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

MALIK VLADIMIR

“I’m sorry for leaving without telling you,” he whispered into the darkness of the night, wishing his mate was here with him now. Then he wouldn’t have to call her just to hear her voice.

“I wish I was with you now as well, Malik,” he heard her sigh. “I just wish things were simpler for us.”

“They can be simpler. We can make them simpler,” the words rushed out of his mouth as he pushed himself into a sitting position on the bed. “I don’t care what people think. We’re mates and that’s that.”

“I know, I know,” she assured him. “I’m not going to take my dad’s advice so you have nothing to worry about. But I just wish my family would stop poking their nose in our business.”

“It definitely would make things easier,” he chuckled. “But not to worry. I’ll win them over in no time.”

“You sure do sound awfully sure of yourself.”

“Lord Erebus has destined us to be together. That’s good enough a reason for me for us to work at this, even if things don’t look quite as simple as either of us would have hoped for them to be.”

“You mean the Moon Goddess.”

“What?” Malik asked, thrown off for a moment by her sudden statement.

“You mean it’s the Moon Goddess that has destined for us to be together,” Trinity corrected him.

“That may be what you believe in but I’ve grown up believing in Lord Erebus. He’s also the one that has destined for us to be together like he has with all mates,” Malik explained, trying to stay as respectful as he possibly could. After all, this was his mate that he was speaking to.

“That doesn’t make any sense,” he could literally hear the frown in her voice. “What has Erebus got to do with mates? History literally states that the Moon Goddess is the mother of all werewolves-”

“Yes, and when she abandoned her creations, Lord Erebus came in to give them a new lease of life,” Malik was quick to add in, failing in not taking offense to their clash of beliefs. Especially when she so clearly believed that he and his beliefs were wrong. “He broke werewolf souls into two, destining the two parts as mates.”

“I’ve never heard that before in my life.”

“Well, now you know.”

“So, what are you saying? That Lord Erebus is the true God of werewolves?”

“That’s what I believe,” he told her. “I don’t expect you to believe the same thing. Don’t worry. It’s totally cool for us to have differing beliefs and opinions.”

“And what about our pups? Who are they going to believe in?”

“Lord Erebus,” Malik shrugged, not that Trinity would be able to see it through the phone. “Since you’ll be living in the Apo to Chaos pack and this is where we’ll be raising our future pups, it only makes sense for them to believe in Lord Erebus.”

“I don’t want our pups to worship Erebus,” she murmured in a small voice, not sounding so sure of herself.

“What? Why not?” Malik frowned into the phone, both him and his wolf on high alert.

“I’d like for them to worship the Moon Goddess. Like me.”

“But what about me? What about the pack?” he questioned, his lips tugging down into a deep frown. “Whatever pups we do end up having eventually are going to be the leaders of the Apo to Chaos pack. It doesn’t make sense for them to worship the Moon Goddess. That would be hypocritical and there’s no way they’ll be able to lead the pack after us that way.”

“I didn’t think that far ahead,” Trinity murmured, sounding just as confused as he was.

“How about we worry about this when it comes to us having pups?” he asked after a few moments of silence, hoping that they would be able to brush over this topic for now. They would have to return at a later date but for now, so early into their mate ship, he much preferred getting to know her. And things were going so well before that topic crept up.

“Fine but can we please talk about the rumours?” she insisted, a sense of urgency in her voice this time round.

“What rumours?”

“Like everyone else, I’ve grown up all these rumours and stories about the Apo to Chaos pack,” Trinity began, inhaling sharply. “I know that I shouldn’t be listening to all these rumours but it’s hard to believe anything else when this is all I’ve been told about your pack my whole life.”

“What kind of rumours?” Malik asked in a low tone, purposely keeping his voice emotion-free.

“The most prominent would be that you’re trying to free Lord Erebus,” she almost whispered into the phone, as if she feared someone from her pack or family overhearing what they were discussing right now. Even though Malik tried to keep a tap on his feelings and emotions, he struggled to keep the low growl from escaping him. “The Apo to Chaos pack has been trying to overthrow the Moon Goddess and free Lord Erebus with pup sacrifices for years now. They’ve been unsuccessful so far but the sacrifices haven’t stopped.”

“Where did you hear that?”

“From everyone.”

“And I’m assuming none of these people are actually from the Apo to Chaos pack?” he quirked a questioning brow, not the least bit impressed with al that he had just heard.

