All Chapters of Claimed by the Alpha’s Contract: Chapter 31 - Chapter 40

Darian stood in the security room with the eastern sector feeds open across every screen. The orderly’s last confirmed position put them on a decaying service road that angled back toward the outer boundary. If they held the line and the pace, they would enter camera range inside of eighty minutes.Elias stood beside him, radio already live.“Two seniors are moving to the eastern choke points,” Elias said. “Outer line is fully covered. No gaps.”“Keep the intercept soft,” Darian said. “I want them inside the net before they know it’s there. If a vehicle is waiting, I want the vehicle. If they’re coming in alone, I want them alive and talking.”“Understood.”Darian left the security room and walked the internal corridor at a controlled pace. The lockdown kept the halls empty. Every door he passed was closed and accounted for. The bond sat under his ribs, carrying Sienna’s presence in the east wing—contained, alert, waiting behind a locked door the way he had told her to.He forced the

Darian stood in the dry wash where the drainage pipe emptied and watched the tracking team work the soft ground. The exit was clean. No blood. No discarded tools. Only a single set of prints leading east into the thicker tree cover before the sign began to fade.Elias crouched beside the pipe and ran a gloved hand along the inner rim. “This wasn’t accidental. The grate was cut from the inside years ago and set back in place. Someone maintained it.”Darian stared at the dark mouth of the pipe. “How many other lines like this exist on the old boundary?”“We’re pulling the original survey maps now. Some of the service records were never digitized. It’s going to take time.”“We don’t have time.” Darian turned away from the pipe. “Expand the search east along the trail. I want every possible extraction point covered within a five-kilometer radius. And I want a full physical sweep of every old drainage, utility, and boundary line on the compound starting today.”Elias stood. “That will thin

Darian reached the third pipe as the light began to fail. The grate lay open against the inner wall, the cut edges dark with age and recent handling. Two sets of prints marked the soft ground outside the old boundary fence—one matching the orderly’s earlier trail, the second heavier, deeper, the stride longer.Elias stood at the edge of the sign with two seniors. “Tracks head east-northeast into the thicker cover. Less than two hours old. No blood. No discarded gear. They moved fast.”Darian crouched and studied the heavier print. The tread pattern did not match any of the earlier external tests. New boots. Or someone who had not walked their ground before.“How many teams do we have available without stripping the outer line?” he asked.“Two full teams if we pull the internal sweep down to a skeleton. Outer line stays intact.”“Do it. I want them found before full dark. Alive if possible.”Elias transmitted the order.Darian remained at the pipe for another minute. The external side

Darian stood in the observation corridor between the two holding rooms and watched the feeds. The orderly sat on the edge of the cot in the left room, elbows on his knees, staring at the floor. The second man sat upright in the right room, hands resting loosely on his thighs, eyes fixed on the opposite wall. He had not spoken since the moment they secured him at the river cut.Elias stood beside Darian with a tablet. “The orderly is sticking to the package story. He claims he was told to wait at the river cut for a handoff that never happened. No name for the contact. No description beyond ‘taller than me.’ The second man has given us nothing. No name. No affiliation. No reaction to the orderly’s statement when we played it for him.”“Play it again,” Darian said. “Louder. Then leave him alone with it for twenty minutes.”Elias nodded and moved to the controls.Darian entered the orderly’s room without knocking. The man looked up immediately. The fear was still there, but it had settle

Darian stood in the observation corridor and watched the second man through the glass. The prisoner’s posture had not changed—shoulders relaxed, hands resting on his thighs, eyes on the far wall. But the micro-reaction to the name had been real. Controlled. Almost invisible. It was still the first crack.Elias entered with a thin folder. “Everything we have on the name. Kael Voss. Former scout lead for the Redpine pack. Officially listed as killed in a border clash three years ago. Body was never recovered. Redpine closed the file and moved on. No further inquiries from their side.”Darian took the folder and opened it. The photograph was old. The man in the image was leaner, younger, with a scar along the left jaw that the prisoner in the holding room did not have. Or had since covered.“Any confirmation of death beyond Redpine’s report?”“None. No independent witnesses. No remains. Just their internal declaration and a marker on a map.”Darian closed the folder. “Prepare the room. I