Chapter 9 The Heir

Kaius

Six months had passed since that night of intense passion. Yet those incompetent Frostfang wolves hadn't provided a single useful lead. Not even a decent photograph. Just a name: Juliet Walton.

Kaius paced his office, fingers drumming on the polished mahogany desk. He wasn't used to being out of control. As Alpha of the Blackwood Pack, the most powerful werewolf collective on the East Coast, he was used to obedience and results.

But this elusive Omega, possibly his true mate if his wolf was right, had vanished like mist at sunrise.

"Still no word? " Ethan asked from the doorway. He leaned casually, the way only a Beta could.

Kaius growled low. "Nothing worth mentioning."

He had considered rejecting Juliet.

An Omega with no status and a scandal at her back was the last thing he needed.

Sofia Walton claimed Juliet had drugged her and taken her place that night. Maybe it was true, maybe not.

Juliet had disappeared before he could ask. No explanation. No defense.

But Alex, his wolf, had refused every other female since.

"You're obsessing," Ethan said. He poured himself a glass of Kaius's bourbon and took a sip. "Six months is a long time to chase a ghost."

"She's not a ghost," Kaius snapped. He forced himself to calm down, rolling his shoulders to release the tension. "If she's carrying my pup..."

That night had been unforgettable.

His body still remembered the way she moved, the sound of her voice, the warmth of her breath against his skin. If she had conceived... if she returned and apologized, he might take her back.

She might have lied. She might have used him.

Still, she was his mate.

He was Alpha. He didn't run from what was his. He protected it.

He could imagine a proper mating ceremony.

The intercom buzzed.

"Alpha," came the voice of his secretary. "Luna Cara of the Frostfang Pack requests an audience. She says it's about your ongoing investigation."

Kaius's heart beat faster. Maybe they had found Juliet at last.

"Let her in. Now."

The door opened fast, and Luna Cara stepped inside. Two Frostfang guards followed her.

But Kaius only saw what she held in her arms. A small bundle wrapped in a blue blanket.

"Alpha Kaius," Luna Cara said, bowing politely. Her voice was smooth and diplomatic. "I bring news about the Omega Juliet."

"I can see that," Kaius said, eyes locked on the small bundle. "Is that what I think it is? "

She stepped forward and pulled back the edge of the blanket. A sleeping baby lay inside. Brown hair. A familiar jawline. The resemblance was clear.

His wolf surged, growling softly with instinct. Kaius stiffened, his hand twitching at his side. He wanted to hold the child. Protect him. Claim him.

"Your son," Luna Cara confirmed. "Born to Juliet, about three days ago."

Kaius stepped closer, his expression unreadable. He had been lied to once. He would not be fooled again.

"Dr. Reynolds," he called. The pack doctor stepped out from the shadows of the room. "Run a DNA test. Now."

Luna Cara gave a small smile. It didn't reach her eyes. "Of course. We expected that."

Thirty minutes later, Kaius stood in his private lab. The results were on the screen. 99.99% probability. The child was his.

He should have felt triumphant. But instead, his chest felt hollow. Something was missing.

"The boy is healthy," Dr. Reynolds said. "Strong vitals. Good weight. But. no scent. That's rare-even for hybrids. Still, he'll be a fine heir."

Kaius's eyes narrowed. "No scent? "

The doctor gave a slight nod. "Completely neutral. Undetectable to wolves."

Kaius fell silent, staring down at the child cradled in his arms. The boy stirred, then settled against his chest without a sound.

No scent. No signature. But he was still Kaius's son. Still Alpha-born.

And Kaius had never needed tradition to build power. He would raise the boy himself-shape him, sharpen him.

Scent or no scent, this child would rule.

But where was she? Why hadn't Juliet come herself?

Kaius returned to the pack's receiving hall to find Luna Cara waiting, her expression carefully arranged into a politician's smile.

"The pup is mine. That much is clear. You've proven marginally useful-for once. Now tell me. where's Juliet? "

Luna Cara's eyes darted to the side, her fingers nervously smoothing a non-existent wrinkle on her skirt.A tell-tale sign of discomfort.

"Juliet... didn't survive the birth," she said, her voice dropping to a somber pitch that sounded rehearsed, like a press release delivered to a grieving public. "The labor was difficult. Complications arose. By the time our midwife realized something was wrong... it was too late."

The words hit Kaius like a physical blow.

Alex howled in anguish within him, a sound so filled with grief that Kaius nearly doubled over.

Dead? His mate gone before he'd even had the chance to truly know her?

"I'm so sorry," Luna Cara continued, though her eyes held a calculating gleam that belied her words. "We did everything we could."

Kaius tightened his hold on his son, using the child as an anchor against the storm of emotion threatening to overwhelm him.

He couldn't accept that Juliet was gone, that he would never see the woman who had haunted his dreams for months, never know the face of his son's mother.

There were barely any photos of her in the Frostfang Pack's records, and the few that existed were all from before she turned ten.

Something about Luna Cara's story rang false, but he couldn't identify what. Not yet.

"I see," he finally said, his voice dangerously soft. "Then I suppose we're done here."

Luna Cara smiled, a predatory flash of teeth that vanished as quickly as it appeared. "We were hoping to discuss the continued alliance between our packs. Perhaps a formal acknowledgment of the Frostfang Pack's role in securing your legacy..."

"Get out," Kaius interrupted, ice coating each syllable. "Consider every deal, every trade route, and every security pact between Blackwood and Frostfang frozen effective immediately."

Luna Cara's smile vanished. "But Alpha Kaius..."

"Be grateful," he cut in, stepping forward, his shadow falling over her, "that I don't burn the bridge entirely. Now, leave my office."

Luna Cara opened her mouth as if to protest, then wisely closed it.

With a stiff nod, she and her guards retreated, the heavy oak doors closing behind them with a decisive thud.

The moment they were gone, Kaius turned to Ethan. "Keep digging into Juliet Walton's whereabouts. And I want surveillance on the Frostfang Pack doubled. Put a tail on Cara. I want to know who she calls, where she eats, and when she sleeps. Something isn't right."

"You think she might still be alive? " Ethan asked carefully.

Kaius looked down at the sleeping infant in his arms, tracing the delicate curve of his cheek with one finger. "I don't know," he admitted. "But until I see proof otherwise, we keep looking."

He moved to the window, holding his son up to the fading afternoon light. The child's eyes fluttered open-golden, just like his own. A true heir to the Blackwood Pack.

"Meanwhile," Kaius continued, his voice firm with resolve, "prepare a press release. The Blackwood Pack has an heir, and I will be raising him as a single father." His jaw tightened. "His name will be Eliot Blair."

The baby gurgled softly, tiny fingers grasping at the air. Kaius held him closer, making a silent promise-to his son, to himself, and to the mate he refused to believe was truly lost:

"We will find the truth," he whispered. "I don't care if I have to tear the world apart brick by brick."