Sold to the Alpha (Alma Venus Shifter Brides 1)

“We haven’t exactly made a plan. For now, we’re researching the matter and gathering as much information as we can. If by the end of the year our research says there’s something rotten here, then we intend to bring it up at the Annual Summit. But, you see, we need to have solid proof. Otherwise, this whole thing can blow in our faces. The Council can go as far as to accuse us of having some sort of vendetta against the werefoxes because of our complex history. If we want to be taken seriously, we’ll have to come up with some serious stuff, with something that can truly convince them to take a careful investigation into consideration. It’s not going to be easy.”

Avelyn thought about it for a second, unsure what she could say. She would have to think carefully about everything he had just told her. Yes, she knew the werefoxes had been the last to agree to the signing of the treaty. But did that alone mean they would start a second war between the factions if they had the chance? What would their endgame be?

Max watched her closely. He thought he could almost see the cogs turning at a wild speed in her pretty head as she was processing his words. He was such an idiot for making her worry like that.

“It’s probably nothing, and we’re just being paranoid.”

“But you don’t really think it’s nothing, or you wouldn’t have started such a huge investigation and made it a priority.”

He sighed. “It’s not my priority. You are. Look, I promise you that after the Seed Moon I’ll move my headquarters here. Jocelyn can take my place in Dunkelstadt and take care of all the meetings. After all, she has the same authority. I’ll be in my office on the first floor, and you can come by anytime you want. How’s that?”

Avelyn smiled up at

him, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “Yes, his office… Why haven’t I thought about it before?”

“It sounds great. Awesome!” It really didn’t. It didn’t sound great, nor awesome. She had to make sure she would find a way to sneak into his office and look for those missing books before the Seed Moon. She knew he hardly went in there now, since he had everything he needed in Dunkelstadt. “If he actually hid them from me because he expected me to try and find a way to escape once I was out of that room, then where would he have put them? His office, of course. It’s the only place I have no reason to explore by myself. Also, I’m sure it’s locked.”

“When is the Seed Moon?” Her plan depended on the event.

“On the 15th. Not long now. Two more days if you don’t count today.”

The night of April 15th was the night Avelyn would escape the Schloss.

***

This was insane. Another flight of stairs and she’d reach the second floor. Avelyn stepped lightly, trying to move as quickly as possible without making any noise. The Schloss was asleep. She had left Max in their bed, and she prayed he didn’t wake up while she was gone. Of course, she had thought of everything. Or, at least, had tried to. She had waited for him to fall asleep, had sneaked out of the bed, bent down on her knees to rummage through the pockets of his trousers, which she herself had made sure to throw on the floor on her side of the bed when she had undressed him earlier that night. She had found his keys and tiptoed to the bathroom. Only then had the madness begun.

If anyone saw Avelyn, they would think she was on a mission to assassinate someone. Her hair was perfectly covered by a tight shower cap, she wore soft, cotton gloves, black socks that muffled her steps, tight fitting leggings, and a turtle neck blouse. The only part of her which was not completely covered was her face. Oh, and she smelled of Max’s cologne. Yes, she had gone as far as to use his cologne to make sure it covered her own smell. Avelyn had really thought of everything that could have given her away. She had stored everything in the bathroom, in the towel drawer. It had taken her two minutes tops to get dressed and stuff her hair under the shower cap. She had left the bathroom through the small door used by the maid who came in to clean. The door opened into a small storage room, which had another door that led right to the corridor of the third floor. She had left the bathroom light on, so Max would think she was there in case he woke up.

Avelyn reached the first floor and took a left. Max’s office was close to the main staircase, so she found herself facing the door after just a couple of steps. She took a few seconds to study the long corridor carefully. Satisfied with the silence that seemed to envelop the entire castle, she took the keys out and tried them one by one. Her phone provided exactly the right amount of light for this task. When the third key clicked in the lock, she took a deep breath, then pushed the door gently, just enough for her to squeeze in.

The office was bathed in warm moonlight, and Avelyn smiled when she saw one of the windows was open. “This is more than I could have hoped for. Now there’s no way anyone could feel my smell if they came in here in the morning.” She didn’t have much time at her disposal, so she set to work. She was quick and efficient. Before she touched anything on the long, mahogany desk, she made sure she had studied the position of the object so she could place it back exactly the way it had been. The whole office was clean and organized, and one could tell it hadn’t been used for some time. Avelyn rounded it and moved the office chair away from the desk. “So many drawers,” she thought. “If they’re all locked, I’m screwed.” She pulled the first one open, and she could break into a happy-dance when she felt it slide so smoothly and silently. It was full of papers, so she only browsed through some of them before closing it. What she was looking for was a leather bound book. Or more. She went through the rest of the drawers on the right side of the desk, then moved on to the drawers on the left side. Nothing there either. She straightened her back and looked around her. “Okay, time to check the cabinets.” She moved the chair back into its place and went to the tall office cabinet on the right wall. She checked the time on her phone, and saw she had only been gone for a little over ten minutes. That was good time, she couldn’t complain.

