Page 28 of Fall of the Alpha

Watching Cora question Redmond, Alek struggled to focus. His mind kept wandering to the Zones. Thinking about his father. Thinking about everyone he’d ever met. If Redmond spied for his father, who else had?

Kenet?

Liana?

Was there anyone he could trust?

Bella. Probably. If she was Paldon’s secret daughter, she was an unlikely spy. She’d be too important.

As much as he didn’t want to think that Kenet or Liana could be like Redmond, he couldn’t be sure. Once again, it felt like his entire world had been turned on its head.

“Please, that’s all I know. Just get her off me.” Redmond’s voice had turned pleading. He was red-faced, sweating so much that it had turned the fabric of his shirt damp, and he looked close to passing out. Aria giggled and squirmed again.

Before Cora could answer, the door slid open, and the Wolf strode in.

Alek went rigid.

The big male was alone, and he looked exactly the same as he had when Alek had first met him. His jade gaze swept the room, lingering on Alek for almost a moment, but the change in his expression was too fleeting to interpret. There had been some reaction to Alek’s presence, though, and remembering what Cora and Trace had told him, he could not help but tense.

He did not think they would allow the Wolf to harm him, not after the past few days, yet he did not feel entirely secure. He was also resisting the urge to demand to know where Bella was.

“Oh, good, you’re here.” Cora looked the Wolf up and down. “Do you have any questions for our guest?”

The Wolf snorted, presumably at her use of the word ‘guest’ to describe Redmond. He looked the Beta up and down coldly, absolute ice in his eyes.

“No, you can fill me in later.” The Wolf prowled closer to Redmond, jerking his head at Aria, who immediately scrambled off the male’s lap and bolted to Alek’s side. He put his arm around her instinctively, even though the Wolf wasn’t paying attention to her. His focus was entirely narrowed in on Redmond, and as he got closer to the Beta, the male’s red face paled in a sickly manner, and his eyes widened.

There was something incredibly intimidating about the Wolf. An edge of madness that Cora and Trace did not have.

Because he lost his mate?

Alek didn’t know.

But even Redmond sensed the difference. He might have been intimidated by Trace and Cora, scared of them even, but he was terrified of the Wolf. He planted his feet on the floor, trying to scoot his chair back, but the Wolf crouched down, his hand snapping out and grabbing hold of the chair leg. He pulled Redmond closer.

He was big enough that even crouched, he was on eye level with Redmond, and the Beta whimpered.

“You are going to send a message to Grigori for me.” There was a snarl threaded through each of the Wolf’s words, separate from the gravel of his voice, which made Alek shudder, even though it wasn’t directed at him. Aria squeaked and buried her face in Alek’s side at the sound. Redmond looked like he was about to piss himself. Only Trace and Cora seemed unaffected, but Alek couldn’t tell if they were actually so or just very good at covering it.

“I-I-I…” Redmond stammered, then whimpered again as the wood of the chair he was sitting on creaked.

“You are going to send a message. Then if I see you in my territory again, I will rip you apart myself. Do you understand?”

Redmond nodded frantically.

Bella

This time, when she woke up, she was alone.

No, not alone.

There was a female sitting beside the bed. A small one with long, very pale blonde hair and wide blue eyes.

“Hello again,” she said softly.

Bella blinked in surprise.Trish.That was her name. The little Omega who had been taken at the same time as her and Alek. The one the Wolf had called Jordan’s mate.

To her shame, Bella had almost forgotten about her.

---