Chapter 19
779words
"No!" Ariana let out a bloodcurdling scream. "You can't do this to me! Byron! You can't!"
Two strong werewolf guards stepped forward to carry out my order.
"I curse you!" Ariana's eyes burned with a crazed hatred as they dragged her up. "Byron! I curse you to a life of misery! I curse you to die alone!"
Her voice grew shriller, more insane.
"I curse Sandra to spit on your memory! I curse you to never know peace!"
I watched her being dragged away, my face a mask of indifference.
Her curses meant nothing to me.
I had already lost everything.
Sandra would never forgive me. That was a fact, not a curse.
We would never get back together. That was also a fact.
And my bloodline ending? I couldn't even protect my first child. What was the point of a bloodline?
"Take her away," I told the guards. "Do it now."
"Yes, Alpha."
Ariana was still struggling and screaming curses, but her voice quickly faded down the corridor.
The elders watched me in silence.
"Alpha," the head elder said cautiously. "What are your plans now?"
My plans?
I only had one thought.
Find Sandra.
Atone for my sins.
Even if she would never forgive me, I had to apologize to her in person.
And her bloodline curse... even without Ariana, I would find a way to track down this Killian. I had to save her!
"I'm going to the Silver Moon pack," I said.
"Alpha!" several elders protested at once. "Your condition is dangerous, and the Silver Moon pack is hostile—"
"I have to go," I cut them off. "I have to explain everything to Sandra myself."
"But—"
"This is my final command," I looked at them. "Until I return, the council will manage the pack in my stead."
The elders exchanged glances but finally nodded in agreement.
An hour later, I was driving alone toward the Silver Moon territory.
I had to see Sandra.
I had to tell her the truth.
Tell her I never knew about Ariana's deception.
Tell her I sealed her power because I was tricked.
Tell her... I was a damn fool.
Just as I was about to reach the Silver Moon border, an urgent mind-link came from my Beta.
"Alpha! Bad news!"
"What is it?" I asked.
"Ariana... Ariana has been rescued!"
I slammed on the brakes.
"What?"
"My men had just cast her into rogue territory when they were ambushed. Powerful, unknown wolves, moving like shadows."
"Who were they?"
"They... they wore the insignia of the Northern royal traitors!"
The northern traitors.
My blood ran cold.
Killian.
"Any other news?" I asked.
"Yes!" my Beta's voice grew even more tense. "That traitor has been secretly building an army for years, plotting to overthrow the current werewolf order! And Ariana... Ariana has been their pawn planted by our side all along!"
My mind was in chaos.
What did this mean?
It meant I had been caught in a massive conspiracy from the very beginning.
It meant Ariana's interest in me wasn't just about love, but about politics.
"Alpha, where are you now?" my Beta asked. "The situation is dangerous. You should return immediately—"
Suddenly, a powerful mental shock hit my brain.
A mind-link.
From Ariana.
I clutched my head in pain, forcing myself to receive the message.
It wasn't a voice.
An image burned itself onto the inside of my skull:
Sandra's mother was lying on an unfamiliar hospital bed, her face ashen, clearly unconscious.
A wolf in a black uniform, wearing the Northern insignia on his chest, stood by her bed.
He held a syringe filled with a liquid black as night.
The needle was slowly piercing Sandra's mother's vein.
Then, a voice whispered directly into my thoughts, laced with venom and triumph. Ariana's voice.
"Surprised to see me, Byron?"
Her laughter echoed in my head.
"Did you think executing me would be the end of it? So naive."
The image continued. The wolf had started to push the plunger.
The black liquid was slowly flowing into Sandra's mother's bloodstream.
"Want to save her mother?" Ariana's voice turned even more sinister. "You will come to Blackrock Abyss."
"Remember, come alone. If I find out you brought help, or told anyone, this old woman dies instantly."
"You have three hours, Byron."
The mind-link was cut.
I sat in the car, my hands gripping the steering wheel.
Blackrock Abyss.
The most dangerous region on the border, filled with cliffs and forbidden werewolf territories.
It was a trap. A perfectly laid death trap.
And with Sandra's mother as the bait, they knew I had no choice but to walk right into it.
