Page 52 of A Chance at Redemption for the Alpha

I swallow thickly before closing the door again.

“You know it’s ridiculous that we are hiding here?” Silas asks softly.

“I know,” I grimace.

Silas sighs, shifting around to get more space. “Are you alright?”

“I don’t know,” I admit, sitting down on a bucket.

Silas sits down on my lap, and for a couple of minutes neither of us talks.

“Do you think it was wrong to never reach out to anyone in my family?” I ask him.

“No,” Silas says. “You needed time to heal, and no one gets to dictate how much time you need or how you want to heal. Your parents pushed you too much into a path they wanted you to take after the fallout with your brother, and you had to make decisions to protect yourself. Don’t let anyone criticize you forthat.” He frowns. “Don’t fall back into old patterns by talking yourself into feeling guilty. If you do, I will get mad.”

“How mad?” I tease.

Silas frowns. “Not mad enough to do anything here in this terrible, dusty, storage room.”

I put my arm around his waist. “I am not sure if it was okay to never reach out to Mom or my friends,” I admit. “But I couldn’t bring myself to do it. Amos needed time, and I was scared that the moment I called or wrote to them, they would try to track me down.”

“It will happen eventually,” Silas says. “Our pack is getting bigger, and your name is getting more renowned. It’s easier for me to remain hidden because vampires are more seclusive by nature, but you have already attended a few smaller alpha meetings, and we have made some strong allies. I know your old pack isn’t close, but eventually they will hear about a certain Alpha Marcellus.”

“I should have changed my name,” I complain.

Silas smiles. “That’s not been my point.”

“I know.”

“There is no right or wrong,” Silas says. “You are ready, when you are ready, but if I can give you one piece of advice: Start getting comfortable with the idea that your paths will cross again, and that maybe you won’t be able to hide in a storage room the next time. Like it or not, you are an alpha now, and a pretty amazing one if I may add.”

I sigh, leaning my forehead against his back. “You are right. I need to be prepared.”

“It’s funny, though,” Silas muses while gazing out of the door. “How can two people have the same face, yet I want to kiss the one and punch the other?”

I snort, about to answer with a funny comment, when something in our earpieces creaks, indicating that Durant has turned the device on.

“Juni must have arrived,” Silas mutters.

We both fall silent to listen to their conversation. Mostly, it’s just an exchange of information. Juniper tries to keep us updated as well as she can, and usually, we get intel from her monthly. She wasn’t too excited about having to meet with Durant. Just like Silas, she is still wary of him.

“There is one thing that stood out to me,” she says to Durant. “One of Aloysius’s contacts was an alpha named Troi, but he is imprisoned now by the werewolf council. Alpha Liam got his hands on him a while ago.”

Liam?

Silas and I exchange a surprised gaze. Alpha Liam and his pack are allies of ours, and Liam himself is an avid supporter of our project. One of his younger brothers is lune of another pack and uses his position to help victims of assault and abuse escape their situation. Furthermore, his father is the alpha who supported me when I ran away from home. I have a lot of history with this family and truly appreciate what they did for me.

This Alpha Troi being imprisoned by them out of all is probably a rare case of fantastically good luck!

“Aloysius is working together with some werewolves?” Durant asks, surprised.

“Yes, it looks that way. Thoughworking togetherwith them is probably a reach. He is rather using them,” she says. “And I am not sure if it’s only wolves he tries to use. He is spiraling out of control.”

“I don’t like the sound of that,” Silas mutters. “Alex mentioned he was involved in the mysterious kidnappings of omega wolves, and Juni’s words seem to be further proof of it. We need to contact Alpha Liam and see what’s going on with that Troi.”

“I can do that,” I offer. “Or do you want to do it since it’s about Aloysius?”

“No, it’s fine. I appreciate you taking over here. If Liam wants to meet us, I will join you,” he says. “But I think right now I should rather contact Alex and see what he is up to. And maybe one of my other allies. I know I have some out there who are more loyal to me than to Aloysius.”