counter-magic," Maeve explained calmly. She turned to me, her eyes fixing on the thick silver metal wrapped around my neck. "I can place a magnetic tracking spell directly onto the choker. It reacts to the blood magic Kaden used when he forged the lock."
My fingers brushed against the cold, terrifying band. "Will it break the collar?"
"No," Maeve said plainly. "And it will not point to a specific chest, drawer, or hidden floorboard either. The magic only works within a limited range. When you get close to the key—within a few feet—the metal will hum and warm against your skin. It will only signal that you are near it. You will still have to find where he hid it yourself."
A cold pit opened in my stomach. "A limited range... That means I have to be inside the packhouse."
"Directly inside," Maeve agreed with a single nod. "You have to walk those halls yourself until the spell responds."
"No..." I gasped, shaking my head frantically as horror seized my chest. "No, I can’t! I can’t go into that house! I don’t want to see him! I can’t stand near him again!"
Maeve didn’t flinch under my sudden panic. She just stared at me with unblinking, serious eyes. "That is the only option left, child. I cast the spell, you go in, find the key, and leave—or you tell Alpha Kaden the truth and let us reverse his memories. Choose one."
A suffocating silence settled over the room.
Kane stood quietly by the window for a long moment, staring out into the dark trees before letting out a rough sigh. "Rebecca, it’s your choice. But if you want my advice... I still think we should just tell Kaden."
"No!" I blurted out instantly, my voice cracking with desperation. "I am not letting him remember me."
Kane rubbed his temples in deep frustration. "Then how do you even plan to enter the packhouse, Rebecca? Even if you want to go in, how do you expect to walk through those front doors without Kaden questioning who you are or why a strange woman is roaming his halls?"
I went completely still, my mind racing with thoughts and options. Step into the lion’s den, or surrender my freedom forever.
I looked up at Kane, taking a deep, shaking breath as a wild, dangerous idea took root in my mind.
"I’ll enter as your woman," I whispered, looking straight into his eyes. "You bring me into the packhouse as your partner. Under your protection, Kaden won’t question why I’m there."