Chapter 18: – Threads Unraveling

Jake POV

The faint click of the study door closing behind me did little to dispel the weight of the conversation I’d just had with Lucas. My brother, the unflinching Alpha who rarely let anything slip past his control, was now thrown into turmoil over a woman—his mate. The bond was relentless, and its power was clear in every strained line of his face.  

Yet, as much as I wanted to help him, the unease gnawing at my gut wouldn’t relent. Something about all of this felt… wrong.  

---  

By the time I reached my own suite, my mind was racing. Lucas had shown me just enough of his hand to spark questions he probably didn’t want me asking. This woman—Lila—was clearly no ordinary mate. She had Lucas, of all people, tied in knots. And from what little I’d gleaned, she wasn’t exactly forthcoming with her own story.  

Slumping into the chair by the window, I pulled my laptop onto my lap. If Lucas wasn’t going to dig deeper into who Lila was, then I would. He could focus on wooing her or whatever else the bond demanded, but I wasn’t about to let a stranger with a murky past waltz into our lives unexamined.  

Pulling up the files Lucas had shared with me, I started sifting through the sparse details he’d managed to gather. Her name, age, a few scraps of a background that read more like fiction than fact. She was too clean, too polished. No loose threads, no traces of mistakes. It was like she’d dropped out of the sky fully formed.  

---  

“Yeah, this smells wrong,” I muttered to myself, my wolf huffing in agreement.  

I started cross-referencing the information with what I could dig up from local records. School enrollments, employment history, property leases—anything that could validate her story. But each lead I pursued dissolved into nothingness, like smoke slipping through my fingers.  

By the time I leaned back in my chair, stretching out the tension building in my shoulders, I’d confirmed what I already suspected: Lila’s background was a carefully constructed facade.  

---  

The realization didn’t bring me relief. If anything, it only deepened the pit in my stomach. Lucas was right—there was something she wasn’t telling him. But what? And more importantly, why?  

I closed my laptop and stared at the dark screen for a moment, the reflection of my own scowl staring back at me. This wasn’t just about Lucas’s mate. This was about the pack, about everything we’d worked to build. If Lila was a threat, I had to figure it out before it was too late.  

---  

The next morning, I sought Lucas out. He was in the penthouse gym, working through a set of punishing reps that did little to hide his frustration.  

“Morning,” I said, leaning against the doorframe as he racked the barbell.  

Lucas glanced at me, sweat dripping from his brow, but didn’t respond.  

“Got a minute?” I asked, stepping further into the room.  

He grabbed a towel and wiped his face before turning to me. “What is it, Jake?”  

“I dug into Lila’s background,” I said bluntly, watching his expression carefully.  

His jaw tightened, but he didn’t interrupt.  

“And?”  

“There’s not much there,” I admitted. “In fact, there’s so little that it feels deliberate. Whoever she is, she’s gone to a lot of trouble to keep her tracks covered.”  

---  

Lucas’s eyes darkened, his Alpha instincts flaring visibly. “You think she’s hiding something.”  

“I don’t think, I know,” I said. “The question is what, and whether it’s something we need to worry about.”  

Lucas let out a slow breath, his frustration palpable. “She doesn’t feel like a threat,” he said after a moment. “But I can’t ignore the possibility. If you’re right, and her past isn’t what it seems…”  

“We need answers,” I finished for him.  

He nodded, his gaze hardening. “Do whatever it takes to find them.”  

---  

Despite his words, I could see the conflict etched into his features. The bond was pulling him in one direction, but his instincts as an Alpha demanded he be cautious.  

“Don’t let this eat you alive,” I said, clapping a hand on his shoulder. “Focus on her, on building trust. Let me handle the rest.”  

Lucas didn’t respond immediately, but after a moment, he gave a curt nod.  

“Thanks, Jake,” he said quietly.  

---  

The rest of the day was spent chasing leads. I reached out to every contact I had, calling in favors and digging into databases I probably shouldn’t have had access to. Lila’s name came up again and again, but always in the vaguest of contexts. No photos, no concrete connections—just enough to suggest she existed but nothing substantial to prove who she really was.  

It was maddening, but it only strengthened my resolve. Whoever Lila was, she wasn’t an ordinary woman.  

By the time evening rolled around, I had a headache and a rapidly dwindling sense of patience. I decided to step away from the screen for a while, taking a walk through the city to clear my head.  

---  

The city had come alive in the way it always did after dark, its streets humming with energy and movement. But beneath the surface, I could still feel that same tension from the night before, like a storm building just beyond the horizon.  

As I wandered, my thoughts kept circling back to Lucas. My brother had faced down more threats than I could count, yet this was the first time I’d seen him truly shaken. The bond had thrown him off balance, and now this mystery surrounding Lila threatened to do the same.  

---  

I stopped at a small café, ordering a coffee and taking a seat near the window. Watching the world pass by outside, I let my mind sift through everything I’d uncovered—or failed to uncover.  

If Lila was hiding something, then it stood to reason that someone else might know what it was. The trick would be figuring out who, and whether they’d be willing to talk.  

My wolf stirred, a low growl rumbling in my chest. We’ll find the truth, I assured him silently. We have to.  

---  

When I returned to the hotel, it was late. The penthouse was quiet, the lights dimmed. Lucas was nowhere to be seen, likely holed up in his room or out tracking Lila.  

I made my way to my suite and pulled out my laptop again, determined to squeeze a few more hours of work out of the night. But as I opened it, a new thought struck me.  

Lila might be hiding her past, but that didn’t mean she was entirely off the grid. If she was here in the city, she had to be interacting with someone—buying food, renting a place, something.  

---  

I started digging through recent activity in the areas Lucas had mentioned seeing her. Security footage, transaction records, even social media check-ins—anything that might give me a lead.  

It was painstaking work, but eventually, I found something: a single transaction at a gas station just outside the city. The timestamp matched one of the nights Lucas had mentioned encountering her.  

It wasn’t much, but it was a start.  

---  

As I sat back, my eyes scanning the screen, I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was teetering on the edge of something big. The threads were starting to come together, but the picture they formed was still out of focus.  

One thing was certain, though: Lila wasn’t just an enigma. She was a warning sign, a crack in the foundation that could shatter everything if left unchecked.  

And if Lucas wasn’t going to see it, then I would. For his sake—and for the pack’s.