Kayden and I locked eyes.
"F.B.," I repeated the letters. "Finn Blackwood."
"There's more," Evan said, pulling up another file. "Victoria's call logs show an encrypted number."
"At least one call per week. Each lasting over an hour. We traced the signal source..."
A map appeared on the phone screen, a red dot blinking.
"Near Silver Moon Pack. Direction of the abandoned mines."
"So Victoria's been funding him for seven years," Kayden said, his voice growing unsteady as this seven-year conspiracy finally began to unravel. "Finn, hiding in the abandoned mines."
My throat tightened, mind blank.
"She agreed to the old Alpha's wishes for him," I suddenly understood. "She'd rather marry someone she didn't love."
"It gave her access to the pack's core," Kayden realized too. "Let her gather intelligence for Finn."
His eyes widened slowly. "Made her the inside accomplice."
"Alpha!" Evan's voice suddenly turned urgent and frantic. "Emergency! Internal breach at the estate!"
"What's happening?" Kayden went rigid.
"It's chaos, and Elsa's been knocked out..."
Wasn't Elsa watching Kai?
I shot to my feet, grabbed Kayden's arm.
"Where's Kai?" My voice came out as a scream. "Where is Kai?"
"He's... he's been taken," Evan's voice trembled. "Security footage shows Elder Drake. He took Kai and left the estate. Direction unknown..."
The phone slipped from Kayden's hand, hit the ground. All I could hear was a roaring buzz in my ears.
Kai had been taken.
My Kai.
My baby.
"And..." Evan's voice drifted up from the phone on the ground, distant and muffled. "Emergency report from the border, full-scale attack by the mystery force. They're breaking through the first defensive line!"
Chapter Twenty-Three
Layla
Kai was taken.
The words detonated in my mind like a muffled thunderclap, leaving my ears ringing.
"Drake? How could it be him?!" Kayden snatched up his phone, fist clenched so tight his knuckles went white.
"Alpha, Drake also took half our strategic deployment intel. You need to get to the border and take command immediately!" The rapid clatter of keyboard typing came through the speaker. Evan's voice was grave.
"Damn it!" Kayden spun around and slammed his fist into a nearby tree trunk. Bark splintered. Blood seeped between his knuckles.
