ZEKE'S POV

"This was planned by multiple people," I said. "At least two, maybe more. They had the resources to acquire expensive vehicles, remove the plates, and surveil a target."

"This is starting to look less like a kidnapping and more like an operation," Marcus said grimly.

Cecelia's hand found mine under the table, her fingers cold. I squeezed gently, offering what comfort I could. She didn't pull away.

We worked through lunch, existing on coffee and the sandwiches someone brought in. Finn returned with the registration list and personnel files. We started cross referencing, looking for overlap.

"Got something," Sarah said around three in the afternoon. "Commander Brock from your military division. He owns a Range Rover matching this model. And look at his height and build in his personnel file."

She pulled up a photo. Brock was tall, broad shouldered, with the kind of controlled movement that came from decades of military training.

He matched the figure from the gas station footage almost perfectly.

"Where was he the day Golden disappeared?" I asked, my voice dangerously quiet.

Finn pulled up duty rosters. "On leave. Personal time. He logged it two weeks in advance."

"Convenient," Cecelia said coldly.

"Pull his phone records, financial statements, everything," I ordered. "And I want him brought in for questioning

immediately."

"He's not going to come willingly if

he's guilty," Marcus warned.

"I don't care if he comes willingly or in chains. Find him."

Teams dispersed to execute the order. Cecelia and I

remained at the table, the laptop forgotten between us. Our hands were still linked, though neither of us had consciously decided to keep holding on.

"We're getting close," she said quietly.

"Yes."

"I'm scared." The admission

seemed torn from her. "What if we find whoever did this but it's too late? What if Golden is already-"

"Don't." I turned to face her fully, using my free hand to tilt her chin up so she had to meet my eyes. "Don't go there. We have to believe he's alive. We have to keep fighting."

"I'm trying. But the not knowing is killing me."

The bond between us pulsed with her anguish. Without thinking, I pulled her closer, wrapping my arm around her shoulders. She stiffened for a moment, then collapsed

against my chest, her fingers clutching my shirt.

We stayed like that for a long time. The security office disappeared. The investigation faded. There was only us.

Eventually Marcus cleared his throat from the doorway. We

sprang apart, both pretending we hadn't just been wrapped around each other.

"We found Brock," Marcus said. "He's gone. Apartment cleared out, bank accounts emptied yesterday. He ran."

Cecelia's face went pale. I felt rage building in my chest. Brock had my son. He'd been planning this for weeks while I trusted him, while he stood in my military and took my orders

and pretended loyalty.

"Find him," I said, my voice dropping into the Alpha command that made even Marcus flinch. "I don't care what it

takes. Find him and bring him to me."

"There's more," Marcus said reluctantly. "We pulled his

phone records. He made several calls to a number registered to someone in the Brooke Pack."

My blood ran cold. The Brooke Pack bordered my territory to the east. We'd had tensions with them for years, disputes over hunting grounds and trade routes. But I'd never thought

they'd escalate to this.

"Who?" Cecelia demanded.

"We're still working on confirming the identity. But if the Brooke Pack is involved, this is bigger than one rogue soldier. This could be an act of war."

I stood abruptly, my wolf snarling under my skin. "Double the guard on all borders. I want patrols increased and every entry point monitored. No one from the Brooke Pack gets into my territory without my knowledge."

"Zeke," Cecelia said urgently. "If this is political, if another pack is involved, they took Golden to use as leverage. Which means-"

"Which means he's valuable to them alive," I finished. "At least for now. They'll want to negotiate, to use him to force concessions."

"Or to start a war," Marcus added quietly.

"Let them try." My voice came out as a growl. "Whoever did this, whatever pack is behind it, they just signed their death warrant."

Cecelia stood and faced me, her expression fierce despite the fear I could feel through our bond. "I'm going with you. When you find them, when you go to get Golden back, I'm coming with you."

"Absolutely not. If this is a trap-"

"I don't care if it's a trap. He's my son and I'm not staying behind."

We stared at each other, neither willing to back down. I saw her strength, her determination, the mother's love that would drive her into any danger for her child. I saw something else too, something I'd seen years ago before I'd been too blind and stupid to appreciate it.

I saw my mate.

"Fine," I said. "But you stay close to me at all times. And I'm assigning you a personal guard starting immediately."

