"Sir!" Roen burst into Adriel's office, his chest heaving as though he'd sprinted the entire way. The silence of the late night shattered with his urgency.
Adriel barely looked up from the stack of files before him, the soft hum of the air conditioner filling the space. "Why are you in such a state? Did something happen?" he asked, his voice calm but edged with fatigue. He turned a page, barely missing a beat.
"And while you're here," Adriel continued, almost absently, "call Eren and check if he's eaten. I sent him home early, and I'll be tied up longer than expected."
But Roen didn't move.
When the silence stretched too long, Adriel finally raised his head. The sight of his assistant—pale, sweating, and rooted to the spot—snapped the haze of work from his mind. Adriel set his glasses down with deliberate precision. His voice sharpened. "Why do you look like that? What aren't you telling me?"
Roen swallowed hard. "Lucas is downstairs. He swore he didn't take Eren home. A couple showed up instead… said they were his parents. They forced him into their van. Security tried to stop them, but…" He faltered, his words cracking. "They couldn't."
For a heartbeat, the room froze.
Adriel's jaw clenched, his breath going shallow. The image of Eren—his Omega, carrying his child—being dragged off replayed in his mind with brutal clarity. His chest burned with the flare of protective instinct, so sharp it was almost blinding.
"What did you just say?" The words left him in a low growl, quiet but dangerous, his Alpha presence rippling through the air like a storm breaking. His hand curled into a fist on the desk, the wood creaking beneath the pressure.
He remembered Eren's father storming into his office before, full of arrogance and venom. He should have anticipated this. He should have known the man wouldn't stop.
Adriel rose to his feet in one smooth, decisive motion. The calm exhaustion of a moment ago was gone, replaced by lethal focus. His gaze cut to Roen like a blade. "Get the car ready. Now."
Roen didn't need telling twice.
Adriel grabbed his coat, his expression carved in stone, and strode toward the door. His instincts were already locked on Eren, on the faint thread of bond pulling taut with fear. He would find him. He would bring him back. And anyone who had dared lay a hand on his Omega would regret it.
He had made it clear he didn't see Adriel as the sole decision-maker, boasting he could sway the other elders. That confrontation had ended with him storming out, his fury still crackling in the air. Adriel hadn't expected him to return—much less take such drastic measures.
Gripping the edge of his desk, Adriel shot to his feet, the chair scraping hard against the floor. His heart pounded, panic creeping in—an emotion he rarely allowed himself to feel. His hand shook slightly as he pulled out his phone, dialing Eren's number. Silence. No signal. His Omega's phone was off.
A low growl threatened in his chest. He exhaled sharply, his jaw tight. "Get the helicopter ready," he ordered, voice edged with steel. Grabbing his coat, he stormed past Roen, every step fueled by the gnawing instinct to find his mate.
"Helicopter?" Roen stammered, eyes wide, voice small against the weight in the room.
"Yes," Adriel snapped, his tone commanding, final. "We're bringing Eren back. I'll be on the rooftop in ten minutes." He loosened his tie in a sharp motion, tossing it onto the desk as if shedding the restraint of his office persona, then shrugged into his coat and strode out.
The air around him thrummed with dominance, heavy enough that Roen felt it settle into his chest. Adriel wasn't just the composed president of Ulrick Corporation anymore—he was an Alpha with his Omega in danger.
Roen swallowed, forcing himself into action. He called the pilot, voice tight with urgency. "Meet us at Ulrick Tower's helipad. Ten minutes. No delays."
By the time he ended the call, the chop of rotor blades was already carrying across the night sky. On the rooftop, Adriel stood waiting, his coat whipping in the wind, his eyes locked on the horizon—every fiber of him honed on one truth.
He would not stop until Eren was back in his arms.
The steady thrum of rotor blades shook the night as the helicopter settled onto Ulrick Tower's rooftop. Adriel didn't hesitate. His stride was long, his coat snapping in the wind as he boarded the aircraft. He leaned forward, his voice a command laced with steel:
"Take us to the island. Now."
Roen climbed in after him, stealing a glance at his Alpha. The man beside him was unrecognizable. Adriel, usually composed and unreadable, now carried an intensity that bordered on desperation. His jaw was tight, his hand clenched around the armrest, every muscle taut as though restraining something feral beneath the surface.
Roen stayed silent. Words felt dangerous here. Still, his mind flickered to the changes he'd noticed since Eren entered Adriel's life.
The Alpha who once ruled with distance and authority had begun to reveal something gentler, quieter—a man who cooked for his Omega with his own hands, who softened in ways no one could have imagined. It wasn't weakness. It was a dangerous, consuming kind of devotion.
Hours later, the helicopter dipped low over the dark outline of the island. Salt wind rushed through the cabin as they landed on an empty patch of earth near Eren's family home. The moon carved silver across the landscape; shadows stretched long and uneasy.
Adriel stepped out first. The night air carried damp earth and brine, but underneath it, he could almost imagine the faint trace of Eren's scent, pulling him forward. His coat whipped behind him as he strode ahead, his presence a force that seemed to bend the silence.
Roen followed close, boots crunching against gravel. Ahead, two figures stiffened at the gate—Eren's parents, waiting, postures rigid and defensive.
Adriel's pace quickened, dominance bleeding into every movement. His eyes burned with something primal, something more than authority. This wasn't business. This wasn't negotiation.
This was retrieval.
His Omega was here. And nothing—least of all these two—would keep him from bringing Eren back.