HIS to CLAIM ALPHA ZEKE

ZEKE'S pov

Cameron was at school during this visit," Sarah said while checking her notes. "So it was just Layla and Robert alone in the house for that entire time."

Cecelia made a sound beside me while I felt her tension spike through the bond. "Do you think he's involved in the kidnapping?" she asked while her voice came out tight.

"I don't know, but the timing is suspicious," I said while pulling out

my phone. "Layla claimed Robert just drops by to see Cameron, but if he was there when Cameron was at school, that story falls apart."

I called Layla, putting it on speaker so everyone could hear. She answered on the third ring, sounding annoyed. "What now, Zeke? I already told you everything about Robert last night."

"Funny, because the security footage shows him at your house two days ago for three hours while Cameron was at school," I said while keeping my voice calm despite the fury underneath. "Want

to explain what kind of uncle visits when the kid isn't even home?"

The silence on the other end lasted too long while I could practically hear Layla scrambling for an explanation. "He stopped by to drop something off," she finally said, her voice sounding strained. "We ended up talking and lost track of time."

"Drop what off?" I demanded.

"Just some things for Cameron - toys and books and stuff," Layla said quickly. "Is this really important right now when you should be focusing on finding

Golden?"

"Everything is important right now because I don't know who I can trust," I snapped while my patience ran out. "Robert is going to come in for questioning, whether you help arrange it or I have my trackers hunt him down - your choice."

"I told you I don't have his contact information," Layla protested while I could hear panic creeping into her tone. "He just shows up randomly, so I can't exactly schedule a

meeting."

"Then I guess we'll do this the hard

way," I said while ending the call before she could argue further. "Sarah, I want facial recognition run against every database we have access to using whatever features you can pull from that footage. Marcus, coordinate with

neighboring packs to see if anyone recognizes the description or movement patterns."

"On it," they both said while already moving to their stations.

Cecelia touched my arm while her expression showed concern. "Do you really think Layla could be involved in Golden's kidnapping?"

"I don't know what to think anymore," I admitted while running my hand through my hair. "But I'm not ruling anyone out until we have solid answers."

We spent the rest of the day reviewing everything we had while looking for connections we might have missed. Financial records, phone logs, security footage,

witness statements - everything got examined again while we searched for the pattern that would break this case open.

By midnight I was still in the command center with Cecelia while

everyone else had gone home to rest. Papers covered every surface while my eyes burned from staring at screens for too many hours straight.

"We should stop for tonight," Cecelia said softly while standing to stretch. "We're not going to find anything useful when we're this exhausted."

"You go ahead," I said while pulling up another file. "I want to review the phone records one more time."

"Zeke," she moved to stand beside my chair while her hand rested on

my shoulder. "You've been at this for nineteen hours straight. You need to rest."

"I can't rest while Golden is missing," I said while the words came out harsher than I intended. "Every second we waste is another second he's scared or hurt or worse."

"And you'll be useless to him if you collapse from exhaustion," Cecelia countered while her fingers squeezed my shoulder gently. "Take a break,

sleep for a few hours, then come back fresh."

I wanted to argue, but my body was already shutting down whether I wanted it to or not. "Fine," I said while closing the laptop. "But just a few hours, then we start again."

We walked back to my quarters in silence while the pack house was dark and quiet around us. Cecelia followed me inside instead of going to her own room, which made something warm bloom in my chest despite the circumstances.

"I'll take the couch," she said while moving toward the living area.

"Don't be ridiculous. The bed is big

enough for both of us," I said while heading toward the bedroom. "We're both adults, and we're too tired for anything except sleep."

She hesitated while I could feel her uncertainty through the bond. "Zeke, I don't think that's a good idea."

"Why not?" I turned to face her while keeping my expression neutral. "We used to share a bed for six months during our marriage. This isn't any different."

"It's completely different, and you know it," she said while wrapping

her arms around herself. "We have history and feelings and a bond that's trying to rebuild itself, which makes sharing a bed complicated."

"Or it makes it simple because we both need rest and comfort, and there's no reason we can't provide that for each other," I countered while moving closer. "I'm not asking for anything except to not be alone tonight. Can you understand that?"

Her expression softened while she nodded slowly. "Okay, but just sleeping. Nothing else."

"Just sleeping," I agreed while

leading her to the bedroom.

We changed in separate rooms while I gave her one of my shirts to sleep in, since she hadn't brought anything with her. When she emerged from the bathroom wearing my shirt that hung to her knees, something possessive stirred in my chest

that I tried to ignore.

We got into bed on opposite sides while maintaining careful distance between us. The silence felt heavy while neither of us seemed able to relax despite our exhaustion.

"Do you know what the worst part was?" Cecelia said suddenly, her voice coming out small in the darkness. "Not the betrayal - not even faking my death to escape. It was that I had started to love you. I was finally happy after months of feeling like an obligation, and then you told me you wanted to be free to be with Layla."