Grabbing her keys, Harper quickly dialed another number-the one she had boldly obtained at the ramen shop: Alpha Sebastian Black. He lived in the same building.
The phone rang for ten seconds before he answered, his voice calm and steady.
“Hello.”
No time for niceties. “Alpha Sebastian, Cecilia just entered the garage. Our call cut off, and now she’s not answering. Could you check on her?”
“I’ll look into it immediately,” he said, ending the call before Harper could thank him.
Miles away, in the grand Silver Peak Pack house, Sebastian had been scrolling through photos of unmated she-wolves on a sleek tablet when Harper’s call interrupted him.
The images blurred as soon as he saw her name flash on the screen.
He stood up the moment the call ended, smoothing his jacket with precise, controlled motions. His voice, cool and formal, carried to his parents.
“I need to leave. Regarding the mate candidates, I have no objections. Handle the arrangements.”
He didn’t wait for their responses. His mother’s curious voice floated after him, teasing.
“Was that a female caller?”
His father’s dry amusement joined in. “Don’t get excited. Did that look like a wolf thinking about a mate?”
But neither noticed the tight line of Sebastian’s jaw or the fist clenched so tightly at his side his knuckles turned white.
Outside, Liam hurried toward him. “Alpha Sebastian? Leaving early-did something happen?”
Sebastian silenced him with a sharp look and strode to his car.
Two swift calls escaped his lips, his tone clipped and urgent.
First, to building security: “Pull garage footage from the last fifteen minutes. Now.”
Next, to Tang, the enforcer assigned to shadow Cecilia: “She disconnected in the garage,” Sebastian said coldly. “Check immediately.”
“I’m on it,” Tang replied, the roar of an engine in the background. “I saw her car enter ten minutes ago. I kept my distance so she wouldn’t notice. But she was being followed-a sloppy amateur. He didn’t come inside, though.”
Sebastian said nothing. His grip tightened around the phone, a cold dread settling deep in his chest.
“Find her,” he ordered, voice hard as steel. “Now.”
He ended the call and slid into the waiting car. Liam took the driver’s seat, sensing his Alpha’s urgency but daring to ask anyway.
“How could anyone get to her inside our building? Security should have kept her safe.”
“The system keeps outsiders out,” Sebastian answered, eyes dark as night. “It doesn’t account for those already inside.”
Liam hesitated. “You mean… a resident?”
Sebastian’s reply was sharp, cutting through the air like a blade. “Alpha Xavier owns a unit there. He bought it for proximity. Access can be forged if someone is determined enough.”
His gaze drifted to the window, where his own reflection stared back-eyes shadowed with a fear he refused to name.
He had sworn to protect her.
If she had been taken under his watch… he knew he would never forgive himself.
Meanwhile, in the garage, Tang’s car screeched into the lot just as a sleek black sports car sped past him, racing toward the exit.
Harlow
My heart hammered relentlessly against my chest as I sprinted toward Celina’s apartment complex, a gnawing sense of dread twisting deep in my stomach ever since our call had abruptly cut off. The silence that followed felt heavier than any words could be.
Impatient and desperate for answers, I dialed Alpha Sebastian’s number again, fully aware that he wasn’t some kind of miracle worker and that the building’s security team would need time to comb through footage. Still, I had to try.
“Any updates?” I asked breathlessly the moment he answered.
His tone was clipped and serious. “No response from security yet. But one of my men spotted a suspicious car leaving the garage. We’re tracking it now.”
My stomach dropped. “A suspicious car?” I repeated, my voice taut with tension as I gripped the phone tighter. “Celina mentioned someone had been following her earlier. Could it be the same person?”
“No,” he replied firmly. “That guy is still waiting outside the gate. Probably someone Alpha Xavien sent-very obvious, not very smart.”
I paused, surprised by his certainty. How did he always seem to know so much? But there was no time to dwell on it. Anxiety pressed down on me like a weight.