“No,” she denied in a quiet voice.

“I don’t know why you’ve chosen to believe these rumours without knowing the truth. Or hearing it first hand from a member of the Apo to Chaos pack itself,” Malik pursed his lips, trying and failing to keep his anger at bay. “And I know that you’re not the only wolf out there to believe these rumours but honestly, I’m just very disappointed that you still believe them even after finding out we’re mates.”

“We only met each other yesterday. A day is not enough time for me to stop believing in something which I’ve literally grown up believing,” Trinity pointed out, speaking nothing but facts. However, it wasn’t enough to appease Malik.

“It’s probably best if we stop while we’re still ahead,” Malik sighed into the phone, not wanting to aggravate the delicate situation more than it already had been.

“That’s probably the smart idea,” she agreed. “Well, good night.”

Except, it wasn’t. How could it be after things had ended with Trinity.

After the phone call which could have very easily gone another way and avoided all this unnecessary drama, Malik found it difficult to fall asleep. He turned over several times and even resorted to stripping down to his boxers, but that still wasn’t enough to drift him off to dreamland.

When his eyes finally grew heavy with sleep, he heard some rustling from outside his bedroom window. Perhaps if Malik wasn’t feeling so deranged, he would have ignored it but it was too late. He was now wide awake as sleep evaded him yet once again.

Malik held his breath as he sat up in the bed and leaned over to glance through the window. At first, he didn’t notice anything. He scanned the entire view of the window and when he didn’t spy anything out of the ordinary, he moved to lay back down on the bed. A moment before he did just that, something caught the corner of his eye.

“What’s he doing out of bed?” Malik whispered under his breath, leaning over further to spy his father walking casually toward the forest. As if it wasn’t past three in the morning right now.

At this time of night, most people were asleep but not his dad, apparently.

Malik waited until his dad was halfway to the forest before he climbed out of bed. His actions were rushed as he pulled on some jogging bottoms, pulling on his top as he snuck out of the pack house. Malik made sure to keep a safe distance away so his father wouldn’t sense him. He purposely took the long way and trekked through the muskiest part of the forest to mask his scent.

He wasn’t sure exactly how much time had passed but eventually, he came to a stop. Covered in the musk of the forest, he ducked behind a bush several feet away from the small group of wolves and watched; his ears peeled.

More surprising than his father sneaking out of the pack house in the middle of the night was the group of wolves that had gathered – and not all of them were from the Apo to Chaos pack.

“We’re not far off from our goal, Alpha,” one of the wolves piped up. “A few more sacrifices and we’ll finally be there. An occasion to celebrate, I would say.”

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves here,” Orpheus spoke loud and clear like the true Alpha that he was; not the least bit bothered that this was a secret meeting in the middle of the night. “We’ll celebrate with our Lord once he has finally risen but for now, we need to stay on mission.”

“I agree with the Alpha,” another one of the wolves spoke up. “We need to continue the sacrifices until Lord Erebus is strong enough to rise and overthrow the Goddess. Before then, we must continue what we’ve been doing this whole time.”

“Getting caught now would be terrible.”

“And getting set back for a second time would set us back several years.”

“Another set back is not an option!” Orpheus spoke with the utmost certainty. “Not when we’re so close this time. Just a few more sacrifices and werewolf kind will return to it’s rightful owner. Then we’ll finally have our revenge!”

Malik took that as his cue to leave. He didn’t want to risk overstaying his welcome – not that an invitation to this secret rendezvous had been extended to him – and potentially being found out. He returned the same way he had travelled here, and was undressed and back in bed before he spied his dad walking out of the forest alone.

Sacrifices? As in plural? Being set back for a second time? Werewolves returning to their rightful owner? Revenge?

Malik wasn’t able to make sense of anything he had just overheard but didn’t have too much time to dwell on it. He was just about able to close his eyes and even out of his breathing when he heard his bedroom door open.

For the few seconds his impromptu visitor remained staring at him from the doorway, Malik dared not move. He wouldn’t be able to understand why he was awake at this hour, or even why he was faking being asleep.

Even the door eventually closed after a few seconds and he heard a set of footsteps retreat down the hallway away from his bedroom, he dared not move.

What in the name of Lord Erebus was going on?

-

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Layla Knight

16.08.2021