"I don't need-"

"This isn't up for debate, Cecelia. Whoever took Golden knew exactly who he was. They knew about you,

about me, about our history. Which means they might come for you next." I stepped closer, close enough to smell the lavender in her hair. "I can't protect you every moment of the day. So you're getting a guard whether you like it or not."

"You mean you can't control me every moment of the day,"

she shot back.

"I mean I can't lose you too." The words came out rougher than I intended, weighted with too much emotion. "Golden needs his mother. And I need you to stay alive long

enough for me to fix what I broke between us."

Her breath caught. For a moment we just stood there, inches apart, the bond screaming at us to close the distance. I could feel her heart racing, could smell the mix of fear and something else, something that made my wolf howl with want.

Marcus cleared his throat again. "I'll just go coordinate the border patrols then."

He left quickly. Cecelia and I remained frozen, caught in the pull of something neither of us was

ready to name.

"Who do you want to assign?" she asked finally, her voice barely above a whisper.

"Drew. He's one of my best. Former special forces, completely loyal, and most importantly, he doesn't take orders from anyone but me."

"Okay."

"Okay?"

She nodded. "You're right. If whoever did this comes for me, I need to be able to defend myself or at least have someone who can."

She paused. "But I meant what I said, Zeke. When we find Golden, I'm going to be there."

"I know." I reached out and tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear, letting my fingers linger against her cheek. "I wouldn't expect anything less from you."

The protectiveness in my voice was undeniable. I heard it, she heard it, and from the way her eyes darkened, she understood exactly what it meant.

Layla's POV

The underground lab smelled like chemicals when I stepped through the reinforced door. Brock spun around the moment he heard my footsteps, his hand going to the gun at his hip before he recognized me in the dim fluorescent lighting.

"Were you followed?" His voice came out aggressive.

I rolled my eyes while pulling off my jacket because honestly his paranoia was getting old fast. "I cleared my tracks three times on

the way here and Zeke thinks I'm at a tea party with some of the Luna's from neighboring packs so unless he's developed psychic abilities overnight I'm pretty sure we're safe."

"You better be right about that because if he finds this place we're all dead." Brock moved away from the door but his hand stayed near his weapon like he expected Zeke to burst through the walls at any moment.

"You're one to talk about being careful," I snapped while crossing the concrete floor toward where Golden lay on a medical bed in the

corner. "Running away like that was the stupidest thing you could have done because now you'll forever be a suspect and you'll forever be on the run instead of being able to return to your normal life once this is all over."

"I didn't have a choice after they started pulling vehicle registrations and cross referencing with personnel files."

Brock's jaw clenched tight enough that I could see the muscle jumping. "It was only a matter of time before they connected me to the SUV."

"You could have played dumb and

acted surprised when they questioned you but instead you ran and confirmed their suspicions."

I reached the bedside where Golden lay motionless except for the shallow rise and fall of his chest. His skin looked too pale under the harsh lights, almost translucent like I could see the veins beneath if I looked close enough. "How long

has he been like this?"

"Since yesterday morning." The new voice made me jump because I hadn't heard anyone approach. Fatima emerged from behind one of the makeshift partition walls that

divided the lab into sections, her dark hair pulled back severe from her face. She wore a white coat over her clothes like she was some kind of legitimate doctor instead of a traitor helping us kidnap her best friend's child.

"What are you doing here?"

I demanded while turning to face her fully. "I thought you were supposed to stay in Seacreek and keep Cecelia from getting suspicious."

"Cecelia already left Seacreek to go to Zeke's territory so there's nothing for me to do there anymore." Fatima moved to the opposite side

of Golden's bed and checked the IV line running into his small arm. "Besides, someone needs to monitor his condition because none of you have any medical training and this child is deteriorating faster than we anticipated."

"Don't worry that Cecelia will never suspect you?"

I asked though I already knew the answer because Fatima had been playing the concerned friend role perfectly from what I'd heard.

"She trusts me completely and why wouldn't she when I've been her only friend for three years." Fatima's

voice held no remorse whatsoever like betraying someone who considered you family meant absolutely nothing. "As far as she knows I'm just as devastated about Golden's

disappearance as she is."

