Page 37 of A Chance at Redemption for the Alpha

“Goddess,” I exclaim. “That’s insane. And Durant?”

“Durant is the youngest and always looked up to Alyosius. He was easy to manipulate, from what I understand.”

“What about the other siblings?”

“I don’t know,” Marcellus says. “Silas doesn’t talk much about his family. I know he is close with Alexander, but I think the brothers overall aren’t really close. They all live their own lives. They aren’t really family the way we understand it.”

I nod thoughtfully. “Alpha…” I start.

“I swear,” he says. “I will not answer if you keep calling me by my rank when we talk in private.”

I take a deep breath. “Marcellus?”

“Yes?”

“I want to learn more about our allied packs,” I hurry to explain, before my courage leaves me again. “I don’t know much about pack politics or about our pack in general, not to mentionthe vampires. When Micah and I went shopping, I met some college kids around my age, and they said they were from an allied pack. It made me realize I don’t know anything.”

Marcellus stares at me, and my heart sinks to the pit of my stomach again. When Dad looked at me like that, it was never a good sign.

“You have matured quite a bit,” Marcellus says to my surprise. “You show interest in the pack and are thinking about how to contribute. That’s really great, Benj. Yes, I will teach you about pack politics.” He smiles at me and grabs one bottle of wine. “Come, now let’s see what our unexpected visitors have to say.”

Theunusual visitorsdon’t beat around the bush. “I faced a couple of issues in Paris,” Alex says while Silas pours some wine for him.

“Issues of which nature?” Silas wants to know.

“The lycan princess of Silverlake Pack was on a visit,” he explains. With that, he seems to have caught Marcellus’s full interest, too.

“She is Alpha Elden’s daughter and Alpha Liam’s sister,” he explains to me.

I know those two men. They were the two alphas who decided I deserved a second chance and arranged for me to stay here.

“She will become the alpha of Silverlake,” Marcellus adds.

“Well, she was in Paris for a visit with the council, and to investigate the disappearance of omegas of a specific blood group, throughout the last couple of years. We talked about it briefly, Silas.”

“We did, but something tells me you have found out much more by now,” Silas mutters.

“What happened?” I ask quietly.

“There was a psychopath - a werewolf - who organized the kidnappings of low-ranking wolves and auctioned his victims, or served them on demand,” Alex says. “And when I say serve, I mean literally.” He turns to Silas again. “Silas, some of them had rare genetic illnesses, and one of them had lupus. And the blood group was AB positive.”

“I don’t get it,” Marcellus says. “What is so special about that?”

“Vampires can get high from certain blood,” Silas explains. “We can’t get sick, but experiencing the blood of a dying creature can give us the feeling we are. Some vampires chase that adrenaline rush.”

“And vampires were that psycho’s main customers,” Alex says. “High-ranking vampires.”

“You are kidding?” Silas exclaims.

“No, I have found them. They were all of high rank and had the money to pay, whatever.” Alex shakes his head. “Some of the victims were underage.”

“What happened to them?” I ask quietly.

Neither Alex nor Durant answers, which tells me what I need to know. Marcellus looks shocked, too, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

“It’s not just an issue in Europe,” Alex says. “Needless to say, the States were involved as well.” He looks at Silas grimly. “Guess who placed an order for some of his diligent guards and lieutenants?”

“No way! He sank that low?” Silas exclaims.