Page 38 of Malcolm

“Yes, your father kept a record of all his less-than-savory dealings,” Robert said, returning to his chair.

Malcolm’s brow creased as he read a bit then he cursed, his gaze burned into Roberts cool one. “You're shitting me?” he exclaimed as he waved the book. “They were selling abandoned wolves for labor?”

Robert nodded. “From your father's own lips, he admitted that Alpha Damon was collecting extra money by selling off a few werewolves from their late teens to early twenties to someone for labor. I tried to get the buyer's name from him, but it was impossible. Every time I even tried, your father curled in on himself and clammed up.”

Malcolm looked back at the book. He wasn’t so surprised at the activity of selling people. He and the Jackals had busted plenty of flesh sellers and human dealers over the years, but to think the Alpha had been selling his own people went against everything he’d been taught as a youth.

To betray one’s own kind for the profit, he flipped another page and spotted the date. “This is way before I left.”

“Yes, it would seem the prior Alpha had also been doing it; I’m the first to not only report it but to get a response,” His uncle said, his expression Grim. “I tried searching for the ones I could, but I was always faced with a dead end. Fortunately, I wasn’t the only one looking; the Shifters were also searching for theirmissing young. It wasn’t long before someone on the inside had come forward to assist us in finding more clues.”

“Have you been able to gather a list of suspects?” Malcolm asked.

Robert lifted a sheaf of paper and held it out to him. Malcolm walked over, took it, and looked over the names before he noticed something as he looked at the top of the list. “This is the list of males who will be competing for the Alpha position.”

His uncle grinned, “Exactly, that’s why I want you to compete as well.”

Malcolm looked from the list to Robert, “You’re planning to use me as bait.”

“Well, not only as bait. I would love to have you win and take over, but my biggest worry is that one of those people on that list is connected to whoever was paying for the slave labor,” his uncle said, his expression grim. “Over the last year, I’ve felt like someone’s been watching us too closely. Not anything notable has happened aside from the missing teens, but I don’t think it will be long before something comes to ruin what I’ve built here.”

He didn’t want to respond to his uncles’ words, but he couldn’t completely ignore them. “How long have you been aware of this?” he asked, his voice soft. His eyes were clear as he demanded an answer. “You say it was after my fight, but I don’t think that’s true.” He narrowed his eyes. “How long have you known?”

“Since the I left the clan,” he answered calmly. “I waited patiently, not allowing myself to of anything else but on how I could stop it. Your father came to me the night you’d killed Damon, and I realized it was my chance to do something. I didn’t think he’d report you, but I did need you out of the picture.”

He grimaced. “I needed you hidden and safe. Also…” His green eyes turned into shards of ice. “You were too honorableto do what needed to be done to cleanse this land.” He blinked, and his cold expression was gone. "But it would seem I didn’t get the filth at the root. And now I’m getting too old to be pulling weeds.”

“Morgan, she wrote to me all these years,” Malcolm said, looking away from the chilly hate on his uncle’s face. “But in all her letters, she never mentioned the child she was carrying. And I’ve not seen or heard from the child since I’ve come here. I found it strange she hadn’t mentioned it herself.”

His uncle released a heavy sigh, and Malcolm was shocked at how old his uncle looked suddenly. “You’ve met the boy. His name is Kai,” he said, meeting Malcolm’s stare, “but since the day you killed her mate, she forgot everything. She knows she was married to Damon, and he died, but nothing else. And I felt it was better that way.”

“What?” Malcolm stared at his uncle, aghast. “How could you?—”

“I had no choice,” his uncle snapped, glaring. “She—she woke up two nights after you’d left.” He swallowed; his mouth worked as if chewing over the words. “She picked up the boy and walked to the creek. Only through the goddesses grace did one of the guards see her.”

His expression was horrified; Malcolm couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “She tried to drown him?’

“And herself,” his uncle added, turning his hard eyes on Malcolm. “Night after night, she tried to join that damn man in his grave along with their child. Finally, I sought out a healer, and she said her mind was broken. That the bastard had taken her mind and soul with him and wouldn’t let her go, so, I had the healer break it. I paid her to wipe out everything, and I told her she lost the babe.”

Malcolm closed his eyes with a shaky inhale. “So, you told her about the marriage and his death, but that’s it.”

“Aye, that’s all she knows,” his uncle finished grimly. “I’m only telling you this so you do not ask her about the child.”

“Who has him?” Malcolm asked.

“The orphanage, but don’t worry—the cook and her husband James run the roost. The boy is quiet, but he’s constantly playing and is a happy child.”

Malcolm couldn’t believe the red-headed child, who’d been so clingy to Eliza, was his nephew.

“Do you now get why we need you?” Robert candidly said, rising from his chair. “I know you hate what your father did to you. Hell, I could also be blamed for his choice after I told him he needed to get you away from the danger then. But that was then, and this is now, your people need you. The McLarens had nothing to do with what was done to you or your sister. The blame lays at mine and your father’s feet, no one else’s.”

“And what if I don’t want to be some hero for you?” Malcolm growled. “How do you know I’m not the type that would rather watch everything around you fall apart?” he demanded angrily.

Robert shook his head, stopping in front of him, his gaze assessing. “You’ve always been strong and a bit of an ass. But that courage and rightness in you hasn’t left you; you’re a lot like your mom.” Roberts eyes softened, and Malcolm couldn’t help feeling he was seeing something in his uncle’s expression that was private. “So, don’t become the Alpha forever but at least take the reins so an old man can rest. Hell, you can just do it for a year.”

Malcolm searched his eyes, seeing the weariness and toll of the man’s life etched in the crags and wrinkles of his face. Taking in the well-worn features of the man who’d damned him and he knew he would have to do something, even if it wasn’t for his uncle but for his sister. She’d lost so much.

He looked away. “Only a year?”

---