The Alpha Mafia King
Chapter 73

Alonzo and his grandfather were still sparring in the forest. A cloud had just passed over the moon, darkening the woods for a while before the moon shone again. Alonzo had the resolve to keep fighting despite getting his a*s kicked. Mazza had continued to kick Alonzo’s a*s without any apology. Alonzo lay on the ground, looking beaten even in his werewolf form. Mazza had equally transformed partially. It surprised Alonzo how little his strength and fighting skills were before his grandfather.

Alonzo tried getting up, but Mazza kicked him before he could and crashed against a tree, groaning, and bleeding. He knew he would have been long dead if not for his healing ability.

“You are weak, Alonzo,” Mazza remarked, deliberately striding slowly towards Alonzo so he could have time to get up and fight.

“I’m just getting warmed up,” Alonzo retorted, attempting to rise, but he collapsed back onto the ground.

“Yeah, you said the same thing some minutes ago,” Mazza quipped. “If I were Callisto right now, do you think I would wait for you to get warmed up?”

Alonzo clutched his side as he raised himself with great effort. “Yeah, well, unlike Callisto, you are my grandfather. I’m holding back my anger on you. I will kill you if I go all out.”

“I will like to see you try!”

Mazza dashed forward at Alonzo’s weak form that could barely keep steady while standing. He landed a direct punch on Alonzo’s temple and gave him an overhand punch and an uppercut simultaneously. Alonzo felt dizzy, taking several more hit combos from his grandfather. He managed to defend himself, especially his face, but he felt unsatisfied with just being able to block. The problem was Mazza was not giving him any room to attack. Alonzo could not replace any opening as Mazza kept lurching after him like a killer machine.

Where was it? Alonzo wondered. The power that had rained upon him that fateful day he had lost his mother. Alonzo refused to accept weakness. For a brief moment, Alonzo traveled through time to when he was bullied as a child and to the night when he lost his mother. A new wave of rage surged through him. He caught Mazza’s hands in his, bulldozering him towards a tree, intending to clobber Mazza’s head against it. He tried to stop the impact, but it was late. Alonzo had already rammed Mazza’s skull into a nasty-looking limb.

Alonzo gasped in horror, pulling his grandfather’s head away from the tree’s limb. “Granddad, I’m sorry. Are you okay?”

Mazza’s head had a hole drilled into the side where the branch had stuck.

“I’m fine,” Mazza replied as the hole in his head closed up due to his supernatural healing.

“We should stop fighting.” Alonzo sighed.

“You will need much more than that to win, Callisto.” Mazza dabbed the side of his head with his fingers, looking for traces of the wound, but he was completely healed.

Alonzo tore his gaze away from his grandfather and focused on the moon. “I understand, but my intuition tells me that Callisto would want to kill me using wolf’s bane.”

“Indeed, he could attempt such, so what are you going to do?”

“I know of werewolves who build their tolerance against wolf’s bane by ingesting it periodically, but I don’t have much time. With every second that waste, Alyona could be facing the worst possible scenario.”

“I know how you feel, and I promise we will go looking for her tomorrow when Callisto drops his clue.”

“You can’t come with me,” Alonzo said.

“Are you seriously thinking about going alone? I won’t allow that! It’s too risky, Alonzo.”

“Granddad-“

“I swore to keep you safe,” Mazza interrupted. “Your parents will never forgive me if I let you fight this fight alone.”

Alonzo chuckled. “All these years, granddad, you have kept me safe unfailingly, but there are some battles that I have to fight on my own. Besides, you will just be jeopardizing Alyona’s life and yours. I can’t be going into battle concerned for your safety and hers, okay.”

Mazza nodded, but in his heart, he had already concluded that he would follow Alonzo even if it meant doing so discreetly. They both left the forest and headed back to the hotel.

Alonzo couldn’t sleep all through the night. As the sun rose, he sat up on his bed. He turned to check his phone with every new notification sound that chimed. Horrible thoughts consumed him. What could his enemies be doing to Alyona? Was she able to catch any sleep? How was she feeling after being raped? Was their baby fine? Alonzo wasn’t a religious man, but he prayed this morning for Alyona and his baby’s safety.