The cabinet was filled with folders, and in other circumstances Avelyn would have been curious to see what they contained. However, she didn’t have time for that. She opened the small, square doors one by one until she reached the last row. She was starting to lose hope and she almost came to the conclusion that she had been an idiot to think Max had hidden the books with the maps of the Schloss in his office. Maybe there were no such maps. Maybe she had read too many fantasy novels. Just as she was thinking of giving up and going back to their bedroom, she opened the last cabinet and was greeted by two heavy books. “Gotcha!” She took them out carefully and placed them on the floor.

The first book looked like it contained the history of the castle, and it was more of a record of all the changes and renovations the owners and architects had made over the centuries. There were sketches and partial maps, but Avelyn didn’t have time to study the whole thing. She needed something more exact than that, so she opened the second book. “Now, this is what I’m talking about.” This one contained most of the sketches in the first book, but they were better organized. She discovered that the second half of the book was actually a huge folding map. She unfolded it carefully, making sure she didn’t damage the thin edges. “Wow!” It was a detailed plan of the Schloss. Every tower, room, and corridor was marked with a number which corresponded to a name in the Legend. “This is priceless.” Avelyn grabbed her phone and started taking pictures of the map. “But I see no dungeons…” She studied it even more carefully, her finger tracing the numbers, and her eyes jumping from the map to its Legend. “Now… If I were an architect and I was supposed to make, say, two or three secret doors that would lead somewhere underneath the castle, where would I hide them?” Her finger moved to the fourth floor of the Schloss and stopped above the library. She studied all the walls and soon noticed the right wall was a bit wider than the other ones. It continued like that down to the ground floor. “Why would anyone make just one wall wider? Unless… they had to fit a narrow staircase in there…” She checked the time again and saw that she had been gone for twenty minutes. “Shit. I need to hurry.” Except that small detail she had discovered, the map didn’t contain any other clue that would indicate the existence of some secret tunnels underneath the castle. She folded the map, thinking she’d study the pictures on her phone and see if there was anything else she had missed. As she was trying to fit it back inside the book, she realized there was a smaller folding map tucked into the leather cover. “Oh, hello there…” She unfolded it quickly, and clapped her gloved hands when she saw the complex maze of narrow corridors, wide spaces, and differently sized rooms that could only be cells. Avelyn started taking pictures, aware that she didn’t have time to study it. She folded the second map as well, put the books back into the cabinet, and threw a last glance around the office. “Looks good… I guess.” She tried sniffing the air, but she couldn’t tell if it smelled of her. She didn’t have the heightened senses of a werewolf. She checked to see if her hair was still trapped under the shower cap, and hummed in approval. The last thing she needed was to leave a red strand of hair behind as a gift for Max. She opened the door gently and held her breath as she sneaked her head out of the office to study the corridor. It was dark and silent, and it took her eyes a few seconds to adjust to the lack of moonlight. She squeezed out, locked the door behind her, cringed at the soft click, then tiptoed back to the third floor, her heart beating wildly somewhere in her throat.

“I can’t believe I just did this. I’m crazy. This is crazy. What if someone catches me on the way up? Are Daniel and Caleb really asleep? Max… What if he’s awake and waiting for me?”

Now that she had what she needed, she felt like she was in real danger. Adrenaline was rushing through her veins, making her twitchy. She started swea

ting and she increased her pace, taking two steps at a time. Her socked feet barely left a whisper of a noise in their wake. She reached the door to the storage room and decided to undress there. She stuffed the gloves, the socks, the shower cap, and the turtle neck blouse in the laundry basket, making a note to self to remove them next thing in the morning, right after Max left to the office. Clad only in her black leggings and the revealing tank top she had had under the blouse, Avelyn stepped carefully into the bathroom, glad to see the light was still on. She listened for any sound from the bedroom, but couldn’t hear anything. “I wish I had werewolf hearing.” She flushed the toilet and made her way to the bedroom, her phone secured in the tight back pocket of her leggings.

As she placed her phone on the nightstand and lay down beside Max, she felt him stir in his sleep.

“Where have you been?” he asked, his voice groggy.

“Shit.” Avelyn tried to control the tremble in her voice before she spoke. “Bathroom.”

“You’ve been gone so long. Are you okay?”

“I… not really. I think I ate something, and my stomach is all messed up.” Come to think of it, she was feeling a bit sick. Maybe it was the wild rush of adrenaline.

“I’m sorry, baby. Come here.” Max took her in his arms, and Avelyn breathed out in relief. “So far, so good.” It took her forever to fall asleep, her mind filled with images of rooms, corridors, and numbers.

CHAPTER FOUR

Change of Heart