Page 30 of Fall of the Alpha

30

THE OMEGA’S GOODBYE

Alek

“I guess this is goodbye.” Alek looked down into Bella’s eyes. Not far away, Cora, Trace, and Malachi were saying their own farewells. He didn’t think he imagined that the Wolf was keeping one eye on Bella as she spoke to Alek.

The Alpha’s scent was all over her.

Much like Aria was covered in Alek’s, Trace’s, and Cora’s scents. He imagined the same was likely true for him. Aria was on the other side of the courtyard, saying goodbye to her Omega friends. Jordan and another Alpha hovered protectively behind them.

Bella smiled up at him.

“I’m sure we’ll see each other again.” She glanced over at Malachi and Cora. Trace was making his way across the space to Aria and her friends. “Though perhaps not for a while. It sounds like Cora and Trace thought they’d have a lot to do when they get back. And you’ll have a whole new territory to explore.”

“As do you.” Neither of them had left the compound since they’d arrived, as far as he knew.

Bella nodded slowly. “We both have a lot to learn.”

It was an admission of the fact the zones had lied to them about the territories, about Alphas and Omegas. That their parents had lied to them and everyone else, trying to cause fear and keep them away from the territories. Gave them the suppressors to keep them from being themselves.

“Is your mother staying here?” he asked.

“She is.” Something in Bella’s expression changed. “I think she’s an Omega.”

“I think she is, too.” What that would mean for her and Paldon, Alek didn’t know. Probably no one did. His chest tightened as he thought of his own mother, wondering what she would do. If she would join him the same way. He deliberately pushed his father out of his mind. There was grief at the thought of his father’s impending death and a touch of relief. Perhaps a bit of hope that his father might escape the ultimate punishment, but that in that escape, he would be put in a position where he could no longer do harm.

He also thought Grigori would prefer death over the loss of his position.

There was nothing he could do, though.

He opened his arms, and Bella stepped into them. If Alek hadn’t been watching, he would not have seen Malachi stiffen. But the Alpha remained where he was and did not break off his conversation with Cora. Bella squeezed Alek tightly before stepping away.

Letting her go felt like letting go of his old life. Old Alek. Alek, who had told himself over and over again that he was just a particularly large Beta. The Alek who had thought all the danger was in the zones.

That Alek felt very far away right now. That Alek had gone and would never return.

“Take care of yourself,” he said.

She smiled back at him, a light in her eyes that he had never seen before when they’d been in Zone One. Certainly not when she’d been with Kenet. Just like him, she’d come into her own.

“You, too.” She glanced over at the Alphas. Malachi turned his head, as though he’d been waiting for her to do so. He stretched out his hand, and Bella’s smile widened. With one last glance at Alek, she moved to her Alpha’s side. Alek watched as the male’s hand curled possessively around her hip, his shoulders relaxing minutely as she was pressed against him.

Tilting his head back, he looked up at the clear blue sky. The sun was slowly rising, the courtyard currently in the shade, and the air was warming as the minutes ticked past.

It was a beautiful day.

Brianne

Staring at Paldon, Brianne tried to comprehend his words, but none of them made sense. She latched onto the most important part.

“Alek is… a Sigma? And he’s alive?” She’d been afraid, so afraid, ever since her son had disappeared into the territories.

Her mate had come from there. He’d told her how terrible they were, how vicious the Alphas were. From the moment Alek had been taken, she’d mourned him as lost, though she had not been able to completely kill the tiny spark of hope rooted in her chest. The spark that now flared.

Paldon nodded. He appeared older, more tired, and frailer than she’d ever seen him before.

“In Riversong Territory. He’s safe, Brianne. He chose to remain there. He wants you to join him.”

Brianne had not even known the territories had different names. Riversong. That was a pretty name. How could such a terrible place have such a pretty name?

Grigori was going to be so angry.

The thought whispered through her mind, making her flinch.