I looked back down at the boy on the bed while trying to ignore the small twinge of something that might have been guilt. He looked so much like Zeke that it hurt to see,

the same bone structure and the same dark hair though his was curled while Zeke's stayed straight. His little chest moved up and down too fast like he couldn't get enough

air no matter how hard he tried.

"What's wrong with him?"

I asked though part of me didn't want to know the answer. "Why does he look like this?"

Fatima sighed while adjusting something on the medical monitor beside the bed. "The problem with removing the magic from someone this young is that his body wasn't

developed enough to handle the extraction process and the separation is causing his system to go into shock because the magic has been part of him since before he was born."

"Can you fix it?" Brock moved closer to the bed now, his earlier aggression replaced with something that looked almost like concern though I doubted he actually cared about the child beyond what Golden could give us.

"That depends on what you mean by fix." Fatima pulled out a small flashlight and checked Golden's pupils which didn't react the way they should have to the bright light. "If you

mean can I keep him alive then yes for now but there are complications we didn't anticipate."

"What kind of complications?" I

crossed my arms over my chest while watching her work because something in her tone suggested this was worse than she was letting on.

"He's an Alpha wolf which means his genetics are different from a normal pack member and his body is trying to compensate for the missing magic by triggering an early wolf emergence." Fatima straightened up and faced us both with

an expression that said she was about to deliver bad news. "If that happens before his body is ready it will kill him because

children his age aren't physically capable of surviving their first shift."

The words hung in the air between us like a death sentence. Brock cursed under his breath while running his hand through his hair, pacing away from the bed then back again like movement would somehow help him think better.

"How do we stop that from happening?"

I asked though I suspected I wouldn't like the answer based on how Fatima's expression tightened.

"The only way to stabilize an Alpha

child going through premature emergence is to have their father present constantly to give them Alpha essence through proximity and the parental bond."

Fatima gestured to Golden's small form. "Without Zeke here to anchor him, this child's body will continue to deteriorate until either the magic extraction completes or his wolf tries to emerge and kills him in the process."

"We can't bring Zeke here," Brock said immediately like that was even a possibility we'd consider. "That defeats the entire purpose of taking

the kid in the first place."

"I'm aware of that but I'm telling you what the medical reality is." Fatima's voice stayed clinical and detached like she was discussing a stranger instead of a child she'd known since birth. "Without intervention, Golden has maybe three days before his body gives out completely."

The door at the far end of the lab opened and Theseus walked in with that confident stride that Alpha's always had like they owned every room they entered. He was older than Zeke by at least fifteen years

with gray threading through his dark hair and lines around his eyes.

"How's our little prize doing?"

He moved to the bed and looked down at Golden with the same expression someone might use when inspecting a particularly valuable piece of property.

"Not well," Fatima said bluntly. "He's declining faster than expected and unless we make some decisions soon we're going to lose him entirely."

Theseus frowned while studying Golden's pale face. "That's

unfortunate but perhaps it's time we cut our losses and move to plan B."

LAYLA'S POV

"What's plan B?" I asked though based on the way everyone suddenly looked uncomfortable I wasn't sure I wanted to know

"We ask for ransom." Theseus turned away from the bed to face the rest of us. "The extraction clearly isn't working and keeping the boy here is becoming more of a liability than an asset so we contact Zeke, demand whatever we want in exchange for his son's safe return, collect our payment and disappear

before anyone can track us down."

"That's not what we agreed to," Brock protested while moving to block Theseus's path like that would somehow change the Alpha's mind. "We went through all this trouble to get the kid because of his magic not to run some basic ransom scheme that could have been done by any common criminal."

"Plans change when the situation changes and right now our situation is that we have a dying child who's more trouble than he's worth." Theseus's voice dropped

into that Alpha command tone that made most wolves automatically want to submit.

"Unless you have a better suggestion I suggest you get on board with the new plan."

"Actually I do have a suggestion." Brock crossed his arms over his chest in a show of defiance. "We keep the boy underground in stasis until he's grown enough that his body can handle the extraction without the complications Fatima

described."

"And how long would that take exactly?"

I demanded because the idea of hiding out in this concrete

bunker for years waiting for a child to grow up sounded like the worst plan I'd ever heard.

