A light blue sky with no clouds greeted Alex as he contemplated Lucas and Harper. He lifted his eyes to the sky as he thought about them, and the Casa. When it came to giving Alpha Redmane more information and opening up further, he was a little apprehensive about it.
Was he meant to just trust him because he's the father of the mage who might be able to help them go back to their world? He had no idea what he was supposed to do at this point, let alone what the renegade alpha expected of him.
The fact that he didn't know anything made him feel powerless. And it wasn't a good feeling for him.
He couldn't help but feel a pang of guilt as well. He was now safe from Gillen, but what about the rest? He had absolutely no idea what had happened to them, and no matter how hard he tried to think about it, he could only imagine the worst.
Adding to his misery, he had the feeling that he had betrayed Harper. He had sworn to her that he would always be there for her, no matter what; he had even promised her that he would get her out of the Casa.
Alex cringed as he imagined all the heinous things Gillen could be doing to Harper and to anybody else who dared to oppose him. It devastated him to think that he had survived and was now somewhat protected, while they were stuck in the Casa and most likely being punished.
And he still couldn't believe he had found the mage who could send them back to their home world. He still had a slew of questions, and he was hopeful that Alpha Redmane would be able to provide answers. Or, at the very least, he would be willing to assist him in finding the answers.
He took a big breath and ran his hands through his hair. He couldn't stop thinking about Harper, and it wasn't helping his situation in any way. He wanted to put his worries aside for the time being so that he could concentrate on how he could save her - them.
He hoped that Alpha Redmane would return soon. The alpha had left him alone in his room while he went to speak with someone, and Gwinifer hadn't shown up again. Since they first spoke to each other, she hadn't said much more than a few words, though Alex had a few questions. The young woman, on the other hand, appeared to be always preoccupied with something. Alpha Redmane had told him that she was OK, but it was best not to bother her further.
That afternoon, though, Alpha reappeared after a while, and he was accompanied by a much taller and bulkier man. His muscles were enormous, and it looked as though they were straining against his skin. Even though he'd seen some rather large champions in the Casa and the arena, Alex didn't recall ever seeing anybody quite this big. He was confident that this man could crush his skull with a single hand.
"Alex, I'd like to introduce you to General Conall."
"Nice to meet you," General Conall remarked, reaching out his hand to shake Alex's. When Alex took the general's hand, right away he could feel the full force of the general's strength in his hand, which were rough and covered with calluses.
"General Conall and his troops have been working on an underground tunnel to Velaris for years," Alpha Redmane revealed.
"An underground tunnel?" Alex looked at the alpha with a glance that was suddenly filled with bewilderment and questions.
"We've been plotting our strike against the impostors in Velaris for years," Alpha Redmane explained.
"Impostors?"
Alex's bemused expression almost made him laugh.
"Didn't you learn anything when you were at Velaris?" Alex flinched inwardly at General Conall's remark. Gillen's House of Champions and the arena had shown him a lot, and he wished he could forget the majority of what he had seen.
"Easy now, General. It's not his fault that he doesn't know anything. He was sold to Gillen and forced to fight for his life." The alpha gave Alex a once-over before continuing. "You look like you can carry a walk. Come with me, and I'll show you around my pack."
They left the cottage in silence, heading in the direction from which the alpha and his general had come. This was Alex's first meeting with anyone other than Alpha Redmane, Gwinifer, and the omegas, who had come to bring him a meal and assist him in cleaning his wounds.
From the window of the cottage where he had slept, he had a view of the pack, but he had no clue how much the place resembled a small village, complete with small farms, blacksmiths, cottages, and even a small bakery. The place provided everything a person could need to live and train.
Looking around, Alex observed that the majority of the structures were built of wood. Even though there were no walls around the perimeter, the trees from the dense forest surrounding the area provided sufficient protection.
"The vast majority of those you see are refugees, slaves, or fighters. We rarely have liberated slaves here, and we make every effort to smuggle as many as we can. We placed traps, fought, and were able to slow the poaching. Nonetheless, it was insufficient. And it's considerably more difficult to save or smuggle a Velarian slave. Those terrible Velarian impostors keep a close eye on their property, perhaps a little too closely," Alpha Redmane remarked, then smiled when he watched Alex's reaction when he mentioned the word "impostor" in passing.
"You're perplexed as to why I keep referring to those rich Velarians as impostors."
General Connall grunted, then smiled.
Alex smiled and nodded. "Yes, I'm sorry, but I don't know a lot about Velaris. As a champion, the only time I was permitted to leave the Casa was during a fight in the arena."
