The Alpha's Progeny [The Alpha's #3]
Chapter 8

MALIK VLADIMIR

He had been looking forward to this meal all day. Scratch that, all week. Not because he was particularly hungry but because it meant that finally, he would be spending some one-on-one time with his dad.

They were supposed to grab dinner together several days ago but with how busy Orpheus had been with all his secret meetings – Malik still believed them to be secret no matter how much his dad insisted they weren’t – they had needed to delay it.

All in all, dinner with his dad was everything he could have imagined and more. They ordered a mixed grill starter to share, steak for him and lasagne for Orpheus. They then ordered an array of desserts so they would be able to figure out which was the best.

“It’s definitely the cheesecake,” Orpheus wiped his mouth on a napkin, having just devoured the few bites he could get out of the mini strawberry cheesecake.

“I couldn’t disagree more,” Malik hummed, finishing off the second slice of chocolate fudge cake which he had ordered. “Nothing beats a good old-fashioned chocolate dessert.”

“You always had a sweet tooth. Even when you were young,” Orpheus laughed, leaning back in his seat. “Your mum would never have let you have two desserts. Especially not chocolate ones.”

“Mum wouldn’t have let a lot of things happen if she were here today,” Malik sighed, his lips turning down at the corners. Suddenly, he found himself not in the mood for chocolate anymore. And that never happened.

“I miss her every day.”

“I do, too,” he sighed. “A single day doesn’t go by without me thinking of her.”

“That’s exactly how that was for me when I was locked up,” Orpheus murmured, his eyes downcast. At his admission, Malik’s breath hitched in his throat. This was the first that he was hearing about his dad’s time away and now that the opportunity arose, he found himself swallowing his words. “You look like you want to ask me something,” he murmured, finally lifting his eyes to stare back at his son.

“There’s a lot of things that I want to ask you but I don’t know where to begin,” Malik admitted, pushing the half-eaten slice of chocolate fudge cake away from him.

“Tell me what you’re thinking right now,” his dad instructed him in an authoritative tone.

“Where were you these past fifteen years?” Malik asked, cutting straight to the chase.

“In jail.”

“Why?”

“Because the council put me there,” Orpheus told him, his lips twitching up at the corners. As if there was anything remotely funny about this situation! But perhaps Orpheus had fifteen years to be able to see the light of the matter.

“You’re going to have to give me more details than that,” Malik deadpanned, far from impressed. “Why did they lock you away? What did you do to end up there?”

“What makes you think that I did something?”

“Normal people don’t end up in prison for nothing.”

“There’s a lot of things about what happened to me that’s not normal,” Orpheus told him, his expression suddenly turning serious. “It’s all still very unfair but I’ve had many, many years to come to terms with what happened to me.”

“Are you saying that you were wrongfully imprisoned?” Malik asked after a few moments. He blinked back at his dad, not sure if he had heard correctly or not.

Orpheus nodded.

“Why would the council do that?”

“The council does what they want,” the Alpha wolf shrugged. “They’ve never liked me.”

“But surely that’s not enough reason for them to lock you away.”

“Honestly, I don’t know how to explain any of this,” Orpheus sighed, reaching a hand up to pinch the bridge of his nose in frustration. “It’s not like you’re going to believe me anyway.”

“I will believe you,” Malik promised, nodding his head up and down frantically. In all honesty, he wasn’t sure if he would believe his father or not, what with the way he had been evidently keeping secrets from him since the day he had returned to the pack, but right now, he was looking to gather as much information as possible. After all, there was no better person to ask than the source himself.

“It’s going to sound really crazy,” Orpheus warned him.

“I’m sure I’ve heard crazier stories,” he replied, leaning forward to rest his elbows on the table, ridden with angst and a thirst to know what no one would tell him.

“I doubt you have,” his dad chuckled, the sound far too low and strained to come across humorous. “But since you’ve asked, I’m obliged to indulge you,” he paused, as if giving Malik the option to back out while he still could. Too bad Malik had no plans to do that, not when he was so close to his goal. “The council locked me away under the suspicion of child trafficking.”

What did he just say? his wolf asked, turning his head so quick Malik feared that the beast would get whiplash.

Child trafficking.

It can’t be.

It just came from the horse’s mouth, Malik slumped back in his chair, still trying to wrap his mind around the bomb that his dad had just dropped from him.

We must have heard wrong.

What? With our perfect werewolf hearing? he snorted at the absurdity of it. I don’t think so.

“I can literally see the thoughts in your head,” Orpheus sighed, his lips tugging down into a small frown. “Before you go and judge me, please give me a chance to explain.”

