ZEKES POV

The park was busy with families enjoying the afternoon weather while children ran and played on equipment. We got out of the car and I dismissed my warriors to a discreet distance because Cecelia needed space more than she

needed guards hovering over her shoulder.

She walked toward the fence surrounding the playground area and gripped the metal links with both hands while watching the

children play. A little boy with dark curly hair went down the slide laughing while his mother waited at the bottom to catch him. Another child, maybe four years old, pushed a toy truck through the sandbox while making engine noises.

A girl with pigtails pumped her legs on the swings trying to go higher and higher.

Cecelia made a sound that might have been a sob or might have been something caught in her throat while tears finally spilled down her cheeks. I moved up behind her and wrapped my arms around her waist,

pulling her back against my chest while she shook with the force of trying not to break down completely.

"We will find him," I said into her hair while holding her as tight as I dared. "I swear to you Cecelia we will bring Golden home."

"When?" She turned in my arms so fast I barely had time to adjust before she was staring up at me with red eyes and tears streaming down her face. "When Zeke? When will we find him because every day that passes makes it less likely he's okay, and more likely that whoever

took him has already hurt him or worse. I can't take this not knowing if my baby is scared, in pain or calling for me and I'm not there."

"Don't talk like that." I cupped her face in both hands while using my thumbs to wipe away her tears even though more kept falling. "Don't let your mind go to those dark places because we have to believe he's alive and we have to keep fighting until we find him."

"What if we're too late?" Her voice came out as barely a whisper. "What if by the time we figure out where he is it's already over and

they bring me his body instead of bringing me my son?"

"Stop." The word came out harsher than I meant but I needed her to hear me through the panic.

"You can't think like that because that kind of negativity will destroy you from the inside. Golden needs you strong enough to hold him when we get him back."

A

She collapsed against my chest with her fingers clutching my shirt while sobs racked her whole body. I held her through it while my own throat went tight. Seeing her in this much pain activated every

protective instinct I had. The bond between us burned hot with shared grief and fear.

People walking past the park gave us curious looks but I ignored them while running one hand through Cecelia's hair and murmuring comforting words. Her tears soaked through my shirt and her whole body trembled like she might shake apart if I let go.

"I'm sorry," she mumbled against my chest after several long minutes. "I'm sorry for falling apart like this when I need to be strong."

"You are strong." I pulled back just enough to tilt her chin up so she had to look at me. "You're the strongest person I know and letting yourself feel what you're feeling doesn't make you weak."

Our faces were close enough that I could count her eyelashes and see the gold flecks in her eyes that I'd forgotten about during our years apart. Her breath hitched while something shifted in the air between us, the bond

pulling us closer. I stared st her soft rose lips and I craved the feeling on it in mine. I started to lean in without

meaning to while her eyes went dark.

Then she gasped and shoved away from me so hard I almost stumbled. "Golden," she breathed while her whole body went rigid. "That's Golden."

She pointed toward the playground where a small boy with dark curly hair climbed the ladder to the slide. From this distance and with his back to us, he could have been

Golden's twin based on the build and the way his hair curled at the nape of his neck.

"Cecelia wait." I reached for her but she was already running toward the fence while calling Golden's name over and over

The boy turned at the sound of his name being shouted which made Cecelia run faster while scrambling to find the gate into the playground area.

I chased after her while calling her name but she couldn't hear me over the sound of her own desperate calls for her son.

"Golden baby it's mommy," she shouted while finally getting the gate open and running across the playground. "Golden wait for

mommy."

The boy's face crumpled in confusion then fear while this strange woman ran at him yelling.

He jumped off the play equipment and started running in the opposite direction while looking back over his shoulder with tears already forming.

"Cecelia stop," I yelled while catching up to her and grabbing her arm. "That's not Golden."

