Page 53 of The Syndicater (Dark Verse 6)

Chapter 18

Alpha, Tenebrae City

Something was up withhis wife.

He didn't know what it was, but the fact that she hadn't called him once all day had him slightly worried. They didn't message since she knew he wouldn't be able to read the message with his single eye, and knowing that, she always called him. He'd sat on Dante's jet, which was so much more opulent than his was, expecting to see a missed call from her when he landed. And there had been nothing. He wanted to think maybe she had just gone to bed early, Shadow Port a few hours ahead of them. He would call her once he got to the compound.

The phantom ache in his missing eye, one that flared up occasionally, made him sigh.

His half-brother, Alpha had learned, was a man of expensive, refined tastes, more airy and polished than Alpha's rugged, earthier preferences. His mansion and compound in Tenebrae were a gazillion times older and more opulent than his exotic, more raw one. Dante's property was polished and mowed;Alpha's was wild and natural. They were such drastically different people in terms of taste, and yet, Alpha had to admit they were very similar when it came to two things—their workouts and their women.

One of his favorite things about being in Tenebrae was the early morning fight-offs he and his brother had. It almost felt like playing. Both of them were almost matched in size, but where Alpha had more strength, Dante had more speed. It began at Dante's wedding a year ago, and they continued it whenever they were together.

As for women, that was self-explanatory. They had both found the love of their lives early—though Alpha had forgotten his and Dante hadn't. Where Alpha had spent years alone believing he couldn't have love, Dante had spent his years being in love and fighting for it. Now that Alpha had it too, he understood.

The hills outside the city where the compound was rolled around them as the fleet of vehicles made their way up. He sat in a Range Rover with his brother driving, Morana and Tristan with his sister in the one behind them, and two more security guards behind them. It was a little extra, but Alpha didn't blame him, not after everything Dante had to protect on his territory.

"What do you think about Luna?" Dante asked Alpha, driving over a curve in the empty road that led only to his property.

Alpha turned his neck to look at him. "She's been through stuff." Luna Caine, if she even went by that name, which he highly doubted, was an ethereal kind of beauty with a haunted look in her eyes. Alpha had worked with and seen too many women with that kind of look. He didn't need to talk to her to understand she'd seen and survived horrors most people couldn't imagine. And seeing how tiny she was, it immediately brought forth an innate protectiveness inside him.

"I agree," Dante said. Alpha knew the man recognized that look too, probably having seen it in his wife's eyes in the past.

"I want to ask if you think she could be working for The Syndicate," Dante spelled out, much to Alpha's surprise. "I can't discuss this with Tristan or Morana, not right now. They should focus on her and their relationship."

Alpha mulled it over. "If she's working for The Syndicate, which I do doubt, then she's both highly brainwashed and a good actress because deception isn't what I smelled on her."

Dante let out an exhale, his shoulders relaxing. "I'm relieved to hear that. I want to trust her, but I'm taking her to my home to my family. My only daughter. It's—"

"—understandable," Alpha interrupted. Betrayal made people question everything. "Better safe than sorry."

Dante took another bend, expertly swerving around. The gates to the property opened, and he drove through, on and upward.

"How's Zee doing?" his brother asked, and as much as Alpha had come to like him, he was still an annoying shithead when it came to ribbing him.

"You tell me," Alpha grumbled. "You talk to her more than her own mother these days."

Her mother was a sore topic for his wife, both stubborn women of two generations refusing to budge from their stances.

"She does like me." Dante chuckled, making Alpha want to do some damage to his pretty face. He wondered idly if Dante would look half as good with a scar and eyepatch as he did. The thought gave him some comfort.

"She likes everyone," Alpha corrected, not wanting his brother to believe he was special. If liking people and seeing the good in them was a championship, his wife would be the first in line, a quality that both enticed and exasperated him about her. But a large part of him hoped she didn't lose that, that his world didn't make her jaded enough to forget what made herher.

The mansion finally came into view, a grand monstrosity of construction against the backdrop of the setting sun. Amarastood at the mouth of the driveway with Tempest on her hip, his little niece who was growing up too fast. Dante stopped the vehicle and got out, heading straight for them.

Alpha watched in mild awe as Tempest, who had been looking at the cars curiously, burst out into the biggest smile, a smile bigger than her face, her gums exposed, her little mouth wet, her bright eyes lit up at her father. Something moved inside Alpha's chest at the sight, seeing the way Tempest immediately raised her chubby little arms dimpled at the elbows, a clear indication for her father to pick her up, and as soon as Dante did, she began to babble baby nonsense interspersed with the sounds ofdada ,dada, mama, dada.

And looking at them, Alpha realized he wanted that nonsense too. He wanted to come home one day to a little part of him that would light up his life, looking at him like he was the best thing in the whole world, loving him with the wholeness of a tiny heart.

Fuck, he wanted to be a father too.

But for now, he would be the uncle.

He headed toward them as well, greeting Amara with a small smile. "Looking good as always, Amara."

"So good to see you," Amara gave him a side hug.

"Stay away from my wife," Dante said from the side, in a ridiculous sing-song voice as he talked to the babbling baby.

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