Chapter 178

Chapter 178
Carmine

“Ximena!!!!” I yelled at the top of my lungs. My heart skipped a bit as my whole world kept crumbling before my eyes watching her fall; it felt like my very essence left me. Everything around me stood still for a second as the sound of panic and fear enveloped the room.

I caught her right on time before she landed, protecting her head from touching the ground. “Ximena,” I called out again, my voice filled with panic, fear, urgency as I shook her gently, but the only response I got was the burning sensation from her skin, her temperature rising above normal.

“Open the damn door!!!” I yelled, picking her up in my arms as I rushed toward one of the doors. “Get the healer to my chamber, right now!!” I ordered, making the soldiers run into a frenzy in the direction of the infirmary.

“No, Steven, not you!” I said, turning my gaze to him as he was about to leave. “Stay with these traitors until I'm back. I don't want them escaping,” I said, pointing toward the already powerless alphas as I rushed out.

“Yes, my lord,” he replied, but all I could hear was his faint voice as I ran down the hallways heading to my chamber.

I placed her gently on the now dusty bed, as it had been a long time since a maid last came in here. “Ximena,” I called out again for the third time, “please don't do this to me. Please don't leave me too… Ximena, please I beg of you,” I said, sobbing inwardly, trying so hard to fight back my tears.

I began to pace the room from one end to the other as I kept opening the doors to check if the healer was coming. “Oh, how I now miss Ma'am Lia; she never takes too long before she answers to me, regardless of whatever she was doing before the call.”

I opened the door for the umpteenth time as I screamed through the hallway, “WHERE THE HELL IS THE HEALER?!” I thundered.

Minutes later, the door to my chamber flew open. I rushed toward it, but it still wasn’t the healer; it was Gamma Phil and Gamma Andrew.

“My lord. What can we do to help? We…” Gamma Andrew asked.

“Get me the damn healer!!” I snarled, not waiting for another word.

“I'm here,” a gritty voice followed mine as the old lady from earlier walked inside with a bloodstained body.

“What took you so long to get here?!” I fired at her.

“Uhm... I'm sorry, my lord, but don't forget that we currently have a bunch of women in there who are actually giving birth. I had to come the minute I heard,” she replied firmly.

“You know what? Forget it, just save my mate, please.” I begged, pointing to Ximena, who lay weakly on the bed.

She turned her gaze in her direction, standing frozen to the spot, and then she shifted her gaze back to me with widened eyes and an open mouth. “So it's true? The Luna is really alive?” she asked with glassy eyes.

“Yes, madam… I did tell you she is alive, but right now if you don't save her, that's going to be a fairytale. So could you please get to work?” I shot back at her.

She smiled softly before turning back to Ximena. “She's going to be fine,” she replied softly.

“How do you know that?” I asked with creased brows.

“I can feel it - a greater power is hers,” she said. “All hail Luna Ximena,” she greeted softly, bowing her head before walking toward her to where she lay.

She wiped her hands clean before examining Ximena carefully. She paused for a while, turning to look at me with raised brows before she continued.

“What's wrong with her? Is something wrong?” I asked, urgency in my tone. But she didn't utter a word as she went back to whatever she was doing.

“She’s fine; she just needs some rest… she's just tired from exhaustion,” she announced, making me heave a deep sigh of relief.

“I knew a thing like this was bound to happen,” I muttered under my breath. “Thanks, healer,” I said softly.

“Just call me Joana,” she said, cutting in sharply. “My name is Madam Joana,” she added with a smile. “Thanks for keeping our Luna safe,” she chimed.

I gave her a light nod with a smile. She was about to say another word when the door suddenly burst open, revealing Damien. “My lord?” He called out, rushing toward me as he wrapped his arms around me, pulling me in for a hug.

“Thank you so much for coming for us. I'm so grateful,” he muffled out those words.

But something unusual happened the minute he walked in. I noticed the faces of the gammas changing as he hugged me, making me wonder why it was so.

“One more thing, my lord,” the healer, Ma'am Joana, continued, making me turn my gaze in her direction. “Congratulations,” she said.

“For?” I asked with furrowed brows.

“For being a father; our Luna is expecting,” she blurted out with excitement in her voice.

“What?” I mumbled softly as my face lit up.

“My lord, this is good news,” Gamma Jayden and Phil chorused.

“You slept with her?” Damien spat out, his voice laced with venom, making the excitement I had in my face vanish.

“What do you mean by that, Damien? She's my mate! You don’t have any right whatsoever to ask me such a foolish question!” I fired at him, my voice rising with each word.

He stood there with a tight jaw, clenched fists, and fierce eyes as he stared at me before storming out of the room.

I stared at him with furrowed brows as I watched him leave. “What the hell is going on with him?” I asked.

“We're also as confused as you are, my lord,” Gamma Phil said. “But I'll tell you this for free: it will be best if you take him out of your army for good, not just your imperial army,” he added.

“What? Why?” I asked, confusion etched in my voice.

“While we were still captured, we were taken to the Creek Pack. Beta Damien there was ready to sell you off to the alphas. It was a good thing he didn't have the detailed information of where you were,” Gamma Andrew explained.

“What?!” I exclaimed in shock. “Are you sure about what you're saying?” I asked sternly.

“A thousand percent sure, my lord. When the alpha asked him why he was willing to turn you in, he mentioned something about a girl or mate; I didn't quite get it…” he replied.

“And how do you know this?” I asked, just to be sure this wasn't some sort of rumor. I knew Damien was a lot of things, but this? This was way past my knowledge of him, I thought.

“I know this because we were both locked up in the same cell, my lord. And when I threatened to report this to you when we were out of there, he said with the number of alphas against you, we were all dead meat anyways,” he said, his voice matter-of-factly.

“What?” I mumbled under my breath.

“Andrew is right, my lord. When he told me about this, I couldn't believe it until what he just displayed right here, in front of us,” Phil chimed. “I know he's been your buddy for a long time, but at this crucial time, we can't afford to just trust anyone, especially with this news the healer just broke to us now. The other alphas are still here, though powerless, but they are still alive,” he explained.

I took a moment of pause, moving my gaze to everyone in the room as I thought about their words.

“Damien is no longer trustworthy, my lord. I don't know how, but he's been corrupted,” Phil said with a stern voice.

I heaved a deep sigh, turning my gaze to the healer, then to the gammas. “Alright then, I've heard your words, so please for Ximena’s safety, I wouldn't want this news to go past these walls. Do you all understand?” I asked.

“Yes, my lord,” they replied in unison.

“Ma’am Joana?” I called out softly.

“You don't have to worry, my lord. I'll guard the Luna until my very last breath. I won’t fail this time. Not again,” she said.

“This time?” I asked with furrowed brows, wondering what she meant by that.

“Yes, my lord. Long ago, before I became the pack's healer, I was among her mother’s beta soldiers who protected her closely. But I was away when the attack from Vincenzo came; I’d never been able to forgive myself since… But this time, I won’t make that mistake twice,” she explained.

I gave her a light nod before turning my gaze back to the gammas. “You two… triple the security in this room and get only trustworthy but few maids to come clean this place up… it's a mess…” I said, making them nod lightly.

“No one comes in and goes out of this place until Ximena wakes up without my permission,” I added sternly.