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.

LAYLA'S

POV

Callum, one of Theseus's personal guards, ran into the lab with his face flushed red from exertion like he'd sprinted the entire way here.

"Alpha," he gasped out while trying to catch his breath. "We have a problem at the surface."

"What kind of problem?" Theseus demanded while already "moving toward the door like his instincts told him this was going to be bad news.

"Zeke is here." Callum straightened up despite still breathing hard. "He's at the main entrance to the territory demanding to see you."

The words hit the room like a bomb going off. Everyone froze in place while the full implications sank in because if Zeke was here that meant he'd already figured out Theseus's involvement and he wasn't coming for a friendly diplomatic chat.

"How did he find us this fast?" Brock pulled out his gun and checked the clip like that would somehow help if Zeke's entire

warrior force decided to storm the building.

"Does it matter how he found us?

" I snapped while my mind raced through options and escape routes. "What matters is he's here and we need to figure out what we're going to do about it."

"I'll go talk to him and buy us some time." Theseus headed for the door while already shifting into his Alpha mode where he became all authority and controlled power.

"The rest of you stay down here and keep the boy quiet because if Zeke finds out we have his son in this

building there's no talking our way out of what comes next."

"What are you going to tell him?" Fatima asked while wrapping her arms around herself.

"I'll figure it out when I get up there

." Theseus paused in the doorway and looked back at all of us with an expression that promised consequences if we messed this up. "No one makes a sound and no one does anything stupid until I get back with a better sense of what we're dealing with."

He left with Callum following close

behind and the heavy door sealed shut with a metallic clang that echoed through the underground space. The silence that followed felt suffocating like the concrete walls were pressing in from all sides.

I moved to Golden's bedside and stared down at his pale face while my thoughts spun in circles.

Zeke was upstairs right now probably demanding answers and making threats and he had no idea his son lay unconscious just one floor below his feet. Part of me wanted to march up there and tell him

everything just to see his face when he realized how close he'd come to finding Golden without actually succeeding.

But that would ruin everything we'd worked for and I hadn't

come this far to give up now just because things got risky.

"We need to move him,"

Brock said suddenly while looking around the lab like he expected Zeke to come crashing through the ceiling at any moment. "If Theseus can't convince Zeke to leave peacefully and they start searching the building this is the first place

they'll look."

"Where exactly do you suggest we move him?" I asked while gesturing to all the medical equipment keeping Golden alive. "We can't exactly carry an unconscious child through the territory without someone noticing."

"There's another exit through the maintenance tunnels." Brock moved to the far wall and pressed something that made a hidden panel slide open to reveal a dark

passageway. "It leads to an abandoned warehouse about two miles from here and we can hide there until this blows over."

"That child cannot be moved in his current condition," Fatima protested while positioning herself between us and Golden's bed like she could physically stop us.

"His vitals are already unstable and transporting him could trigger the premature emergence we've been trying to prevent."

"Then I guess we better move fast and hope for the best because staying here is guaranteed to end badly for all of

us." Brock started disconnecting the medical equipment with rough efficiency that suggested he didn't actually

care whether Golden survived the move or not. "Help me get him ready to transport."

I hesitated for just a moment while looking down at the small boy who'd caused all this chaos without even meaning to. He looked so fragile lying there with tubes in his arms and monitors tracking every heartbeat, his life hung by the thinnest thread imaginable.

Then I thought about how Zeke had abandoned me when he chose Cecelia over our bond. I thought about watching them play happy family if he gets Golden back while

I pretended everything was fine. I thought about the power contained in this child's blood that could change everything if we could just hold on long enough to take it.

I started helping Brock disconnect the equipment.

Fatima made a sound of disgust before turning away like she couldn't watch what we were doing.

"You're going to kill him."

"Maybe," I agreed while carefully removing the IV from Golden's tiny arm. "But at least we'll go down fighting instead of just handing him

back and hoping Zeke shows us mercy."

"There's something seriously wrong with both of you," Fatima said but she didn't try to stop us as we worked to make Golden mobile enough to move through the tunnels.

Brock lifted the unconscious child with surprising gentleness considering how rough he'd been with the equipment.

Golden's head lolled against Brock's shoulder and his breathing got even more shallow like his body knew something bad was happening even

if his mind stayed trapped in whatever dreams unconscious children had.

"Let's go before Theseus comes back and stops us." Brock headed for the hidden tunnel entrance while I grabbed the portable medical bag Fatima had prepared earlier with emergency supplies.

"This is a mistake," Fatima called after us but she didn't follow as we disappeared into the dark passageway with Golden's life literally in our hands.

The tunnel smelled like mold and

old concrete while we moved through the darkness with only Brock's phone flashlight to guide us. I could hear water dripping somewhere in the distance and feel the weight of the earth pressing down from above like the whole structure

might collapse at any moment.

Golden made a small sound against Brock's shoulder, something between a whimper and a cry that made my chest tighten with emotions. His little hand clutched at Brock's shirt like even unconscious he was searching for

something to hold onto.

"How much further?" I asked while trying not to think about what was happening above ground between Zeke and Theseus.

"Another mile or so." Brock adjusted his grip on Golden while ducking under a low hanging pipe. "Just keep moving and try not to make too much noise because these tunnels carry sound further than you'd think."

We walked in silence after that while I counted my steps and tried to calculate how long we had

before everything fell apart completely. Zeke wasn't stupid and if Theseus couldn't provide satisfactory answers to whatever questions were being asked then it wouldn't take long for the investigation to expand into searching the entire

territory.

And when they found this lab with all its equipment set up for extracting magic from a child, there would be no talking our way out of the consequences.

Golden whimpered again and his body jerked in Brock's arms like something inside him was fighting

to wake up. His eyes moved rapidly beneath closed lids and his breathing turned ragged.

"Something's wrong," Brock said while stopping in the middle of the tunnel. "He's seizing or something."

I moved closer with my phone light and saw that Golden's skin had gone from pale to almost gray. His little chest heaved like he couldn't get enough air and his fingers had started to curl inward.

"It's the premature emergence," I realized with growing dread. "Moving him triggered exactly what

Fatima warned us about."

"What do we do?" Brock looked at me with actual fear in his eyes for

I stared down at the dying child in his arms and felt the weight of every choice that had led us to this moment pressing down like those tons of earth above our heads. We

could turn back and try to get him medical help but that might mean facing Zeke. We could keep going and hope he stabilized once we reached the warehouse but that seemed increasingly unlikely based on how fast he was declining.

Or we could finish what we started and extract the last of his magic right here in this tunnel before his body gave out completely.

Before I could decide which option seemed least terrible, Golden's eyes snapped open and they glowed with an unnatural blue light that shouldn't have been possible for a child his age.

His wolf was emerging.