h4Chapter 99: Eira’s Missing/h4

    Roman’s POV

    In the evening, I returned home after a long day at the office, juggling Kael’s affairs alongside my own work.

    The others had returned a littleter, and from the looks of it, Kael had spent the entire day in the drawing room, keeping a silent watch over her. She sat in her usual reserved corner, near the floor-to-ceiling windows and Vixen’s pet house,pletely motionless.

    "Has she caused any trouble?" I asked.

    Kael shook his head. Thankfully, she hadn’t done anything to provoke him.

    She was like a ghost, invisible until one’s eyes fell on her. No sound, no movement. Even her breathing was quieter than Vixen’s.

    "What did you find?" I asked Lucian, Jason, and Rafe.

    The three of them exchanged nces and chose to remain silent. I understood—they didn’t want to discuss such matters in front of her.

    Believing that everything was fine with her, even after the incident with the video that morning, and with the evening already settling in, we decided to send her to her room to sleep.

    After I settled her inside, with both her pets nearby, and closed the door, we moved to the study to discuss matters in private. That grand study, more like an office within the house, had been mostly unused since we brought her in, but it was our usual ce for serious conversations.

    Kael took his ce behind the desk, his expression dark and brooding, while the four of us settled on the couch opposite him.

    "What did you find out?" Kael asked the three men, his tone grave.

    "Someone bought that child from the traffickers," Lucian informed, "The deal was done even before the child was born, and as if they were waiting for her to give birth. The payment was hefty that showed the child was important to the buyer."

    I raised a brow, a dozen questions forming in my mind.

    "Her mate?" I asked. "The father of the child?"

    "Maybe," Lucian replied. "Or just as said, perhaps someone else who knew she was pregnant and wanted the child for themselves."

    "There’s something else," Rafe said, leaning forward to get both Kael’s and my attention. Lucian and Jason exchanged tense looks, as if they already knew what Rafe was about to reveal.

    "She had given birth after seven to eight months of being locked in that prison, and the baby wasn’t premature. That means she must have slept with that bastard at least a month before she was sent there. She was fooling around with him while she was still around us."

    Lucian’s voice dripped with disdain. "There was only one she was fooling around with. Keiren."

    "He was her mate," I added to draw a conclusion, "she slept with him, and then he rejected her. That’s one thing. But Keiren is dead, so who else took her child?"

    Kael’s voice cut in sharply. "He can’t be her mate."

    We all turned to look at him. "What do you mean? Then who else?"

    His expression was tense for a moment, then he rxed slightly. "She was a minor when she was sent to prison. There’s no way they knew they were each other’s mates and there wasn’t a possibly of rejection. She found her true mate only after she was imprisoned."

    Kael said it with such certainty that Jason, silent until now, finally spoke. "Maybe they just slept together without knowing they were mates. But she ended up conceiving. She is a pureblood, so only an Alpha can impregnated her. And Keiren was the only Alpha she was with."

    "That actually makes sense," I said, ncing at Kael. "And her saying he’s dead fits with that theory. Because Keiren is dead."

    Kael didn’t seem convinced. He simply said, "Just focus on finding the child. Once we do, we’ll know who bought him, and from there we’ll reach his father as well."

    Lucian’s words dropped like another weight. "The child isn’t in our pack. We’ll have to gather more clues to find out who took him and where exactly he is."

    Jason added, "We already have some leads. We might need to go away for a few days—outside the pack even."

    "Do it. Just take enough people with you," Kael instructed, his gaze shifting to Rafe. "I want you to stay back. With Lucian and Jason gone, and Roman handling the office work, I need one of you by my side."

    Rafe looked at himzily. "Were you that bored with the bitch around that you missed me?"

    This bastard always had a way of saying somethingpletely off-topic, just for his own fun.

    Kael’s expression didn’t change. It wasn’t a request. It was an order.

    Rafe let out a resigned sigh. "Alright! I’ll stay back and make sure to entertain you properly."

    "You can leave the entertainment part for when Lucian returns," I added.

    Rafe turned toward Lucian. "He’ll be the one entertaining me when he’s back."

    Lucian shot him a sharp re. "Too much daydreaming about being my bitch, aren’t you?"

    "Alright!" Kael interrupted, cutting through their banter. "Exin the entire n."

    Jason and Lucian went through their strategy for finding the child. The discussionsted over half an hour as we finalized every detail, leaving nothing to chance.

    Once it was over, I checked the time. "I should check on her."

    Kael hummed in acknowledgment and I left the study. When I entered her room, my heart skipped a beat. Eira wasn’t there. Only Vixen slept peacefully on the bed.

    Fluffy was nowhere in sight either.

    I hurried to the bathroom, but she wasn’t there.

    I stepped back into the room and called out, "Eira, where are you?"

    No response. No movement. Nothing to indicate she was nearby.

    My four brothers emerged from the study, drawn by my voice.

    "What happened?" Kael asked, his tone sharp.

    "She’s not in the room," I said, reaching for the inte. "Inform security. If any woman is seen anywhere on the estate, report immediately. Send the guards to search every corner."

    Meanwhile, the others beganbing the house.

    I rushed to the side house, checking every likely spot. Still nothing.

    A cold dread crept into my chest. iWhere has she gone? Did someone sneak her away this time?/i But there were no signs of struggle in the room. No noise. Our senses, sharper than any ordinary human’s, hadn’t picked up a thing.

    iHas she left willingly? Maybe her mate found her, and she went with him.../i

    All kinds of impossibly ridiculous thoughts were storming through my mind. The idea of losing her felt like a jagged knife twisting in my chest. I cursed myself for taking my eyes off her even for a single moment.

    The other four joined me at the side house after searching the main home in vain.

    "She’s not here either," I said, my voice tight with panic.

    "Fluffy, where are you?" Lucian called as he stepped out of the side house. His voice was sharp, urgent. "Fluffy!"

    He called a few more times, and then, faintly at first, the distant bark of a dog reached us.

    We froze, straining our ears.

    "Coming from the stable," Kael said immediately. Without hesitation, we all ran in that direction.

    Fluffy was there, fur bristling, barking frantically at the closed door of the stable storage room—the same room where Jason had once tortured her.

    "What the hell is she doing here?" I muttered, heart hammering as I truly had a bad feeling about it.

    I stepped forward and kicked the door open only to see something horrifying which made the blood drain from my face.