Page 122 of Packed in the Fire house

The receptionist’s face fell slightly, and a look of confusion crept into her features. “Luka was picked up a few hours ago by his father. Gosh, I wish I could remember which one it was!”

I turned to Walker. “Did Blaze or Rune pick him up?” I wasn't going to panic, but I felt slightly uneasy. “I would have assumed they would have at least texted if they did.”

Walker shook his head, pulling his phone out of his back pocket. “If Blaze picked him up and took him out for ice cream,I bet he was so excited he forgot to even tell us,” he muttered. “I wouldn't put it past him, even though he's still supposed to be on shift.”

He was speaking to me in a soft, placating tone, but I could hear the tense undertone to his words.

“Hey, did you or Rune pick Luka up from daycare?” Walker said into the phone. I couldn't hear his response, but I knew the minute Walker's face dropped what it was.

“Walker?” I asked, my voice breaking.

Where the fuck was my baby?

Trying to take slow and steady breaths, I ran through all the possibilities. The only people who knew that Luka attended this day care were my pack members and a few members of their firehouse, as well as my brother and his pack. All people I trusted implicitly.

If my brother had decided to kidnap my baby for some quality uncle time, he would have told me. In fact, he would have immediately sent me a photo of him cuddling my son with a bunch of devil-faced emojis before getting him hopped up on sugar and sending him home to me.

My heart was racing so fast, the blood pounding in my ears, that I couldn't make out what Walker was saying into the phone.

It was like my head was underwater.

Hanging up, Walker stalked to the desk, looking the receptionist dead in the eye. “You need to check this entire building. The members of our pack are all attached to the firehouse, and none of us picked him up,” he growled, his voice full of that alpha dominance and unleashed anger I had never heard before but instantly recognized.

“I…uh…” the receptionist stammered, before rushing out of the room.

“Where’s Luka?” I asked shakily, turning to Walker.

He gently gripped my upper arms, leaning down to look me dead in the eye. “We're not going to panic yet. Luka is a toddler—he could have crawled under something for a nap—and we are going to check this place top to bottom.” His voice was measured, controlled.

“She said someone picked him up?”

“Maybe she was confused. Lots of kids go to this daycare.”

He pulled me into his arms, rubbing my back as he tucked my head under his chin.

Even though I wanted to remain calm until we knew what was going on, I couldn't help the fact that my body was quickly descending into a type of terror I had never experienced before.

Where was my son? Since the day he was born, I knew where he was at every moment of the day.

Walker opened his mouth to say something but was interrupted when two members of the staff came rushing into the room. Their panicked looks told us all we needed to know.

“Did you let someone who wasn't one of our pack members pick up our son?” Walker asked in a growl.

“H-he was a member of your pack. He was wearing a firefighting shirt…” one of the girls said.

I should have been crying. I was hearing the worst news any mother could hear, but I couldn't cry. My body was going numb, shutting down from the sheer terror.

“Walker,” I gasped, realization dawning on me. “Gregory.”

He looked down at me, his jaw tense. “There’s no way.”

“They said his dad picked him up,” I whispered, my voice coming out broken and disjointed.

Walker, ever the leader, sprang into action, demanding to see CCTV footage from the reception area. He never let go of me.

Five minutes later, we had all the confirmation we needed when we watched Gregory walk into the reception wearing an LAFD T-shirt on the CCTV footage.

Everything I had done to save my son from the monster who had helped me create him… and he was now with him.

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