Page 130 of A Chance at Redemption for the Alpha

“Shut up and get out of here to get help,” Atticus orders.

Stellan raises his head, gazing up to the tribune. Our gaze meets Atticus’s eyes. With the other guards dead or unconscious, I expect him to jump down and fight us. But he simply stands there, shockingly calm, just looking at us.

The door to the tribune opens, and a woman steps out next to Atticus. I instantly recognize her by her short hair and tall athletic body. She is Silas’s ally, or so we thought. The woman named Juniper, who definitely sold us out.

“You were right, Juniper,” Atticus mutters. “He is of alpha blood.”

Juniper stares at me. There is something in her eyes, something I can’t quite put my finger on. What is she trying to tell me?

“If you are not gone by the count of three,” Atticus suddenly disrupts our stare-down. “I will come down and kill you.”

I don’t know what type of game he is playing, but Juniper and Atticus are a different league of warriors, just like Lucian. Battling them while still weakened would be stupid.Let’s get out of here,I tell Stellan.We need to find Nova and Maddie!

Right, priorities,Stellan agrees, before handing me back the reins. I don’t waste any time on Atticus and Juniper and dash out of the room. We need to find Maddie and Nova as quickly as possible. Maddie in particular. I am sure Nova knows how to handle herself, but Maddie is a child, and she is in grave danger.

I have no idea where I am, but with Stellan’s help, I manage to find my way up the several floors, until I am back to where my cell was located. Stellan dashes past it, knocking one of the guards off who tries to jump into our way. Now that he is fully awake, I feel so much stronger, so much more powerful and present. I didn’t know this was how it feels to have my wolf spirit. While Stellan was always with me and I was able to use parts of his power and shift, I only now realize how weakened I actually was.

That’s Nova’s scent!I exclaim.

She is a couple of floors upstairs,Stellan growls.Let’s get her out of wherever she is.

Oddly enough, I take up Nova’s scent in various places. She must have moved around a bit. I have no idea how she did that, and how she outsmarted the vampires, I just know she did. If anything, she has proved to be the born beta with her skills. Nerves of steel and dangerously cunning.

There she is,I exclaim when we reach the second floor and Nova steps out of a room. She eyes us instantly. “Benji?” she whispers.

I shift back to my human form. “Yes, it’s me.”

“You got away from them!”

“So did you,” I say.

Nova wipes a knife with her clothes and puts it away. “Grab something to dress in from the guard in my room?”

I nod, hurrying inside and pausing momentarily when I notice the room is empty. “Bathroom,” Nova whispers. I follow her instructions, rushing to the bathroom and ripping the door open. The tiles of the bathroom floor are splattered in blood. There was clearly a fight happened here. My eyes fall onto a vampire, blood is leaking out of a wound, and he is gagged and tied to the sink, but he still seems to be alive. Barely. “He didn’t do anything to me,” Nova explains. “It felt wrong to kill him. But he’ll be out of it for a couple of hours. I made sure of that.”

With Nova’s help, I tug his pants and shirt off and slip into the clothes, ignoring the uncomfortable, wet feeling of his bloody shirt on my skin. At least it’s a dark shirt, so Maddie won’t recognize it as blood when we find her.

“Give me the short version,” I tell Nova.

“They believed I was a helpless girl,” she explains. “Outsmarted them. Found my way around here. And you?”

“They forced me to fight. My wolf resurfaced in full strength and killed the men. That lieutenant, though…”

“Atticus?” she asks.

“Oh, you met him, then?”

“Yeah, he is not easy to crack,” she mutters. “I am not sure if he truly believed my shtick.”

“Same here. He could have fought me, but didn’t even try to stop me.”

“What’s he playing at?” Nova wonders.

“Whatever, but we need to get out of your room. They will look for us here first.”

She nods. “And my cover is bust too now, with me attacking that dude,” she grabs my arm, tugging me along. “Come, I found some spots here where we can sneak around. The building is huge.”

“What if Maddie is in the dungeons?”