Chapter 180 THE WEIGHT OF SHADOWS

Chapter 180 THE WEIGHT OF SHADOWS

THE WEIGHT OF SHADOWS

AUTHOR'S POV

Immediately, as Marcella controlled Mildred, she went to the palace to search for Alpha Hayden and stop him from fighting Alpha Kael. Because Marcella told her to, she was now programmed to always follow Marcella's command, as she had been overwhelmed by Marcella's power. She did not have a mind of her own anymore and was not thinking from her own perspective. She had to follow everything Marcella told her through her mindset.

Upon getting to the palace, she could not find Alpha Hayden. Then she saw a guard standing by the door of his room. Immediately, she asked him, “Where the hell is Alpha Hayden?” she shouted at the guard.

“He is on the battlefield with Alpha Kael,” the guard said immediately out of fear because she had become harsh and rude these past few days. Ever since she had been trying to protect their children and train them, she had been overwhelmed by her overprotectiveness, resulting in her being harsh and rude to the maids and guards of the palace without even realizing it. So everybody was scared of her at this moment.

She shouted at the guard, who was shaky as he answered her. Then she stormed out of the palace the same way she stormed in, on her way to find Alpha Hayden and stop him from whatever he was doing, according to Marcella's wish.

In no time, she got to Alpha Kael's battlefield where they were both fighting each other. Immediately, Alpha Hayden set eyes on Mildred. He got distracted, unable to focus on his opponent, Alpha Kael.

Alpha Kael used this opportunity to his advantage and swung his sword in Hayden's direction. The sword slid right through his arm, blood gushing out. Immediately, he turned back to look at Alpha Kael. Kael was about to raise his sword and slam it straight into Hayden's head before Hayden attempted to dodge. It was too late.

He had already given up, thinking this was his end, as he was unable to defend against the sword swung directly at his head. He waited for the sword to land on him, but he did not expect what happened next. Mildred immediately jumped in to save him from her subconscious mind.

He looked up to see Mildred attacking Alpha Kael, having blocked the sword that was supposed to hit his head. Immediately, he was surprised at the strength with which Mildred was attacking Alpha Kael. It was becoming even harder for Alpha Kael to counter her strikes. Kael looked at her with shock, wondering how strong Mildred truly was.

He had never seen her in battle before and did not know she possessed such strength. Yes, he knew she was powerful and skilled, but he never knew she was strong enough to face someone like Alpha Kael, who had been difficult for him to fight until this moment.

But Mildred was attacking effortlessly, and he was amazed, in awe of the strength she exerted on the battlefield as he watched her with his mouth wide open. In no time, she had already delivered serious injuries to Alpha Kael's body, and he was losing strength.

Alpha Kael had already exerted half his strength fighting Hayden, and now facing Mildred, all his remaining strength was not enough. He had already exhausted half, and Mildred was handling him easily as she exerted greater strength than even he, an Alpha, could.

In no time, Alpha Kael was already on the floor, wavering in pain. Then Mildred decided to leave him, walking up to Hayden.

“Just stop this already, Hayden. Let's go home. You don't need to fight him. You don't need to wage a war against him over our children. Can't you see that already?”

She spoke plainly, not looking the slightest bit sad or distressed about their missing children. Hayden wondered what was wrong with her. She wasn’t even blaming him. Knowing Mildred, she would have blamed him a million times before even telling him to stop the battle.

She had pushed him at first to start the war against Alpha Kael, saying he had definitely stolen their children. And now, why was she telling him to stop the war? What had gotten into Mildred, he wondered. But he couldn’t voice it out loud as he pinched the bridge of his nose and rubbed his eyes.

“What the hell is going on, Mildred? How can you tell me he isn’t the one with our children? How sure are you? Can’t you see that after giving our children such great gifts, they went missing? What more evidence do you need to be sure he is the one with our twins?” he shouted, feeling both anxious and angry.

