Bonds of the Alpha Billionaire (Maya and Alex)

-Alex's POV-

"Fuck!" I roared, flinging the glass across the room. It exploded in a shower of glittering shards against the far wall, but the satisfying crash did nothing to quell the anger raging inside me.

Spinning around, I glared at Christian, who was hunched over his phone, his brow furrowed in concentration. "That's the third dead end in two days!" I growled, my voice laced with raw frustration. "You're starting to get on my damn nerves. You said you knew where he was!"

Christian flinched, his head snapping up from the phone. He met my gaze with a flicker of unease, the same uneasy look that had been plastered on his face ever since he'd arrived. There was none of his usual dry humor, none of the playful jabs I'd come to expect. His discomfort was palpable, but right now, his emotional state was the least of my concerns.

He scratched his head absently, his eyes darting from his phone to me and back again. "Look, I'm doing the best I can," he muttered defensively. "These people who used to jump when you barked an order? Yeah, they're not exactly returning my calls with all this chaos happening."

I narrowed my eyes at him, but before I could unleash another verbal tirade, he buried his face back in his phone, his fingers flying across the screen. A low growl rumbled in my chest. "Who the fuck are you texting that's more important than this situation?" I demanded, my voice taut with barely contained rage.

He opened his mouth to speak, but his phone buzzed again, illuminating the screen with a notification. He glanced at the door, then back at me, a heavy sigh escaping his lips. "Don't kill me for this," he mumbled, his voice laced with a hint of apprehension.

The door creaked open, and my wolf instantly perked up, ears swiveling towards the sound. Two women walked into the room - Natalia, her face etched with worry, and another woman I didn't recognize. "Christian." I growled.

For the first time since I had known him, he looked apologetic, his eyes filled with a mixture of guilt and something else I couldn't quite decipher. The unfamiliar woman stepped forward, and Christian's gaze softened noticeably. He reached out and gently wrapped his hand around hers.

What the hell was going on here?

My gaze darted to Natalia, who stood rigidly by the door, her eyes locked on mine. They were filled with a storm of emotions worry, anger, a flicker of something that looked suspiciously like betrayal. "What is going on?" I demanded, my voice cutting through the tense silence that had settled over the room.

Christian cleared his throat, his gaze flitting between me and the two women. "I told you there was a woman I met when we were in Italy, right? The one who disappeared?"

A flicker of memory sparked in my mind. Vaguely, I recalled him mentioning a woman. But with everything that had happened, it had become a distant echo in the chaos. "Yeah," I growled, frustration gnawing at me. "What about her?"

"There's more to the story," Christian admitted, his voice laced with a newfound seriousness. "She had to leave Italy, disappear even, because of her father. She came here, trying to stay under the radar." He took a deep breath, his eyes locking with mine for a fleeting moment. "This is Riley," he said, gesturing towards the woman beside him.

"So you found her," I stated flatly, the pieces of the puzzle failing to click into place. "What does that have to do with me, and why are they both here?"

III

<

Christian hesitated for a moment, his eyes flicking to Riley before meeting mine again. "She's friends with Amaya."

Natalia finally spoke, "Amaya's mother called me. I contacted Riley, and it turns out her boyfriend is..." She hesitated, glancing at Christian, "him. And he has connections to you, that's how we found you." My gaze snapped to Christian. So that's why he looked so uneasy. He sold me out for a woman? Really?

Natalia cut through my rising anger. "This isn't the time for whatever tantrum you are about to throw. Amaya is missing."

The world seemed to tilt on its axis. Amaya missing. The image of her running to Ivan flashed in my head and a bitter taste filled my mouth. "Why does that matter to me? If she's missing, let Ivan find her." Just as I began to turn away, Natalia's hand shot out, her grip surprisingly strong. "Don't you even dare, Alex," she hissed.