"Well, those heartless bastards aren't real Velarians, we are," Alpha Redmane began.
“What?”
"Back then, my father was the alpha of the pack and oversaw the entire Velaris territory. During that period, Gillen was a young lord, and Velaris was one of the cities that fell under his protection and care. Even back then, he was already a rotten egg. I never liked him. But my father had an ego, which Gillen exploited..."
General Conall chimed in, "Clever, wicked man."
"Gillen found out about my father's gambling issue. Together, they gradually transformed Velaris into a gambling mecca. Gamblers from all over soon descended on the city. Then one day, Gillen suggested a gladiator match. But he gave it his spin and dubbed it a 'champions' fight', in which champion fighters from all over compete to bring honor to their city." Alpha Redmane came to a pause, a pained expression on his face.
"So that's how it all began?" Alex asked as they passed by a group of people who were hard at work constructing a carriage. They regarded him with a mixture of trepidation and awe.
Alpha Redmane let out a sigh. "Because a death match was outlawed, when the council learned of this, a confrontation erupted between my father's people and the royal council. My father wasn't a wise man, but he was a good fighter and a ruthless one. He had taken hostage every high-ranking official who had been dispatched to Velaris to apprehend him. He asked, in exchange, for Velaris to be released from the council's grip. In the end, my father prevailed."
"Almost immediately after Velaris was declared a free city, Gillen betrayed my pack, assassinated my father, and seized leadership of the city. Knowing he couldn't let everyone live without the threat of a rebellion, he sold half the population as slaves to other cities, while keeping the other half to do as he wanted. My family and I, as well as the remainder of my pack, fled and sought safety in Moorland. Once Gillen had everything under control, new inhabitants came: those filthy, disgusting, and lecherous impostors. "
"And we've been plotting to take back what we've lost," General Connall added. "We can accomplish this by chopping off the snake's head. Attack the Casa and take out Gillen."
"How long have you been trying..." Alex found himself asking.
Alpha Redmane let out another sigh. "Except for the slaves, practically everyone in Velaris has Gillen's interests; gambling, the arena, the slave market, the brothels; they're all sources of profit for them, so they'd protect him no matter what. And that has proven to be a difficult challenge for us."
"And the guy built his house of fucks in the center of the city," General Connall grumbled angrily. "He's made it difficult for us to get into the Casa and out without getting into a fight with civilians."
"We don't want to engage with anyone who isn't a part of Gillen's force. We don't want those fictitious Velarians to be anything more than interlopers or intruders in some sense, but we also don't want to cause them any harm. When we reclaim our territory, they will be forced to return to the land from which they originally came." Alpha Redmane's demeanor shifted.
Alex shifted his gaze away from the two men. "Gillen had transformed the Casa into a fortified stronghold. You'd be facing not only his guards and soldiers but also his fighter champions, who have been his blind followers."
Alpha Redmane and Generall Connall looked at each other for a brief moment.
"They have extremely high walls that could only be brought down by brute force. It was for this reason that Lucas and I decided we needed to be in our wolf forms so that we could, at the very least, knock down a piece of the wall so that the others could pass through."
They arrived at the training area, which was quite different from the one in the Casa. A small group of onlookers gathered outside a fence to watch as a few people engaged in combat with one another.
"We require someone familiar with the Casa from the inside out. We’ve had fugitive slaves from Velaris but never anyone from the Casa," Alpha Redmane said abruptly after a long period of silence. "We had no idea that Gillen has fighters that are blind enough to fight for him. This type of information is crucial as we prepare for our strike."
Alex had a hunch about what the alpha was going to say next, but he wanted to hear it directly from him.
Eventually, the alpha proposed, "Help us take back our land, and my daughter will open that portal for you, your brother, and your human companion."
Alex rubbed the back of his neck. As he thought, he pressed his lips closer together. "Will she help us with the Moon Queen?"
Suddenly, the alpha appeared to be a little on the fence. "I'll be completely honest with you, I've never seen Queen Niran in my entire life. No, not even once, and I'm already a hundred years old," Alpha Redmane reasoned. "I don't believe anyone has."
"But we can't go back without the royal pardon."
He looked around the crowd, which was only a few feet away from where they were standing. "I understand. I'll bring it up with Gwinifer."
Immediately, everyone's gaze was drawn to Alex.
Alex nodded thoughtfully. "Okay, I will help you.” He balled his hands into tight fists. “I’ll fight with you."