Her mate had been angry for days, and she’d done her best to avoid him during that time. There were times when everything she did upset him, and from the moment they’d heard Alek was taken, she had not been able to do anything right. But how could she stop crying when her son had been taken, likely torn apart in the territories?

But he was fine.

Alek was fine.

“Alek wants me to go into the territories?” It didn’t make any sense. Why would her son want her there instead of coming back home?

Paldon nodded. His exhausted expression became even more resigned, more exhausted.

“We have a new treaty with them. With the Wolf’s territory and with Riversong.” Paldon rubbed his hand over his face. “Carina is with Bella in the Wolf’s territory. Bella has chosen to remain there as the Wolf’s mate. It’s… part of the treaty.”

Staring blankly at the leader of Zone One, Brianne still did not understand.

“After they took my son, took your daughter, you made a new treaty with them?” And Bella had chosen to stay there? Alek had chosen to stay there?

None of it made sense.

Unless they’d been forced to stay there for the treaty. But Alek wanted her to join him. He wouldn’t ask for that if he thought it was dangerous. Unless Paldon was lying to her. But if he was lying to her, what part was the lie?

“Where is Grigori?” If she left… she could not imagine his rage. He’d been so angry already. If she chose to go into the territories, into the place he hated the most… she did not think she would be able to come back.

Her mate…

Her mate was not a kind male. Not anymore. Sometimes, she wondered if he ever truly had been or if she’d only seen what she’d wanted to see.

Paldon blinked. Shook his head. Reached out and took her hand.

“Brianne,” he said so gently, she wondered how she must appear to him because he seemed to be afraid she was going to shatter apart. “I just told you, remember? Grigori has been executed for crimes against the zone.”

“Oh.” He had said that. After what he’d said about Alek. It just… somehow, it hadn’t stuck in her head. She’d been too focused on her son. It had been too unbelievable.

Not so unbelievable that Grigori had committed crimes. That she believed.

It had been hard to believe that he’d been caught. Stopped.

Executed.

Her mate was dead.

Brianne sagged as some of the tension holding her upright released. Her mate was dead, and her son was alive. Tears of relief and joy sparked in her eyes.

“I want to be with Alek.”

Nodding slowly, Paldon squeezed her hands. “Then you shall be.”

Malachi

Pale eyes stared back at him.

The face was older, but the features were unmistakable, even in death.

The sight of Grigori’s head did not give him everything he hoped for.

There was satisfaction and a sense of vindication, but…

The peace he’d wanted, the peace he’d hoped for, he now realized he already had. He’d found it while Grigori still lived.

How very strange.

“Are you going to keep it?” Jordan asked. The blond Alpha studied the head with the same intensity Malachi did. His tone was even, nonjudgemental. The other two Alphas in the room, Zadia and Marek, both looked on with the same kind of intense curiosity. They’d all waited so long for this moment.

“No.” He’d thought he would want to, as a trophy, as a reminder, but now that it was here in his possession…

He didn’t want it.

Grigori was nothing. He meant nothing. Now, he was gone, with almost no one to mourn him, and he would soon be forgotten. Tatiana would be remembered.

As it should be.

“Get rid of it.” Malachi waved his hand.

Nodding, Marek stepped forward and lifted the head by the hair, dropping it back into the bag it had been delivered in.

“I have my mate to return to.”

His mate.

Saying that was where the true satisfaction lay.

Tatiana would likely not have approved of his thirst for vengeance against Grigori, but he liked to think she would approve of Bella. She would have wanted him to be happy. She would have approved of the peace between the zones and the territories and the treaty that allowed the zone citizens to choose their path for themselves. Suppressants or no suppressants. Zones or territories.

Knowing her murderer was dead, knowing the traitor who had caused so much destruction had been served his due justice, settled something inside him.

“Good timing, what with your mating celebration tonight,” Jordan said as Malachi turned away.

“It is.” Fitting in many ways. The door to the past was closed. Now, he was stepping forward into his future.