Chapter 6
**Kael's POV**
She vanished.
Not like someone who ran impulsively — like someone who planned it. Carefully. Completely.
Seven days. Seven days of searching, and Ronan had found exactly nothing.
No credit card activity. No phone records. No scent trail beyond the parking lot. Even the SUV's tire tracks led to a highway and disappeared into traffic.
It was as if Sera had been swallowed by the earth.
Kael stood in their empty apartment — *his* empty apartment now — staring at the blank walls. She'd taken so little. A single suitcase.
But she'd removed every photograph of herself. Every toiletry. Every trace.
"Alpha." Ronan stood in the doorway, his expression grim. "There's something else."
Kael turned.
"I pulled her background file. The one we had from when she joined the pack." Ronan held up a tablet. "It's fake."
"What?"
"All of it. Her identity documents, her pack transfer papers, her family history — everything was fabricated. High quality. Professional. The kind of forgery that costs more money than a lone orphan she-wolf should have."
Kael's blood ran cold. "What are you saying?"
"I'm saying we never actually verified who Sera was." Ronan set the tablet down. "In three years, no one questioned it because... well, because she was just your mate. Quiet. Unassuming. No one looked twice."
*Quiet. Unassuming.*
The words tasted like poison.
"There's more." Ronan hesitated. "I checked the medical records at the pack clinic."
Kael's wolf surged forward. "And?"
"Sera had an appointment eight days ago. The day before you left for the north." Ronan swallowed. "It was an OB scan."
The room tilted.
"An... OB scan," Kael repeated, the words hollow.
"Twins." Ronan's voice was barely audible. "She's carrying twins, Alpha."
Kael didn't remember sitting down. But suddenly the floor was beneath him and his back was against the wall and his hands were in his hair.
*Twins.*
*She was pregnant.*
*She came to the rooftop party that night to tell me.*
*And I—*
The realization hit him like a physical blow.
He'd been laughing about her with his friends. Calling her boring. Comparing her to Mina. And she'd been standing there — *she must have been standing there* — with his pups inside her.
"No." His voice cracked. "No, no, no—"
Fenris was inconsolable, throwing himself against Kael's consciousness in a frenzy of grief and rage. *"OUR PUPS. She's carrying OUR PUPS and you drove her away! You drove our MATE away!"*
"Sera..." Kael pressed the heels of his hands against his eyes. "What have I done?"
Ronan said nothing. There was nothing to say.
After a long silence, Kael stood. His face had changed — something behind his eyes had hardened into desperate, terrified resolve.
"Find her. I don't care what it costs. I don't care what it takes. Hire every tracker, every investigator, call in every favor."
"And if she doesn't want to be found?"
Kael grabbed the ring from the counter and clutched it so tightly it cut into his palm.
"Then I'll tear this world apart until there's nowhere left to hide."
But somewhere in the back of his mind, a quiet voice whispered what he refused to accept:
*She didn't run because she was scared.*
*She ran because she was done.*
---
She vanished.
Not like someone who ran impulsively — like someone who planned it. Carefully. Completely.
Seven days. Seven days of searching, and Ronan had found exactly nothing.
No credit card activity. No phone records. No scent trail beyond the parking lot. Even the SUV's tire tracks led to a highway and disappeared into traffic.
It was as if Sera had been swallowed by the earth.
Kael stood in their empty apartment — *his* empty apartment now — staring at the blank walls. She'd taken so little. A single suitcase.
But she'd removed every photograph of herself. Every toiletry. Every trace.
"Alpha." Ronan stood in the doorway, his expression grim. "There's something else."
Kael turned.
"I pulled her background file. The one we had from when she joined the pack." Ronan held up a tablet. "It's fake."
"What?"
"All of it. Her identity documents, her pack transfer papers, her family history — everything was fabricated. High quality. Professional. The kind of forgery that costs more money than a lone orphan she-wolf should have."
Kael's blood ran cold. "What are you saying?"
"I'm saying we never actually verified who Sera was." Ronan set the tablet down. "In three years, no one questioned it because... well, because she was just your mate. Quiet. Unassuming. No one looked twice."
*Quiet. Unassuming.*
The words tasted like poison.
"There's more." Ronan hesitated. "I checked the medical records at the pack clinic."
Kael's wolf surged forward. "And?"
"Sera had an appointment eight days ago. The day before you left for the north." Ronan swallowed. "It was an OB scan."
The room tilted.
"An... OB scan," Kael repeated, the words hollow.
"Twins." Ronan's voice was barely audible. "She's carrying twins, Alpha."
Kael didn't remember sitting down. But suddenly the floor was beneath him and his back was against the wall and his hands were in his hair.
*Twins.*
*She was pregnant.*
*She came to the rooftop party that night to tell me.*
*And I—*
The realization hit him like a physical blow.
He'd been laughing about her with his friends. Calling her boring. Comparing her to Mina. And she'd been standing there — *she must have been standing there* — with his pups inside her.
"No." His voice cracked. "No, no, no—"
Fenris was inconsolable, throwing himself against Kael's consciousness in a frenzy of grief and rage. *"OUR PUPS. She's carrying OUR PUPS and you drove her away! You drove our MATE away!"*
"Sera..." Kael pressed the heels of his hands against his eyes. "What have I done?"
Ronan said nothing. There was nothing to say.
After a long silence, Kael stood. His face had changed — something behind his eyes had hardened into desperate, terrified resolve.
"Find her. I don't care what it costs. I don't care what it takes. Hire every tracker, every investigator, call in every favor."
"And if she doesn't want to be found?"
Kael grabbed the ring from the counter and clutched it so tightly it cut into his palm.
"Then I'll tear this world apart until there's nowhere left to hide."
But somewhere in the back of his mind, a quiet voice whispered what he refused to accept:
*She didn't run because she was scared.*
*She ran because she was done.*
---