Chapter 309: _She’s Hope
Caroline’s POV
*****
She was gone.
Everything had happened so fast and she barely had any chance to react... But she was gone.
Odessa.
The pack was under attack, but the rogue wolves were quickly defeated, and the blood moon festival was brought to an abrupt end; all the guests and delegates were forced to leave.
But the Alpha Kings and Luna Queen Janelle remained, with Kaelos standing behind his desk back in his dimly lit office.
Caroline stood at a corner, summoned by the Alpha King to give him and everyone else details of one thing and one thing only:
"So you’re telling us Odessa didn’t take anything poisonous that might’ve led to her miscarriage?" Marcellus, who stood beside Kaelos, asked firmly.
Caroline tightened her jaw, using everything in her power not to lash out and attack the two-faced traitor right here and now.
She still wasn’t sure of what happened but she knew he definitely had a part to play in this. She should’ve found a way to bring him down when she had the chance.
"Yes, Beta. I didn’t see her take anything." Caroline managed to respond calmly, keeping her eyes away from the Alpha Kings and Luna Queen Janelle who stared at her like hawks waiting to devour her.
Luna Queen Janelle especially had her head tilted, squinting her eyes at her for several seconds where she sat.
And then...
"She’s telling the truth." She remarked with a light sigh, rubbing her forehead as she brought her gaze back to her fellow rulers sitting around her.
Then she raised her right hand, revealing her purple ring which glistened under the dim light of the office.
"As most of you know, my ring helps me decipher if someone is being truthful. And unfortunately, I doubt Caroline had anything to do with Odessa’s miscarriage."
Caroline arched an eyebrow.
Unfortunately?
"We’re wasting time here." Alpha King Maddox sneered, locking his gaze on Kaelos. "That power your wife unleashed during her breakdown. It’s... Unlike anything I’ve ever seen."
"Indeed." The Asian Alpha King said with a solemn tone. "That wasn’t just any ’magic’. It was chaotic. Dark. Ancient..."
"And something tells me he’s known about it all this while." Alpha King Soren of South America took the opportunity to make a jab at Kaelos. "Didn’t you, Alpha king?"
Kaelos finally raised his head, his once-empty and lost silver eyes blazing with a rage that instantly made Caroline stiffen with fear.
But his eyes weren’t locked on her.
They were locked on the werewolf rulers.
"The only reason I called for your presence here instead of kicking you out of the pack like the other guests is so we can come together and think of a strategy." He began coldly but Soren sneered.
"Strategy? Or to witness you derail further into incompetence?" He queried, tilting his head at Kaelos. "You lost your wife and your child in the blink of an eye, which probably wouldn’t have been the case if you had been open to us."
Caroline’s eyes flicked to Marcellus just then.
The bastard had the faintest smirk for just a second before plastering a concerned expression.
Caroline’s fists clenched as Janelle scolded Soren.
"Don’t be insensitive. Arguing wouldn’t solve anything here." She said calmly, staring at Soren but before anyone knew what was happening, Kaelos finally straightened his spine.
His eyes narrowed on Soren as he turned around his desk, his anger reaching a peak.
"No. Let him continue, Luna Queen." Kaelos said with a cruel smile, his eyes darkening into murderous slits. "Tell me, Soren. Do you love your wife?"
Soren visibly froze, a scowl appearing on his face.
Alpha King Thorian grunted beside Janelle. "Alpha King Kaelos, you—"
"What are you driving at?" Soren sniggered. "Of course, I love my wife. She’s my mate and—"
"She’s your mate." Kaelos chuckled darkly, sounding like he’d just heard the biggest joke of the decade. "That’s rich. It sounds like that’s your only reason for loving her."
Caroline felt a deep sadness eating at her chest, making her heart heavy. She could sense the despair veiled with rage in Kaelos’ voice and knew he was hurting badly.
And for some reason, she blamed herself for it.
It was her duty to protect Odessa and she failed that... Woefully.
"When I first discovered Odessa was my mate... I only brought her back to the pack because I thought she’d placed a curse on me." Kaelos continued. "I rejected the mate bond every chance I got. But it festered. Grew into something more. Made me vulnerable in ways I could’ve never imagined years ago."
As he continued talking, he walked closer to Soren, his footsteps increasing the tension in the room.
Soren tried remaining calm but even from where she stood, Caroline could tell that he was faltering. Losing his composure.
"Odessa isn’t just my mate." Kaelos continued hoarsely, his voice firm and deep. "She’s hope. She’s my life. The symbol of a part of me I thought was buried forever. So don’t you dare sit there trying to act high and mighty. That..."
He raised his right hand, pointing at the office door. "... Is the door. Use it if you want, and go meet your wife if you can’t offer anything more than backhanded insults. Or she’ll be forced to feel the pain I feel now."
Soren flipped, his chair scraping on the floor as he got on his feet and met Kaelos’ gaze, although the latter was taller.
"Is that a threat?" Soren’s voice dripped with defiance but Kaelos merely smirked.
"It’s a promise."
Just when the tension felt like it would sweep the entire room into a river of pressure, a knock sounded on the office door.
Caroline didn’t realise she was holding her breath until the knock sounded, a relieved sigh leaving her mouth.
Thank the goddess...
Everyone knows a fight between two Alpha Kings always leads to destruction on cataclysmic levels.
"Come in!" Janelle yelled out, sighing heavily like a mother tired of watching two children bicker.
The door swung open as all eyes went to it.
High priestess Althea stepped in with a grave expression, her purple robes flowing behind her.
"My suspicions were correct. Odessa’s tea... The one I’ve been giving to her for the past three days." She began, causing an ominous chill to spread through Caroline’s being.
Something was wrong...
"Yes? What about the tea?" Kaelos snapped, stepping closer.
Althea blinked, scanning her gaze briefly on the Alpha Kings before continuing somberly.
"It was spiked with dosages of wolfsbane."
Caroline’s heart plummeted at the priestess’s words. Wolfsbane.
Her mind stuttered. ’No... no, I didn’t...’
She barely got the first syllable past her lips. "I—"
Suddenly, a blur of black and silver moved faster than thought.
Kaelos.
One second, he was by the desk; the next, his towering frame was in front of her, his hand like a vice snapping around her throat. The air vanished from her lungs with a violent whoosh.
Her toes scraped uselessly against the polished floor as he lifted her clean off the ground, her fingers clawing at his iron grip.
"YOU!" he snarled, the word vibrating through his chest and into her bones.
Her vision already burned at the edges, while his silver eyes were molten with grief and fury, locking her in place like prey under a predator’s gaze.
Somewhere in the room, someone shouted Kaelos’ name — but the sound was muffled, swallowed by the blood rushing in Caroline’s ears.
All she could hear was the steady, lethal growl in his throat and the unspoken promise that if she didn’t prove herself innocent in the next heartbeat, this might be the last air she ever breathed.