But she pulled free and kept chasing the terrified child who was now crying openly while running

toward a woman who'd been sitting on a bench nearby. The boy crashed into his mother's legs and she scooped him up immediately while glaring at Cecelia with alarm.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" the mother demanded while the boy sobbed into her shoulder. "Why are you chasing my son?"

Cecelia skidded to a stop a few feet away with her chest heaving and her face streaked with tears.

"I thought he was Golden," she said brokenly while reaching one hand toward the crying child. "I'm sorry, I thought he was my son because

from behind he looked just like him. I haven't seen my baby in days and I just wanted it to be him so badly."

The mother's expression shifted from anger to pity mixed with discomfort while she rubbed her son's back. "You need to get help lady," she said while backing away. "You can't just chase random children in parks because you think they

might be yours."

"I know. I'm sorry I didn't mean to scare him." Cecelia wrapped her arms around herself while more tears fell. "My son was kidnapped and I just thought for a second that

maybe he'd somehow gotten away and I'm so sorry I scared your boy."

The woman's expression softened slightly but she kept backing toward the parking lot while her son clung to her neck. "I hope you find your son but you need to be more

careful because chasing kids in public makes you look crazy."

ZEKES POV

She left quickly while other parents gathered their children and gave us suspicious looks. I moved to Cecelia's side and wrapped my arm around her shoulders, guiding her back toward our vehicle while she shook like a leaf.

"I really thought it was him," she whispered while letting me lead her away from the playground. "For just a second when I saw that curly hair I was so sure it was Golden and I thought maybe somehow he'd

escaped and found his way here and everything would be okay."

"I know." I helped her into the back seat and slid in beside her while pulling her against my chest again. "I know you did but you can't let yourself get so caught up in hope that you lose touch with reality because that's

how people get hurt."

"I don't know how to do this." Her voice came out muffled against my shirt. "I don't know how to keep going day after day not knowing if my child is alive or dead or hurt or scared and I feel like I'm losing my

mind."

"You're not losing your mind," I said firmly while running my hand up and down her back. "You're a mother missing her son and everything you're feeling is completely normal given the circumstances."

"Normal doesn't make it easier." She pulled back and wiped at her face with shaking hands. "Every child I see makes me think of Golden and wonder what he's doing right now or if he's crying for me or if he thinks I abandoned him."

The raw pain in her voice made my chest ache while the bond between us pulsed with her anguish. I took her face in my hands again and made her look at me because I needed her to hear what I was about to say.

"Golden knows you would never abandon him," I said while holding her gaze. "He knows his mother loves him more than anything and that you're doing everything possible to find

him because children can feel that kind of love even when they're separated from their parents."

"How do you know that?" she asked while searching my face for answers I wasn't sure I had.

"Because I felt it from my own mother before she died," I admitted quietly. "Even when she was gone I could still feel how much she loved me and how she would have moved mountains to protect me if she'd had the chance and Golden feels that from you right now wherever he is."

Fresh tears spilled down her cheeks but she nodded while leaning into my touch. We sat there in the back of the vehicle for a long

time while my driver pretended not to notice and my warriors maintained their perimeter outside. The sun started setting through the windows, painting everything in shades of gold and orange.

"We should go back," Cecelia finally said though she didn't move away from me. "Marcus probably has updates and we need to follow up on the surveillance you ordered."

"In a minute." I wiped the last of her tears away with my thumbs while the bond hummed between us. "Just give yourself another minute to breathe."

She closed her eyes and took several deep breaths while I held her face and tried not to think about how right this felt. Having her in my arms again after three years of emptiness reminded me of everything I'd thrown away when I chose duty over my heart.

When she opened her eyes again something had shifted in her expression, a determination replacing the desperation that had driven her to chase a stranger's child through a playground. "Okay," she said while straightening her shoulders. "I'm ready to go back

and keep searching."

I nodded and released her face though I kept one arm around her shoulders while signaling my driver to head back to my territory. The drive took almost an hour but it felt longer while we sat in silence and I watched the landscape pass by outside the windows.

