The Alpha’s Heir
Chapter 5

*** Salma ***

It’s claustrophobic being locked in like this. I hate having my freedom taken away; however, I have never seen my Alejandro like this. I have never seen him so wound up and consumed by worry and anger.

He is convinced someone is going to try and kill me. The Mafia do not f**k around. I should know, after all, and if I was aware of such a threat, I would have shot the bastard right between the eyes by now. My father was no pushover and yet he was poisoned to death.

Who is my brother? My mother refuses to cooperate with us and so we had to use Raul’s contacts to find out which firm Dominga belongs to.

So far, we have found that she is part of the Serrano family. They are a very rich and powerful Mafia mob and we must tread carefully. I don’t want an all-out turf war; I just want justice for my papa.

The Serrano Family are a more dominant mob than us because of their geographical position. They own most of London and that gives them a lot of power and extreme wealth to cover anything they may be lacking. They are not to be underestimated. Even with the Morales and Suarez families combined, the Serranos are still more powerful, with better connections and resources beyond our capabilities.

I am biding my time until Raul arranges for us to meet to discuss Dominga and the small matter of my father’s murder.

My period finally starts and on top of being holed up for two days, I have to face my failure once again. My frustration and anger are ten-fold. Even Ale gives me a wide berth and I just want Eva, or papa or even Mami to hug me.

“You’re stuck with me, Chula, so let me comfort you. Stop being so stubborn,” Ale shouts at me after I push him away, but the truth is I’m scared. What if I can’t give him a child? Will he begin to hate and resent me?

“Leave me alone, Ale, I’m sick of the sight of you.” As the hurt flares in his eyes, I instantly regret being so nasty and harsh with him. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I don’t mean it. I’m sad, Ale, and I hate that you’re seeing me like this.”

I don’t resist when he pulls me to him. “If you just listen for a moment, I have brought you a present. Something I think will make you feel better, for a little while anyway. Salma, mi amor, don’t hide away from me. I love you, warts and all.”

“You cheeky bastard, I do not have warts! What did you buy me?” He’s more than likely bought me chocolate or, more specifically, chocolate ice cream.

However, he shakes his head at me. “I didn’t buy you anything. I caught it.”

What the f**k is he talking about now? I wonder to myself. “What, like a fish or a rat?”

The look of amusement in his eyes makes my heart heal a little. God above, this man takes my breath away.

“Yes, I suppose you could describe it as a rat, but why don’t you let me show you? Bring your bag, you’re going to need it.” He’s referring to my work bag, my bag of tricks, my bag full of instruments of pain and torture.

A thrill of excitement fills my tummy, and Ale knows it too, by the smile on his face.

“What did you catch for me?” I eagerly ask. What do I get to play with and take all my pent-up frustration and disappointment out on?

Ale leads me down to the basement. He covers my eyes for the last two steps with one hand and continues to guide me with the other.

When we reach the bottom of the stairs, he removes his hand from my eyes and whispers, “Surprise” at me. I blink several times to reclaim my sight. Then, I notice the middle-aged, plump and dowdy woman bound to a chair with a gag in her mouth.

Realisation floods over me. I have waited months to confront this bitch and now the time is here.

“Oh, Ale! Thank you, this is the best present ever.” I k!ss him passionately, allowing him closer than I have for the past two days, and he practically growls in satisfaction. “I’m definitely cutting her eyelids off though, as a special present to myself.”

Ale chuckles a little. “Whatever makes mi bebe happy, you can do whatever you want with this piece of shit. She is all yours to torture before I chop her fuvking head off.” Ale’s face darkens as he looks back over at his quarry. “Let me tell you a little bit about my best catch so far. She is implicated in the disappearance of at least seventeen children, all of them are little girls. They are thought to have been s3x trafficked out of here. We got Summer back just in time because the same was probably planned for her too. Isn’t that right, Carole?”

Through her gag, Carole Berkley is trying to shout. Tears fall involuntarily from her eyes, and she shakes her head and body side to side as she tries fruitlessly to escape.

