Page 51 of The Alpha's Heir

“No, but she is on the phone right now to demand he pick a side, her or her brother. Junior has just attempted to attack Xavier’s granddaughter, which should surely have some weight. He cannot expect us to turn a blind eye to this.”

“I think we need to talk to Xavier and establish something. It’s been bugging me for a couple of days now. Junior is in shit, his own father had him in the dungeon, but we never found out what the trouble was.” I wait for Preston to continue. “What if the answer has been under our noses? What if Xavier Junior is JR? Maybe we got the meaning wrong and it’s not initials but an abbreviation of his name?”

Junior killing a powerful Mafia Don…. My first thought is why? Why would he do that? I have a feeling my new father-in-law could fill in some blanks, but it's whether or not he is willing to give his son up.

“Look Aiden, I don’t have all the answers,” Preston continues, “I might be barking up the wrong tree, but we know Nikki has gone rogue, and now she is with Junior. The last we heard of Junior, he was locked in the dungeons for causing his father aggravation. Also, Xavier told us that the Werewolf Council went to him to find Eva, but why did they stay there when a break-off team came here and saw for themselves that Eva was in our dungeon?”

Everything seems to fall in place. Beta Preston is an astute man and with everything that has been going on, maybe we have both been preoccupied, but he still got to a worthy conclusion before I did.

“I’ll go back to Eva now and ask to speak to her father too.”

I am too late when I get back down to Eva. The Gamma Guard is back inside keeping watch over her, which tells me her phone call is over.

Eva looks shocked and pale. “What’s wrong, my love? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.” I am becoming increasingly concerned about her and our pup and the strain this is taking on them both.

“Aiden, it's Junior. He’s the werewolf Salma is after. He is the one causing all this shit. My father says he sides with us, and Junior is out of control. I’m taking him down, Aiden. He killed Jose; he has hurt Mel, causing her to miscarry. He tried to kill Summer and he’ll try to kill me because I threaten his position as Alpha.”

The rage and anger and panic she feels fills my chest too; Roman is baying for blood now.

“I need to let Salma and Alejandro know as soon as possible, Shortie; they’ll want his head.” She nods her agreement.

“They can have his head, but his throat is ours, Aiden. We can all have our vengeance.”

My girl is back to looking in control, she looks fierce and strong. She knows who she is and what she has to do.

I’ve never felt prouder of her.

*** Salma ***

Life since Ale and I became a couple has been a series of ups and downs. I love him more than I could ever comprehend. Marrying him is the best thing that ever happened to me. However, the high of being in love was tainted with the lows of my papa dying, of finding he was poisoned and of his secret life and family. However, from that low, I also gained my little brother. The dry-humoured, silly little monster who is now my pride and joy had been a source of my sleepless nights until I realised he was just a young boy. He was no threat to me, quite the opposite. He has completely stolen my heart and warmed it with his love and fun and innocence.

The truth about my father’s death continues to elude me and with each passing day that goes by without answers, our standing within the Mafia wanes. We are losing respect. I need to take action and bring the culprit to justice and soon or the vultures will come to take what is mine.

Ricky has settled into the Suarez house with me and Ale, but I crave getting back to our own space and settling into our own groove as a family. Ale got me a load of realtor details with properties we could have. Now that we are Ricky’s legal guardians, we will need a bigger permanent base and my mother still refuses to move out of our family home or share it with “Jose’s bastard”, as she put it. She has become increasingly bitter since I got custody of Ricky and resents that I have put his needs above hers. I want to swing for her for being such a selfish, uncaring bitch. Ricky is a child. Papa’s child. His place is with me now.

No matter how I look at the limited evidence we do have, I still come up with nothing. No leads, no iota of an idea of where Dominga is hiding or the werewolf she is in cahoots with. I am beginning to believe that we may never get answers, and that means I will never get justice for my papa.

I am watching Ale interact with Ricky as they play a building game on his PlayStation. Ale is amazing; he hasn’t been resentful or even offered a word of complaint about our new-found responsibilities. He embraces them and excels at being a guardian and it cements in my mind that I want a family. I want to give Ale a child more than anything in the world.

My phone rings and the caller display shows me it is Eva. “Hey, how are you?” I ask absentmindedly as I watch my boys playing their game.

“Sal? Sal, I need you to come to me as soon as possible. I have the information you need.” My heartbeat pounds in my ears, and the ground shifts momentarily. “Sal, did you hear me? Come to the Onyx River now, bring Ale, we need to plan, and we need to do it fast.”

“Who is it?” I need to know. I want to know. Who killed my papa?

“Its Junior, the fucking idiot I share a father with. It's him, Sal. The Werewolf Council is also after him, so we need to move fast. If they get there before us, we will not get our chance to pay him back.”

“Ok, I’ll be there soon.”

I hang up and try to take a deep breath but my body doesn’t feel like it belongs to me. My legs feel weak and like they are made of jelly and my head is spinning with overwhelming thoughts and emotions.

“Salma, Salma. What happened, did you faint?” How silly. I have never fainted in my life, my constitution would never allow it. I am a Morales; I am a Mafia Princess. Salma Morales does not faint!

And yet here I am, on the floor, sprawled out like a fallen bird as Ale crouches over me, checking my head and eyes with worry and concern etched all over his face. He strokes the side of my face which throbs, I must have banged it on the way down. “You’re going to have one heck of a shiner, Chula. Your eye is already starting to blacken.”

Ale lifts me from the floor with ease and my body continues to shake and sweat. “Are you getting sick, bebe?” he murmurs to me gently and tenderly and I shake my head at him in reply.

“Ale, that was Eva, she’s found out who JR is. We have to go back to the Onyx River now.” I jump out of his arms, and cringe when I am still unsteady on my feet. I take out my iPad and upload a picture of Junior Woodward from social media. “Let me just do a check. Ricky, do you know this man?”

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