My phone buzzed with a message from Marcus saying they'd set up surveillance cameras around Theseus's territory and had teams monitoring all communication channels. Another message came through from Finn with an update

on the Range Rover registrations, they'd narrowed the list down to twelve possible vehicles and were conducting interviews with each owner.

"Any news?" Cecelia asked while reading over my shoulder.

"Surveillance is up and running on Theseus," I told her while pulling up the message details. "And they're making progress on identifying which specific Range Rover was used in the kidnapping."

"That's good right?" She looked at me with hope starting to creep back

into her expression. "That means we're getting closer."

"It means we're not standing still." I squeezed her shoulder gently while the vehicle turned onto the main road leading to my pack house. "Every piece of information gets us one step closer to finding Golden."

The vehicle pulled through the gates just as the sun finished setting. The temperature had dropped a lot, and I felt Cecelia shiver against me even though it was warm inside the car.

"Cold?" I asked, pulling her closer.

"A little," she said. Her breath made a small cloud in the cooling air when my driver opened the door.

We stepped out into the crisp evening, and I took off my jacket without thinking and put it around her shoulders. She looked up at me with surprise, and for the first time since this whole nightmare started, I really saw her as not just the

grieving mother or my ex-mate, but the woman I'd fallen in love with three years ago.

"What?" she asked quietly, noticing me staring.

"I forgot," I said softly, reaching up to tuck a piece of hair behind her ear. "I forgot how beautiful you are."

She caught her breath, and the bond between us suddenly felt stronger than it had in years. Three years of being apart and feeling regret all came together in this one moment standing in the cold night air.

"Zeke," she whispered, and something about the way she said my name made me lose control.

I held her face in both hands and leaned down slowly, giving her time

to pull away if she wanted to. But she didn't. Instead, she stood on her toes and kissed me first.

The kiss was soft at first, careful, like we were remembering something special we thought we'd lost forever. Then it got deeper, and three years of missing each other poured into it while the bond hummed between us.

When we finally stopped, both of us breathing hard, she rested her forehead against mine.

"We'll find him," I promised. "Together."

ZEKE'S POV

Zeke's POV

"What's your favorite meal?" I asked while guiding Cecelia away from the vehicle and back toward the pack house.

She looked at me like I'd spoken in a foreign language while her brow furrowed in confusion. "What does that have to do

with anything?"

"Just answer the question." I kept my hand on the small of her back while steering her through the

entrance and down the hallway toward the private wing where my quarters were located. "Your favorite meal, what is it?"

I saw the exhausted and confused look on her face.

"Marcus needs three hours to set up proper surveillance and you need to eat something since you haven't had a real meal since you arrived. If you don't take care of yourself you won't be any good to Golden when we do find him.

" I pushed open the door to my private quarters and ushered her inside before she could protest. "So I'm

asking again, what's your favorite meal?"

She stood in the middle of my living room looking lost. Her eyes darted around taking in the space that used to be hers too before everything fell apart. "Mushroom risotto," she finally said so quietly, I almost didn't hear her. "With garlic bread and that specific way you used to make the sauce with white wine and parmesan."

Something warm bloomed in my chest because she remembered that I used to cook for her during the early days of our marriage. "Sit

down," I told her while pointing to the couch. "I'll make it for you."

"You don't have to do that." She twisted her hands nervously. "I'm not even hungry."

"Your body needs fuel whether you feel hungry or not because stress suppresses appetite and depletes energy faster than normal activity."

I moved toward the kitchen area while pulling out my phone to check what ingredients I had available. "Besides, cooking will give me something to do with my hands for the next three hours instead of pacing to and fro."

Cecelia watched me for a moment longer before finally sinking onto the couch. She pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them while staring at nothing in particular.

I moved through the kitchen gathering what I needed while keeping one eye on her through the open archway that connected the spaces. The bond between us pulsed with her exhaustion and fear while I started chopping mushrooms with more force than necessary.