"Could be three years or could be five years depending on his development rate." Brock shrugged like he hadn't just suggested something completely insane. "We put him in a medically induced coma, keep his body alive with IVs and feeding tubes, check on him periodically until he's old

enough to survive the procedure."

"You're out of your mind if you think that's a viable option," Theseus said flatly. "Zeke's intelligence squad will

have tracked us down long before then because despite your careful planning you still got caught on security footage and left enough of a trail that they're already closing in."

"He's right," Fatima added while checking Golden's vitals

again. "They found Brock's connection to the Range Rover within days and they've already traced calls to numbers in this territory so it's only a matter of time before they narrow down the location."

"Then what do you suggest?" Brock demanded while looking between

Theseus and Fatima like one of them might have a magical solution that would make all our problems disappear.

"I say we drop the boy off somewhere he'll be found quickly and we scatter before they can pin this on any of us

specifically." Fatima's voice stayed calm. "Leave him at a hospital or a pack house with an anonymous tip and let Zeke deal with the medical complications while we disappear into the background."

"That would look extremely suspicious now that the Alpha has

new leads pointing directly at Brock and this territory," Theseus argued while pacing the length of the lab. "If we suddenly return the child unharmed, it raises questions

about why we took him in the first place and what we were trying to accomplish and those questions lead to investigations we can't afford."

I listened to them argue back and forth while staring down at Golden's unconscious face and something inside me

snapped like a rubber band stretched too far. We'd come this far and risked this much and I

wasn't about to give up now just because things got complicated.

"We extract the magic anyway," I said loudly enough that everyone stopped talking and turned to look at me. "Whether or not it kills him we do the extraction and we get what we

came for because that was the entire point of this operation."

"Are you insane?" Fatima stared at me like I'd just suggested we burn down the building with all of us inside.

"That child will die if we continue the extraction in his current condition."

"Then he dies." I met her shocked expression without flinching because I'd already made my peace with this decision. "We didn't go through all this planning and risk

exposure just to walk away empty handed because of some medical complications and if the child doesn't survive then that's unfortunate but not our primary concern."

"I can't be part of that," Fatima said immediately while backing away from the bed. "I agreed to help with the kidnapping because you promised minimal harm and a

quick return but I'm not going to stand here and watch you kill a child."

"You already crossed that line when you betrayed your best friend and helped us take her son so don't act like you have moral boundaries now." My voice came out colder than I

intended but I was tired of her pretending she was somehow better than the rest of us.

"If you didn't want to be involved in the ugly parts then you shouldn't have gotten involved at all."

"Layla's right," Theseus said, though I could tell from his expression he

wasn't entirely comfortable with the idea either. "We've already committed to this course of action and backing out now only guarantees we end up in Zeke's dungeons being interrogated about our involvement so we might as well see it through to the end."

"Even if it means murdering a three year old child?" Fatima's voice shook with either anger or fear or some combination of both. "You're talking about letting an innocent boy die

because you want access to magic that might not even work the way you think it will."

"The magic will work because we've already extracted enough to run preliminary tests and the results showed exactly what we hoped they would show.

" Theseus moved to one of the lab tables and picked up a vial filled with something that glowed faint blue in the fluorescent lighting. "This is pure Alpha magic combined with ancient bloodline power and once we figure out how to harness it properly we'll have access to abilities that no other

pack possesses."

"At the cost of a child's life," Fatima repeated like she couldn't believe

what she was hearing.

"At the cost of one child's life in exchange for power that could protect thousands of pack members," Theseus corrected while setting the vial back down.

"I understand it's not a pleasant choice but sometimes leadership requires making difficult decisions for the greater good."

"That's not leadership, that's murder dressed up in justifications." Fatima looked at each of us in turn like she was trying to find someone who agreed with her but we all stayed silent. "Fine, do what you want but

I'm not helping with the extraction and when this all comes crashing down I'll make sure everyone knows I tried to stop it."

"You'll keep your mouth shut if you know what's good for you," Brock said quietly but with enough menace that Fatima actually flinched. "You're already in this deep enough that

you'll go down with the rest of us if anyone finds out what we did so unless you want to spend the rest of your life in a cell I suggest you remember that we're all in this together."

Before Fatima could respond the

door burst open so hard it slammed against the concrete wall.