Page 131 of A Chance at Redemption for the Alpha

“No.” She shakes her head. “She is mostly alone in her room, but they have two or three guards who attend to her, and they are always in this area. She is either on my floor or the one above.”

“What are we going to do when we find her?” I ask as we sneak through the corridor and then disappear into a storage room. Nova leads me further out of a window and onto a small balcony. An emergency ladder is leading to the floor upward, and we decide to take it. “How do we get out of here once we’ve found her?”

“I have no idea,” Nova admits. “It would be easier for both of us to run, as we aren’t their top priority. They want Maddie.”

We both halt when we hear voices from a window next to us. Holding our breaths, we keep stock still. We might be on the emergency ladder outside, but if they hear or spot us, we are certainly done.

“Lady Juniper,” a male voice can be heard. “I have brought to you the child’s blood, as requested.”

“Finally, took you long enough,” Juniper snarls. “Lord Aloysius is already getting impatient, and you know what he will do to you if he snaps.”

“It’s just… the girl was crying so much. We should have taken that werewolf girl to her. Should I fetch her now?”

“No,” Juniper says. “Master Atticus agrees that we shouldn’t involve the werewolf woman in our business. She might just alert that boy. Did you find him?”

“No, he escaped the dungeons!”

“Put your priorities into finding him and forget the woman for now. And send a guard to the fourth floor to guard the kid.”

Nova and I exchange a gaze. We don’t need to say anything, both of us thinking the same. They are focusing on my escape, which buys us a bit of time now. Also, Maddie is on the fourth floor! Once it’s silent again, Nova and I continue our climb until we reach the top of the building. The fourth floor is the last, and once there, I indeed take up Maddie’s scent.

Nova and I sneak inside again through a window and hide in another storage room. “We need a plan,” I suggest.

“We do.” Nova looks at me insistently. “Benj, you are an alpha’s son.”

“Yeah, I know, and?”

“You have certain gifts and talents. You were your father’s firstborn, his heir.”

“I am weak,” I say. “And I don’t mean that in a ‘poor-me’ stance. I am. My wolf was broken, and he only surfaced fully now.”

Right, Stellan?

I am sorry,Stellan says.As an alpha wolf, I should have more gifts, but I lost most of them when I made sure to save us.

“He says the same,” I tell Nova. “We barely have any gifts and-“

“Who cares about our gifts?” she whispers. “They are not helping us right now. But you are still an alpha’s heir with traits only you have. I don’t have them. I am only the second child.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You can reach out to your pack,” she says. “Alphas usually can do that. It takes a lot of strength and concentration, but it’s doable.”

I stare at her. “Reach out to…”

“Silas and Marcellus,” she urges, grabbing my arm and pulling me around to force me to look out of the window. “The mountains there.“

“That’s close to Marc’s former pack,” I whisper.

“Exactly! They can find us easily when they know where to look.”

“I am not sure if I can do it,” I admit.

Nova takes my hands. “Benji, you have become one of my best friends. I might have only known you for a couple of months, but I really like you. I instantly did. Not in a romantic way, of course. But there is something in you that instantly pulled me in. And Kitty, too, and my other friends. You are honest, you can self-reflect, you don’t hide your past even when you are embarrassed by it. You take accountability. You are an alpha’s heir, yet rank doesn’t matter to you, instead you always focus on making life better for your pack members. I don’t know what kind of person you were back in your old pack, I don’t know if you had to be a bully to save yourself from your father, and I don’t care. Ever since I have known you, you have always thought about others. And I know for a fact that Lori thinks the same. She has been raped and hurt over and over again, yet she has accepted you. Why do you think that is?”

I stare at her, completely spellbound.

Nova pokes my chest. “Because of the person you are. That’s the truth. This is who you are, not the person you had to be not to get killed by your father. This here is you. Alpha Marcellus’ most entrusted warrior, his gamma, Lori’s mate and the pack’s protector.”