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

KEISHA’S POV

The laboratory attached to Doctor Fenn’s hospital was one of the few places in the estate that was never quiet.

Dr Fenn was standing over one of the benches when I stepped inside, her attention fixed on several glass slides arranged beneath a microscope. The sealed evidence bag Callum had brought earlier lay beside her, untouched except for the labels she’d attached to it.

Without looking up, she seemed to know I had entered. "I was wondering how long it would take before curiosity dragged you in here."

A small smile tugged at my lips as I leaned against the edge of the doorway. "I wanted to know if you’ve found anything."

Doctor Fenn finally looked up, removing her glasses and setting them beside the microscope. "I wish I could tell you I have, but science has never cared much for impatience."

My eyes drifted toward the sealed syringe and the knife inside the evidence bag. "So... nothing yet?"

"Not nothing." She folded her arms thoughtfully. "Just nothing conclusive." She walked over to the table and tapped gently against the evidence bag.. "The blood on the knife is old, but not beyond recovery. Extracting usable DNA from dried blood takes time, especially when the sample is this small. If I’m fortunate, I’ll have enough to compare against a suspect. If I’m unlucky..." She shrugged lightly. "We’ll have to rely on something else."

"And the syringe?"

"That is proving more interesting." She picked up a sheet filled with hurried notes. "There are still traces of whatever substance it contained, but they’ve degraded considerably. I’m identifying the compounds one by one. It’ll take a while before I know exactly what was inside it."

I released a quiet sigh.. "So we’re waiting."

"Yes. For now." Doctor Fenn’s expression softened. "I know everyone wants answers immediately, Keisha, but investigations rarely reward people who rush them. Every careless conclusion risks overlooking the truth."

I nodded slowly because I knew she was right.

As frustrating as it was, half the problems lay in having the patience to let the evidence speak before jumping into conclusions. "I’ll let you work."

"I’ll send for Callum the moment I find anything."

I thanked her before slipping out of the laboratory, hoping the next conversation we had would finally bring us closer to whoever had orchestrated everything.

**********

The ward had grown quieter by the time I returned.

The frantic activity from earlier had calmed down into something more quiet. Nurses walked softly through the corridors, checking charts, while muttering to themselves.

Dane hadn’t moved since I’d left.

I pulled my chair closer to the bed again, resting my arms on the mattress as I watched him sleep. Even unconscious, he looked exhausted. The bruising along his jaw had darkened into deep shades of purple, while fresh bandages disappeared beneath the collar of his hospital gown. It was strange seeing someone who was always moving forced into complete stillness.

I hadn’t realised how tired I was until my eyelids began growing heavier.

"You should get some rest." Diane advised, her voice soft.

My gaze didn’t leave Dane. "Not yet."

Diane was persistent. "Just for a while."

Well...i was tired. So I told myself I’d only close them for a minute.

Just one minute.

Then everything went blank for goddess knows how long when suddenly, something brushed lightly against my fingers and my eyes opened almost immediately.

For a second I struggled to remember where I was before I realised Dane was looking at me with an amused expression despite the obvious pain he was trying to hide. "You’ve discovered a very uncomfortable place to sleep."

Heat rushed to my cheeks as I sat upright. "I wasn’t sleeping."

"You were drooling. Of course you were." He smiled faintly before wincing. "Don’t make me laugh. Everything hurts."

Relief washed over me so suddenly that my eyes stung. "You scared everyone."

"I can tell by the look on your face."

"How are you feeling?"

He let out a slow breath. "My ribs hate me. My shoulder isn’t much better, and I think my head has forgotten how to function."

I couldn’t stop myself from asking question after question. "Were you dizzy when you woke up? Can you breathe properly? Does anything else hurt? Are you nauseous? Can you see clearly?"

He watched me for a moment before shaking his head with quiet amusement. "You worry too much."

"Wait here." Without waiting another second, I hurried into the corridor and called for Doctor Fenn who arrived almost immediately.

She checked him thoroughly while I stood to the side, watching carefully.

When the examination finally ended, she closed her notebook with a satisfied nod.. "You’re recovering well. The concussion isn’t showing any worrying signs, your shoulder is healing nicely, and with enough rest you’ll make a full recovery."