There was an incoming call from an unknown number, and he answered the call immediately.

“Good morning,” Callisto said, and Alonzo felt a chill run through him.

“Take my life instead and let her go, please,” Alonzo said. “Your revenge is with me.”

“Revenge? You think this is what this is about! You’re mistaken, Alonzo.”

“Am I?”

Callisto scoffed. “I am driven by something far greater than revenge. What I’ve done has nothing to do with retribution.”

“Then why are you doing all these?”

“Oh, I will be happy to fill you in once you’ve located us.”

“What makes you think I want to chat with you when we see each other?”

“Oh, I’m sure you will hear me out.”

“You’re even crazier than I imagined.”

“Enough said,” Callisto declared. “I promised to give you clues but nothing too apt. However, last night I had a change of heart.”

“What are you talking about?” Alonzo said as he felt his chest tightening.

“Are you familiar with the term exsanguination? It’s when someone bleeds to death.”

Yes, Alonzo was familiar with the term. It was a horrible way to die. “Please don’t do this.”

“It’s too late,” Callisto replied casually. “Follow the scent of b***d, Alonzo, and you could make it in time to say a few last words to your mate before she dies. I will allow you to profess your love for her, but I doubt she would want that at this point. Come alone, or else I will kill her swiftly. Oh, and you need to hurry. She’s already lost much b***d and slipped in and out of consciousness.”

Alonzo surprisingly perceived a whiff of b***d, and he bolted out of his room. There was b***d smeared across the wall of his hotel room. He looked around, but the perpetrator had already disappeared into thin air. Callisto had somehow left him a b***d trail, and he had no doubt whose b***d he would be following. Alyona’s b***d.

While it was tempting to follow the stream of b***d leading to his mate, Alonzo paused at the front desk of the hotel’s receptionist to think. The receptionist eyed him curiously, but he didn’t care about her.

What was he going to do once he found Alyona? For how long had she been bleeding out? He knew he had to stop the bleeding first once he saw her. Also, he had to have a medical team on standby just in case the worst ensued.

Alonzo disregarded his safety and prioritized Alyona’s life at all costs. He knew he was walking into Callisto’s trap, but there was so little he could do on such short notice and with the kind of threat looming.

Alonzo, nevertheless, gave a buzz to a doctor he knew in Russia, explaining the circumstance. The doctor said he would arrive shortly despite the risk involved. Luckily for Alonzo, he had helped the doctor when he was in trouble, which was why the man was ready to stake his life for him.

Alonzo paused to sniff the air, and he caught the scent of more b***d leading outside the hotel. As he suspected, there was more b***d, but this time it was smudged close to the tire where he parked.

Alonzo left the engines running as he waited inside his car for the doctor. About ten minutes had passed before a black car pulled up in the driveway. Alonzo’s phone rang, but he ignored it since he had caught sight of the doctor. He flashed the man his headlight and honked for him. The doctor stopped his car and let Alonzo take the lead.

Alonzo started driving, following nothing but the smell of b***d. He noticed how the perpetrator had painted different corners of the streets with Alyona’s b***d. Alonzo marveled at the atrociousness.

He was not surprised that the trail led him into a forested area. He parked his car by the edge of the road where the b***d trail indicated he should take the forest path.

The doctor, as instructed, took a u-turn, parking a few distances from Alonzo, and waited inside his car.

For Alonzo, the smell of b***d became more difficult to miss, and this time he noticed the b***d smeared onto the forest trees. He continued deeper into the woods, allowing the smell to carry him. Suddenly he stopped as he caught the scent of Alyona’s cologne and heard her faint breathing. He began sprinting towards her, and from afar, he could see the facade of a cabin. That must be where Alyona was being held captive.

Mazza had been following Alonzo and the doctor closely and unannounced. He knew Alonzo was too worried about the b***d smell to notice anything else. He, too, had been worried. He could slip past the doctor with his super speed and continued to follow Alonzo deeper into the forest.

Alonzo busted the cabin’s door open, and he saw Alyona wrapped around in chains, bleeding from below her left rib cage.