The Alpha's Progeny [The Alpha's #3]

MALIK VLADIMIR

Like he always did when he was over at Mars and Stassie’s place, Malik made himself pancakes. He made some extra so they could enjoy some when they eventually awoke.

As far as he was concerned, he made the best pancakes in the pack. Both Apo to Chaos and Lupum Griseo. Every other pack, too, he was sure.

It was only when he was on his last pancake of the very large stack he had built on his plate that a grand idea sprang to mind. Whipping up a fresh batch in record time, he grabbed the bottle of maple syrup from the cabinets and was out the door. In less than a few minutes, he had reached the front door but when he came to a stop in front of it, he started having second thoughts.

If you knock on the door right now, you’ll literally be asking for it, his wolf warned him. Like Mars said yesterday, let’s try and get on her family’s good side. And waking them all up this early in the morning isn’t going to help in that.

Sometimes, I have no idea what you’re talking about and other times, you make perfect sense.

What are you talking about? his wolf snorted. I always make perfect sense.

That’s debatable.

Placing own the stack of pancakes and bottle of maple syrup, Malik gave the house one last look before he turned around and head back to the house. If he had a pen and paper, he would have left a note, but he didn’t. So, instead he hoped that his scent would be enough to tell his mate it was him who had whipped together breakfast for them all this morning. That, and he didn’t expect many, if any, wolves dropping off pancakes like this.

Malik walked back to the house with a large grin on his face, feeling really great about himself. He was certain that it still wouldn’t be enough to win over Trinity’s family but hopefully, this would be a stepping stone.

The grin remained on his face for a matter of seconds before it slipped off and was replaced with a confused frown.

“What’s going on?” Malik asked the wolf stood closest to him, trying to stare over the large crowd of wolves that had gathered outside the Alpha and Luna’s house.

Instead of answering him like a normal person, the wolf jumped back before proceeding to growl out to everyone. “Here he is! He’s here!” his voice was loud and clear, demanding the attention of everyone within the immediate vicinity, if not the entire pack. “It’s Malik Vladimir!”

“Why are you screaming?” his eyebrows knitted together in confusion, unable to think of what he had done to elicit such a reaction. “What’s going on?”

Suddenly, an uproar began as the large crowd of wolves turned around to face him. He was pushed and shoved around until he found himself in the centre of the crowd, more disoriented than he could imagine.

“Stop pushing me! Stop fucking touching me!” Malik growled, his wolf forcefully pushing up to the surface. He glared and bared his teeth at all those around him, taking sick pleasure in watching them all cower away, immediately regretting their mistreatment of him. “Will someone tell me what’s going on?” he asked but it was not from the crowd that he received his answer.

“Malik! Up here!” he heard Marcellus call out to him, his voice riddled with fear.

Following the voice, Malik pushed through the crowd without a care for people’s feelings. Not after the way they had attempted to push him around like a sack of potatoes. An Alpha, no less! How were they stupid enough to think that they would be able to push an Alpha around like that?

They were lucky that this wasn’t his pack. If any of his pack members had treated him this way, they wouldn’t be getting off with a simple push and shove.

“What’s going on, Mars?” Malik asked as he jogged up the porch steps. When he noticed the deranged, clearly panicked look on Marcellus’ face, he knew something was terribly wrong.

“Penelope has gone missing.”

“What?”

“She’s gone missing,” Marcellus growled out, tightening his grip on his hair. “I don’t know what happened. We-I-we,” he struggled to get his words out.

“Take your time and start from the beginning, okay?” Malik reached out for Marcellus’ hands, pulling them away from his hair to stop him from ripping out chunks of it. “Tell me what happened and we’ll get to the bottom of this. What do you mean Penelope is missing?”

“She woke up in the middle of the night to feed as normal. I gave her a bottle and put her back in her cot when she fell asleep. When I woke up again in the morning, she was missing. Gone from her cot!”

“Where’s Stassie?” Malik asked, turning his head in all directions to search for his aunt. There was no way that her child was going missing and she wasn’t doing anything about it.

“She’s out in the forest with the warriors searching for her,” Marcellus told him. “I came back because the trackers are inside. They’re trying to pick up a scent.”

“I’ll join the search,” Malik told him, reaching out to give his shoulder a reassuring squeeze. “Once the trackers are done, come and join us but I promise you Mars, we’ll find her.”

