Chapter 19 Time is running out
Elar knew she was almost at the edge, her heat beat increased. But she faked a brave voice and look then replied.
"Then you won't mind a paternity test," Kai said.
"I absolutely will mind, you don't get to demand medical procedures on my child just because your father has paranoid theories," Elara said, her accent slipping slightly in her anger.
Kai's eyes narrowed. "Your accent just changed."
"I'm upset," Elara said, forcing the accent back into place.
"Who are you really?" Kai asked, stepping even closer. "Because something about you feels familiar and I can't figure out why."
"I'm nobody," Elara said. "Just a housekeeper trying to raise my son in peace."
"You're lying," Kai said. "I can tell, but I can't figure out what you're lying about."
Adrian started crying from the bed where he'd been playing, sensing the tension in the room, and Elara immediately went to him.
"I think you should leave," she said.
"We're not done talking about this," Kai said.
"Yes we are," Elara said and picked Adrian up, holding him protectively. "Unless you're firing me?"
"I'm not firing you," Kai said. "But I am going to figure out what you're hiding."
He left and Elara sat on the bed with Adrian, rocking him while her mind spun because Darius had seen the resemblance and now Kai was suspicious and it was only a matter of time before everything fell apart.
Her phone buzzed with a text from an unknown number again, and her stomach dropped when she opened it.
The message contained a photo of her and Adrian in the garden that morning, taken from outside the estate walls with a caption:
"Alpha Swathi says hello. The boy comes home soon."
Elara deleted it immediately but her hands were shaking because Mandivus's people were watching the estate and Kai's security hadn't stopped them.
She needed to move faster, gather evidence quicker, but with Darius ordering background checks and Kai growing suspicious she was running out of time.
That night after Adrian fell asleep Elara pulled out her laptop and started researching everything she could find about pack inheritance laws, specifically regarding children born to exiled omegas and whether they could claim Alpha rights if their bloodline was proven.
The answer was complicated—technically yes if the child was formally acknowledged by the Alpha bloodline, but exiled omegas had no legal standing to force that acknowledgment.
Unless they had evidence that the Alpha deliberately orchestrated the circumstances leading to the child's conception.
Which meant she needed proof that Kai had disguised himself that night at the bar, proof that he'd planned to impregnate her while publicly rejecting her.
Fucking proof of the falsified security footage.
She was deep in legal research when someone knocked on her door at midnight and she opened it to find one of the security guards Kai had assigned to her.
"Ma'am, there's been a breach of the estate perimeter," he said. "Four unknown individuals attempting to scale the north wall, we've apprehended three but one got away."
"Did they say what they wanted?" Elara asked even though she already knew.
"They had a photo of you and your son," the guard said. "We believe they were sent by Mandivus Swathi."
"Where are the ones you caught?" Elara asked.
"They are being questioned by Alpha Kai in the security office," the guard said. "He wants you to stay in your room with the door locked until we've cleared the estate."
Elara nodded and closed the door, but instead of staying put she grabbed her phone and texted Kai: "I want to talk to the men you caught. They came for me, so I deserve answers."
His response came immediately: "Absolutely not. Stay in your room."
Elara ignored him and snuck down the back stairs to the security office. Because if those men should confess anything, maybe her cover will be all open. And she can't risk it.
She found Kai standing over three men in zip-tie restraints while two guards stood watch.
"I told you to stay in your room," Kai said when he saw her.
"And I told you they came for me," Elara said and looked at the captured men. "Which one of you wants to tell me what Mandivus is planning?"
The men stayed silent and Kai moved between her and them. "This isn't safe."
"Nothing about my life is safe," Elara said and pushed past him to stand in front of the middle captive. "How did Mandivus find us?"
The man smiled with blood on his teeth. "Alpha Swathi has eyes everywhere, you can't hide from him."
"What does he want?" Elara demanded.
"His heir," the man said. "The boy belongs to him and he will have what's owed."
"Over my dead body," Elara said.
"That can be arranged," the man replied.
Kai grabbed Elara's arm and pulled her away. "That's enough, guards take them to the holding cells and call the authorities."
"Wait," Elara said and turned back to the captive. "Tell Mandivus if he wants to talk he can meet me face to face, I'm done running."
The man laughed. "You're signing your own death warrant."
"Maybe," Elara said. "But at least I'll go down fighting."
Kai pulled her out of the security office and into the hallway.
"What the hell are you thinking challenging a borderlands Alpha?" he demanded.
"I'm thinking that running hasn't worked and hiding hasn't worked so maybe it's time to face this head on," Elara said.
"That's suicide," Kai said.
"Then help me make it not suicide," Elara said and pulled her arm free. "You said you wanted to protect us, prove it."
She walked away before he could respond and went back to her room where Adrian was still sleeping peacefully, completely unaware that his mother had just declared war on one of the most dangerous Alphas in the region.