The new information about the extent of her kidnapping and the reason behind it fuels me. This will be a full Mafia torture to the death. Crimes against small children are completely off the table, they are punishable by the worst means imaginable. The people who commit those crimes are the lowest scum on this earth.

As I approach her, Carole continues to try and shout. “Were you never told not to talk when your mouth is full?” I ask her sweetly, and Carole’s eyes enlarge in realisation. She isn’t getting out of this intact or alive. Justice has just caught up with her.

*** Eva ***

I can’t contact Aiden and I’m worried about him. I ask my new Gamma Wolf, Max, to locate Preston so I can talk to him, but his guards come back empty-handed.

“He hasn’t been to training and he hasn’t been to the canteen. I’m just waiting for Gamma Guard Nyle to return from Preston’s parents’ place. Maybe he has gone there?” Uneasiness about it all nags my conscience, so I take the emergency key to Amber and Preston’s apartment and command Gamma Max to stay and guard Summer.

“No, Luna. I will stand outside while you go in, but one of the other guards can stay and protect Summer.” Max is very forward. It’s easy to see why Aiden thought he would be the best suited for the job. However, right now I just want to smack him in the eye for being so stringent.

I scowl at him, and he smiles back at me. “What are you smiling at?” I ask him. “I thought we could be friends but you’re too bossy.”

He laughs and this time it reaches his eyes. “I’m not here to be your friend, Luna. I am here to protect you from harm.” Well, there is no way to argue out of that one.

“Fine,” I tell him as I k!ss Summer and tell her to behave. He follows me as I leave my own apartment and walk down the corridor to Preston’s and Amber’s.

I knock lightly and wait but there is still no answer, so I turn the emergency key and the door springs open. “I will be right here if you need me, Luna, just shout to me.” I nod to Max. He isn’t a bad guy, he’s just not as pliable as Aiden when it comes to getting what I want.

The apartment is in darkness despite it being daytime, and as I walk across the room to open the curtains, I fall over Preston, who is asleep on the floor. Unshaven, unwashed and dressed in dirty clothes, he stinks of stale drink and vomit.

“What the hell?” He shouts as I startle him awake. He pounces on me and pins me to the floor; I fear the look in his eyes, at least until he recognises me. “Eva? What are you doing scaring me like that?”

He quickly releases me and apologises. But all in all, the state of him, his clothes, the apartment, and the fact that he is so on edge confirms to me that something bad has happened.

“Have you heard something? Are Aiden and Amber, okay?” Preston looks at me with bloodshot eyes, straining to concentrate on me.

“…Evieeee! There you are, my new Luna, whatcha doing here? Did you bring some brandy with you?” Preston slurs his words and as he tries to stand so he can bow to me he falls a couple of times before giving up completely. He is as pissed as a fart.

“Why are you drunk in the daytime, Preston? And where have you been? I’ve been trying to find you.” My questions are fuelled by concern, but I stop my questioning when I hear him crying. His shoulders shake uncontrollably.

“I’m in shit, Eva, and I don’t know what to do. All I know is I love Amber and I can’t live without her, and I can’t keep her safe. I’m fvcked no matter what I do. Nikki will see to it no matter what decision I make.”

In a confused state, I listen to him. I don’t know who he is talking about or what they have to do with him and Amber, but Preston is like a brother to me now. I want to help him.

“I don’t know what has happened, Preston, but I want to help you. Why don’t you tell me what has been happening?” He takes a deep breath and nods.

I take his hands and help him stand up.

“Yes, I think I had better tell someone what has been happening and then maybe you can tell me what the hell I’m supposed to do. Let me get a shower and clean up first. I feel rank.”

As he stumbles to the bathroom, I clear away the empty beer and liquor bottles and contemplate what it is Preston could have to say.

What could have possibly upset him so much?

*** Amber ***

We are given permission to cross the border but they keep our phones and weapons and we must travel the last part by horse.

