HIS to CLAIM ALPHA ZEKE

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."