Page 85 of Alpha's Redemption

“No. She left,” Valen says.

“That’s what everyone thinks, but rumors still went around that your father banished Leah from the city. Though I can’t be sure they were just rumors,” Doc tells me.

“Wait. Why would my father banish her?”

“Because she was Nixon’s mate and was from the Shadow pack. She was one of your father’s pack members,” Doc answers. “They are just rumors, of course. I suppose the only people who really know what happened are Nixon and Leah,” he shrugs.

“But Nixon admitted to abandoning her and forcing her forsaken.”

“Doesn’t mean it is the truth,” Doc says. “I knew Leah and there was no way she would have left Carter. And Nixon loved her. He was forced to marry Rachel for the pack alliance.”

“Pack Alliance?”

“I’m not sure, but maybe you should ask your fathers; that was their time ruling. Or maybe check the council files. There has to be some record of what happened. It’s no secret that the Alphas have a way of covering their tracks, yet that doesn't stop the rumors.”

ChapterThirty-Five

Ava

Carter had me moved, and I appear to be in some basement. I must have been asleep for a few hours when I finally hear the door open and the man I hadn't recognized in my dazed state comes down the stairs. He has a blue cap on his head and a handkerchief tied around his face like last time. But his scent is familiar, not just from the last time I saw him, and I cant figure out why at first. Yet as my sense of smell and taste returns, my eyes widen when I finally recognize the scent—a scent I used to smell around Amber.

Micah!

He walks over to me where I sit in the corner with my wrist handcuffed to a drainpipe. He produces a needle and stabs it into my thigh, and I yank on my restraints. Snarling at him as he simply turns and walks back toward the stairs. My eyes begin to blur again, yet I fight to keep them open.

“Micah,” I try to call. My voice is barely a murmur, yet it’s enough to make him freeze on the bottom step, his entire body tense as he grips the handrail. Slowly, he turns and his eyes roam over me, and I know undoubtedly it’s him. Something shrivels inside me and dies as it dawns on me that he raped the mother of his child.

“When they kill you, I hope it's slow,” I growl at him, though the words are hard to get out.

He growls and stalks back toward me. “They will never know, and you won't be alive to tell them,” he sneers, gripping the back of my hair. I glare at him.

“No woman forgets the face of the man who fathered her child, just like they never forget the face of their rapist,” I sneer at him, and he shoves me back. My head bangs on the pipe and he rips his hat off, clutches his hair, and screams in frustration.

“Fuck!” he curses, kicking a wooden chair. “I had no fucking choice. Do you think I could just stand there and watch? They would have fucking killed me!”

“You deserve far worse for what you did, and I can't wait for Marcus to give it to you,” I spit at him through clenched teeth.

“She won't remember. They drugged her,” he says, shaking his head. I don't know if he’s trying to convince himself of that or me. Either way, he’s wrong. Zoe was out of it, but she wasn’t that far gone. She wouldn't have missed a scent she was accustomed to through her daughter.

My head spins and throbs where I hit it. Micah scratches his chin, then snarls and starts wandering around the basement, looking at the shelves before snatching a piece of timber.

“I am not going to jail because of you,” he sneers, tapping the timber on the palm of his hand. My eyes open frantically as he stalks toward me and I yank on the cuffs in a last-ditch effort to free myself.

“They don't need to know, and Carter was planning on killing you anyway,” he says slowly, trying to convince himself this would work. He lifts the piece of timber, and I gasp when he swings it, clenching my eyes shut in preparation for the hit, only I hear a crash instead. My eyes open and I sag against the wall in a huffed wheeze when I see Carter shove him. I didn't even hear him come in.

“WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU THINKG YOU’RE DOING?” Carter bellows, gripping the front of his shirt. Micah is on his back, hands up in surrender. Carter snarls at him before shoving him. Yet, the tension rolling off Carter is palpable; his Alpha aura is menacing as he straightens his suit, picks up the knocked-over wooden chair, places it upright, and takes a seat with his head in his hands.

“Zoe?” I murmur. My lip quivers. Carter's head lifts and his eyes go to me before flicking away.

“Your friend is alive. The rogue girl, Macey, got her,” he says, staring off blankly at the concrete wall behind me. He mutters, but my ears can't pick up the sound, and I let out a breath of relief. At least Zoe is alright. Micah sits up and tries to get to his feet.

Carter watches him, and his lips press in a line when the two thugs from before come down the stairs. My muscles start to go numb and tears burn my eyes when they move toward me.

“Don't touch her,” Carter snaps at them, and they pause, looking at him. “No one touches her,” Carter repeats, looking at each of them.

“But you said–” the dark-haired man begins.

“I said no one touches her.”

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