Page 142 of A Second Chance for the Beta

“The one who terrorized Red Claw before Liam took over,” I explain.

“Exactly,” Liam says. “These are all his former allies. They remained anonymous once he died. We always knew he had to have someone to back him up, but we didn’t know who. There were no written clues anywhere.”

“They probably just met secretly and made sure not to document anything,” I add.

“But now we know who they are,” Liam says. “We could already link one of the names to Troi. And guess who else? One of the Apophis cult members of Egypt was on it.”

“I always wondered how the cult managed to organize itself so well,” I exclaim.

“And the one named Dylan, who hired Imogen… he just happens to be the beta of one of the packs.”

“No surprise that they tried everything to get their hands on this item,” Raffy mutters. “But how were they able to pull this off?”

“That’s the one thing we don’t know yet,” Liam says. “They had someone help them, someone with a lot of power.”

“Someone like Aloysius,” Silas muses.

“That’s an option,” Liam admits. “But we don’t know for certain.”

“Alpha Liam, once you are done with whatever you need to do, I would like to ask you to hand me a copy of the list,” Silas says. “I want to do my own research.”

“I was hoping you would offer your help,” Liam admits.

“How… how are your brothers, Alpha?” Raffy finally dares to ask.

“One of them seems to be okay… as far as you can call a teen that just went through such a traumatizing event ‘okay,’” he says. “My second brother…” He pauses, his eyes looking sad. “We’ll see.”

Raffy doesn’t inquire further, and we drive the rest of the way in silence. We only stop briefly to catch up with the warriors in the other cars. Liam instructs them shortly. “We won’t halt at the entrance to their pack. Ignore all the guards and warriors and follow me to the packhouse.”

“And then?” Aryanna asks. “Do you plan on challenging their alpha?”

“No,” Liam says shortly. “I plan to make them submit to me and then drag their alpha to the Council. I don’t honor him enough to challenge him. He set out to hurt my family and my pack.” He turns to Silas. “It’s good that you are here. The pack will be dissolved, and maybe there will be pack members fitting your agenda.” He looks at the warriors. “If someone attacks you, feel free to defend yourself to your liking. The usual rules apply: we don’t kill innocent pack members or children. Any more questions?”

Everyone shakes their head, so we proceed. Alpha Gideon of Half Moon Pack is not too far away from Red Claw. I assume their proximity was the reason he even worked with Marcus in the first place. During his reign, Marcus tried to swallow smaller packs, even going as far as killing their pack members when they didn’t want to submit. Liam always assumed he was only able to do it because he had help.

As planned, Aryanna picks up speed once we are in front of the borders to Half Moon and passes by the guards. Some try to block her way, but she ignores them completely, making them jump out of her way at the last second.

“You wolves have nerves out of steel,” Silas mutters.

“It’s more that Aryanna has them,” I say.

“Still, the way you charge into battle…” He pauses. “It makes sense now that Aloysius wanted to avoid a battle with the lycans and wolves.”

“You don’t?” Ari asks while driving through the pack at full speed. “Like to jump into battle?”

“Vampires prefer politics,” he explains. “We like to be sly and cunning. War or battle isn’t our usual approach.”

“This is not going to be a battle,” Liam tells him.

“It is not?” he asks. He looks at me now, and I nod my agreement to Liam’s voice.

Once we arrive in front of the packhouse, Liam exits the car. The rest of us get out but remain close to the vehicles while Liam confidently approaches the packhouse.

“Is he insane?” Silas asks.

“You don’t know much about lycans, do you?” Raffy asks.

“That’s true, just what Marcellus taught me,” he admits.