The final leg of our journey is the most difficult and treacherous part of the whole trip. The rugged highlands of Scotland are some of the most breathtakingly beautiful and sinfully unpredictable and challenging terrain I have ever had to tackle.

It doesn’t help that I feel awful. I am not sure if it’s the distance between Preston and I, the lack of contact we’ve had or if I have a little bug. Whatever the cause, my stomach twists in knots. The further north we travel, the worse I seem to feel. I need my answers so I can go home to my mate.

Upon our arrival, Aiden and I walk into the main hall of the keep. The Alpha Laird is there, but there is no female. Where is my mother?

“Alpha Laird Rory, we have come here to reconnect with our mother-”

The Alpha Laird interrupts Aiden by coughing and raising his hand. His eyes never leave me. The expression on his face is unreadable.

“I know who you are and why you are here. Coral, your mother, was my fated mate and I feel like she has just walked into my hall again, just like she did all those years ago. You both have her eyes, but you look like her twin.”

When he looks at me, it’s with love and pain etched all over his face.

“I know you’re here for answers, although I did expect you both to come a long time ago. Your mother left you both memory boxes.” She left them for us, I think to myself. Does that mean she’s fvcked off from here too? Has this been a wasted journey, a waste of the time I don’t have?

“Why hasn’t our mother received us? Surely she wanted to see us after all this time or is she sincerely that cold and unfeeling?” The contempt is apparent in Aiden’s voice as he speaks, but it’s Alpha Laird Rory’s reaction to his words that captures my attention.

“You don’t know, do you? I told John, I told him so he could tell you both because I wasn’t in a fit state to travel.”

“Tell us what?” My angry reply reverberates around the room. Has she taken another lover and moved again to pastures new? Where the hell is she?

“Aiden, Amber. Please join me at the table. We have a lot to discuss.”

He directs us to an old stone table where there are already two boxes set out.

“I didn’t realise. I thought you knew. I thought you were here to find out more about her. I told your father, but I am not surprised now, after everything he did, that he didn’t tell you.” As we sit, I get a better look at my mother’s other mate. He’s handsome, I’ll give her that.

“Please, just tell us, Alpha Laird Rory. Where is our mother?”

“I’m so sorry, truly I am. She’s dead. She died the year after she left you.”

I’ve never had an outer body experience, but I have shifted and allowed Lizzie to have control and right now that’s how I feel, except Lizzie doesn’t have control either. Neither of us are in control.

My mother is dead. After all this time, she isn’t even alive. She wasn’t alive all this time. I thought she was rejecting me and evading me and ignoring me. All the times I cursed her for not loving me, or coming back for me or for not sending me a note, she was dead and gone.

My brother’s voice penetrates my shocked haze. “Dead? How?” I can tell from his voice he is holding on to his emotions tightly. He sounds like he is straining to talk.

“Aidy.” I can’t keep the sob out of my voice as I reach out to my big brother, the only other person in the universe who understands the devastation I feel right now. Why?

“It’s okay, Amber, I’ve got you,” he assures me before turning back to the Alpha Laird. “How could you take another man’s mate, take a woman away from her children, leave little pups with a no-good father and no bloody mother?”

“She wasn’t your father’s mate. She had one fated mate and that was me. She was nothing more than a plaything to your father. Sure, he made her Luna when she fell pregnant with you, Aiden, but she was never his to keep. Not that he wanted to keep her, he just didn’t want anyone else to want her.”

This is the first time Alpha Laird Rory has lost his composure in front of us and it stuns us into silence as he continues to tell us his tale.

“We found each other quite by accident. I was visiting the English Alphas as part of my training when a little redheaded pup ran past me heading for the riverbank and I caught her just before she jumped. Her mother was so relieved, and then the scent hit me. Her mother was my mate. I couldn’t believe it. The mate of the Alpha I was visiting was my mate too. That was enough of a shock, and then I uncovered the truth.”

