Chapter 5

KAEL'S POV

The morning sun filtered through the floor-to-ceiling windows of my office, casting long shadows across the polished mahogany desk. I stood with my hands clasped behind my back, looking out over Silvercrest territory.

From this height, I could see everything. The training grounds where my warriors sparred, their movements precise and disciplined. The residential district where pack families lived in comfortable homes. The market square already bustling with morning trade. And beyond it all, the dense forest that marked our borders.

This was mine.

Every tree, every building, every wolf that walked these streets owed their allegiance to me. I'd earned it through blood, sweat, and an iron will that never bent.

"Alpha Kael."

I turned to find Marcus, my beta, standing in the doorway with a stack of reports.

"The council meeting is in an hour," he said, approaching the desk. "The Riverstone Pack is still pushing for expanded hunting rights in the western territory."

"Denied." I took the reports from him, flipping through them with practiced efficiency. "They had their chance last season and nearly depleted the deer population. They can hunt their own lands."

"They won't be happy about that."

"I don't care if they're happy. I care that they respect our boundaries." I signed off on three documents without looking up. "What else?"

"The new recruits completed their first evaluation. Fifteen passed, three failed."

"Send the three back for remedial training. If they fail again, they're out."

"Yes, Alpha."

Marcus hesitated, and I looked up sharply.

"What?"

"There's been... talk. In the omega quarters."

My jaw tightened. "What kind of talk?"

"About the Hart girl. Lyra." He shifted uncomfortably. "Apparently she hasn't reported for work in three days. Some are saying she left the pack."

My hand stilled on the paper I'd been signing.

Lyra.

I'd been trying not to think about her. About the way she'd looked standing in my office, pale and trembling, telling us she was pregnant. About the desperation in her voice when she'd said it's yours.

About the way something in my chest had twisted when she'd walked out that door.

"If she left, that's her choice," I said coldly. "We have more important matters to attend to."

Marcus nodded and left, but the words hung in the air.

She left.

I told myself I didn't care. That she was just an omega cleaner who'd tried to trap us with lies. That her absence meant nothing.

But my wolf disagreed.

He'd been restless for days, pacing inside my mind, snarling at anyone who came too close. Even now, I could feel him clawing at my control, wanting something I refused to acknowledge.

I shoved him down hard and returned to my work.

The council meeting was brutal.

Five hours of territorial disputes, budget negotiations, and petty grievances that made me want to shift and tear something apart. But I sat through it all with perfect composure, my expression never wavering, my voice never rising above a controlled calm.

This was what being Alpha meant. Control. Always control.

By the time it ended, my shoulders were tight with tension.

"Alpha Kael."

I looked up to find Elder Morrison approaching, his weathered face creased with concern.

"A word, if you have a moment."

I nodded, gesturing for him to follow me to a private corner of the hall.

"What is it?"

"It's about the Hart girl," he said quietly. "Her family came to me this morning. They're concerned about her disappearance."

"She's an adult. She can come and go as she pleases."

"They claim she was making wild accusations before she left. Something about..." He lowered his voice even further. "About being pregnant by an alpha."

My blood went cold.

"Did they say which alpha?"

"No. But Kael, if there's any truth to this—"

"There isn't." The words came out harsher than I intended. "The girl is delusional. Probably ran off with some rogue and is trying to pin her mistakes on someone respectable."

Morrison studied me for a long moment. "I've known you since you were a pup, boy. You can lie to the council, but you can't lie to me."

I met his gaze steadily. "There's nothing to tell."

He sighed. "Whatever you're hiding, it won't stay hidden forever. Secrets have a way of coming to light."

He walked away, leaving me standing there with my hands clenched into fists.

The rest of the day passed in a blur of pack business and forced normalcy. But as the sun began to set, I found my feet carrying me to a place I'd been avoiding.

The omega housing.

The building looked even more rundown than I remembered. Peeling paint, cracked windows, the smell of mildew and neglect. How had I never noticed how terrible this place was?

I climbed the stairs to the third floor, my footsteps echoing in the empty hallway.

