Alpha Markus
Chapter 59

Celeste P.O.V.

Alpha Geoff was here. A part of me had hoped to never see him again. I knew when we made the plan to take him down that I would, but I thought it would be only from a distance until we were in front of the council. Now here we are, welcoming them to stay under our same roof. I turned to look at Maya. In outward appearances she seemed strong and unphased, though I had caught how she paled at the mention of Beta Trevor. I remember he had once promised her that the moment she turned 19, he would be the one to sample her first. I wondered if she was dealing with the same inner turmoil I was. I saw her take a closer step to Danny as I heard the SUV approaching.

‘I want a guard on Maya at all times. Beta Trevor is not to get anywhere near her,’ I mind linked Markus as I too, took a step closer to him.

He looked down at me. ’Do I want to ask?’ When I didn’t answer, he sighed, ‘You will both have a guard at all times from now until everyone leaves. I am not taking any chances with them or anyone else that might think it wise to attack my future Luna. I’ve also assigned Kelly one,’ I squeezed his hand in response and took a steadying breath as the SUV came to a stop. The back door opened and out came our tormentors for the last 12 yrs.

“Alpha Markus,” Alpha Geoff growled as he helped Luna Luisa get out of the car. Beta Trevor was helping Sandra on the other side of the vehicle.

“Alpha Geoff, welcome to Crescent Moon. I believe you have already met everyone but my Gamma Daniel here,” Markus motioned to Danny, who just barely nodded. I knew he was having trouble not running up to punch the man.

“Will there be dinner?” Luna Luisa asked out of the blue.

“I’m afraid you’ve missed dinner and the guests have all retired to their rooms for the night, but I can ask the cook to see if she can get something together for you.” I said.

“Nonsense. Celeste, you will cook. You already know what we like,” she said, eyeing me in my outfit. I saw Markus wanting to respond but I just squeezed his arm to stop him.

“I am not a cook anymore, Luna Luisa. I would appreciate you giving me some respect while staying under our roof,” I replied back as civilly as I could muster, trying to keep the rage out of my voice. Markus just beamed with pride next to me.

“But,” Sandra began and Alpha Geoff growled at her, shutting her up. She glared daggers at me.

“That is fine. Could you please direct us to our suites. It’s been a long drive,” he said.

I called over one of the staff. “Please show Alpha Geoff and Luna Luisa to the empty guest suite and then show Beta Trevor and Sandra to their rooms in the first floor,” I said to her, mind linking the specific places of where to put them. ‘And don’t let them push you around. If anything happens, come to us,’ I finished. She smiled at me gratefully and followed us in.

“The dinning table is just to the left here at the entrance. Breakfast will be ready at 7am. The cook is preparing some dinner for you as we speak. I will have someone deliver it to your rooms once it’s ready. Please let one of my staff know if you need anything. We have some details to go over for tomorrow so we will take our leave. For the time being, no one is allowed in the backyard where the ceremony will take place as they are still working on it,” Markus told him, “Come love, let’s get this over with so we can head to bed,” he said as we all headed to the conference room where Councilman Matthias was waiting.

“Thank you for waiting, Councilman Matthias,” Markus began.

“That’s quite alright. If we’re being honest, I’ve been gathering some information on my own after your father reached out to me and I didn’t quite trust myself to be diplomatic.” He admitted.

“Trust me, we all know exactly how you feel,” Markus sighed as he pulled me closer.

“What have you been able to replace?” I asked, “Maybe we can combine it with what we have before we present it to the entire council”

“Not a lot,” He admitted, “I had one of my nephews who is good with technology to hack into their finances. It turns out that the Pack should, in all aspects, be bankrupt. How they have the money to feed or pay utilities is beyond me. Their books state they are broke, but ever so often, there are large deposits in their account from offshore accounts.”

“We can compare them to the dates on the photos we have of the transactions. These might be payments,” Gillian said.

“We also have no record of Maya or Celeste in the pack registry. According to the Council Ledger, Maya and Celeste are deceased,” He frowned, “That will go a long way to damn them, but I did replace one thing that concerned me about your investigation.”

“What’s that?” Markus asked.

“I had my nephew send a drone to take some pictures. While we did see some punishments that I felt were a little excessive, we cannot interfere with how a pack disciplines its pack members unless there’s proof of torture. But the pictures we took of the girls, while a bit underfed, did not corroborate what your report claims. The pictures from the exchanges don’t really help either, they are from too far away.”

“What do you mean?” Danny asked, “They were literally starved. Every girl I saw sold was skin and bones and some were beaten half to death.”

“The pictures that we got back doesn’t show that,” Councilman Matthias pulled out a tablet and showed us. The girls definitely looked a lot better, “And the council will be looking to see the girls themselves.”

I furrowed my eyebrows “That’s not how they looked like when we left.”

Gillian suddenly cursed and we turned our attention to him. “I’ve been giving the Dr at the pack money to feed the girls. I never thought it would come back to bite us in the a*s like this.”

Gillian suddenly cursed and we turned our attention to him. “I’ve been giving the Dr at the pack money to feed the girls. I never thought it would come back to bite us in the a*s like this.”

“Can you get the doctor to testify?” the councilman asked.

“Maybe? But he would likely need assurances. He has a family.”

“We don’t need that.” I said, sighing.

I pulled out my phone. ‘Maya, are you OK with me showing the pictures we took?’

‘Yes, if it’s necessary. Whatever it takes’

“Celeste?” Markus asked me. I had never shown him the pictures and I don’t think he ever saw the extent of my body before I started gaining weight.

“When Maya and I got here, we took some pictures. But Markus, Danny, I need you two to sit down and promise me that you will not do anything rash. There’s a reason I haven’t shown these pictures. You need to promise that you will wait for the council to pass judgement.”

“I am not promising anything until I see what you’re hiding, Luna,” Danny said, already getting worked up.

“Danny, you will accept her terms or you step outside” Maya said, moving to my side. We both knew what their reactions would be to the pictures.

“Celeste, you can’t expect us to make a promise blindly,” Markus said, crossing his arms.

“I can because I know you. In fact, Gillian and Kelly, you need to make the same promises or you can step outside,” I folded my arms and looked at them.

Kelly sat on a chair. Gillian sighed and sat. Danny and Markus were having a stand off with us. Danny you could see was having a private mind link conversation with Maya, occasionally growling. He finally stomped over and sat on a chair and Maya went to sit on his lap. It was just me and Markus in a silent stand off.

Atlas is trying to convince Markus, but damn if he’s not stubborn – Kara mentioned.

”Markus?” I pleaded with him.

“No Tuli, you can’t expect me to say I will be fine with whatever you show me. You are my mate, I am allowed to be outraged.”

“Outraged yes, throwing away months of work and risk the girls still stuck at the Pack because you feel the need for revenge, no. I can’t have you storming off to kill Alpha Geoff, it would ruin everything and I would lose you. I would prefer you see these today so you’re prepared for when we show the council, but if you don’t give me your word, you can wait and see them with the rest.”

“Alpha Markus, she is right. There’s more at stake than revenge. Think of all the girls she’s trying to save,” Councilman Matthias stated. Markus pushed his hand through his hair and went to sit on a chair. I turned and started to connect the phone to the TV.

‘Gillian, I’m going to need you to restrain Markus,’ I mind linked him.