She looked at him and smirked. “Just cut the crap already, Hayden. He is not with our children. I'm telling you right now, stop this war. There is no need to waste innocent lives anymore. Just stop the fighting.”

They almost forgot about Alpha Kael, who was still writhing in pain on the floor. They didn’t realize he had already gotten up and stood on his feet, about to attack Mildred.

From the corner of his eye, Hayden saw him swing his sword at Mildred. Hayden pushed her away and defended with his sword.

“Just stop already, Kael. We are no longer fighting,” he said.

“What makes you think I will just let this go?” Kael barked. “After you waged war against me, losing innocent lives, losing almost half my men, you expect me to let it die down like that? No. It is not happening!”

He hadn’t even realized he was talking to Mildred, Alpha Hayden's Luna, because he had never seen her before—she was always indoors.

“Who do you think you're talking to like that?” Mildred shouted exasperatedly. “I am even doing you a favor by stopping this war before I kill you. Do you think it will take me hours to end your life right here and now? I only spared you, and now you dare talk to me like that. Who do you think I am?”

“Who the hell are you? Just shut up. Do you know who I am? I am the Alpha of this pack! I can order my guards to take your life right now. Even with the strength you exerted, do you think you can take me down with such measly strength?” he smirked.

Mildred laughed out loud.

“What do you think you’re saying?” She faced Hayden. “Tell him who I am. I think he doesn’t know what kind of strength I have or how easily I can take him out right here. I am giving him a chance to survive.”

Hayden just stood there dumbfounded, not knowing what to say. He walked up to Alpha Kael and pleaded with him to stop the battle.

“I also lost my men in this battle. So it's a win-win for both of us. You lost your men, I lost mine. Let's forget all this. I need to settle things with my wife.”

Alpha Kael was shocked, not realizing Mildred was Hayden's Luna until Hayden said it. They both walked out, leaving him dumbstruck on the battlefield. The guards stopped fighting and followed their Alphas back to the palace.

Back at the palace, Mildred stomped in, not talking to Hayden, who followed closely behind trying to catch up.

“What are you doing? What made you stop the war? He kidnapped our children, remember? And why do you seem so unbothered? They are your children! And what sudden change of attitude is this?” he shouted.

Usually, she would have started blaming him for everything that happened.

“The only mistake I made was announcing to everyone that our children were born with a prophecy. How was I supposed to know it should be kept secret? You blamed me countless times. Now you're acting nonchalant about everything, telling me to stop the war. What the hell is going through your mind? Why are you contradicting me every time? If you’re not blaming me today, you're asking me not to do something tomorrow. What is wrong with you? Just stop with this madness!”

He shouted, frustrated, feeling humiliated before Alpha Kael. At that moment, he knew Kael would think he was a puppet Alpha who only listened to his Luna. That made him angrier.

Mildred just stood there, unbothered, saying nothing. She was thinking of her children, but her face showed no emotion. She felt sad that what happened to her sister was about to happen to her children, and she couldn't do anything. She didn't even have control over her mind. How did he expect her to act normally if she was being controlled by Marcella?

“I already told you to stop fighting. Our children are not with him, and that is the end of the case. Don’t ask me stupid questions right now, Hayden,” she said, still not herself—only repeating what Marcella commanded.

In her subconscious mind, she was being controlled. She walked out of Hayden’s presence, and he became even angrier that she had the guts to walk out on him.

“This has to end, Mildred. You can’t keep acting like this and expect me to be okay with it. Yes, I kept quiet before because I knew I was wrong for announcing the prophecy. But I will not keep quiet again,” he said as he trailed behind her. Suddenly, he jerked her hand back.

“What the hell are you doing? If you claim Alpha Kael didn’t kidnap our children, then tell me—where the hell are they?” Hayden shouted, losing his mind.

She looked at him with no emotion, standing there like a walking dead person.

He grew even more frustrated. “Why is she behaving like this?” he thought.

Then the next words that came out of her mouth were:

“They

are dead.”

Hayden froze, shocked as sweat dripped from his forehead down his cheeks.