Her room was at the end. The door stood slightly ajar.

I pushed it open.

The space was barely bigger than a closet. A narrow cot with a thin mattress. A cracked mirror on the wall. A small dresser with two drawers.

And nothing else.

No clothes. No personal items. No sign that anyone had ever lived here.

She was really gone.

My wolf whined, a sound of distress I immediately suppressed.

I turned and left, closing the door behind me.

---

Two hours later, I found myself at Bloodmoon territory.

Riven's pack was the opposite of mine in every way. Where Silvercrest was disciplined and structured, Bloodmoon was wild and chaotic. Warriors trained with brutal intensity, their fights more like battles than sparring matches. The pack house itself looked more like a fortress than a home.

Riven met me at the entrance, his dark hair disheveled, his expression guarded.

"Didn't expect to see you today," he said.

"We need to talk. Is Cassian here?"

"On his way." He led me inside to a private study. "This about the omega?"

I didn't answer, which was answer enough.

Cassian arrived ten minutes later, his usual easy charm noticeably absent. He looked tired, dark circles under his blue eyes.

"She's gone," he said without preamble. "I checked. Crossed the pack boundary three days ago and never came back."

"Good," Riven said, but the word lacked conviction. "Problem solved."

"Is it?" Cassian moved to the window. "Because I can't stop thinking about what she said. About the hormone levels. About Dr. Harrison confirming it."

"Dr. Harrison confirmed she was pregnant," I said. "Not that we're the fathers."

"Who else would be?" Cassian turned to face us. "You were there, Kael. That night. You know what happened."

I did know. I remembered every detail with painful clarity. The way she'd tasted. The sounds she'd made. The way she'd fit perfectly beneath me, around me, like she was made for us.

The way she'd looked at us afterward, like we were her entire world.

"It doesn't matter what happened that night," I said. "What matters is what it means for our packs, our alliances, our futures."

"So we just pretend she doesn't exist?" Riven's voice rose. "Pretend there might not be a child out there with our blood?"

"There is no child!"

The words echoed in the sudden silence.

"You don't know that," Cassian said quietly. "Neither do I. Neither does Riven. We don't know anything except that we fucked her, knotted her, and then threw her away when she came to us for help."

Guilt twisted in my gut, sharp and unwelcome.

"She could have been lying," I said, but even I heard the doubt in my voice.

"Could have been," Cassian agreed. "But what if she wasn't?"

Riven cursed and started pacing. "This is insane. We can't just—we have responsibilities. Duties. Our packs—"

"Will survive," Cassian interrupted. "The question is, can we?"

"Can we what?"

"Live with ourselves if we're wrong."

I wanted to argue. Wanted to tell him he was being ridiculous, emotional, weak.

But the image of Lyra's face kept surfacing in my mind. The way her voice had cracked when she'd said i'm pregnant. The terror in her eyes when we'd called her a liar.

The emptiness of her room.

"It's too late now anyway," Riven said. "She's gone. Into the human world, probably. We'd never find her."

"We could try," Cassian suggested.

"Why?" I demanded. "So we can drag her back here? Force her to prove something she might not even be able to prove until the child is born?"

"So we can make sure she's safe," Cassian said. "She's alone, pregnant, in a world she doesn't understand. If...and I'm saying if...that child is ours, she's carrying something unprecedented. Something powerful. Do you really want her out there unprotected?"

I hadn't thought about it that way.

My wolf snarled, suddenly alert. The idea of Lyra in danger, vulnerable, alone it made something primal rise up inside me.

"We need to decide," I said finally. "Right now. Are we going to look for her or not?"

Riven and Cassian looked at each other, then at me.

The silence stretched.

"I think—" Cassian started.

A knock on the door interrupted him.

"What?" Riven barked.

A young beta entered, looking nervous. "Sorry to interrupt, Alphas, but there's someone here to see you. Says it's urgent. About Lyra Hart."

My heart stopped.

"Who?" I demanded.

"Her brother, Alpha. Says he has information you need to hear.”