He can’t keep the bitterness out of his voice. “He didn’t even mark her. She was nothing to him, and because she hadn’t been claimed, our bond just grew and grew. I was prepared to go to war for your mother, but she wanted to keep things amicable. She wanted you to have both your parents and so we approached Alpha John and explained the situation.”

Anger apparent in his expression, Rory doesn’t stop. Maybe now that he’s started, he can’t stop. “He was furious at first, demanding to know if we had embarked on an affair, but I assured him that we hadn’t, that I couldn’t. To mess with the mate of an Alpha is punishable by death. But now I knew they weren’t mates, fated or chosen, she was mine to claim.”

Rory pauses to drink from a goblet before carrying on with his recollection. “We came to an agreement. Your mother and I could have shared custody of the two of you if we left quietly. That night, I received word that my father had been hurt in a hunting accident and I had to return immediately to my own territory.”

His expression turns darker as he explains more. “Your mother obviously wanted to wait behind with you two, she wanted to have everything in place before she left the territory, so I left her behind thinking she would be safe with her pack. No-one knew she had found her mate and was leaving to be with him. We had no reason to suspect anything.”

He pauses to look at us; I am visibly upset, and Aiden is shaking with pent-up anger. “I know this is a lot to take in but it’s important that you know she loved you and being separated from you both killed her. Your father’s wickedness killed her because if he couldn’t have her, he didn’t want anyone else to either.”

Replacing the goblet on the table, he stands and walks to the open hearth before turning back to us. “By the time I had arrived at my territory and realised my father was fit and well, there had been no accident and it was all a ruse to get me away from your mother, I knew something bad was going to happen. I thought your father would have you all killed or that he would hide you away.”

Tears fill his eyes. “I found my Coral broken on the road with just a thin dress on despite it raining heavily. He had banished her and told her if she ever returned, he would behead you both. He had mutilated her, thoroughly abused her and sent her on her way without so much as a coat.”

I gasp in horror. How could that bastard do that?

“The bonds that tie us together are sacred. The bonds between a parent and their children are almost unbreakable. It is one of the most powerful phenomena known to our kind. The bond presides over all other bonds and… the only way I can explain is, if you ever see a fated mate couple reject each other, it is immensely painful and can destroy them. The broken bond between a parent and child acts like cancer, a disease, and slowly kills the parent.”

I struggle to understand his lesson. There is so much to take in and I am still reeling from the fact that my mother is dead. “I accepted you both the moment I found out about you so that my bond with your mother was secure. I never had an issue accepting you because I knew you both had a claim on Onyx River, with you being John’s heir, Aiden. I loved your mother and wanted her to be happy. Me accepting you both made her happy.”

He’s starting to reach an important point, I can feel it. I sit at the edge of my seat and Aiden leans forward too. “However, your father banishing her and breaking the bond between you was enough to kill your mother. I tried my best to save her, but I couldn’t. My love and our bond would never have been enough to heal her broken heart and soul.”

Alpha Laird Rory stops for a moment when his voice breaks but quickly continues on. “She loved you both so, so much. You were everything to her. She would cry and talk about the times she had been cold towards you both because deep down she always knew John would use you to hurt her. She worried nonstop about who was caring for you both, who was loving you and if you would ever forgive her for not being strong enough to fight your father.”

We all have tears in our eyes; this is not the outcome I expected or wanted. It was something I had never even contemplated. All this time, I thought she simply didn’t love us and that we weren’t good enough for her. However, tragically, us being torn away from her caused her heart to break and it killed her.

My father. Even up until a few days ago, he tried to blame her, he tried to cover up what he had done.

As soon as I have my knives back and we return to the Onyx River, I will allow Aiden to remove his throat before I chop his f*****g head off and mount it on a big stick. He killed my mother. He murdered her.

I will make him pay.

“Where is she?” I want to pay my respects to the woman who carried and bore me. The woman who died because of her love and longing for us. I need to say goodbye and then I need to go home, so I get to my feet.

