185

185
Scarlett
“Mother, careful!”
The warning tore from my throat an instant too late. My body moved forward, muscles straining, but the gap between us seemed endless.
Time froze in a perfect, dreadful moment; Father’s hand rising, a cloud of white powder swirling in the air, Mother’s expression changing from triumph to confusion.
The events unfolded rapidly. In one moment, Mother was triumphant, and in the next, she was gasping for breath, with powder clinging to her skin like a death shroud.
“Ah!” Mother screamed, clutching her face.
Father stood up with an eerie grace, seemingly forgetting his injuries. A cruel smirk twisted his face, revealing a predatory nature that had been hidden beneath a victim’s mask.
“Don’t blame me, bitch,” he sneered, his voice dripping with a venom I’d known all my life. “Blame yourself for crawling out of your grave.”
“Mother!” Panic clawed at my throat as I finally reached her side, catching her trembling body. Panic surging through me as her breathing began to slow. “Mother.”
Father turned towards the stunned pack members, his posture straightening as he addressed them with the false authority I had watched him wield all my life. The blood on his face had become war paint.
“Attention, everyone. Today was supposed to be the day we attacked the Stone Ridge Pack,” he began, his voice booming. “But these intruders dared to step into my land and try to steal my life and my pack. The pack I built with my blood and sweat!”
My focus remained locked on Mother, desperately searching her face for signs of life, but his words echoed around us as he stirred the crowd.
I watched in horror as the crowd’s expressions began to shift, confusion giving way to hostility.
“Listen to my orders,” he commanded, voice rising to a thunderous upsurge. “Kill the intruders!”
“Kill! Kill!" The chanting started slowly, then grew like a wave, voices blending into a primal rhythm that shook the ground beneath our feet.
Their eyes glazed over with bloodlust, their bodies shifting like wolves ready to pounce.
“Stop!”
The single word crashed through the clearing like a thunderclap, silencing the chants instantly.
Every head turned toward the source of the command—an elderly man who stood at the edge of the crowd. Despite his frail body, his presence was undeniable.
My father’s triumphant smirk faltered, the corners of his mouth twitching with barely suppressed rage. “Elder Demon, why are you here?”
The tension in his voice betrayed his fear. “Don’t tell me you’re here to stop me.”
“Yes,” the elderly man replied calmly. “I’m here to do that.”
Father’s composure cracked. “Dave,” he barked at his Beta. “Handle your old man or I’ll rip his head off!”
“Alaric,” the elder said, dropping all titles.
Father howled in fury, baring his teeth. “It’s Alpha to you!”
“Alpha?” the old man sneered. “We both know how you became Alpha.”
Father stumbled back, a flicker of fear in his eyes.
“Weren’t you just a rogue? A low one at that,” the elder continued. “You were lucky to be mated to the former Alpha’s daughter, but you repaid them with betrayal and blood. I know you killed the former Alpha, but I was too old to fight you back. Alone.”
The elder’s piercing gaze shifted toward us, softening as it landed on Mother. “I knew you would come back, child. I’ve always known.”
Mother stood shakily, her body fighting against whatever poison Father had used. “Are you alright, Mother?”
“Yes,” she replied, her breath returning. “A little poison can’t kill me.”
“What?” Father shouted. “How is this possible? How are you still alive?”
Mother’s gaze fixed on him with the cold intensity of a predator. “Why should I die while you still breathe, Alaric?” she responded, her voice deadly calm. “I won’t die until I end you.”
The elder slowly approached, his steps deliberate and heavy with age. “Do you remember me, child?” he asked, standing before my mother.
“Yes,” she breathed, eyes wide. “Former Beta Demon. My father’s most trusted and loyal ally.”
A smile bloomed across the elder’s weathered face, transforming it from stern to almost boyish. “Good,” he beamed, reaching for her with trembling hands.
“I’ve been holding on to see this day. I always knew you wouldn’t truly die. No matter how many times death came for you, you’d rise again.” His voice dropped to a reverent whisper. “It was your gift from the Moon Goddess.”
Mother gasped, her eyes shimmering. She had always wondered how she’d survived—how she had survived what should have been certain death. Elder Demon’s words unraveled the mystery.
He gently held her hand. “You were born to lead. To do great things. Even if that destiny was delayed by him—” his voice darkened as he pointed at my father. “You were always meant to rule.”
“But...” Mother stammered, struggling to process this revelation. “Why didn’t my father tell me? Did he know?”
“Yes,” the old man confirmed. “He knew about your power. But he was afraid. Afraid of the monster the Moon Goddess had paired you with.” He glanced briefly toward Father, contempt flashing in his rheumy eyes. “You were in love, and he feared you’d reveal your secret.”
“So he kept it from me,” she finished for him.
He nodded solemnly. “Yes.”
She crumbled to her knees, shoulders shaking as sobs tore from her throat.
Her fingers clawed at the dirt as if trying to reach through it to her father, apologizing over and over to a ghost that couldn’t answer.
“He killed him,” the old man said, his words dropping like a bomb. “Your father. Alaric killed him to take over the pack.”
I witnessed a profound change in Mother as those words took hold. Her sorrow turned into a steely resolve. She rose like a phoenix, vengeance radiating from her in palpable waves.
“Ha!” Father screamed, stumbling backward as Mother surged toward him with inhuman speed. “I didn’t mean to do it!”
Terror stripped away his last remnants of dignity. “He refused to hand over the pack! He never saw me as his son-in-law—just a lowly rogue!”
Terror took over him. He was so afraid that he wet himself, a dark stain spreading across his pants as urine trickled down his legs.
“No! Please, Lucy!” he pleaded as she grabbed him by the throat, lifting him effortlessly. Her grip was merciless, her fingers digging into the soft flesh beneath his jaw.
His breath hitched, and his eyes widened in panic. “Please…” he choked, barely able to get the words out. “Don’t kill me. I’ll do anything. Spare me.”
Mother’s hand loosened slightly, her gaze icy and unforgiving. She shoved him back, letting him crumple to the ground, gasping for air.
“What secrets are you still hiding from me?” she asked coldly. “Think carefully. Every word you say will decide your fate.”
“Yes... yes... I’ll speak.” He nodded frantically, tears and mucus mingling with blood on his face.
I stared in stunned disbelief at the man I had once feared above all others. The tyrant who had loomed like a colossus over my childhood, whose disapproval had shaped every moment of my existence, was now reduced to a quivering, pathetic mess.
It was like witnessing a deity’s transformation into a worm.
He groveled at my mother’s feet like a beaten dog, his pride and dignity abandoned in the face of death.
“You were never my mate,” he whispered.
The world around me went silent, Father’s words echoing in the sudden void.