Claiming My Bestfriend's Alpha Dad

Chapter 12: Fractured Alibis

The hallway outside Elara’s room was dead quiet, save for the faint, lingering bass of the gala music vibrating through the floorboards. Maya walked briskly down the corridor, a small, knowing smile playing on her lips. After the overwhelming crowd and heavy tension of the party downstairs, she just wanted to check on her best friend, make sure Elara had made it back safely, and debrief about the night.

She raised a hand and rapped lightly against Elara’s door.

*Knock. Knock.*

No answer.

Maya frowned, tilting her head. She tried the handle, finding it unlocked, and pushed the door open. The room was dark, the bed untouched, and the air entirely devoid of Elara’s familiar scent. Figuring Elara was simply too exhausted and had crashed somewhere else—or perhaps retreated to her family's cabin to escape the suffocating noise of the packhouse—Maya thought nothing of it. With a shrug, she turned on her heel and headed back down toward the gala, ready to enjoy the rest of the night.

She hadn't gotten back to the Gala yet before she heard murmurs.

Down near the servants' wing, the man who had cornered Elara earlier in the hallway was loudly recounting his humiliation to a circle of pack members. He laughed darkly, nursing a bruised jaw, and complained about how Kaelen had threatened him over some "dark-haired little slut."

Maya had frozen in her tracks, her wolf rising instantly beneath her skin. She marched straight into the circle, grabbed the man by the collar, and demanded a description.

The man smirked, smug and reckless. He described the pale skin, the striking pale blue eyes, and the dark hair. He sneered that he had never seen the Alpha defend a pack outsider before—someone who smelled faintly of Silver Crest but carried an alien scent that didn't belong in their territory. He chuckled, dropping a poisonous remark that the little half-rogue must have the great Alpha wrapped around her finger.

He never finished the sentence. Maya’s fist connected with his jaw with bone-shattering force, knocking him out cold before his laughter could even fade.

Heart hammering with a sickening dread, Maya bolted toward her father’s study. When she found it empty, she threw her mental barriers down and tried to mind-link Kaelen directly, demanding to know what she had just heard, her voice shaking as she repeated the insults thrown at Elara.

She was abruptly cut off. A few heavy, agonizing minutes passed before Marcus’s voice broke through the link instead, smooth and steady. He smoothly covered for the Alpha, explaining that Elara was completely fine and had simply retreated to her family’s cabin for some air—which explained why Maya hadn't found her in her room earlier.

Maya had released a shuddering sigh of relief, cutting her anxiety short, and finally forced herself to bed. But the unease lingered like a phantom chill in her bones.

*Next Day*

High above in the private quarters, long after the heavy oak doors of the Alpha's office had been bolted against the midnight air, Marcus stood before Kaelen’s sprawling mahogany desk. The amber light of a solitary desk lamp cut harsh shadows across the room, illuminating the deep, simmering fury still radiating from the Alpha’s frame. Kaelen was pacing, his broad shoulders tense, his inner wolf restless and clawing at the surface after the near-disaster in the hallway.

"The fool running his mouth has been dealt with," Marcus reported smoothly, resting his hands behind his back. "His jaw is wired shut, and the rest of the guests in that wing have been reminded of what happens when they spread poison about pack members."

Kaelen stopped his pacing, his sharp amber eyes locking onto his second-in-command. A low, dangerous rumble vibrated in the Alpha's chest. "And Maya? You intercepted her mindlink before she could reach me, didn't you? I felt her hit the mind-link before it slammed shut."

"She did," Marcus admitted, stepping a fraction closer. "She was furious, demanding to know why that lowlife was insulting Elara and screaming about a dark-haired girl. She had every intention of dragging the truth out of you avoit what happened"

Kaelen’s jaw clenched so hard a muscle ticked violently in his cheek. "And what did you tell her? I couldn't risk the link staying open while I was still up on the northern balcony with Elara. If Maya had demanded to know where I was—if she had caught even a trace of our scents mingling in that corridor—everything would have blown apart."

"I managed to intercept the link and cut you off just in time so she shpuldnt have seen anything or heard ur thoughts" Marcus said, keeping his tone measured and professional. "I fed her a cover story. I told her Elara wasn't in her room because she had decided to retreat to her family’s cabin for the night to get some air."

Kaelen then realization hit him.For a split second, the room went entirely dead.

Then, Kaelen’s eyes widened in sudden, stark realization, the color draining slightly from his face as his alpha instincts violently collided with the blunder.

*The family cabin.*

Elara would be flying completely blind—unprepared, unaligned, and wide open to shattering their entire secret.

"Damn it, Marcus," Kaelen hissed, his hand slamming down onto the edge of the desk with enough force to splinter the polished wood. "You shpuld have loop me in earlier. She doesn't know about the cabin story."

Before Marcus could even offer a countermeasure, Kaelen threw down his mental shields, piercing straight through the pack network to find Elara's signature.

*Elara!* Kaelen's voice echoed sharply inside her mind, heavy with urgent panic and command. *Rush. I need you to hear me right now. Marcus covered for us tonight when Maya intercepted the link—he told her you went to your family’s cabin to get some air. If she asks you about last night, that is where you were. Do you understand? Stay on script.*

The mental link buzzed with a tense, breathless pause before Elara’s sharp, composed voice snapped back at him.

*A little late for the memo, Alpha,* Elara’s mental tone shot back, laced with a wry, clever edge. *She already brought it up. But don't panic—I managed to play it cool.*

Kaelen let out a sharp breath, his hand gripping the bridge of his nose as the adrenaline finally began to recede, replaced by a grudging, profound wave of awe for the woman who constantly managed to out-think the chaos around her.

Maya marched down to Elara’s room. She pushed the door open to find Elara standing before the mirror, brushing out her damp hair fresh from a shower.

It was noon. Which was entirely abnormal. Elara was fiercely disciplined, always an early riser, never one to sleep the morning away.And she had been at her family cabin according to marcus y not shower there and the head here.

"You're sleeping in?" Maya asked, crossing her arms with a tight, skeptical gaze. She stepped closer, eyeing the lingering redness around Elara's eyes and the way her posture stiffened. "How was it? At your brother's cabin last night?"

"Brother's Cabin,Last Night?"

"Yeah Marcus said you went there after my dad helped you with that vermin"

It dawned in Elara.

Flashing a hurried, slightly too-bright smile, Elara turned smoothly to face her best friend, smoothly stepping into the lie without missing a beat. "Oh—it, uh, it was quiet. Really peaceful. Just needed to get away from the noise of the gala and clear my head."

Maya narrowed her eyes, studying her closely. The excuse messy, and the sudden, fleeting flash in Elara’s pale blue eyes didn't quite match the casual, breezy tone she was trying so desperately to project. Suspicion spiked sharply in Maya’s chest, though she forced herself to nod, swallow the nagging doubt, and brush it off for the moment.

"Right," Maya said slowly, her voice dropping a fraction, heavy with unsaid questions. "Well... come on. Let’s go get some lunch down at the packhouse. We need to talk."