LOGINBLAINE’S POVThe study door was open when I arrived and seeing it open was enough to set to make it seem off. My study room wasn't off limits but I loved it non tampered with.I stepped inside quietly, my gaze sweeping the room. By the west wing stood Marta. She stood near a shelf dusting with a little too much for a room that never needed so much dusting “Marta.”She didn't know I had walked in and my voice startled her but she immediately composed herself, straightening a stack of files on the desk. “Good day, Alpha Blaine. I didn’t hear you come in.”“So I noticed.” My eyes moved across the room again, slower this time. It wasn't that I didn't trust Marta. I trusted her for the six years she had worked with me but sometimes, somethings just need extra surveillance. I stretched out my lips to a thin line.“Everything alright in here?”“Of course,” she said, going back to dusting the shelves beside her.I stepped further inside, one arm folded behind me.“You’ve been in here a lot
HAZEL’S POVA minute ago, I was asleep. The next, the soft chirping of birds pulled me back to consciousness. I yawned and stretched my arms in exhaustion as I sat up in the bed.The twins were already stirring in their bassinets by the time I opened my eyes. Luckily for me, they didn't disturb me throughout the night and they slept peacefully which gave me a piece. Blaine had left early again. He had actually told me about it during breakfast that he had some meetings he had to attend. mentioned after breakfast and had pressed a quick kiss to my forehead before disappearing down the stairs.Now that he was gone, I got up from the dining room, pushed myself up and made my way to the nursery. The nursery was in the northern wing of the palace and it was located here because it was closer to the valley. The moment I stepped inside, I found Elias already fussing, his tiny fists waving in frustration.“Good morning to you too,” I murmured, lifting him gently into my arms. The moment he
ROLAND'S POV"Where are my children," I said, the words scraping raw out of my throat. Those were the first thing that came in mind.Blaine tilted his head, mock consideration crossing his face. "Which question do you want answered first? There's so many to choose from.""Don't," I said, straining against the ropes despite the pain screaming through my shoulder. "Don't you dare stand there and play games with me.""I'm not playing any games with you, Roland," he said, stepping closer, his hands still tucked casually in his pockets. "I'm simply enjoying the view of you being bound and broken. This is exactly where you belong.""You faked your own death and you fuckin et your own parents bury an empty coffin and you let Hazel grieve you.""She needed to grieve," Blaine said, crouching down to my eye level. "Grief clears the mind wonderfully and makes room for new things to settle in.""You're sick.""Maybe." He shrugged, entirely too calm for a man discussing his own depravity. "But it
ROLAND'S POVThey came for me before dawn. I had laid on the cold floor, curled togther only to wake up to hands hauling me up by the arms, rough enough to wrench a groan out of me before I'd even fully surfaced from sleep. The scarred man was there and he was here alongside two others I hadn't seen before, their faces blank and businesslike in the dim light."What's happening," I said, my voice still thick with sleep, panic already climbing up my throat.Nobody answered or looked at me nstead, they dragged me toward the door, my legs unsteady beneath me. They were still weak from days of little food and constant pain."Where are you taking me!?”The scarred man immediately shoved a rough burlap sack over my head, plunging me into darkness, and my breathing turned ragged, panic clawing higher."Wait," I said, struggling weakly against the hands gripping my arms. "Just tell me where you are taking me to.’A fist connected with my stomach, hard enough to double me over, the air rush
HAZEL'S POVDinner passed in an ordinary conversation, but in my head, I kept replaying the study in my mind. I replayed The stiffness in his shoulders and The way his arm had bent unnaturally behind his back, like he was hiding something too large to fit in a pocket.Work, he had said when I asked him. Deep down, I wanted to believe him just like I wanted to believe every single thing he had told me since I woke in that hospital bed with nothing but his voice to build a life from. But something about what I witnessed tonight sat wrong in my chest like a small persistent itch I couldn't quite scratch away.(----)The morning sun filtered through the curtains, warm and gold across the blanket, though it did nothing to ease the tightness still lodged in my chest. Blaine stirred beside me eventually, stretching and completely unaware of how long I'd already been awake, turning the same thoughts over and over until my head began to bang loudly.By the time he had dressed for a pack meet
BLAINE'S POVThe study was quiet and te door slammed shut just the way I preferred it whenever I made these calls. I stood near the window, my phone pressed to my ear, my gaze lingered outside as I watched the last of the afternoon light stretch thin across the lawn."Tell me he's stopped asking questions,"A pause on the other end longer than I expected and I took that as a response I needed."No he hasn't. If anything, he's gotten worse. Through the CCTV footage, we've been able to see that he keeps asking the boy things he shouldn't be answering."My jaw tightened. "Which boy?""The young one. The latest recruit. The nervous 19 years old we assigned with bringing food to Roland."I pressed two fingers against my temple, feeling the beginning of a headache building there. "Has he said anything he shouldn't have said?”"Nothing confirmed yet, sir but he's been in that cell longer than usual the last two visits. He s been there talking and not just doing his job of delivering meals.