“Alright,” I said, forcing calm into my voice. “I’m heading to her apartment anyway. Maybe it’s nothing.”
But deep inside, I knew that was a lie-both to him and to myself. The unease gnawing at me refused to be silenced.
I pushed the accelerator hard, ignoring traffic lights and the risks of reckless driving. Every second felt like an eternity. By the time I arrived, the sky had deepened into a dark, oppressive blue, and the long shadows cast by the street lamps stretched across the sidewalk in eerie patterns.
Her apartment was unnervingly silent.
Not the kind of quiet that soothes, but the kind that screams something is terribly wrong.
I stepped inside and called out her name, my voice trembling. No response. Only the low hum of the refrigerator and the sound of my own ragged breathing filled the space. The silence was deafening-more terrifying than any scream could be.
My pulse quickened, and my fists clenched tightly at my sides.
Alpha Sebastian had mentioned Alpha Xavien’s spy. A surge of anger flared inside me, fierce and unrelenting. What if the spy was just a distraction? What if Alpha Xavien had finally dropped all pretenses of decency?
Without hesitation, I grabbed my phone and dialed him, not even waiting for a greeting.
“What have you done to her?” I demanded, my voice shaking with fury. “Where is she? When will you stop tormenting her?”
There was a pause on the other end. I heard him shift, as if sitting upright.
“She’s missing?” Alpha Xavien sounded genuinely surprised.
I didn’t buy it for a second.
“Don’t pretend you don’t know!” I snapped, pacing the room, the sound of my boots striking the floor sharp and angry. “If it’s not you, then it’s your mother or Cira herself. One of you took her, and I swear-“
He cut the call.
No answers. No excuses. Only silence.
“You bastard,” I hissed through clenched teeth, staring at the dead screen. My hands trembled uncontrollably, my chest heaving with rapid breaths. Anger burned fiercely behind my eyes, hot and consuming.
He knew something. I was certain of it.
If anything had happened to Celina-anything-I would make every one of them pay.
Minutes later, Alpha Sebastian sent me a text with disturbing news: security footage showed Celina’s car entering the complex, but no video evidence of it actually going into the garage-yet the car was physically there.
The only logical conclusion was that someone had deliberately tampered with the security system.
At this hour, the garage was usually quiet, with very few residents coming or going.
The static nature of the footage meant security might not have noticed if a portion had been compromised for hours.
I wasted no time and called the police.
Within thirty minutes, the once eerily silent garage had transformed into a hive of activity, swarming with officers and building security personnel.
I recounted everything I knew, including Alpha Sebastian’s information about the suspicious vehicle. The building management corroborated what they could.
Alpha Sebastian was already in pursuit of the car with Tang, his trusted enforcer. The building manager’s report only deepened the suspicions surrounding the vehicle.
No one could say for sure whether Celina had been taken in that car or if she was still somewhere inside the building.
The possibilities during that window of tampered footage were endless-and terrifying.
Alpha Sebastian divided the tasks: the police and property management would search the building, while he chased the suspicious car. Everyone agreed to share information as the investigation unfolded.
As for suspects, the Shadow Pack and Blood Moon Pack were the obvious culprits. The recent social media firestorm had made their rivalry impossible to ignore.
But suspicion wasn’t proof, and what we desperately needed was evidence.
Police officers meticulously combed every corner of the garage while building management contacted residents. This was an exclusive complex, home to wealthy tenants and luxury cars, so the officers had to proceed carefully.
They asked if anyone recognized the black sports car or had granted access to visitors. The security system was sophisticated-temporary signal jamming was one thing, but forced entry would have triggered an immediate lockdown.
The most plausible explanation was that someone with legitimate access had been exploited.
Every resident denied owning the vehicle or hosting visitors that night.
Security staff reviewed the entire day’s footage at high speed. There was no sign of the suspicious car entering.
“It’s like the car just vanished,” one officer murmured.
Alpha Sebastian was on the phone when he heard the update.
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