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.

Zeke's POV

Theseus shifted his weight from one foot to the other while I asked him about suspicious vehicles seen near his territory borders.

The movement was so slight that most people wouldn't have noticed but I'd known this man for ten years and I'd never seen him fidget like that before.

His eyes kept darting to the left whenever I mentioned the black Range Rover. His body language screamed deception to anyone

trained to read body language.

"I already told you I haven't seen any unusual vehicles in the area," Theseus said while crossing his arms over his chest in a defensive posture that contradicted his casual tone.

"My guards would have reported anything suspicious and they've seen nothing out of the ordinary."

"Nothing at all?" I pressed while watching his face for micro expressions that might reveal the truth.

"Because we have phone records showing calls from the suspect's number to someone in

your pack and that seems like more than a coincidence given the timing."

"Phone records can be faked and numbers can be spoofed by anyone with basic technical knowledge.

" Theseus's jaw clenched tight enough that I could see the muscle jump beneath his skin.

"Just because someone called a number registered in my territory doesn't mean anyone here is actually involved in your family drama."

The casual dismissal of Golden's kidnapping as family drama made my wolf snarl inside my chest but I

forced myself to stay calm because losing my temper now would only make Theseus shut down completely.

Cecelia stood beside me with her hands twisted together so tight that her knuckles had gone white while she stared at Theseus with desperation written across every feature.

"Please," she said and her voice broke on the word in a way that made something crack inside my chest.

"My son is missing and every hour that passes means he could be hurt or scared or worse and if you know anything at all that could

help us find him I'm begging you to tell us because I can't lose him."

Theseus's expression stayed cold despite the raw emotion in Cecelia's plea. It showed that he was not willing to help us. "I sympathize with your situation but I can't provide information I don't have and searching my territory without cause would

be a violation of pack sovereignty that I won't tolerate."

"We're not asking to search your territory," I said through gritted teeth while fighting the urge to grab h

im by the throat and shake answers out of him. "We're asking if you've

seen or heard anything that might point us in the right direction because a child's life hangs in the balance."

"And I'm telling you I haven't seen or heard anything relevant to your investigation." Theseus moved toward the door of his office in a clear dismissal.

"If that changes I'll contact you immediately but right now I have pack business to attend to, so unless you have an actual warrant or evidence of wrongdoing I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

The bond between Cecelia and me

flared hot with shared frustration because we both knew Theseus was lying but we had no proof and no legal grounds to push harder. I wanted to tear his territory apart room by room until I found Golden but starting a war between packs

wouldn't help my son if he was actually here.

"Thank you for your time," I said flatly while placing my hand on the small of Cecelia's back to guide her toward the exit.

"We'll be in touch if we have further questions."

Theseus nodded without meeting my eyes which was another tell that

something was very wrong. He'd always been the type to maintain direct eye contact during conversations as a show of Alpha dominance. We left his office and walked through the main pack house with my warriors falling into formation around us while Theseus watched from his doorway with an expression I couldn't quite read.

The moment we were outside and away from potential listening devices I pulled out my phone and called Marcus. "I want surveillance on Theseus and his entire inner circle starting immediately," I said

without preamble. "He's hiding something and I want to know what it is."

"Copy that," Marcus replied while I heard him already typing commands in the background. "Should we also get eyes on his territory borders in case they try to move anything or anyone out?"

"Do it but keep it covert because if they realize we're watching they might panic and do something stupid." I ended the call and looked down at Cecelia who'd gone very quiet beside me. Her face had a blank expression.

"He knows something," she said so softly I almost didn't hear her over the sound of car doors opening as my warriors prepared to leave. "You could see it too right? The way he wouldn't look at us directly and how he kept deflecting every question?"

"I saw it." I helped her into the back seat of our vehicle before sliding in beside her while my driver started the engine. "Theseus has always been careful

about pack politics but this was different because he was actively trying to hide something rather than just being cautious."

"Then why are we leaving?" Cecelia

turned to face me with tears building in her eyes though she refused to let them fall. "If he knows where Golden is or who took him why aren't we making him tell us?"

"Because we have no proof and no authority to force him to cooperate without starting a war that could get a lot of people killed including possibly Golden if they panic." I

reached over and took her hand while the bond between us pulsed with her anguish. "But I'm not giving up because Marcus is setting up surveillance right now and if

Theseus or anyone in his pack makes a move we'll know about it."

The drive back toward my territory felt endless while Cecelia stared out the window without really seeing anything. I could feel her emotions through the bond, the crushing weight of

hope that kept getting built up then shattered every time a lead went nowhere. My driver took a route that passed through a commercial district where a children's park sat

between two shopping centers.

"Stop here," I told him suddenly while spotting the park because

Cecelia looked like she needed a moment to breathe before we went back to the command center and more dead ends.