Chapter 232: A Daughter Lost, A Mother Gone
Chapter 232: A Daughter Lost, A Mother Gone
(Celeste’s POV)
“Grandmother!” I cried out, my voice breaking as I rushed to Eleanor’s bedside.
“Mother!” Alpha James’s voice joined mine, equally panicked.
I grabbed her cold hand, pressing it against my tear–streaked face. The warmth that had been
there just moments ago was rapidly fading.
“Grandmother, please wake up,” I begged, my silver–scarred wolf whimpering within me.
“Please don’t leave me.”
She looked peaceful, almost serene with that faint smile on her lips. But she wasn’t
responding. Not to my touch, not to my voice, not to my tears falling on her weathered hand.
“Get Dr. Pierce immediately!” I shouted at the beta wolf standing frozen by the door.
The wolf snapped out of her shock and bolted from the room. Alpha James stood on the other
side of the bed, his face ashen, his golden eyes wide with disbelief.
“Mother,” he whispered, reaching for her other hand. “Mother, open your eyes.”
I couldn’t stop the tears streaming down my face. My silver–scarred wolf howled within me,
sensing what my heart refused to accept.
“She was just talking to us,” I said, my voice barely audible. “She was fine. She was smiling…”
The door burst open as Dr. Pierce rushed in, his medical bag clutched tightly in his hand.
Without a word, he moved to Eleanor’s side, gently nudging me aside.
I watched, holding my breath, as he checked her pulse, leaning close to listen for breathing
with his sensitive wolf hearing. Each second felt like an eternity.
Finally, he straightened, his face grave. “I’m sorry. Former Luna Eleanor has passed.”
“No!” Alpha James’s voice boomed through the room. “That’s impossible! She was speaking
with us just moments ago!”
His wolf howled inside him. I could sense it, could almost see the golden wolf raging against
the confines of his human form.
“She can’t be gone,” I echoed, clutching Eleanor’s hand tighter. “You said she had days left. You
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< Chapter 232: A Daughter Lost…
said ten days!”
Dr. Pierce’s expression softened with compassion. “Sometimes, with wolves of strong bloodlines, there’s a final surge of energy before the end. It’s called a ‘return to light‘ – the
flame burns brightest just before it’s extinguished.”
His words pierced through me like silver daggers. I collapsed against the bed, my body
wracked with sobs.
+8 Points >
“No, no, no,” I repeated, as if denial could somehow bring her back. “Grandmother, please…”
Sarah Miller stood at the foot of the bed, tears flowing freely down her weathered face. Her
silver–gray wolf keened with grief, the sound almost audible beneath her human skin.
“She wanted to see you free,” Sarah said, her voice breaking. “That’s why she spent her last
energy on the severance ritual. She couldn’t bear to leave this world without securing your
freedom.”
Her words only intensified my grief. The realization that my grandmother’s final act had been
for me, that her last struggles had been to ensure my well–being, crushed me under its weight.
“I didn’t want this,” I sobbed, laying my head against Eleanor’s still chest. “Not at this price.
Never at this price.”
Alpha James stood immobile, as if the life had drained from him as well. The dominant wolf
aura that typically surrounded him had vanished, swallowed by grief.
“Alpha,” Dr. Pierce said gently, “let me prepare a calming tincture for you.”
Alpha James shook his head. “No.”
The word was hollow, empty. He turned mechanically toward the door, his steps slow and
heavy.
။
“James,” Sarah called after him, but he didn’t respond.
I couldn’t look up from my grandmother’s peaceful face. I couldn’t stop crying, couldn’t stop my silver–scarred wolf from howling within me.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered to her. “I’m so sorry I brought you pain. I’m sorry I couldn’t save you.”
My tears fell on her face, but she didn’t stir. She would never stir again.
(Alpha James’s POV)
A crowd had gathered outside Mother’s quarters. Lucas and Victoria stood at the front, their faces anxious. Beta wolves, servants, and pack members filled the corridor, all waiting for
< Chapter 232: A Daughter Lost…
news.
+8 Points>
“Mother has passed,” I said, the words barely audible.
Yet they were heard. A wave of mournful howls and cries erupted from the assembled wolves.
Victoria collapsed against Lucas, her sobs echoing through the corridor.
I looked up at the night sky through a nearby window. It was clouded, starless, as if the moon
herself mourned my mother’s passing. A cold realization washed over me like a silver chain – I no longer had a mother.
–
My feet carried me forward, away from the cries and the grief, through the pack house and out
onto the grounds. I stumbled once, my legs suddenly weak.
A beta wolf rushed to help me. “Alpha, please let me assist you.”
“Leave me,” I ordered, my voice harsher than intended.
I glanced down at my right hand, still stinging from the three forceful slaps during the pack severance ritual with Celeste. How eagerly she had participated in breaking the bonds that
had tied us for fourteen years.
Not only had I lost my mother tonight, but I had also truly lost the daughter I had raised from infancy. The daughter who had once looked at me with adoration, who had called me “Father”
with love rather than cold formality.