Rory rubs his hands over his face. The lines of grief are even more evident now and, out of reverence for his honesty, and for our mutual love of his mate, I cross the room to him and offer him a hug.

A little sob escapes him as he reciprocates and murmurs, “Goodness, you look so much like her, Amber, I feel like she’s here with me.” That comforts me somewhat, that a part of her is still alive within me.

Aiden approaches as well, offering his hand.

“Rory, I just want to apologise. I should never have accused you of taking her away. We didn’t know. Our father has a lot to answer for. I want to assure you, as his son and Alpha, he will reap what he has sown. He will pay for this.” I nod my agreement to my brother.

Time is up for former Alpha John Goldrick; karma is on its way in the form of his children.

*** Preston ***

No matter how hard I try, I cannot recall ever feeling so shitty in all my life. Even when I thought I was going to lose Amber when she struggled to commit, there had been hope that everything would work out. Now, it’s like I’ve fallen into a black hole. Everything seems bleak and hopeless.

I have dreams that turn into nightmares. Amber is running in front of me, but no matter how fast I run or how hard I try, I can’t reach her. I can feel the ends of her hair when I stretch out, but she remains elusive to me.

I wake covered in sweat with a scream stuck in my throat and my heart beating like an overactive drummer. Once or twice, I have woken up crying and I was powerless to stop my tears from falling. What am I going to do? What can I do?

It’s like there is a large hole in my chest and Zack has even stopped howling all night long. When he was loud, I prayed for his silence, but now, I am frightened I may never hear him again.

I didn’t make a conscious decision to drink, but once I begin to drink the whiskey, I find it easier to block everything out. At one point, everything seems hilarious. I laugh maniacally at the most boring and unextraordinary of things.

When I pass the happy phase, I start to hurl in the toilet, all down my front and even in the lounge we have just finished decorating. I crash out on the floor and the next day I can’t motivate myself to get up. I just want to curl up in a ball and die.

When the rest of the pack try to mindlink me, I block all attempts. I cannot deal with my own thoughts and feelings, never mind theirs too.

I even ignore the mindlink attempts my future Luna makes. I just want Amber, but I can’t have her. Not now, and it is looking more certain that she won’t be mine in the future either. My heart aches with loneliness and sadness.

Out of nowhere, I feel a kick in my side and sense someone is in my room. I think it must be Nikki! So I jump up with every intention of hurting her until I meet the eyes of my future Luna who, by this point, I have pinned by the throat.

“Eva! What are you doing scaring me like that?” I shout out, both relieved and infuriated that she isn’t Nikki.

Finally, the dam bursts, and my worries pour out to Eva. Before I tell her everything, I need to freshen up and change my clothes. I look and feel rotten.

I have a shower and Eva cleans up the apartment a bit and makes a pot of tea when, suddenly, we are both overcome with sadness and pain. Eva is confused by what it means but I automatically know what the cause is; Amber is in pain, and Aiden too. We are feeling their emotions through our bonds. I frantically try to call my mate. I need to know she is okay.

“It’s just going straight to voicemail. For f***s sake. I need to know if she is okay. I can’t take it anymore!” I say, and the desperation and futility in my own voice claws at my heart. I am hurting more than ever now.

“Preston. Sit down. Please. Just sit down and talk to me. None of this is helpful to you or Amber. Tell me what is troubling you while we wait for Aiden to return your call.”

“It’s all such a mess. I don’t even know where to start, Eva. It all began the day I gave evidence at Ellis’ trial. The man Amber cut down from the Moon Stone pack… his widow came onto our lands and made me a proposition. She wants me to reject Amber and take her as my chosen mate.”

Eva’s mouth drops open in shock.

“She told me she has the influence to have Amber imprisoned for the rest of her life or even executed. In exchange for rejecting Amber and accepting Nikki as my chosen mate, Nikki will drop all charges against Amber. Amber would be safe and free.”

From the look on her face, I can see she is at a loss for what to say in response to that. “Why didn’t you tell us? Does Amber or Aiden know?” Eva is in shock at what I have told her. I can see the worry and concern in her eyes, and it forces tears to fall from my own.

