Alpha's Regret After the Divorce by Christina novel Chapter 148

Kira’s POV

“Good morning,” I greeted him with a chill in my voice as his eyes fluttered open at last. “Did you sleep well?”

For a brief moment, confusion flickered across Ethan’s face, clouding his features. Then recognition settled in, swiftly replaced by a raw, primal fear that stirred something dark and satisfying deep inside me.

“Where am I?” he rasped hoarsely, testing the limits of his restraints by flexing his arms slightly. The silver chains clinked softly with the movement, and he winced from the cold, biting contact against his skin.

I lifted a small digital recorder into view. “You’re somewhere secure—where we can continue our conversation without interruptions.” I let the weight of our new surroundings sink in. “Now, let’s resume where we left off: Project Phoenix. The ritual. The so-called ‘ultimate vessel.’ I want every detail.”

His eyes flickered anxiously around the room, taking in the silver cage Mason had constructed around the perimeter. It was designed specifically to block werewolf senses, ensuring nothing beyond these walls could be detected.

“You’re making a colossal mistake,” Ethan finally said, his voice steadier but laced with warning. “Red Mask has resources you can’t even imagine. When she finds out you’ve taken me—”

“She’ll what?” I leaned in, voice low and sharp. “Send more guards for us to neutralize? We handled your security team without breaking a sweat.” I placed the recorder on the small table beside me, letting the silence hang heavy. “Now, you can make this easy or excruciating. The choice is yours.”

For two relentless hours, I pressed him. My tactics shifted between calm reasoning, pointed threats, and appeals to whatever shred of conscience he might have left. The silver chains continued to burn against his skin, slowly sapping his strength. But something had shifted since our interrogation in the hotel room. Despite the lingering effects of the truth serum, he resisted more now—his fear seemed to be rooted in something beyond me, something darker.

“I told you, I’m just a middleman,” he repeated for what felt like the hundredth time. “I arrange resources, deliver messages. The core details of Project Phoenix are compartmentalized. I don’t know the specifics of the ritual.”

His heartbeat spiked with every lie—a detail my enhanced training allowed me to detect even without werewolf senses. But fear also elevates heart rate, blurring the lines between deception and terror.

“He’s stronger than he looks,” Rebecca murmured quietly during a break in the observation room. “His fear is overwhelming the truth indicators.”

I massaged my temples, frustration mounting. “He’s more afraid of Red Mask than he is of us. We need to flip that equation.”

Mason hesitated, avoiding my gaze. “We could escalate. There are methods we haven’t tried yet.”

I knew exactly what he meant—physical interrogation, torture. The thought churned my stomach, despite everything Ethan had done. “No. We’re not crossing that line. We’ll find another way.”

Andy, who had been mostly silent until now, looked up from his tablet. “Rachel just reported in. They found something while searching Ethan’s suite at the hotel—a hidden compartment behind the bathroom mirror.”

My interest piqued instantly. “What was inside?”

“A USB drive. Mason’s team just finished breaking the encryption.” Andy’s expression darkened. “Kira, you might want to sit down for this.”

I remained standing. “Show me.”

He handed me the tablet cautiously. “It’s… worse than we thought.”

The screen displayed a video library, dozens of files organized by date. Each filename was a woman’s name. Dread pooled in my stomach as I tapped the first one.

The footage was grainy but clear enough. Ethan’s unmistakable face hovered over an unconscious woman in what looked like a hotel room. I closed the video quickly, unable to watch further but fully understanding what it contained.

“How many?” I whispered, my voice barely audible.

“Thirty-seven distinct victims,” Andy replied grimly. “Spanning five years. From different packs across the country. Most probably don’t even know what happened to them.”

A white-hot rage surged through me. I had known Ethan was a predator, but the cold, systematic way he documented his crimes like trophies was sickening. My hands trembled as I set the tablet down.

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