Dane frowned. "How much rest?"

"A few days."

"No."

Doctor Fenn blinked once. "No?"

"We don’t have a few days."

"You do now."

"I can’t stay in bed while Orin is still out there."

"You also can’t chase him if you collapse halfway there."

Before Dane could argue again, the door opened and Callum stepped inside.

His eyes swept quickly across the room before settling on Dane sitting upright.. "So you finally woke up."

"I decided being unconscious was getting boring." Dane smirked.

A hint of relief crossed Callum’s face before it disappeared again. "Good. Tell me everything."

Dane’s expression hardened and Dr Fenn immediately saw herself out. "He wasn’t alone."

Callum remained silent, allowing him to continue.

"The same thing Keisha told us," Callum murmured.

Dane nodded.

"Which confirms what we’ve already suspected," Callum finally said. "Orin isn’t the real problem anymore. He’s become someone else’s weapon."

If someone powerful had managed to hide Orin inside the estate once... Who was to say they hadn’t done much worse already?

The conversation drifted toward the investigation instead.

Callum mentioned the kitchen records he’d collected alongside the surveillance footage recovered from the technician.

"We have delivery logs for every meal that leaves the kitchen," he explained. "Every servant signs before taking a tray out, and the cameras cover each exit."

"Then whoever delivered that meal has to appear somewhere," I said.

"Exactly."

Dane immediately pushed the blanket away from himself. "Then let’s go through them."

"No." Dr Fenn was walking in, a frown on her face.

Dane looked thoroughly offended. "I feel fine."

"You look terrible," Doctor Fenn replied.

"I’ve been worse."

"And I don’t intend to watch you prove that again." She countered.

Callum folded his arms. "You’ll stay here tonight."

He sighed dramatically. "So everyone has decided to become my jailer."

"We’ve decided to keep you alive." I chipped in.

That finally earned a reluctant smile from him. "Fine." He leaned back against the pillows. "But only for tonight."

**********

Night had already settled over the estate by the time Callum and I reached his study.

The room was beginning to look less like an office and more like the headquarters of an investigation.

For a long while, neither of us spoke because there wasn’t any need. We just went straight to work, because I had insisted on doing something.

One of us compared timestamps while the other searched through delivery records. Every few minutes we’d replay the recovered footage, pause it, rewind several seconds and begin again. The same servant passed through one corridor and another disappeared into the kitchen. A tray emerged, someone signed the ledger.

Again. Again. Again.

The repetition became almost hypnotic.

My eyes had begun to blur from staring at names when something tugged unexpectedly at my memory and I straightened. "Wait."

Callum immediately looked up. "What is it?"

"I’ve been remembering it wrong." I reached for another ledger and flipped through several pages. "The meal wasn’t delivered during the normal evening round."

"It wasn’t?"

I shook my head. "I’d been with Lyra before it arrived. We lost track of time talking."

I hurried back to the CCTV recording and checked the timestamp once more before comparing it with the logbook. "There."

My finger stopped beside a single entry. "I’m almost certain that’s it."

Callum leaned closer and frowned. The timestamp matched perfectly.

Neither of us spoke for several long seconds.

The list of possible suspects had shrunk dramatically.

"If we identify who collected this tray," Callum said quietly, reaching for his phone, "we’ll know exactly who we’re looking for."

He immediately called a guard, asking him to have someone identify the staff member from the kitchen entrance footage while we continued sorting through the remaining records.

I leaned back in my chair, rubbing at my tired eyes before letting out a slow breath.. "For the first time," I murmured, looking down at the circled name in the ledger, "it actually feels like we’re getting somewhere."

Callum followed my gaze to the page before looking back at me. "It does."

I turned to him, just quietly staring at him with a soft smile on my face. "You look tired."

"I am." He admitted, his gaze never leaving mine.

The soft smile remained on my lips when he leaned forward, his lips brushing against mine softly. "I missed you—"

Just before I could respond, from somewhere behind us, a familiar voice shattered the silence.

"Like... seriously?"

I froze and pulled away immediately.

Oh shit.

Nadia.