"When did you learn to cook?" she

asked suddenly while her voice drifted from the living room. "You could barely boil water when we first got married."

"I had a lot of time on my hands after you left,

" I said while sweeping the chopped mushrooms into a bowl. "Cooking gave me something to focus on that wasn't thinking about how badly I'd messed everything up."

She didn't respond to that but I felt something shift through the bond, a flicker of surprise mixed with something I couldn't quite identify. I started the risotto base with butter

and onions while the familiar motions helped settle some of the restless energy thrumming through my system.

The kitchen filled with the smell of cooking onions and garlic while I added the rice and let it toast before starting to add the stock one ladle at a time. This had always been the meditative part, the constant stirring and gradual addition of liquid that required just enough attention to quiet an overactive mind.

"I used to dream about this," Cecelia said after several minutes of

silence. "Not the risotto specifically but just having you cook for me again like you did during those first few months before everything went wrong."

My hand stilled on the spoon while her words hit harder than they should have. "I'm sorry," I said without turning around because if I looked at her right now I might say something we weren't ready for yet. "I'm sorry I stopped doing the small things that made you ."

"You were fucking Layla," she said flatly though I could hear the old hurt beneath the words.

I added another ladle of stock while my throat went tight because she wasn't wrong about any of it. "I was an idiot. " I said while focusing on stirring so I didn't have to see her face. "...but what we have..."

"Past tense," Cecelia said quietly. "What we had, not what we have."

"Is it past tense?" I finally turned to look at her while the risotto bubbled gently behind me. "Because from where I'm standing it feels very present tense with how the bond keeps pulling us together. We try to pretend that it does not exist but it's there Cecelia."

She uncurled from her position on the couch and stood up while moving toward the kitchen with an expression I couldn't read. "The bond might be there but that doesn't erase three years of pain or change the fact that you chose someone

else over me even after we were married."

"I know that." I turned back to the risotto and added the mushrooms . "I know I can't undo what I did or take back the words I said when I ended things but I need you to understand that letting you go was the biggest mistake I ever made."

"You keep saying that but what does it actually mean?" She leaned against the counter beside the stove while close enough that I could feel her body heat. "Are you saying you want to try again or are you just feeling guilty because of

Golden?"

The question hung between us while I added wine to the risotto and watched it sizzle. "I'm saying I never stopped loving you even when I was too stupid to admit it to myself," I said. "I'm saying these past three years without you have been the worst of my life and

having you back here even under these circumstances has made me realize how empty everything was before."

"That's not fair." Her voice shook while she wrapped her arms around herself.

"You can't say things like that when I'm barely holding myself together worrying about our son."

"I know the timing is terrible but I can't keep pretending I don't feel what I feel." I added the final ladle of stock while the risotto reached that perfect creamy consistency.

"You asked what it means and I'm trying to be honest instead of

hiding behind duty or obligation or any of the other excuses I used three years ago."

She was quiet while I stirred in the parmesan and butter to finish the dish before turning off the heat. The silence stretched between us heavy with everything unsaid while I plated the risotto and pulled the garlic bread from where it had been warming in the oven.

"Come eat," I said while carrying the plates to the small dining table near the window.

Cecelia followed slowly while

sitting down across from me with her eyes fixed on the food like she couldn't quite believe I'd actually made it. She picked up her fork and took a small bite while her eyes closed briefly.

"It tastes exactly like I remembered," she said after swallowing. "How did you manage that?"

"I might have made it a few dozen times over the past three years trying to get it right." I took a bite of my own food while

watching her face for reactions. "It was the only way I could feel close to you when

everything else reminded me you were gone."

She set down her fork while staring at me with an expression of disbelief. "Why are you telling me all this now?"

"I almost lost you permanently. I thought you were dead. It made me realize I can't waste any more time being too proud or too scared to admit how I feel." I reached across the table and covered her hand with mine while the bond

flared hot between us. "I love you Cecelia and I never stopped loving you."