Page 30 of Fall of the Alpha

Bella turned away from the mirror.

The best solution for right now was not to look at herself again.

She ran some water. It came out hot. When she began to scrub, she had to stifle her regret that she was scrubbing off his scent. His touch. The lingering evidence of the Wolf.

The marks are still there.

When she got out, she had to ignore the little thrill of elation when she realized some of his scent still lingered, despite all her scrubbing. When she got back to the Zones, she would tell her father she needed to see a mentalist, someone to help her get past all these ridiculous thoughts and feelings that were popping up.

Maybe just being back on the suppressors would help.

The thought gave her no joy.

19

THE SPY RETURNS

Grigori

Where were they?

None of the Betas who were supposed to report in to him by now had done so. He paced the floor of his dwelling. At least it was quiet now. Brianne had gone to join Carina at Paldon’s, the two of them wailing together, as if that would solve anything.

Blast.

Maybe he shouldn’t have told his spies to look for Alek and Bella. Maybe they’d gotten too close.

Or maybe one of them had found something, and everything was taking longer because of that. There was no way to know.

He hated waiting.

Finally—finally—his comm chimed.

Grigori answered the device, relief and anger warring within him as he looked at Redmond’s pale face. The Beta looked glassy-eyed, his expression strangely blank.

“Where the hell have you been?” Grigori snarled, unable to keep his frustration from pouring out.

“I… uh…” Redmond stammered, not at all like himself.

“Just get here,now.” As Redmond nodded, Grigori ended the call before starting a new one to security, directing them to let Redmond through upon his arrival. As impatient as he was for information, he was too canny to risk talking over something as unsecure as a comm link.

As far as anyone knew, Redmond was just a friend of Alek’s, which had made him the perfect choice to go looking for him in the Territories. He could even ask about him without anyone being suspicious. It could be dangerous, depending on how the Alphas reacted. Risking him had been an easy decision, though. He was a decent but not overly skilled informant, easily replaced if need be.

Now that Redmon was on his way, Grigori’s pacing increased, and he cursed multiple times as he checked how long it was taking the male to get there. Was he crawling?

Finally, the door chimed.

Grigori opened it, reaching out to grab hold of the other male and yank him inside. If anything, Redmond appeared paler in person than he had on the vid screen, and he was shaking as he stood in place, his hands hanging uselessly on either side of him. He stared at Grigori dumbly.

“What the hell happened?” Grigori asked, as he shut the door behind him. “What is wrong with you?”

“I… they captured me.” Redmond licked his lips as Grigori stiffened in surprise. “They… the Wolf. He said he had a message for you. He wanted me to give it to you.” The male’s expression took on an almost dream-like countenance, filling Grigori with disgust. He’d seen such things before, in Betas who had fallen under an Alpha’s spell. Easily influenced, that was Redmond.

“What’s the message?” Grigori demanded harshly when Redmond didn’t automatically continue. Worthless male.

“He said he’s coming for you.” Redmond’s dreamy gaze refocused, solidifying, as he suddenly stared intently at Grigori.“He says he knows everything, and he’s going to tear down everything you’ve worked for until he grinds you into the dust.”

A chill went through Grigori, despite knowing that such a promise was impossible.

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