HIS to CLAIM ALPHA ZEKE

Layla's pov

"Cameron is a child." Zeke's voice rose now, his Alpha authority bleeding through every word. "He doesn't need to be caught up in adult problems. He doesn't need his mother poisoning his mind against

people he doesn't even know."

"I'm protecting him."

"You're using him." Zeke moved closer to me and I had to fight the urge to step back. "You're using a little boy as a weapon in whatever twisted game you're playing. And I'm

done with it."

"Zeke, please-"

"Go to your quarters, Layla. Now." His tone left no room for argument. "And you're not to speak to Cameron about

Cecelia or Golden again. Is that understood?"

"You can't keep me from my son."

"He's not your son either." The words were brutal in their honesty. "Cameron is the child of another wolf, one you've never bothered to name. You've used him to secure your position here for years, but that's over now. Do you

understand? It's over."

Tears burned my eyes but I refused to let them fall. Not here. Not in front of Cecelia, who watched with that same cold expression. Not in front of Zeke, who looked at me like I was

something dirty he needed to scrape off his shoe.

"You'll regret this," I whispered.

"The only thing I regret is not seeing through you sooner." Zeke gestured to the guards. "Escort Miss Layla back to her quarters. She's not to leave without my explicit permission."

The guards moved forward and I had no choice but to go with them. Cameron tried to follow but Zeke held him back gently.

"You'll stay with me for now, Cameron. We need to have a talk about truth and respect."

I looked back as the guards led me away. Cecelia hadn't moved from her spot by the roses. She just stood there watching me with those knowing eyes, probably thinking she'd won.

But she hadn't won. Not yet.

My quarters felt like a cage when

the guards finally left me there with orders to remain inside until Zeke summoned me. I paced the room, my mind racing through possibilities and plans that all ended in disaster.

They'd find the messages on the phone. They'd trace the

payments. They'd connect me to Golden's kidnapping and then what? Exile? Prison? Execution for conspiracy against an Alpha heir?

I grabbed my own phone, the one they hadn't found yet because I kept it on me at all times. There was one number programmed into it, one

contact I'd been instructed to use only in emergencies.

This qualified as an emergency.

The call connected after three rings. "I told you not to contact me unless absolutely necessary."

"We need to move up the timeline." My voice came out steadier than I felt. "She can't stay here. The longer she's in the palace, the more Zeke pulls away from me. I don't care what you have to do, but Cecelia needs to disappear. Permanently this time."

"That wasn't our agreement."

"I'm changing the agreement." I moved to the window, looking down at the garden where Zeke was now sitting with Cameron, talking seriously while the boy nodded. "I'll double your payment. Triple it. Just make her go away."

"And the boy?"

I hesitated. Golden was innocent in all this, just a child like Cameron. But he was also the proof of Zeke's connection to Cecelia, the living reminder that she'd given him something I never could.

"Do what you have to do," I said

finally. "Just make sure neither of them can come back."

"It'll cost you."

"I don't care. Name your price."

We negotiated quickly, my bank accounts draining with each promise I made. But money meant nothing if I lost everything anyway. At least this way, I had a chance. At least this way, Cecelia would finally be gone for good.

After the call ended, I stood at the window watching the garden. Zeke finished his talk with Cameron and sent the boy off with a guard. Then

he just sat there on the bench, his head in his hands, looking more lost than I'd ever seen him.

Part of me wanted to go to him, to offer comfort the way I had so many times over the past three years. But I knew he wouldn't accept it now. Not from me. Not anymore.

The sun was setting when I saw Cecelia return to the garden. She walked slowly, like someone who carried weight they couldn't put down. Zeke must have heard her footsteps because he looked up, and even from this distance I could

see his expression change.

He stood. She stopped several feet away. They didn't touch but I saw the invisible thread pulling between them, the connection I'd never been able to break no matter how hard I

tried.

Zeke said something. Cecelia shook her head. He said something else and she finally moved closer, sitting on the bench beside him but maintaining careful distance.

They talked for a long time as darkness fell around them. I couldn't hear what they said but I

didn't need to. I could see it in the way they slowly relaxed, the way the space between them seemed to shrink without either moving. The way Zeke's hand rested on the bench

between them, so close to hers but not quite touching.

This was what I'd never had with him. Not even before the war, when we'd been young and in love. There had always

been something held back, some part of Zeke that remained closed off to me.

But with Cecelia, even after everything that had happened between them, he was open.

Vulnerable. Real.

I'd already lost. The truth settled into my bones with crushing certainty. Even if I managed to make Cecelia disappear

again, even if Golden never came back, I'd still never have what I wanted. Because Zeke's heart had made its choice years ago and I wasn't it.

But if I couldn't have him, neither could she.

I watched them in the garden until full dark, until they finally stood and walked back toward the palace. Zeke's hand hovered near Cecelia's

lower back, not quite touching but protective. She didn't pull away.

Tomorrow, the plan would be in motion. Tomorrow, my contact would handle things. Tomorrow, Cecelia would learn that coming back from the dead once didn't guarantee you

could do it twice.

I turned away from the window and began packing a small bag, just the essentials. When everything went down, I'd need to be ready to run. Cameron would understand eventually. Or he wouldn't. Either way, I couldn't take him with me where I was going.

The phone on my dresser buzzed with a message from my contact: "Timeline moved to 48 hours. Be ready."

I typed back a single word: "Confirmed."