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Lahat ng Kabanata ng His to Claim: Alpha: Kabanata 1 - Kabanata 10

50 Kabanata

one

"I'm pregnant, Cecelia. And it's your husband's baby."I looked up at her stunned. The crystal wine glass slipped from my fingers, shattering against the marble floor of the pack house dining room. Red wine spread on the floor, soaking my shoes and hers."What did you just say?" My voice shook. I was not understanding. How? Why?Layla, my beautiful, perfect sister, stood across from me, the definition of everything that I thought I was not. She was graceful, could get anything she wanted, men worshipped the ground that she walked on. Why my husband? Even as she delivered the news that rocked my world, she looked like a goddess. Her hand rested protectively over her still-flat stomach, and tears glistened in her blue eyes."I'm so sorry, Cecelia. I never meant for this to happen.""You're lying." I gripped the edge of the dining table until my knuckles went white. "Zeke wouldn't... he wouldn't do that to me.""Wouldn't he?" Layla's voice was soft and full of pity. "Be honest with yours

two

I found him in his study an hour later, sitting behind the massive oak desk that had belonged to his father. Zeke looked up when I entered, and I saw my own pain reflected in his green eyes."She told you."It wasn't a question. I closed the door behind me and walked to the chair across from his desk, my spine straight and my chin lifted. If I was going down, I'd go down with dignity."Yes.""Cecelia—""Is it true?"He was quiet for a long moment, his hands clasped on the desk in front of him. When he finally spoke, his voice was barely audible."Yes."The simple word destroyed the last fragment of hope I'd been clinging to."How long?" I asked."How long what?""How long have you been fucking my sister?"He flinched at the crude language. "Cecelia, don't—""Answer the question, Zeke. How long?""Since the second week after our mating ceremony."I closed my eyes, absorbing the blow. "So our entire marriage has been a lie.""No." He stood up abruptly, moving around the desk toward me.

three

A thudding headache from the right side of my skull dragged me into consciousness. I forced my eyes open, and my vision was blurry. The surroundings around me were unfamiliar. Finally, all the blur cleared into focus and I immediately saw three pairs of brown eyes staring at me."She's awake!" The smallest girl smiled down at me, then nudged the others who were still staring at me in awe. "Mama, she's awake!"They ran off, shouting, "Mama! The sea lady opened her eyes!"I tried to sit up bewildered by what it was they were saying. What did they mean sea-lady? What was I doing here? The last thing I remembered was sitting on my favourite nest on the sea-cliff and crying. The rest was fuzzy. As I sat up, there was a sharp pain in my lower belly. I flinched, shutting my eyes as the pain almost demoralized me.A woman appeared in the doorway, clearly their mother from the resemblance."Easy now," she said, settling into a chair. "I'm Fatima. You've been asleep for a very long time.""I...

four

Three years later"Mama, look what I drew!" Golden's excited voice pulled me from the kitchen as he burst through the door, his preschool drawing clutched in his tiny hands.My heart clenched the way it always did when I looked at him. Three years old and already so much like his father; the same wheat-colored hair, the same stubborn chin, and those eyes. God, those eyes were exactly like Zeke's, molten gold that seemed to see right through you."Let me see, sweetheart." I set down the kettle and lifted him onto my lap, studying his crayon masterpiece. "Is this our house?""Uh-huh! And that's you, and that's me, and that's Aunty Fatima!" He pointed to each stick figure with pride. "Miss Sarah says I'm the best drawer in class.""You absolutely are." I pressed a kiss to the top of his head, breathing in his sweet scent. "Why don't you go show Aunty Fatima? She's in the back counting today's catch."Golden scrambled down and raced toward the storage room, his little feet pounding agains

five

The Brooke Pack territory looked like entirely different from what I had known it to befrom three years ago. It was beautiful, impressive, and completely foreign to the place I'd once called home.My hands trembled as I approached the main gates, every instinct screaming at me to run.The last time I was here, somebody attempted to murder me, and for all I know,the person could still want me dead. Now I was walking back into the zeke’smansion, and neither he nor Layla knew I was alive. "State your business," the guard said, his voice bored but professional."I need to see Alpha Zeke," I said, surprised by how steady my voice sounded."It's urgent."The guard's eyes swept over me dismissively. "Yeah, you and half the unmated femalesin the territory. The Alpha doesn't take walk-in appointments, especially notfrom—" He paused, his nostrils flaring as he caught my scent. His face went white."What's your name?" His eyebrows arched in confusion."Cecelia Mayers." The name felt strange

