The Hidden Alpha (Alma Venus Shifter Brides 2)

“What’s up with you two sneaking up on an old man like this?” He closed the book and set it on the table. He reached for the cup of tea, then changed his mind when he realized it had gotten cold.

“Ask Seth.” Blake sat down and grabbed her father’s book, curious to see what he was reading. She was relaxed, quite content even. She was a bit worried about Amelia, but she was sure it was nothing serious. The trial from a couple of days ago had ended on a positive note, especially for the Blackmanes. She didn’t care about the werewolves, of course, but she did care about her own faction, and Jason Woodtail had done a great job of taking all the guilt upon himself. However, the moment Seth started talking, Blake’s shoulders tensed, and she put the book down. While telling them about the conversation he had just had with the retired bear-shifter detective, he was pacing the room and gesticulating wildly.

When Seth was done, Roman rubbed his temples and sighed. “It never ends,” he thought. He felt as if he had had to solve more crappy, messed up problems in the past few months than in his whole life. He was nearing 200 years old, and he had gone through a war too…

“This is good,” said Blake. “It sucks that things are so complicated and the Tricksters seem to be involved, but at least we’re making progress. I’m glad you found the bear-shifter detective and he was willing to talk to you. When will he send the documentation?”

“It might take a week or two,” said Seth. He finally sat down. “But listen… I… There’s more. It’s just a gut feeling, but it prevented me from telling Amelia first. I came to you because I know you’ll find the best way…” He stopped and thought for a minute, trying to find his words. In his mind, it made sense, but he felt like it would all sound so paranoid and silly if he said it out loud.

“Speak up, son,” Roman encouraged him.

“I… well… It’s about my parents. My father and his wife.”

Roman straightened his back, unable to relax in his armchair anymore. Of course Seth would go there.

“The Tricksters are a small guild, so I was thinking… maybe…” He shook his head. “It sounds stupid, I know, but I can’t help thinking about it. We have to take this possibility into consideration. I mean, could you even imagine the impact on Amelia? On us?” He wasn’t sure if by “us” he meant Amelia and him, or the entire clan. “My father and his pure-blood fox-shifter wife were, and if they’re still alive somewhere out there, still are assassins. If there’s the slightest possibility they were the ones who killed Amelia’s parents, then I have to know. We have to find them and make them pay for what they did.” His voice trembled when he spoke the last words.

“Seth…” started Blake. “Let’s not jump to conclusions.”

There were more things Seth wanted them to pay for. Mainly, for abandoning him and his human mother when Roman realized who they were. They had managed to infiltrate Clan Sylfur, probably with the mission to convince Roman, the five-tailed Inari, to join their cause or kill him if he refused. When they were discovered, they ran away in the dead of the night, leaving a young Seth behind with his mother. He and his mother had never known who they really were and had never suspected the truth: that the only reason his father had bought a shifter bride and had a son had been to better cover his identity. Seth had never forgiven him for this. Even if Roman took him and his mother under his wing, and then Roman’s Yako married his mother and raised him as his own son, he was never able to get over the fact that he was the son of an assassin. An assassin who used him and then abandoned him without a second thought.

“You know we couldn’t track them down after they ran away. We tried for months,” said Roman.

“Yes, yes… But we have to try. Please. I need to know.”

“Look,” said Blake. “We won’t rest until we find the ones who killed Amelia’s parents. But until then, try not to think too much about this theory.”

“Just don’t dismiss it.”

“We won’t. I promise.”

***

Amelia didn’t need a doctor to tell her why she was feeling sick. It was time to admit that, yes, she had skipped a period and it wasn’t because of the stress. She had tried to put it out of her mind, but the violent sickness had brought her back to earth. However, she still had some hope left when the doctor came, consulted her and asked her some questions, and even when he handed her a pregnancy test. She gulped, smiled, then went into the bathroom. Hope was still fluttering in her chest, albeit weakly, when she peed on the stick then set it aside.

“Please bring it to me when you’re done, my dear.”

Amelia rolled her eyes and went back into the room, where the doctor was waiting for her. She was grateful that at least Blake and Seth had given her some space.

“Nervous?”

“What gave it away?” Amelia smiled sweetly, but her pulse had started rising. She was sure she was going to be sick again.

“Let’s hope for the best.”

“Oh, I’m hoping all right,” she thought. “But what exactly is ‘the best’?” Positive? Negative? Oh, she was going to throw up.

“And here we go…” The doctor showed her the two thin pink lines. “Congratulations!”

Amelia jumped to her feet and ran into the bathroom, slamming the door behind her. She hugged the toilet as she dry heaved. There was nothing left in her stomach. Just anxiety.

CHAPTER FIVE

Weakness…

“Can you come over? Just you… please.” Amelia tapped “send” and waited. The doctor had just left, not after promising her he would come to see her regularly. She asked him not to tell anyone for now, as she preferred to give them the news herself. It took Seth three minutes to knock on the door, but those three minutes felt like an eternity.

“Is this good? Bad? What was I thinking?” She hadn’t been thinking, that was the problem. Every time she found herself alone with Seth, all reason flew out the window and all she wanted was to feel his strong body pressed against hers, and his cock inside her. It was a primal urge she couldn’t suppress. Even the simple thought of suppressing it vanished at the sight of his naked body. Amelia had never thought it was possible to fall in love with someone so deeply and recklessly. “Technically, it should be a good thing, right?” she continued her train of thought while absentmindedly massaging her belly. “Everyone will think it’s Blake’s child… I was supposed to give him… her… an heir anyway.” But from there, it went downhill. Amelia chewed on her nail while considering the negative consequences. “What if the baby looks exactly like Seth? What if there’s a way… any way of telling it’s not the child of an Alpha, but of a B