“I’m not sure how you can explain child trafficking but I have to admit, I’m curious to replace out,” Malik replied snarkily even though that wasn’t his intention. At least not to that level.

“I told you that you wouldn’t believe me,” Orpheus groaned, reaching a hand up to brush through his hair and tug on the ends in frustration. “Regardless of what you may or may not choose to think, I want you to know the truth. To know my truth.”

“I’m listening,” Malik pursed his lips, trying to hold back judgement from his voice. Not because he cared what his father thought, but because he feared that he would push his dad into shutting him out. He would really be in the dark then.

Don’t be like that. He’s our dad. We should hear him out, his wolf tried to convince him but Malik refused to listen.

I don’t care if he’s our dad or the werewolf king. He’s just admitted to child trafficking!

He hasn’t admitted to anything! his wolf countered. He hasn’t even gotten started talking. If only you would listen.

Well, I’m listening now, Malik rolled his eyes; more so at his wolf than his dad.

“Did I lose you there?” Orpheus called out to him, clicking his fingers in his face to snap him out of his daze.

“Sorry, my wolf was being annoying but I’m listening now.”

“Well, that’s some sort of consolation, I guess,” his dad sighed and inhaled deeply before continuing. “When you were a child, pups were going missing from various different packs. The werewolf council were trying to convince us that it was rogue but I didn’t believe them. Neither did Clayton and a group of other wolves around here,” he referred to some of the pack members that Malik had spied his dad with earlier this week. “We started to investigate into this and very quickly, we were able to connect the dots to point to the council.”

“What are you saying?”

“I’m saying that the council is behind this whole child trafficking scheme,” Orpheus declared with the utmost belief and confidence. “When they found out that I knew what they had been doing, they locked me away to save themselves. Before I could reveal it to the rest of werewolf kind, the council locked me away to stop me talking.”

See! I told you that he wasn’t behind any of this! his wolf told him gleefully. If only you had heard him out before jumping to conclusions.

“How did they get away with that?” Malik asked in a small voice, still trying to wrap his head around all that he had just learnt.

“They’re the council. They can pretty much get away with whatever they want,” Orpheus grumbled, a sour expression on his face. “It didn’t help that the day they turned up to arrest me, your mother…” his voice trailed off in a hiccup. Malik didn’t need him to finish the sentence. He already knew what happened to his mum. How could he ever forget it?

“If that’s the case, then why did they let you out now?”

“Honestly, I’m not sure,” he sighed. “I’m sure they have their reasons and I just know that they’ve been watching me all week, but I can’t focus on that right now. All I have to worry about is getting things back in order and strengthening the pack. The next time they come for me, we’ll be prepared.”

“That’s why you’ve been training the pack longer and harder?” Malik asked, everything suddenly making so much more sense. All the pieces were falling into place and once again, Malik found it difficult to believe that all of this had happened to his dad…but what reason did he have to lie?

“That’s one of the reasons.”

Malik contemplated what he had been wondering for fifteen years now, ever since the day he had spotted her in the casket; lifeless.

“Why did mum do that to herself?” he asked in a small voice, not sure if he was ready to hear the answer.

“She was a very troubled woman,” Orpheus began in an equally small voice. “She had a troubled past and a lot of demons chasing her. When we mated, things got better. They got better for a long time until things started to get worse.”

“What happened for things to flip like that?”

“I wish I knew. I wonder the same thing every day,” Orpheus sighed. “I came back to the room one day to replace your mum in bed. She wasn’t moving…” he choked on the last word, his eyes shining with tears.

“I’m so sorry dad,” Malik apologised in a small voice, reaching over to place his hand over his dad’s. “I can’t begin to imagine what that must have been like.”

“To this day, I can’t get that image out of my mind,” he paused, forcing a smile. It was cracked in several places and far too tense around the edges to be near natural, but it was a smile nonetheless. “I’m glad that we finally had this talk but let’s not end this wonderful evening in such a morbid way.”

To say that Malik was enraged with the werewolf council would be an understatement. Not only had they locked away an innocent man for nearly unveiling their own crimes, they had taken a father away from a child that had just lost their mother. On that day, Malik felt like he had been orphaned and even now, when his father had finally returned, things hadn’t felt quite right. At least not until now.

But it was different now. Everything had changed. His father was finally back and as far as he was concerned, the old man wouldn’t be going anywhere. Not if he had anything to do about it.

“What do you suggest?” Malik asked, his lips slowly curing up at the corners.

“How about we drop by the store to pick up some chocolate?” his dad grinned. “That should cheer you right up.”

And just like that, I felt like a kid once again.

-

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Layla Knight

09.08.2021