six

CECELIAS POVThe silence in Zeke's office pressed against my ears like water. He stood behind his massive oak desk, the same one that had belonged to his father, studying the photograph I'd handed him. Golden's face smiled up at him from the glossy paper. My son's eyes, those unmistakable molten gold eyes, stared back at his father for the first time.I watched Zeke's face carefully. His jaw tightened. His fingers gripped the edges of the photo until the paper crinkled slightly. Whatever he'd been expecting when the guards dragged me into his council meeting, it wasn't this."How old is he?" His voice came out rough, like he'd swallowed gravel."Three years and four months."His eyes snapped up to mine. I saw him doing the math, counting backward to that last month before I disappeared. Before Layla pushed me off that cliff and left me to drown."He looks exactly like you," I added, though it was obvious. Golden could have been Zeke's clone, right down to the stubborn set of his chin

seven

CHAPTER SEVENCECELIAS POVI bit the inside of my cheek hard enough to taste blood. Every instinct screamed at me to defend myself, to shout that I wasn't lying, that Golden was real and terrified somewhere without his mother. But I forced myself to stay quiet. Zeke needed to make this decision himself.Zeke pulled his arm away from Layla's touch. "She's agreed to a healer's examination. That will settle any questions about paternity.""A healer's exam?" Layla's voice rose another octave. "You're actually giving credibility to this insanity?""A child is missing," Zeke said coldly. "Whether he's mine or not, that's reason enough to investigate.""She probably doesn't even have a child," Layla insisted. "This is all an elaborate scheme to worm her way back into your bed, into your life, into this pack. Can't you see that?""What I see," Zeke said, his Alpha authority bleeding into every word, "is that you need to leave my office. Now."Layla flinched like he'd slapped her. "Zeke, pleas

eight

CHAPTER EightCECELIAS POVZeke's hand moved across the desk. For a heartbeat I thought he might try to take mine, might try to offer some gesture of comfort. But then he seemed to think better of it and pulled back. The moment passed.He made the call. A young woman appeared within minutes, introducing herself as Beth, one of the palace staff. She gave me curious glances but was professional enough not to ask questions."Show Miss Mayers to the blue suite in the guest wing," Zeke instructed. "Make sure she has everything she needs.""Yes, Alpha." Beth gestured for me to follow her.I turned to leave but paused at the door. "Zeke."He looked up from the papers he'd already started reviewing. Always working. Always focused on duty."Thank you," I said. "For helping. I know this is complicated.""He's my son," Zeke said simply. "Nothing is more important than that."I believed him. Maybe that was foolish. Maybe I should have learned my lesson about trusting this man. But when it came to

nine

Chapter NineCECELIAS POVThe photograph sat on Zeke's desk between us like a live grenade. Golden's tear-streaked face stared up at me, and each time I looked at it, something twisted violently in my chest. My baby. Someone had my baby in a concrete room and was making him cry."We're reviewing security footage from every entrance," Zeke said, his voice clipped and professional. He'd switched into full Alpha mode the moment he saw the photo, barking orders through his phone, summoning guards and trackers. "Whoever delivered this will be identified within the hour."I couldn't take my eyes off Golden's face. "He looks so scared.""We'll find him, Cecelia.""You keep saying that." My voice came out sharper than I intended. "But we're no closer than we were yesterday. Someone walked right up to my door in your palace and left a threat, and you didn't even know they were here."Zeke's jaw tightened but he didn't argue. He couldn't. The breach was inexcusable and we both knew it.A knock

ten

CECELIAS POV"Vehicle tracks?" Zeke asked."None that we could find. The ground there is mostly rock and dirt, hard to leave impressions." Ryder looked apologetic. "But we did interview witnesses. Three separate pack members reported seeing a dark vehicle, possibly an SUV, parked near the preschool that afternoon.""Same vehicle the teacher mentioned," I said."Yes. We're pulling traffic footage from the main roads leading out of Seacreek, but it's going to take time. Most of their cameras are outdated."Zeke nodded slowly, processing the information. "What about the preschool staff? Any of them behave suspiciously?""We questioned all of them. Everyone's alibis check out." Ryder hesitated. "But there is something odd. One of the teachers mentioned that a woman had been asking questions about Golden a few weeks ago."My head snapped up. "What kind of questions?""General things. Who his mother was, where they lived, if the father was in the picture." Ryder consulted his notes. "The te

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