My mouth gaped open, ready to retort, but she cut me off with a sharp bark. "I'm doing the talking now, Alex, and you're going to listen," she snapped, "You and Amaya have been doing this stupid dance around each other for months, this back-and-forth drama that's affected everyone around you. My husband got shot, damn near died because she ran headfirst into danger looking for you! So don't you dare stand here shrugging it off like she doesn't matter because I'm sick of it. Absolutely sick of it!"

Natalia's voice trembled with a mix of anger and frustration, her eyes blazing with unshed tears. I tried to interrupt again, but her glare intensified, silencing me before I could get a single word out.

"I'm not done yet," she growled, her voice dropping to a low hiss. "You threw her out because of your stupid pride, your ego wouldn't let you just talk to her, find out the truth. All this drama could have been avoided if you'd just used your words instead of kicking her to the curb. Amaya never cheated on you, Alex! Do you hear me? Never!"

She threw her hands up in exasperation, her entire body shaking with barely contained rage. "I'm tired of this whole mess, she continued, her voice cracking with emotion. "I want you with Amaya. I don't want you Amaya and then she goes. I want you Alex. I don't want you Alex. It is affecting all of our lives and it is driving me insane so what you are going to do is go out there and go find her and then sort out this fucked up shit you two have going on between the two of you. Because," she choked on a sob, her voice thick with emotion, "if something happens to her, if I don't get the chance to tell her that I love her too, that I'm sorry for getting mad at her..."

Tears streamed down her face as her voice trailed off, her words catching in her throat. She drew in a shaky breath, wiping her tears away with the back of her hand.

"Just please," she pleaded, "use your resources, your pack, anything you can to find her."

Her words hung heavy in the air, the raw emotion in her voice leaving me speechless. My mind reeled, trying to process everything that had just happened. My wolf surged within me, urging me to take action, to find her. But for the first time in what felt like forever, a strange heaviness weighed me down, rooting me to the spot.

Natalia's shoulders slumped slightly, her eyes losing their fire. She scanned my face, searching for something, but it seemed she found nothing. A defeated sigh escaped her lips.

"Why did I even bother?" she muttered, her voice devoid of its earlier ferocity. "You're a waste of time, Alex. A waste of the seven years of Amaya's life."

Her words stung, a sharp jab that ripped through the haze clouding my mind.

"If anything happens to her, or the twins..." Natalia's voice hitched, her words catching in her throat. She squeezed her eyes shut for a brief moment, then opened them again, her gaze locking with mine. There was a steely glint in her eyes now, a warning laced with a raw desperation.

I swear, Alex," she growled, her voice low and dangerous, "you will regret this for the rest of your life."

Everything else faded away, the tension in the room crackling with a new intensity. My focus narrowed, honing in on one word that pierced through the chaos in my head.

III

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She turned to Christian's mysterious appearing out of nowhere girlfriend, "Riley, let's go." She started walking towards the door, her steps purposeful.

My body finally seemed to register the situation. I surged forward, the need for answers overriding the strange paralysis that had gripped me moments ago.

"She's pregnant for him?" I blurted out, the question tumbling from my lips before I could filter it.

Natalia kept walking, her back stiff and unyielding. She ignored my question, her silence a deafening answer in itself.

"Natalia, I'm talking to you!" I yelled, frustration lacing my voice. "Stop walking away from me!"

"And you stop following me!" she spat back, her voice sharp. But despite her words, she continued walking, not breaking stride.

"Natalia!" I roared, my voice raw with a mix of anger and confusion. The sound echoed through the room, the force of it rattling a painting on the wall and causing Riley to flinch.

I lunged forward, grabbing her arm in a desperate attempt to make her stop. But to my surprise, she didn't crumple under my touch. Instead, she spun around, her eyes blazing with a fury I'd never seen before.

She shoyed me back with a surprising amount of force, her hand connecting with my chest and sending me stumbling backwards. A jolt of pain shot through my arm, but it was the raw hatred in her eyes that truly stunned me.

"No, you bastard!" she screamed, "She isn't pregnant for him. She was pregnant for you, with twins, when you threw her out four years ago!"

I