Oops… I Went Into Heat and My Alpha Daddies Claimed Me

KEISHA’S POV

I woke up with the recorders on my mind.

For a few seconds, I stayed completely still, staring at the ceiling while everything from the previous night came back to me.

It was frightening enough knowing someone had tried to kill me twice, but realizing that someone had also been listening to my private conversations made the mansion feel different. It no longer felt like the safest place I could run to. I looked down at my stomach and placed both hands over it, my fingers spreading protectively across the curve.

"I don’t know who these people are," I whispered, more to myself than to the babies. "But I promise you that I’m going to protect you. Whatever happens, I’m not going to let anyone hurt you. You’re all I have to think about right now, so I’ll figure this out. I just need to be careful."

The door opened before I could say anything else, and Nadia walked in with a smile that disappeared almost immediately when she noticed my expression. She closed the door behind her and studied me for a moment before coming closer. "You look like you haven’t slept at all. What’s wrong?"

I hesitated because I didn’t want to frighten her, but there was no point hiding it from her when she had already become involved in everything happening around me. "Callum found two recorders in my room last night. They were hidden under the wardrobe and behind one of the cabinets. Someone had put them there so they could listen to whatever happened inside my room."

Nadia’s face fell. "What?"

"He found them after you went to bed. He didn’t want me worrying, but I couldn’t stop thinking about it after he left."

She sat beside me, her expression becoming increasingly uneasy. "Who would even do that? I understand someone trying to attack you because we’ve already seen that happen, but secretly recording you is different. They wanted information. They wanted to know what you were saying and who you were talking to."

"That’s what scares me." I whispered.

Nadia looked around the room as if she expected to find another device hiding somewhere. "Do you think there could still be more?"

"Callum searched the house. He found several."

Her mouth fell open. "Several?"

I nodded.

She sat quietly for a moment before her attention suddenly shifted toward the window and her eyebrows lifted. "Wait. What’s that?"

I followed her gaze and saw the raven perched outside, tapping its beak against the glass. The curtains were still partly drawn from the previous night, and I remembered Callum closing the window before he left me alone. The bird continued knocking as if it knew we were watching it.

Nadia stood. "Is that the same bird?"

"It is."

"The one that keeps bringing you those letters?" She asked.

I nodded and walked toward the window. "Stay back."

"I wasn’t planning to touch it."

I opened the curtains and unlocked the window. The raven immediately flew inside and landed on the edge of the dresser, looking completely comfortable in my room despite everything that had happened there.

Nadia stared at it with a mixture of fascination and suspicion. "It really does look like it knows exactly where to find you."

"That’s what I’ve been thinking."

I approached the bird carefully and noticed the familiar folded paper attached to its leg. I removed it and unfolded it while the raven remained completely still.

My eyes moved over the first few lines.

’I heard what happened yesterday.’

Huh? I frowned and continued reading.

’I know someone tried to kill you, and I know you were almost caught in another attempt before that. I am more concerned than I can properly explain, because the people coming after you are becoming bolder and you are no longer safe simply because you remain inside the estate.’

I lowered the letter slightly.

Nadia noticed my expression. "What does it say?"

I read the next part silently before answering. "He knows about the attack."

"How?" She gasped.

"I don’t know."

I continued reading, and the feeling in my stomach became worse with every sentence. The writer spoke as though he had been watching everything happening around me, as though he knew about the chandelier and the assassin and had somehow learned about them almost immediately. There was concern in his words, but that only made me more suspicious.

Nadia leaned closer. "Does he say who he is?"

"No."

I reached the final line and stopped.

’It seems it is time for you to meet me.’

Oh shit. I read it again. Then once more.

Nadia noticed the change in my face.. "What?"

I handed her the letter and she read the final line and immediately looked at me. "Meet him?"

I nodded slowly. "I think that’s what he wants."

"Keisha, absolutely not." Her voice was firm enough that I almost laughed despite everything. "You can’t be serious. This person has been sending you letters for days, watching things happen around you, somehow knowing when you’re in danger, and now he suddenly wants you to meet him? How do you know this isn’t another person trying to get close enough to hurt you?"

"I don’t."

"Exactly." She handed the paper back to me. "We don’t know anything about him. We don’t know his name, where he lives, how he knows about you or why he’s using a raven instead of simply sending someone to speak to you. For all we know, he’s another stalker who has been following you this whole time."

I folded the letter slowly.. "That’s what I’ve been thinking too."

"And you’re still considering meeting him?"

"I said I was considering it. I didn’t say I was going."

Nadia sighed and rubbed her arms. "I don’t like this."

"Neither do I."

We were still staring at the raven when it suddenly hopped toward us and began pecking at its own feathers. Nadia took a step backward. "What is it doing?"

"I have no idea."

The bird continued fussing with the feathers along its chest before turning toward me. It looked almost impatient, and after a few seconds it tilted its body in a way that made me notice something tucked beneath its feathers.

"Wait." I moved closer. "There is something there."

Nadia immediately came beside me. "You’re kidding."

"No." I carefully moved the feathers aside and found a tiny cloth sachet attached beneath them. It was so small that I hadn’t noticed it at first.

Nadia stared. "How the hell did he hide that there?"

I removed it carefully and opened it and something metallic fell into my palm.

I froze and for a moment, I couldn’t breathe.

Nadia noticed immediately. "What is it?"

I stared at the ring lying in my hand.

I knew it. There was no way I could have forgotten it. "My mother’s."

Nadia’s expression changed. "Your mother’s?"

I nodded slowly, turning the ring over between my fingers. I remembered seeing it when I was younger. I remembered my mother wearing it, remembered the way she used to turn it around her finger whenever she was thinking, and I remembered how desperately we had searched for it after she died.

"We searched everywhere for this," I whispered. "It disappeared after she died. We thought someone had taken it, but nobody ever found it."

Nadia touched the edge of the ring carefully. "Then how did he get it?"

"I don’t know."

There was another piece of paper wrapped around the ring.

My hands trembled as I unfolded it. This letter was much shorter.

’You can trust me.’

I stared at the words.

’I was there when you needed protection, even when you didn’t know I was there. I have never wanted to harm you. Everything I have done has been to keep you alive.’

My eyes moved to the final sentence.

’Your mother knew who I was. That is why you have her ring now. I am not your enemy, Keisha. I am trying to protect you.’

My heart almost stopped. Who was this?