Knight seemed to notice the older man's reaction so he lifted his hand to touch the necklace he was wearing. 

It's his great grandfather's necklace and he's sure that there are only two people who have the same jewelry. 

He already got one and the other is forever lost when they lost his little brother.

"W-where did you get your necklace?" Julius dumbly asked not thinking that he was just confirming Knight’s wild guess. 

The pure blood gasped the moment he realized Julius’s confused reaction.

"I'm guessing that Cyrus was wearing the same one when you got him. Am I right, Julius? because if I am, that only means one thing... Cyrus isn't a Carter and he's definitely not your---" Knight was too focused on Julius that he didn't notice one of Julius’s men has pulled out his gun and aimed it at him he wasn't able to dodge it when the said goon fired the gun towards him.

BANG!

Knight’s eyes widened.

He felt the hot and solid silver bullet pierce his flesh.

 He gulps when he feels his blood oozing from his back.

BANG! Another fire from the gun with a silencer pierces his lower back too, making him lean on the door .

The pure blood alpha's eyes start to falter...he tries to stand still by the door. 

He wants nothing but to protect his niece but at that moment all he could see is Julius Carter smirking at him viciously. 

He starts to cough with blood as he tried to breathe.

"You see, I'm sorry about that Knight. My man right here got bored with all your talking. I guess I won't be needing you with our deal then. I'd get whoever is inside this goddamn door to make sure my son would get your father's seat. In the end, I'll still hit the jackpot even without your help." Julius laughs manically before he waves at his remaining men to forcefully open the door to take whoever is inside to make sure his son would follow whatever he wants him to do.

Knight tries to open his mouth to say something but he suddenly feels like he couldn't even move a single cell in his body, the blood coming out his mouth also doesn't help.

 He tried to fight the urge to close his eyes only to finally fall on the floor with a loud thud. 

He's screaming in his head but for Julius he's just a dead body who is now useless. 

The older Carter did not spare him another glance when one of his men informed him that they found the little pup inside.

"Take her to the safehouse. Clean the bodies and make sure to delete all the evidence that we were here. Put everything on that Ashbourne kid. 

I'm sure his father would love to handle this." Julius uttered before he finally walks out of the penthouse. 

A part of him wants to make sure Knight is dead but he immediately erases the worries in his heart when he remembers how the bullet pierced from the pure blood alpha's back through his chest.

Julius was about to step into the elevator when one of his men called out his name.

"Sir, we found this one hiding in the closet!" The stout alpha is holding Felicia by her hair, a cloth inside her mouth so she wouldn't be able to make a noise.

Julius squinted his eyes as he stepped closer to squish the older omega's face.

"Look at that... Why do you rats love to meddle with the game of real wolves? I remember your brother popping in out of nowhere decades ago and now here you are again as if you really want to follow him in the afterlife." Julius laughs as he watches Felicia squirm in his hold.

The older woman's eyes widened when she realized what Juilus was telling her. 

He was talking about her younger brother who died with the family of his then boss. 

She begins to cry and tries to get away with the ugly stout alpha who's holding her but to no avail, 

she can't even make the man let her go.

Julius just continues to laugh in her face when he's sure that Felicia understood what he was saying. 

He's about to tell his man to get rid of her too when Kiana suddenly starts to cry while the other Beta is carrying her.

Felicia momentarily forgot her own pain and grief when she heard the little pup's cries. 

She looks at Julius with begging eyes so he would at least let her comfort the little girl even when she knows Juilus does not care at all.

"What a fucking nuisance! Let the old woman carry the child! And you, make sure you won't do anything stupid or else I'm gonna kill all your remaining family and let you be reunited with them immediately!" The old man threatened the omega who just nodded automatically because at that moment all she wanted was to make sure Kiana remained unharmed. 

She is still shaking. She is still trembling with fear for her own life after she saw Knight lying on the floor bathing in his own blood but at that very moment she knows she needs to be strong, she needs to have faith in Cyrus and Aria.

 The older omega ran towards the little girl. She quickly took her from the filthy man as if she's scared that the longer they touch the child, the more she's in danger with them.

Julius waves at her, signaling her to join him in the elevator before they all finally leave the building as if nothing happened.

Felicia is holding the crying little girl in her hands, hoping that Dylan received and read her message before Julius does something to the poor little girl.

