Episode 32: A Truth Stolen by Shadows

"I only just started to remember," Maika's voice trembled like wind through broken glass. "Pieces… fragments. I came here because I had to know. About the child. About me."

Her voice cracked on the last word, raw and aching.

Genie hesitated. Relief and dread tangled in her throat. She glanced past Maika toward the shadow-drenched woods beyond the cabin, her eyes flickering with fear.

"I took care of your child until his third birthday," she said quickly, her voice low, urgent. "But our enemies recognized me. To protect the boy, I was ordered to hide. Stay here. Return when it was safe—"

CRASH!

The cabin door exploded inward, wood splintering under a surge of unnatural wind.

Shadows flooded in.

Figures emerged—hooded, faceless, cloaked in the essence of night itself. Their eyes gleamed with a ghostly, supernatural light. Cold. Unforgiving.

Rogues.

Maika spun instinctively, fangs bared in a deadly snarl.

Too late.

One of them surged forward with blistering speed—too fast even for a vampire to dodge. A sharp blow to her temple. Precise. Calculated. Just enough to knock her out.

Her gasp caught in the air.

And then… darkness.

Maika crumpled like a puppet cut from its strings.

"No—Maika!" Genie screamed, lunging forward.

But rough hands caught her. Bound her. Gagged her. They didn't hurt her—they didn't need to.

"She's the doula," one of the rogues growled. "He said not to harm her. Just take her."

The words chilled the air.

As they dragged Genie into the shadows of the forest, the last rogue turned, casting one final look at Maika's unconscious body. He knelt silently… and placed a shimmering crystal beside her.

A signal.

Then they vanished—leaving only silence behind. The fire in the hearth crackled softly, unaware of the storm that had just passed.

---

Later That Night

The firelight inside the war chamber cast dancing shadows across the great table strewn with maps and scrolls.

Carl stood at its edge, hands clenched, gaze fixed but unseeing.

When Nate entered and nodded once, Carl's shoulders stiffened.

"It's done?" he asked without turning.

"Yes, Alpha," Nate said. "Maika is untouched. The team secured Genie. No witnesses."

Carl closed his eyes. The guilt tasted bitter on his tongue.

"She was getting too close," he muttered. "Genie would've told her everything."

"She nearly did," Nate confirmed. "We intervened just in time."

Carl's fists tightened on the edge of the table until the wood groaned. "Good. She's not ready. Not yet."

Nate hesitated. "Are you sure this is the best way? When Maika wakes and sees Genie gone…"

"She'll know someone didn't want her to find the truth," Carl said darkly. "But I'll be there when that realization hits."

His eyes burned.

"She deserves to know the truth—about her child. About us. But not like this. Not when the clans are watching her every move. If they find out about Caveen before she remembers who she truly is…" His voice dropped to a growl.

Nate nodded grimly. "Then we'll keep her close. And prepare for the fallout."

Carl's gaze narrowed.

"Soon… I'll tell her everything. But first—she needs to remember that her heart once beat for me. And that the child she bore… was born of love."

---

The Next Morning

Maika stirred with a pained groan, her body aching as if she had been dragged through thorns and fire.

Smoke and forest moss filled her lungs. The scent of ash. The scent of magic.

Her fingers brushed something cool and smooth.

A crystal.

She blinked through the haze of memory and firelight, her head pounding. Genie's voice echoed in her mind—soft, trembling. And then… the shadows.

"Genie?" Her voice was hoarse.

No answer.

She sat up slowly, eyes darting.

The cabin was in disarray. A chair overturned. A curtain torn from its hook. No blood, no footprints—just silence.

"Genie!" she screamed this time, panic clawing at her throat.

She searched every corner, flinging open drawers, yanking back covers. Empty. Empty. Empty.

Gone.

Maika collapsed to her knees in the center of the room. Her breath shook, her heart stuttering.

"I was so close…"

Tears fell—hot, angry, helpless. She pressed her trembling hand to her lips, trying to contain the scream threatening to rip from her throat.

The door creaked.

Her head snapped up.

She expected the guide.

It was Carl.

"Maika." His voice was sharp with concern, his eyes scanning her for injury.

"You—!" She ran to him, rage and grief colliding. "Where were you?! They attacked—Genie's gone!"

He caught her, strong hands steadying her shaking form. "Are you hurt?"

"They took her, Carl!" she shouted, striking his chest with her fists—not to hurt, just to be heard. "They knocked me out like I was nothing—and they took her!"

His jaw tightened.

"She was about to tell me the truth. About my child. Why would they want her gone?"

Carl looked away.

And in that moment, Maika knew.

She stepped back, eyes blazing with disbelief. "This wasn't random."

Carl didn't speak.

Her voice cracked like glass. "You know something. Don't you? Every time I get close to the truth, something tears it away. Why?"

She turned her back to him, hugging herself.

"I can't keep doing this. Not when I don't even know who I am. Not when I have half a soul and a child out there—somewhere—whose face I can't even remember."

Carl's voice came soft behind her, filled with the weight of secrets. "I'll find Genie. I promise. And when the time is right, Maika… I'll tell you everything."

Her shoulders shook, but she didn't look at him.

"Contact me the moment you find her," she whispered. "No excuses. If there's even a sliver of hope… I'll go through hell to see her again."

Carl bowed his head. "You have my word."

And just like that, Maika walked past him—out the door, out into the morning light.

She didn't look back.

Carl didn't stop her.

He simply stood there in the empty cabin, watching the ghost of the woman he loved vanish into the trees—carrying all the pain, all the fury… and all the love he'd never stopped feeling.