Alpha

"Why wasn’t I informed? My daughter never hides anything from me," Zayar asked, looking at me with disgust.

"It was her decision; she didn’t want to worry you, and we tried to find the stalker, but unfortunately, we couldn’t," I explained.

"It was your incompetence that led to my daughter’s abduction. Every time she comes to the office, something happens to her." Zayar’s eyes flashed with a fire that could have engulfed me, and I realized his words were true.

"I admit my guilt. I failed to protect your daughter. But I promise you, Mr. Kincaid, I will return her."

"I don’t trust empty words, Alpha, especially from someone who can’t do even one simple job." Zair Kincaid was going to roast me alive.

Their faces were clearly troubled, and nothing I said could calm them down.

"Give me another day, and I’ll..."

Holly interrupted me. For some reason, she seemed angry with me. "We’ll conduct our own investigation; we just need your information regarding her kidnapping. Are there any suspects? Anyone at work who could be stalking her?"

I was certain it was Holly, Zara’s sister, who used to live with them. It was highly likely that she knew about the contract Zara had signed with me and disapproved of it.

"Zara has a friendly personality and was well-liked at work. The messages her stalker left seemed to indicate that he had ties either to her past or her family." I pulled out my phone, where I’d saved all the messages my mate had shared with me, sent by the stalker.

I handed over my phone, and her brother was the first to take it. They all huddled together, silently reading the messages. Their brows furrowed with the tension that surrounded us all.

"Sometimes we think the past will leave us alone and not pass its suffering on to our children, but no," Zayir said tensely, while Ryan and Holly took screenshots from my phone.

Ryan returned the phone to me, and I didn’t have the heart to show them the video with Zara. It broke me, and I knew her father had received something similar. I wondered if the same video had been sent to both of us.

He didn’t say anything about the video, so I remained silent as well.

"But whoever this stalker is, they’re tech-savvy and likely an exceptional hacker. My IT specialists are on their trail, trying to crack their code and track them down. They haven’t succeeded yet," I said as they exchanged glances, ready to get up and leave.

"We have plenty of room here. I can prepare the guest rooms so you’ll be comfortable," Mom offered, her gaze never leaving Zyar. She barely blinked.

But Zyar shook his head.

"We’ll stay at the hotel. I just want to find my daughter and get out of this damn packhouse."

They stood up, leaving no room for conversation, and left. Mom followed, but Zyar lingered.

Once everyone had gotten a good distance away, he gracefully crossed my personal space and stopped, looking me straight in the eye.

"I knew your father, and I was the one who drove him there. If you were involved in my daughter’s kidnapping, I won’t hesitate to do the same to you, Alpha."

I tensed under his words. He seemed to have studied me well, and I wondered what else he knew.

"I have nothing to do with Zara’s kidnapping, and the real culprit will soon be caught." 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

He stared at me for a few more seconds; doubt gleamed in his ocean-like eyes, which reminded me of Zara again and again.

Finally, he said, "I hope so."

This man instilled fear without even trying, and I had never felt intimidated by anyone.

I understood where Zara’s stubbornness and disobedience to back down came from. She had more of my father in her than she could have imagined.

Her family left, despite our persistent pleas for them to stay and eat, but they refused. My mother and I watched as they got into the car they had arrived in and drove away.

"I need to lie down, Kane. Let me know if there’s any news from the police." Mom clapped me on the shoulder and went to her room. A serious look crossed her face.

Somehow, she admired the man who had the courage and fortitude to do what she couldn’t.

The pregnancy test was still in my pocket, and I needed to hide it somewhere safe. Thoughts of Zara returned with renewed vigor, and my legs buckled. I was going to search every corner of this damned world until I found her.

When I reached my room, I found Asbela there, her expression grim, holding something in her hands.

"Alpha!" I didn’t want to say anything in front of everyone, but I found them in your closet, hidden under my clothes while I was putting them away." She handed me the folded black and brown pieces.

Frowning, I opened them, revealing a hideous brown mask, along with a cheap replica of the one I’d recently used for a video.

I never took masks out of my secret room, so how did they end up in my closet? Now it made sense how Zara suddenly knew I was a stalker; she must have seen them. Someone was trying hard to make me look like her stalker.

The other mask must have been something he used to scare her. She stopped communicating with me after the Winter Gala, so I had no idea what she was getting.

"Thank you! Asbela. I want to be left alone." She nodded quietly and left the room.

Who was it? Then I remembered that I had some temporary employees visiting for the Christmas holiday. And this could have been one of them.

Holding the masks in my hands, I was still lost in my thoughts when there was a knock on the door.

"Come in," I ordered, crumpling the silly masks in my hand.

Hunter entered with a package in his hands and a grim expression. "This was just delivered. Addressed to you. No delivery address."

My heart sank faster than a ship’s anchor. This did not bode well. Putting the masks in my pocket, I accepted the package.

"I’ll open it alone." Beta nodded quietly and left, closing the door.

The package weighed almost nothing, but it felt heavier than a thousand ships. I stared at the long brown box for a long time, knowing that what was inside would be my undoing. Tearing the tape, I finally opened it. My heart was pounding as I pulled back the flaps and peered inside.

Long, fiery red strands filled the brown box. Once wild and vibrant, like flickering flames, the locks now lay limp and lifeless, severed from the head of my Phoenix.

The cardboard walls, rough and unfeeling, held the remnants of what had once been a symbol of her identity, now reduced to stumps. Her scent lingered faintly within them, a ghostly whisper of the violence that had taken it from her.

The tears I hadn’t had time to shed finally spilled from my eyes and fell heavily. The pain that erupted in my heart was so blinding that my lungs forgot to breathe.

And there it remained, a box full of stolen fiery light, a memory of my mate who always laughed in the wind, her hair fluttering behind her like a banner of defiance.

Now, only silence. Only absence. Only the cruel echo of what is no more. I couldn’t touch them; I tried, but my hand wouldn’t move. A turning point had come for me, and I took out my phone and made a call.

"I am ready to take my place. Prepare for the ceremony of my ascension."