PRESENT 

Aria and Cyrus are holding each other's hand tightly when they finally arrive at Cyrus’s penthouse where Dylan is waiting. 

Surprisingly, there are no police cars, no ambulance and definitely no press cars outside the building so Cyrus is a little relieved while Aria is still as nervous as fuck because she knows their daughter is missing.

They are both still clueless as to what really happened because they only manage to listen to Dylan for a few minutes before ending the call and driving back to the penthouse.

The couple had an argument when Aria insisted they drop by the pharmacy they saw a while ago so she could buy a suppressant because she is still on the second day of her heat. 

They both know that it's dangerous to her health to take the pill when she is already on her heat but Aria just glared at the pure blood and even threatened that she would jump out of the car if he won't stop.

The omega felt dizzy for a few minutes after taking the strongest pill that could forcefully stop her heat but when they arrived at the penthouse she suddenly felt like she was about to pass out again when she saw the amount of blood stains on the floor.

"Oh my moon! K-Kiana? Where is Kiana?" Aria shoved the other wolves out of the way the moment she saw the blood on the floor.They are obviously Dylan’s men 

Cyrus quickly stops his mate by grabbing her wrist when the pure blood alpha sees Dylan shake his head.

"Wait, Aria! Baby come here, we need to calm down okay? Kiana is alive, I know our daughter is alive but we have to calm down so we can think of the next thing to do." Cyrus says.

He is also trying his best to calm down even when he feels like his own wolf is so ready to shred whoever is responsible into tiny pieces.

The omega looks at her mate with tears brimming in her eyes.

"Cyrus, I would never forgive myself if something bad happens to our daughter again. This is all my fault, if... if I didn't...." Aria wasn't able to finish her sentence as Cyrus pulls her into a tight hug. 

The pure blood alpha gently caresses her back while releasing calming pheromones.

"Ssssh, it's not your fault Ria. Come here, let's have a seat so we could talk to Dyaln, hmm?" Cyrus hums while guiding the omega towards the couch. 

 Cyrus can still smell the scent of heat from his mate, he doesn’t want to let Aria sit alone. 

Instead, the pure blood alpha guides his mate to sit on his lap while his arms are still wrapped around her waist.

Dylan arches his brows while watching the mates in silence because he didn’t want to add more stress and pressure to them. 

When he was sure that Aria is a little bit calmer, he clears his throat a little louder to make his presence known to the two even when Cyrus already acknowledged him with a light pat on his shoulder just a while ago before Aria broke down into a crying mess.

"Dylan, what the hell happened here and where is my daughter?" Cyrus asked, his eyes wandering around his own penthouse.

Dylan carefully put down Felicia’s old phone in the center table as if it would answer Cyrus’s question before he finally opens his mouth to speak.

"All the CCTV footage has been erased, the two security guards you left to be with Kiana and Felicia were found lifeless inside their own car in the basement."

"W-what? But how? I mean... the blood? Dylan the blood?" Aria immediately starts to panic again when she realizes that the blood on the floor isn't from Cyrus’s men.

"It's not Kiana’s Aria. It's not Felicia’s either."

"Then whose blood is that?" Cyrus asked with furrowed brows already because he's also as confused as his mate.

Dylan gives them an apologetic look before he picked up another broken phone and put it in front of the couple. 

Cyrus winced when he saw the device covered with blood. He has no idea whose phone it is until Aria suddenly stands up to grab the familiar phone.

 She checked the back of the phone and saw the familiar silver finger hook.

"OH my gosh! Cy, it's Knight’s! This is Knight’s phone! Why? Why is it here and why is it covered in blood?" Aria blurted out, another rush of emotions washes over her because she didn’t understand why her friend's phone was in Cyrus’s penthouse when they left him in his own place just the previous night!

Cyrus wants to ask more questions but he knows Dylan has something to say so he forces himself to shut up and focus on how to comfort his mate.

"Did you notice that there are no cops, ambulance or even a single press outside?"

"Yes, thank you for handling it well. We don't know who did this so it's better if we keep this low---"

"I'm not the one who handled it Cy."

"What? Then who?" the fated mates blurted out in unison.