“We have to.”

“We will,” Malik whispered the promise before turning around and jumping off the porch. He landed on the ground on four paws, forcefully pushing his way through the crowd of angry wolves that still looked at him like he was behind all of this. He ignored their judgement and pushed himself to go harder and faster, the desperation to find his cousin leading him.

Babies don’t just go missing in the middle of the night, his wolf told him. Someone’s taken her.

I know, Malik gulped even though he didn’t wish to think such negative thoughts. Whatever happened, whoever is at the bottom of all of this, we’re going to get her back.

It didn’t take long for him to find the rest of the search party in the forest. Immediately, he set eyes on the powerful wolf in front of them all, leading the search. As he wasn’t from the Lupum Griseo pack, he couldn’t mind link with anyone so instead, he saddled up next to his aunt and brushed his head against the side of hers.

Don’t worry. We’ll find her. We’ll get her back, safe and sound, was what he wanted to tell her but since he couldn’t, he nuzzled the side of her face affectionately before breaking up from the rest of the group and doing a search of his own.

Malik searched for what felt like hours but he wasn’t able to pick up on anything. He searched as much as the forest as he possibly could but when he came up with nothing, not even the whiff of a scent, he turned around and headed back to the clearing where he had left the search party.

“Find anything?” Malik asked a group of wolves that had turned back to their human forms.

“Nothing,” one of the wolves shook their head while the other snarled at him. “Why are you asking when you already know the answer to that?”

“What?” he questioned, his eyebrows furrowing together in the middle.

“I bet you were the one to take Penelope.”

“Why would I do that? She’s my cousin,” he pointed out the obvious, unable to believe the absurdity of this wolf. “I’m trying to help find her.”

“After you took her.”

“I would shut your mouth if I were you. Before I permanently shut it for you.”

“Just like your father,” the wolf snorted and rolled his eyes, not realising – or uncaring – of the can of worms that he had just opened up.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Your father and the entire Apo to Chaos pack is known for kidnapping pups and sacrificing them to that wretched God of yours. How do we know that you and your pack haven’t taken Penelope for that very reason.”

“Shut your fucking mouth, Jack!” Anastasia screamed as she shifted into her human. “If you’re here to spread nasty lies instead of helping me find my daughter, then leave!”

“No, Luna. Sorry, Luna,” the wolf apologised and bowed his head in respect, leaving Malik ever so confused. But he knew now was not an appropriate time for his questions.

Not when Penelope was still missing and Lord knows in what kind of trouble.

“Did you find anything?” Anastasia turned to ask Malik, desperation dripping from her voice.

“Nothing,” he sent her an apologetic look. “But we’ll find her, Stassie. We will.”

“We have to,” she spoke with the utmost determination; a woman on a mission.

As strong of an act Anastasia put up, Malik knew she was vulnerable. For Lord’s sake! She had just given birth yesterday and now her child was missing! What person wouldn’t be vulnerable and broken if that were to happen.

Marcellus and the trackers joined them on the hunt soon after. They must have picked up on something as all of them gripped baby spink scraps of what looked like a curtain in their mouths. Those that had already shifted transformed back into their wolves and together, they ran in formation with the Alpha, Luna and trackers leading the party.

The wolf was either incredibly talented or incredibly slow but either way, it worked out in their favour. On the edge of the forest, dangerously close to the border of the pack was a familiar wolf. However, that was not what caught Malik’s attention but rather, the small bundle in his arms.

As if sensing her parents near, the baby started crying. That appeared to be the last straw for the Alpha and Luna couple. Pushing themselves past the trackers, Anastasia grabbed their baby while Marcellus tackled the culprit to the ground. The entire search party and growled and watched as their Alpha beat the wolf to a pulp, but it was only before the last punch that Malik stepped forward to stop him.

“Don’t kill him, Mars. After what he’s done, he deserves more than a quick death,” he urged his uncle in a dangerously low tone. “Let me take him back with me. Give him the punishment he deserves in front of his own people?”

Reluctantly, Marcellus nodded his head. But not before throwing one last punch at the wolf, no doubt breaking his jaw.

It appeared that once again, his stay at the Lupum Griseo pack would be ending sooner than anticipated. Except this time, he was leaving on less than joyous news.

For what this wolf did, there was no forgiveness. There was only retribution.

And who better than his own Alpha?

-

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Layla Knight

15.08.2021