Page 40 of A Chance at Redemption for the Alpha

Silas blinks at me. “Are you suggesting what I think you are suggesting? But you said-“

“Yeah, because you said it,” I admit. “At the beginning, I wanted to take things slow because my wolf wasn’t healed yet. And you came from the worst betrayal ever. But it’s been five years.”

Silas stays quiet for a moment. “Can I think about it?” he asks.

I am surprised he is even considering it. Five years ago, it was a strict no without any hesitation. I don’t think he necessarily has a problem with me marking him; his issue is rather putting his life into my hands by making me his beloved. He almost went that far once before, just to end up betrayed. “Of course,” I reassure him.

It looks like there is more that Silas wants to say, but there are footsteps approaching us, and I get up from the floor. Benjamin comes into the kitchen, looking exhausted and tired, as if he didn’t even get an hour of sleep. He already looked drained yesterday after he returned with Micah. For a moment, I thought he and Micah might have had an argument, but Micah had reassured me that everything between them was fine.

“Look who is gracing us with his presence,” I tease. “Sleeping Beauty.”

Benjamin looks flustered. I do feel bad for teasing him, but he answers better to that than to normal conversations. The kid is still terrified of me, and I don’t know what to do to change that. The big brother approach seems to work the best.

Silas catches the cue instantly. “Don’t listen to him,” he says. “He only just got up himself.”

“And someone else in this room didn’t go to sleep at all,” I say pointedly.

Benjamin looks at Silas, surprised. “You were up the whole night?”

“Yes, Alex and Durant only went to sleep an hour ago,” Silas sighs before looking at me. “I will try to rest a bit now, if that puts your mind at ease.”

“I always thought vampires were nocturnal,” Benjamin mutters.

“Many of us are,” Silas answers honestly. “The sun doesn’t burn us, but our skin is sensitive to it. However, depending onwhere and how we live, we change our rhythm like the vampires here in Sunset Hills. There is no use in sleeping during the day when the whole pack is up. But today I will make an exception. Marcellus, will you attend to our guests?”

“Of course,” I reassure him.

“We are having guests?” Benjamin asks me once Silas has retired to our bedroom. His curiosity is clearly outweighing his anxiety when he is alone with me.

“Yes, Silas’s niece is coming,” I tell him. “Though technically, she is his great cousin, the daughter of his cousin, but he refers to her as ‘niece’.”

“Oh, I didn’t know that. How old is she?”

“Sixteen,” I explain. “She is a really nice, fun kid. I think you would get along well. She is living in Red Claw, Alpha Liam’s pack, and the beta couple there is her aunt and uncle.”

“I bet she won’t like me, then,” he grumbles.

“Why do you say that?”

“Because she comes from rank and probably knows my history.”

“She is not judgmental at all.” I am beginning to worry about the amount of self-loathing Benjamin shows on a daily basis. It’s not just here and there; it’s in almost all his gestures and words. “Just be honest with her. You might be surprised.” I glance at my watch. “And an allied alpha is coming, too, with his sister.”

Benjamin seems to be particularly intrigued by that news. “Can I help?”

“Yes, you could tend to Charlie and the alpha’s sister. Her name is Nova.”

Benjamin perks up. “Oh!” he says, trying to sound casual, and failing miserably.

“Do you know her?” I ask, maybe a tad blunt, but tact has never been my forte.

“No,” he says, looking flustered. “But I met her yesterday while shopping, and she was really respectful, although she knows my history.”

“I am not surprised. She and her brother are two great people,” I explain. “They were one of the first to help us set foot here. Alpha Cassian has become a good friend of both Silas and me, and he constantly helps us, and vice versa.”

“We are going to take in some new members he saved, right?”

I am surprised that he already caught wind of that. “Yes, he recently freed some omegas from a pack far in the south. They are running from their alpha and want to be as far away as possible. They will move in with us. We will also have two more wolves moving in with us in a week or so – one woman and one man. They fucked up in their pack. He was getting tricked into gambling and lost in a casino owned by another pack. They attacked his pack to get back the money. And, she was mated to a lone wolf, trusted him too much and sold intel to him. Their situation is complicated. I think they’d deserve a second chance. An alpha from an allied pack took them in for now, but wants them to be somewhere safe.”