 "The Prime Minister himself. Knight was shot inside your apartment. Seems like Felicia contacted him when she couldn't contact you so he came to check on them. But the thing is, the whole CCTV of the building was wiped clean. The NFS already collected all the dashboard cams of the car parked around the building, luckily they got."

Dylan pauses just to breathe before he continues since the two look like they're eager to know the truth.

"Before Knight entered the building, his dashcam caught Alex coming out."

"That motherfucking  bitch! I'm gonna rip her heart out the moment I see her!" Aria gritted her teeth, her eyes turning Deep blue the moment she heard her ex best friend's name.

"Relax Aria, you heard me right? She was already leaving even before Knight entered the building so she wasn't the one who took Kiana."

"Then who? and how?" Aria asked again, her anger still boiling in her chest. She didn't even notice how Cyrus and Dylan were both staring at her with wide eyes until one of the beta in front of her noticed it too.

"Pure blood Omega! Holy shit! I thought they're just myths because I have never seen one!" the beta who's cleaning the blood stains blurted out while staring at Aria’s glowing eyes.

Dylan gave Cyrus a questioning look because his cousin never told him that Aria is a pure blood but Cyrus just gave him a dead look because he was more interested in saving his daughter rather than showing off his mate.

"Stop looking before his mate rips off your head." Dylan decided to warn everyone in the room because he knows how possessive his cousin is.

 "Dylan! Who the hell took my pup?" Aria asked again now that she's feeling a lot calmer because the pill she took is finally working.

"It's Julius Carter!" a voice of a dominating pure blood alpha booms inside the penthouse making everyone in the house almost bow down the moment they see the Prime Minister.

Cyrus and Dylan immediately felt uneasy the moment the older pure blood appeared while Aria quickly runs towards the older man and throws herself at him. 

Everyone inside the penthouse was shocked because they didn't know that an ordinary wolf could do that to the Prime Minister. 

They were even more surprised when the Prime Minister himself automatically wrapped his arms around the omega. 

Dylan felt worried for a second because he knows Cyrus won't let it slide but when he looks at his cousin, he sees something in his eyes that he never expected to see.

The younger pure blood alpha is looking at his mate being hugged by an older pure blood but instead of jealousy, Dylan sees a spark of fondness in Cyrus’s eyes.

"Uncle, what happened? Where is Knght?" Aria asked when she finally pulled away.

The Prime Minister looked so powerful and intimidating with his aura but the moment he looks at Aria, there is a distinct softness in his eyes as if he's talking to his own child.

"Don't worry about him, Ri. Knight is stronger than any other wolves you have ever known. He took two silver bullets, one even pierced through his lungs but miraculously, he's alive. Maybe his little brother protected him tonight." the Prime Minister uttered before he lifted his gaze from Aria to Cyrus again.

"Oh Luna, I'm so sorry uncle. But where is he now? Is he really alright?" Aria asked again but this time, the Prime Minister's eyes were on Cyrus.

"He will be fine, Aria. All we need to do is find a perfect match for his blood donor since apparently the two bags they already took from me are not enough. I'm actually here to fetch his other donor."

Dylan’s lips twitched upon hearing the Prime Minister.

 He knows that it's almost impossible to find a match for a pure blood alpha's blood because their genetics isn't as simple as the ordinary alphas like him. Aside from the scientific explanation of that difference, he doubts that Cyrus would agree to save Knight because he knows the older pure blood is a threat to his relationship with his mate. 

So imagine his surprise when Cyrus suddenly stands up from his seat to meet the eyes of the older pure blood in the room.

"What are we waiting for then? Let's go save my ri...I mean Knight." he said in a very firm voice.

The four wolves agreed in silence. They know they need to find Kiana but Knight’s life is also in danger so they all know that they should do whatever they can first.

The Prime Minister was about to exit the door when the portrait in Cyrus’s living room suddenly caught his attention. The older pure blood alpha's feet got frozen when he saw the familiar face of a small boy he could never forget until he dies.

"Uncle, let's go?" Aria called out to the older man but Mr. Ashbourne just kept staring at the portrait.

"A-Aria... who is that boy?" he asked, just to confirm the thought in his head.

"That's me sir. That's the only childhood photo left from my hometown in Busan." Cyrus suddenly replied that the Prime Minister snapped his head towards him.

 "Zayden?l”