“No one knows, you’re the only one I’ve told. But, Eva, there is an even bigger issue to contend with too. I think she might be part witch or something because she was able to get onto our lands undetected. She was even able to locate me deep in the forest when I was patrolling.”

My shoulders slump as the futility of it hits me again.

“I don’t know how I can keep Amber safe anymore. I don’t want anyone else, only her. It’s always been her, and it always will be. But if I don’t do as Nikki says, then she’ll make sure Amber never sees the light of day again.”

She pats my shoulder in an attempt at comforting me while she contemplates the information I have given her and what our next move should be.

When she stands up, my tiny Luna has a determined look in her eyes now. “I am going to be Luna of this pack and I need to start making decisions and working through problems. Therefore, Beta Preston, I think I need to pay my beloved Alpha father a visit. I have some important matters to discuss with him.”

I nod my agreement to her, and she continues to tell me what her plan is. “Can you arrange that for me please and then we will have a better idea of what we are facing? But look, don’t worry so much. You are not alone and as soon as Aiden and Amber return, we can all work on this together.” I smile back at her, and even though she is much smaller than me, and a few years younger than me, in a way, I feel like she is the big sister and I’m her little brother who she’s helping.

I miss Amber. The nights are unbearable. I can feel her heartache, her sorrow and her pain and the silence between us just increases my worries about where she is and if she is safe.

Then I torment myself some more by wondering and worrying about how long she will be safe once she returns home. I refuse to face a future with her, my mate, MINE. I have waited so long for her; I am not prepared to just give up on us.

I’d rather die than live the rest of my life without her.

With renewed purpose, I do my Luna’s bidding and contact her father, Alpha Xavier, and arrange for Eva to visit him today. Alpha Xavier sounds elated that his daughter has requested to see him and offers to send an escort for her, but I explain that Eva wants to keep it low key and will be escorted by myself and her Gamma.

“I look forward to seeing her,” he replies enthusiastically. I feel a smidge bad that the visit is not to get to know him but to address his pack members’ threats against me. Not bad enough to correct his misunderstanding though.

Within an hour, Eva has settled her little girl, Summer, with Mrs Moore, and Max has left the rest of the Gamma Guard to protect her. Max asks Eva if she would like to drive, but she refuses, and I get a member of my Beta team to drive instead.

On the surface, Eva looks calm and poised, but both Max and I detect her nervousness. “Preston, remember, as soon as you spot that bloody woman you must mindlink me straight away,” she reminds me for the third time.

“I will Luna, I promise,” I assure her as I mindlink Max and ask him to help her calm down. Max talks to us both about little Summer chasing a squirrel yesterday.

“She was so cute, wasn’t she, Eva, she would run all the way up to it and then squeal and giggle when it ran away again. She kept shouting, ‘look mummy a squiggle’. It was the cutest thing I have ever seen”.

Eva smiles in recollection and I quickly thank Max for distracting her. I think Max being Eva’s Gamma Wolf is a perfect combination. They seem to get along very well together, and I feel assured about Max’s ability to not only keep her safe but to tune into her feelings and support her when she needs it.

We are waved through border security; Alpha Xavier has prepared them for our visit.

The packhouse is around five minutes from the border and when we stop outside, Alpha Xavier is already there, ready to greet us.

“Eva, you look beautiful, welcome back to the Moon Stone territory.” He walks over to his daughter and Eva’s nervousness is unmistakable, she blushes and bites her l*p.

“Thank you for allowing us to visit at short notice, father. There is a matter I need to discuss with you immediately.”

As we walk into the pack house, my eyes meet Nikki’s. LUNA, THERE, NOW.

Eva swoops like an avenging archangel and collars Nikki.

“And this is the topic of our discussion. Get in there now,” Eva tells Nikki and we all listen to her.

For the first time, I realise Eva isn’t just a werewolf, or a future Luna.

She is The Alpha’s Heir.