Chapter 27 Connect The Dots And Tell Him Who I am
Elara's heart stopped because he was connecting dots she didn't want him to connect.
"Your father was paying Mandivus to track an exiled omega," she said quickly. "That doesn't mean it was me."
"It says here he wanted to ensure the bloodline remained pure and any unauthorized heirs were dealt with," Kai read. "Sera, what if my father hired Mandivus to kill you and Adrian?"
"That's insane," Elara said but her voice shook because it made horrible sense.
If Darius knew about Elara's pregnancy and knew Adrian was Kai's biological heir, he might want them dead to prevent complications with succession planning.
"We need to photograph everything," Kai said and started taking pictures with his phone.
Elara continued searching and found another document that made her blood run cold—a birth certificate for Adrian listing both parents as unknown and marked "To be terminated upon capture."
"He wants my son dead," she whispered.
"He wants any threat to the bloodline dead," Kai corrected. "Which means as long as he doesn't know who Adrian's real father is, you're both in danger."
"The paternity test," Elara said. "If we do it and it proves Adrian is yo....."
"Then my father can't have him killed without causing a succession crisis," Kai finished.
"The pack would never accept an Alpha who murdered his own grandson."
"But it would expose my son to too many enemies if we should fake a paternity test," Elara said.
"What's more important," Kai asked. "Keeping your cover or keeping Adrian alive?"
Before Elara could answer, voices sounded in the hallway outside and they both froze.
"I told you I'd handle it," Darius's voice came through the door. "The omega and her bastard will be dealt with according to plan."
"And if the boy is actually Kai's son?" another voice asked, one Elara didn't recognize.
"Then we ensure the paternity test comes back negative," Darius said. "I've already arranged for the lab to falsify results."
Kai's face went dark with fury and he started toward the door but Elara grabbed his arm.
"Don't," she whispered. "We need to get out of here."
They moved to the window and Kai forced it open as quietly as possible while the voices outside got closer.
"Someone's been in my office," Darius said suddenly. "The lock's been picked."
"Go," Kai hissed and pushed Elara through the window first.
She dropped to the ground outside and rolled, coming up in a crouch as Kai followed and they ran toward the garden hedges just as the office door opened.
"Find them," Darius ordered and security alarms started blaring.
Kai and Elara ran through the gardens staying low and moving fast, and they made it to the staff wing entrance just as guards flooded the grounds with flashlights.
They slipped inside and Elara rushed to her room where Betty was sitting with Adrian watching a movie.
"What's happening?" Betty asked as the alarms continued.
"Security drill," Elara lied. "Can you take Adrian to your room for the night? I have to help with the response."
Betty nodded and carried Adrian out while he protested sleepily, and once they were gone Kai locked the door behind them.
"My father is trying to have you killed," he said. "And he's planning to falsify the paternity test."
"So what do we do? Because the child isn't your either, meaning it will be negative." Elara asked.
"We run," Kai said. "Tonight, before he can make a move."
"Run where?" Elara asked. "He'll find us."
"Then we go public," Kai said. "We take everything we found tonight and we expose him to the pack council, force them to investigate."
"That's suicide," Elara said. "He's the head Alpha, they'll believe him over us."
"Not if we have proof," Kai said and pulled out his phone showing the photos he'd taken. "This is enough to start an investigation at minimum."
"And in the meantime he kills us both and makes it look like an accident," Elara said.
Kai was quiet for a moment. "Then we do a fake paternity test with a neutral doctor and make the results positive before my father can interfere, prove Adrian is mine, and use pack law to protect you both."
"People will start asking questions about my identity," Elara said.
"Who are you really?" Kai asked, moving closer. "Because I've been trying to figure it out since you arrived and something about you is so familiar but I can't place it."
"I'm nobody," Elara said. "Just an omega trying to survive."
"You're lying," Kai said. "You've been lying since the moment you walked through those gates, and I need to know why."
Elara felt tears building because keeping the secret was killing her but revealing it would destroy everything.
"If I tell you the truth you'll hate me," she whispered.
"Try me," Kai said.
Before Elara could answer, her door burst open and Darius stood there with four guards, all of them armed.
"Sera Seahawks, you're under arrest for breaking and entering and theft of confidential documents," Darius said. "And Kai, you're confined to your quarters until we sort this out."
"Father, you can't..." Kai started.
"I can and I will," Darius interrupted. "Guards, take her."
Two guards grabbed Elara's arms and she struggled but they were too strong.
"Don't hurt her," Kai said, stepping forward.
"Stand down Kai or I'll have you restrained too," Darius warned.
They dragged Elara out into the hallway and she looked back at Kai who was being held back by the other guards.
"Connect the dots Kai," she called out. "Tell him who I really am."
But before Kai could ask what she meant, they pulled her around a corner and she was gone.