“Finally! A host!” Antonio Rufus said and walked to his side to push Aaron forward. “Is that him?” he asked Aaron, gesturing to the Were.
“Yes, that’s the creature that killed my boss,” Aaron replied. The poor human sounded crushed. Angel figured if he survived the ordeal, he would surely celebrate his second chance to live.
“Where is she?!” Rufus asked the alpha in his familiar forceful tone. “Answer me now or these two get a bullet each in the head.”
‘She?’ Angel thought as a frown furrowed his eyebrows, wondering at who the unfortunate she-wolf was, that seemed so important, that Antonio Rufus would risk it all to get her but the alpha Were’s reply made him suppress a chuckle.
“Okay … do it,” he said nonchalantly. “I don’t know who they are,” he added. Angel heard Antonio Rufus growl low in his throat. He then raised a gun and trained it at the alpha Were..
“You don’t recognise your own parents? I thought they said you are smart. You don’t appear to be the sharpest knife in this dump,” Antonio Rufus goaded but the Alpha Were didn’t appear to be moved by his theatrics.
“I may not be, but it still doesn’t mean I'm going to fall for your tricks,” he replied.
“You think this is a trick?” Rufus said laughing as he gestured to two of the guards. The two stepped forward to take off the device used to restrain the couple’s mouth, something similar to what they often used on Wolfe. “Speak! Tell him who you are!” Rufus ordered holding his gun, threateningly, to the back of the head of the male Were.
“I … I am your father, Alpha Arcanine and this is your mother Luna Winters,” the Were said.
“What is wrong with her?” the Alpha Were asked in a familiar alpha-were voice – commanding and authoritative. The Were hesitated, and gave the she-wolf a side glance before saying, “She is sick…”
“What do you have around their necks?” the alpha Were asked Antonios Rufus as he gestured to the two Weres. Not bothering to show emotion in regards to the Weres’ claim. Angel knew then that the alpha was certain it was a trick, only Antonio Rufus had not caught on yet.
“An insurance to keep them all in line…” Rufus responded. Angel could detect a certain level of pride and maniacal glee in his tone. He clenched his jaw. “So, are you going to call the she-wolf out or should I have her haunted and dragged out here?”
The alpha Were chuckled, grinning openly at Antonio Rufus only the action left his grey eyes cold. He then responded, “Here is a deal for you—”
Angel directed his gaze to the snow-covered ground and smiled.
“What?” Antonio Rufus exclaimed in shock.
‘Aah… well boss, I could have warned you but then… I’m just a slave,’ Angel thought in amusement.
“---Let all these captives go, and take your men out of this island, and I may be persuaded to overlook the crime you have committed on these Weres—” the alpha Were was saying but then a voice sounded in his head and amazingly Angel could hear too! He gasped quietly, and his heartbeat increased pace. The hair on his skin bristled at the sheer force of the power that radiated from the alpha Were to him. Angel fixed his gaze on the alpha.
‘Xavier… There are some activities at our end. I think that fiasco over there is a distraction,’ someone communicated.
‘I suppose you have to start the game ahead of us, but remember if you encounter more of our kind, do not harm them,’ Xavier replied via mind link.
Angel heard it all! He decided to speak; to say something, wondering if Xavier would hear him or perhaps everyone linked to him. The excitement made his heart thud even faster and he said, ‘That is noble but foolish…’ Angel watched the alpha Were stiffened, and knew then that he had heard him. Xavier’s eyes darted and settled on him in the line-up. Angel swallowed and added, ‘We can not stop ourselves once he gives the command. These bands around our necks are not mere accessories, only he holds the remote control. Any one of us who dares hesitate will have his head blown. My advice? Protect yourselves. Because he planned to kill you all except for the one we came for…’
‘Who are you?!’ Xavier asked via mind link.
The question echoed as his name resounded in his head, answering in the intonation his father, mother, and kin referred to him way back when he was exactly what he was -- an Alpha! A Wulfblood. A true original moon prince. A shifter. First of his kind. Angel, alpha of the Wulfblood kin. A generation said to have the blood of the moon goddess, Selene, herself. But now -- now he was a slave who lived in a pit like a dog.
‘It doesn’t matter…’ he replied, almost ashamed.
‘It does matter because I am not going to let him use you neither will I let him take you away from this island…’ Xavier replied. Angel released a shaky breath.
‘That is a big promise, Alpha Xavier. I have heard of you, it is an honour to know your true name, but we don’t have powers over these devices,’ he warned.
‘If we pull this off, will you stay, and join us?’ Xavier asked.
'Oh, I wish I could, brother, but there is a much stronger desire inside me that I must quench. And of course, I can't leave my mate and my friends behind,' Angel thought to himself but via the mind-link, he replied, ‘If you succeed, some of us might stay, some of us with set purpose might choose to leave. I belong to the latter. Rufus has what belongs to me…’
‘He has more of our kind with him?’
‘Just seven…’
‘Why didn’t he bring them along?’
‘Aside from the fact that they were considered too ‘dangerous’ as I. They are also his leverage. I chose to come and I was supposed to be a security backup.’
‘Who is this old man and woman? These ones faking to be my blood?’ Xavier demanded in his alpha voice. Angel smiled.
‘You are very smart. And I am not surprised you saw through that charade. They are Weres, wearing a facial uttering device.’
‘That’s what I thought,’ Xavier replied. ‘I buried my parents. I know they are dead,’ Xavier said. Angel’s heart tightened at that piece of information, hearing the pain in Xavier's voice and feeling the grief for the uncle and Aunt he never met.
‘They are not the enemy,’ Angel cautioned with feelings.