“Ho- Bellamy, is that really you?” Alonzo asked as he got close enough for me to fully make out his face.
“It is!” I said while taking in the new and improved version of Alonzo. Gone was the skinny man I remembered. Muscles filled out his entire body. He’d grown a long, thick beard that madehim look older, wiser, and more handsome than before. Time had been good to my friend.
“Thank Fate, you are alive. Come! You and your friends, come to my house. We have a lot to catch up on.”
I looked back at Kenzo, and he nodded at me, signaling that it was okay for me to follow Alonzo.
“Hello, Brother.” Tiny winked at Alonzo, and he returned her smile.
“Go back into your homes. These shifters are sent by Fate; we have nothing to fear,” Alonzo commanded the crowd, and they began to disperse, making it easier for us to follow him.
“Hey! We’re going to go with my dad,” Halo called out, sounding like an excited schoolgirl, and I couldn’t help but share her excitement.
“Brice, you can bring them to my hut when they’re ready,” Alonzo commanded Brice.
“Yes, Alpha,” Brice responded with a slight nod.
We followed behind Alonzo in silence. Everyone seemed to be in deep thought. I was just excited to see he was still alive. Everything else was irrelevant.
Chapter Twenty-One
KENZO ATALLAH
Alonzo wasn’twhat I thought he was going to be. In my head, he’d be all over Bellamy, trying to win her back. I figured I would have to beat his ass one good time for him to remember he wasn’t more than a friend to Bellamy. Contrary to what I believed, Alonzo was the exact opposite. He was welcoming to everyone, and he went out of his way to make sure we were all comfortable. My bear respected his cheetah instantly, and there was mutual respect between our animals.
When we made it to Alonzo’s house in the center of town, we were greeted by his mate Riccah. She had the same warm welcoming aura as Alonzo. Riccah was from the Cordelia bloodline of Water Mages. She was one of Fate’s guardian’s, and her family was one of three families that had the ability to manipulate all forms of liquid. Riccah’s crystal blue eyes and her wild curly hair of the same shade of blue gave away her powerful origins. We were curious to see how Bellamy reacted to finding out Alonzo had a mate. She seemed unbothered, and that helped calm my worries. It seemed apparent that Tiny and Alonzo were well acquainted; they joked like two old friends. Needless to say, I felt foolish for ever thinking I had a reason to think Bellamy would want anyone other than us.
“How have you been?” Bellamy excitedly asked Alonzo, who was seated across from me and his mate across from Bellamy. Hendrix was on my right and his mate next to him. We were all seated at a table that looked like it could seat an army of shifters. Tiny had pulled another one of her disappearing acts when we made it to Alonzo’s house. She’d been acting all jittery since we saw that lion-human thing earlier.
“Good. I’ve been wanting to know if you were okay for the longest,” Alonzo replied with a friendly smile.
“He’s not lying. He’d been talking about going to find you soon, but we didn’t have anyone to look over the Sanctuary if we left,” Riccah cheerfully added.
“You're the Alpha here?” Hendrix inquired.
“Sort of. I don’t look at myself as the Alpha because there are so many races of shifters here. I look at myself as the leader of The Sanctuary of Life. Fate left me in charge of keeping the reborn shifters safe.”
“So, basically, you're the Alpha?” Bellamy asked with her brows bunched up in confusion.
“An Alpha you don’t contest. You follow what they say without any question. The only time you challenge an Alpha is if you want their position. I allow my shifters to have voices. A lot of them lived longer than I have, and they have an amazing amount of knowledge. I listen when they speak. They lost their voices once at the hands of the one who was supposed to love them. I won’t be the one to silence them again.” The seriousness of Alonzo’s voice allowed us to hear the passion he felt about his choices.
“I like that.” We nodded in approval.
That was one of the things we disliked about having an Alpha. It was one shifter having all the power with no one to contest them. If you had a selfish Alpha, who was going to go against them? There had been plenty of Alphas who’d let all thepower go to their heads. We’d admired the Kismet Pack because of the shared power among brothers. The council was supposed to be our version of that. It sucked that it didn’t work out like that, but it was what it was.
“I thought you got killed that night. What happened?” Bellamy questioned Alonzo, confusion etched across her beautiful face.
Alonzo let out a deep sigh while scratching the back of his head. “That ring keeps you hidden from the Tsar and all the shifters working with him. That night, when you took it off, it gave the Tsar enough time to find you. He was so desperate to find you. Him and his mate came to kill you directly. Honestly, if it wasn’t for his mate, I probably would have been dead. The Tsar snapped my neck, or at least I thought he did, but his mate touched me, and I started to slowly heal. I had no idea why she did what she did. However, I was just grateful that she helped. I was able to come home to my mate and know I kept you safe.”
“You’ve always been mated to Riccah?” we asked, trying to make sense of everything that happened.
“Yes. That was one of the many reasons I never did anything with Bellamy.” Alonzo looked at Bellamy. “I’ve always cared for you. However, the love I have for my mate is stronger. I would never disrespect her by being with another shifter. Besides, I was on duty for Fate, and I take my role as a future guardian seriously.”
“You knew all about my past and all that?”
“I did. I know a lot of things.” Alonzo chuckled. “I’m a lot older than you think.”
“You were reborn?” we asked, putting two and two together.