The weight of this double loss pressed down on me, making each step harder than the last. My golden eyes reddened with unshed tears, but I refused to break in front of others. An Alpha must always maintain strength, even in grief.
I continued walking until the voices and cries faded behind me, until I reached the edge of our territory where darkness enveloped me like an old friend.
Only then did I allow myself to collapse. My legs gave way beneath me, and I sank to my knees on the forest floor. The grief I had been holding at bay erupted from me in choked sobs and howls that echoed through the woods.
“Mother,” I wept, all pretense gone. “Mother, forgive me.’
In the darkness, with no one to witness, I allowed myself to be not Alpha James of the Winter Pack, but simply a son who had lost his mother, a father who had lost his daughter. The pain
of it was almost unbearable.
My wolf howled within me, the sound escaping my human throat as a keening wail that rose
toward the cloud–covered moon.
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<Chapter 232: A Daughter Lost….
(Lucas’s POV)
+8 Points >
By dawn, news of Grandmother’s death had spread to our allied packs. Messengers had been dispatched throughout the night, carrying the somber news to those who needed to know.
The mourning hall of our pack house was draped in silver–white cloths, as tradition demanded. Mother and I knelt beside the ceremonial pyre where Grandmother’s body lay, prepared for the
final moon blessing that would occur at nightfall.
Mother hadn’t stopped crying since Father broke the news. Her usual composure had shattered completely, leaving her vulnerable and lost. I kept my arm around her shoulders, trying to offer what little comfort I could.
The door to the mourning hall opened, and Alexander Steele entered. His white wolf’s aura
was subdued out of respect, but his presence still commanded attention.
“My deepest condolences for your loss,” he said formally, bowing his head to Mother and then
to me. “Former Luna Eleanor was respected by all packs.”
Mother nodded, unable to speak through her tears. Alexander looked around the hall, his
ice–blue eyes searching for something or someone.
–
I knew immediately who he was looking for.
“Mother, I’ll be back shortly,” I murmured, gently disengaging myself from her.
She nodded again, turning her attention back to Grandmother’s body. I beckoned for Alexander
to follow me outside to the pack house courtyard.
The air was crisp with early morning coolness. A few beta wolves were preparing the grounds for the mourners who would arrive throughout the day, but otherwise, we were alone.
Before I could speak, Alexander asked, “Where is Celeste?”
His directness irritated me, especially given the circumstances. My golden wolf stirred beneath my skin, bristling with annoyance.
“Celeste is resting,” I replied stiffly. “Dr. Pierce had to sedate her with moon–blessed herbs. She wouldn’t stop crying.”
Alexander nodded, accepting this information without comment. His lack of reaction only fueled my irritation.
“Aren’t you going to ask about Scarlett?” I challenged. “Your fiancée?”
Alexander said nothing, but the slightly raised eyebrow and subtle shift in his expression told
< Chapter 232 A Daughter Lost….
me he hadn’t even thought of Scarlett until I mentioned her.
“She’s devastated too,” I added pointedly. “Though you don’t seem concerned.”
+8 Points >
Alexander’s ice–blue eyes met mine, unreadable as ever. “You said Celeste was sedated. Is she alright otherwise?”
I fought the urge to growl at his blatant dismissal of my question. “Where’s Matthew Sterling? I’d have thought he’d be the first one rushing to Celeste’s side.”
“Northern Ridge, Alexander replied. “The Alpha King ordered him to help suppress a rogue wolf uprising there. He left yesterday.”
Alarm shot through me. “Northern Ridge? That territory is dangerous – silver mines, anti–pack human settlements. Why would the Alpha King send Matthew there?”
“He didn’t go alone,” Alexander assured me. “I sent two of my most capable beta warriors with him Jacob Ward and Eric Bennett.”
–
I scoffed. “Three elite guards for a minor uprising? Isn’t that overkill?”
Alexander’s lips curved into a wry smile. “Perhaps. But Matthew is my friend and second–in–command. Besides, he requested this assignment specifically.”
“Why would he do that?” I asked, my golden wolf surging with skepticism.
“Because,” Alexander replied, “military achievements improve one’s standing in the pack hierarchy. Matthew is determined to rise through the ranks.”
Understanding dawned on me. “For Celeste.”
Alexander nodded. “For Celeste.”
Our conversation was interrupted by cries coming from the entrance to the mourning hall. We both turned to see what was happening.
Scarlett was on her knees before Celeste, her hands clasped in front of her pleadingly. Tears streamed down her face as she begged.
“Please, Celeste,” she sobbed, loud enough for us to hear. “Please let me mourn Grandmother. Please don’t forbid me from attending the ceremony.”
Celeste stood before her, utterly still. Her violet eyes were empty, devoid of any emotion. Her silver–scarred wolf was unnaturally still beneath her skin.
I had never seen her like this before not even in her worst moments in Moon Shadow Prison. She looked… hollow. As if something essential had been carved out of her.
< Chapter 232: A Daughter Lost…..
It was more frightening than her rage had ever been.
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