Chapter 371
Three hundred and seventy three
Wesley POV
We stayed at the daycare well into the evening. By eight, the owner hovered near the reception desk, tears streaking her face, insisting nothing like this had ever happened under her watch. Fear coated her voice, and despite everything in me screaming for answers, I couldn’t blame her for being terrified. She had a missing child in her building, the future Alpha standing in front of her, and a security team tearing her daycare apart. Every time she opened her mouth, she looked like she expected me to accuse her.
My own body was becoming harder to ignore. Heat crawled beneath my skin, settling deeper into my muscles. My head throbbed, the familiar pressure behind my eyes building.
My wolf reacted to the separation from Isabella.
Not now.
I forced my attention back to the screens as a security officer enlarged a section of footage. It wasn’t clear enough to show the girl’s face, but it showed enough of her clothes and movements. A gray hoodie covered most of her body, and she kept her head lowered as she moved through the playground with the children.
“Stop there,” I said.
The officer froze the footage.
“That’s her p>
“Yes, Alpha p>
The daycare owner leaned closer to the screen. “That’s the substitute p>
“How old is she p>
“She can’t be more than eighteen,” the owner said. “We often get young people applying for part-time work, especially students who’ve just finished secondary school. She was new p>
“Show me the footage from before this p>
The officer rewound it, and the scene shifted to the fenced outdoor playground beside the building. Children ran across the yard while staff watched over them, the regular teacher near the far end, trying to settle a little boy who wouldn’t stop crying.
“That’s when the children went outside,” the owner explained. “They have outdoor playtime every afternoon p>
The screen showed Maverick playing with a little girl. The substitute appeared from the side and approached him, unhurried, unnoticed. She bent down, spoke to him, and took his hand.
My fingers curled around the edge of the desk.
The girl led Maverick away from the other children, toward the side of the building.
“Where is that p>
The owner swallowed. “An auxiliary gate. We use it for deliveries and emergencies p>
“Why wasn’t anyone watching it p>
“We don’t usually need to. It’s not a public entrance p>
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The officer enlarged the next camera angle, showing the walkway beside the building. It captured the playground and part of the path, but the gate itself sat beyond the frame’s edge, where the girl and Maverick vanished from
view.
My stomach tightened.
“There’s no camera covering the gate p>
“Not directly,” the owner admitted. “We were planning to install another one p>
Planning.
No footage showed the girl returning.
The owner covered her mouth, tears gathering in her eyes. “But why would she do that p>
The security officer brought up a still image of the girl from the footage. Her face remained partially hidden, but the gray hoodie and dark trousers were clear. Another image showed her beside Maverick.
“How long had she been working here p>
“Less than a month,” the owner said. “She came through an employment agency. We needed someone to cover shifts p>
“Check her references and find her p>
Another officer looked up from his tablet. “We’ve contacted the agency. Nothing she submitted leads anywhere. The address is false, the listed family contacts don’t exist, and her phone is off p>
Bloody hell.
Isabella had left Maverick in Iris’s care. Iris had taken him to daycare. Whoever planned this had known the child would remain there until late afternoon.
My phone kept vibrating against the table.
Some from Mom, others from Emma and Anita.
I ignored them.
Charlie’s call came through, and I glanced at the screen before rejecting it. I couldn’t deal with anyone who wasn’t directly involved in finding Maverick.
“Alpha,” the officer said, drawing my attention back. “We’ve been looking into Barbara. We can’t prove anything yet, but she’s still our strongest lead p>
I didn’t need a confession to recognize the pattern.
Barbara had a talent for manipulating people. Maverick’s disappearance had the same shape. Someone had chosen a substitute teacher, learned the daycare’s weak point, waited until the regular teacher was distracted, and removed a four-year-old without causing a scene.
“Find out the agency that hired the substitute,” I said. “I want every connection traced p>
The officer nodded and moved away to make the calls.
My phone vibrated again. This time, it was Isabella. I answered at once.
Her uneasiness came through the line. “Any news p>
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“Not yet. We found footage of Maverick being taken p>
dence filled the line.
“A substitute teacher led him through an auxiliary gate that isn’t fully covered by the cameras p>
“Barbara paid her,” Isabella whispered.
I closed my eyes.
