Escaping the Alpha, Claimed in the End novel Chapter 37

Chapter 32

Chapter 37

Amelia’s POV

It started with a jolt. Not the kind that came from training exhaustion or too many nights spent tossing in bed, but something deeper. Something wrong My chest went right, like the air around me had shifted

Lyra stirred inside me, restless

1 gripped the edge of my desk, breath shallow. “What is it?” I whispered, though I already knew it wasn’t just me panicking The feeling pressed sharper, colder. Ryder.

The thought slammed into me with no warning. Ryder was in danger.

I tried to shake it off, tell myself I was imagining things. But the more I fought it, the stronger it grew-like a thread pulling taut, tugging me toward him no matter how far I’d run.

My hands shook as I grabbed my phone. Dane had gone out, Sloane was with the coven, and I couldn’t sit with this gnawing fear alone. I scrolled through numbers until one name stopped me.

Lucas.

I hesitated. Reaching out meant opening a door I’d tried to slam shut. But if Ryder… if he was-no. I couldn’t even think it. I

hit call.

It rang twice before his voice came, clipped but familiar. “Amelia? Are you okay?”

The urgency in his tone made my chest squeeze. “Yes… I’m fine. Why?”

A sharp curse exploded on his end, muffled like he’d turned away from the receiver. When he came back, his words were tight, rushed. “Shit. We’ve been fooled.”

My heart stuttered, “Fooled? Lucas, what are you talking about?”

I pressed a trembling hand to my forehead, fighting the burn in my eyes. “Why didn’t anyone verify first? Why let him go without making sure?”

Lucas exhaled, and I caught the strain in his voice. “We did check. There was an incident at a café-fights broke out, just like the nurse described. It lined up too closely to ignore. Ryder wasn’t going to sit back and wait.”

I gripped the phone tighter, nails biting into my palm. “But I’m not hurt. I’m not-” My voice cracked. “So where is he now?”

The silence that followed was worse than the premonition that had woken me.

“He boarded a jet last night,” Lucas said finally, voice lower now, almost reluctant. “It was supposed to be a straight flight, only a few hours. But…”

“Lucas,” I pushed, panic rising in my throat. “Tell me.”

His voice came out rough, weighted. “The plane never landed.”

The world tilted. My breath caught sharp in my chest. “No… no, you have to be wrong.”

“I wish I was,” Lucas said. “The control tower lost contact after takeoff. No distress call. Nothing. We’re searching, Amelia, every route, every report. But right now-he’s missing.”

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206 am PPPP.

Chapter 22

The word hollowed me out.

Ryrier the man who had carried me when I couldn’t stand, who had stared death the face more times than I could count

thising. The word itself felt unreal.

A jagged kind of irony cut through me. He’d gone into danger because he thought I was the one in pieces. But the truth was

It wasn’t me who’d vanished into silence. It was him. And I had no way to reach him.

My throat burned. “Lucas… if something happens to him because of me–”

“Stop. Lucas cut in, sharp for once. “Don’t go there. He made a choice. You know him. He’d cross hell itself if he thought you needed him.” His voice softened. “And honestly, he might be doing that right now.”

I closed my eyes, trying to picture Ryder’s face. His scowl, his rare smile, the way his voice dropped when he called me baby. It all pressed in so vivid it hurt.

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