“I know p>
The heat beneath my skin intensified, and my wolf pressed against my control as though it could sense her distress. I gripped the edge of the table and forced myself to stay focused.
“We’re going to find him,” I said.
I wanted to hold her and keep her close, the distance between us unbearable.
“Stay with the security team. Don’t go anywhere alone p>
The call ended, and I stared at the dark screen before putting the phone away.
The officer returned with another update.
“We’re checking vehicles around the auxiliary exit. There’s a partial image from a nearby camera, but we’re still enhancing it. The girl didn’t leave through the main road. She seems to have used a service lane behind the daycare. There’s no direct camera coverage there either p>
My teeth clenched.
She knew the cameras and exits despite being new.
They had placed someone inside who could get Maverick out without raising an alarm.
The name hit differently when I heard it in full.
Alpha Desmond of Blood Moon.
I’d heard enough about the man to know my father considered him one of his most dangerous enemies, but knowing his name and understanding what he’d done were different things.
Desmond had taken Maverick, and the more I learned about him, the more my stomach turned. He was older than my father, yet he had assaulted Isabella when she was underage, used his position to keep her under his control, and somehow kept his seat as Alpha as though none of it mattered.
The same pig had been involved with Aunt Nadia and had smeared her name after their engagement fell apart. Now he had taken Isabella’s son. Everything I learned made him easier to hate.
What I couldn’t stand was what my own body was doing.
My fever grew unbearable. I was supposed to be strong enough to protect my mate and her child, yet I could barely keep the heat from crawling through my body.
By the time I reached my parents’ house, the headache had settled behind my eyes, and agitation had replaced whatever strength I’d gathered at the daycare. I found Grandma Cassidy in the sitting room and went straight to
her.
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“I need something for this p>
studied my face. “You’ve been separated from your mate for days. That’s why you’re like this p>
“Then give me something that will make it stop p>
She sighed. “Wesley, this isn’t something you can push through. Your system is already reacting to the separation. You know what happens when it gets worse. If you continue like this, you’H become unstable. You could lose control, and then you won’t help anyone p>
The words landed because I knew she was right. That was what I had feared.
“So what?” I asked. “I sleep with her in the middle of this madness p>
“I’m not asking you to force yourself on her, but being with your mate will help stabilize you faster. If you are injected, you should improve over the next couple of days p>
“Maverick is missing, Grandma p>
“And what good will you be to him if you collapse halfway there? I think you’re blaming yourself for something you can’t control, and it’s getting old. Your father is on the case, and so are the security teams. You don’t need to turn yourself into another person they have to protect p>
The words stung, but she was right.
If I went after Desmond like this, I might become a liability. I could already feel how little control I had over my own body. What would happen if my wolf took over in the middle of a confrontation and I became another problem for Isabella to worry about when she was already terrified for her son?
“I should have accepted the bond when I had the chance,” I muttered.
Mom came closer. “Don’t do that to yourself p>
“Why not? Look at me. I’m supposed to be helping them, and I’m here because I can’t control a fever. I feel useless. I knew something like this would happen. I knew I’d become dependent on her, and now look at me p>
“You aren’t dependent because you’re weak. Your bodies are connected. That’s what we’ve been trying to make you understand p>
I wanted to argue, but the pressure behind my eyes pulsed harder.
Mom led me to the sofa. “Wesley, Isabella would rather have you safe and capable of helping her than have you rush into Blood Moon, collapse, and leave her worrying about you too p>
An uncomfortable silence settled between us.
“I’m more worried about something else,” Mom said.
“What p>
“Desmond is Meridian. What if they try to use the boy? Put something in him, expose him to whatever they did before p>
“Lisa, don’t,” Grandma Cassidy said.
“I know I might be overthinking, but we have to consider every possibility p>
Maverick was a baby, too young for some war that had started before he was even born.
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“Isabella would never recover from that,” Mom whispered.
Nowered my head, pressing my palms against my eyes as another wave of heat moved through me.
“You have to go to Joanna,” Grandma Cassidy said.
I stared into the distance, feeling like shit.
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Lucia Morh
Lucia Morh is a passionate storyteller who brings emotions to life through her words. When she’s not writing, she finds peace nurturing her garden.