Chapter 102 Summoned Into Silence
Chapter 102
Alpha Thomas' POV
My feet felt like they were made of stone. Each step into Alpha Vexhood's court dragged slower than the last. The marble floor beneath me seemed to stretch on forever.
"Wait here. I will be back in a minute." The young he-wolf servant's voice cut through the thick silence.
I observed him as he paid homage. His eyes are not meeting mine.
He fidgeted with the elm of his long garment before he turned towards the door.
He shut the door behind him. Leaving me alone in the room.
My palm sweat out hard around the totem. Thankfully, I had wrapped the totem up with fabric, tugged under my shirt. The little energy oozing out spread burnt my skin.
Intense fear enveloped me. But, wait, do i have anything else to be afraid of death.
Pauline. Gone. Forever gone. It was like every part of my heart had been shredded into pieces.
My fated mate, gone. The she wolf I had grew up to loved. The one the goddess had open her womb to bear me seeds.
I might not walk out of here alive. Part of me didn't care anymore. But I needed to know. I needed to hear from Alpha Vexhood's mouth why he did this to me.
I had been a strong loyalist to him and his household. I had always stood beside him and his son, alpha Ryder.
What sin have I committed? What invisible line had my family crossed? What crime had we done that the gods themselves wouldn't forgive?
If someone had to die, it should have been me. Not her. Not Pauline. Not while she slept peacefully beside me, dreaming whatever gentle dreams filled her mind in those last moments.
The minutes crawled by like wounded animals. Each second stretched and groaned. I tried to sit, but my body wouldn't stay still. My legs pushed me up again. The energy from the totem under my skin permeates through bloodstream
The walls were covered in framed pictures. My eyes landed on one, Alpha Vexhood in the center, myself on his right, three other elders surrounding us. Our arms were thrown over each other's shoulders. Our mouths were wide open with laughter.
I remembered that day, our time flies, we young, athletic and energetic. We had just successfully defended our territory from raiders. We celebrated with roasted meat and honey wine. Alpha Vexhood had told jokes until our sides hurt.
That man in the picture, was he the same monster everyone whispered about now? The same creature who had crept into my bedroom and murdered my Pauline?
My chest tightened. like my nostrils had been sealed up to perform it work.
The more i turned away from the wall the more the I saw more pictures, everywhere overwhelming my vision. Though these were not strange to me several times we all have been coming , but it grieved my heart to so much.
Memories of friendship, love, commitment and service.
The chair beneath me might as well have been filled with hot coals. I couldn't sit. My body shot up again. My fingers raked through my hair, pulling at the roots. The pain felt good. It gave me something else to focus on besides the gaping hole in my heart.
Before I left home this morning, I'd gathered everyone together. All of Pauline's children, our children. Some were grown up with families of their own. Others were still young enough to cry openly.
I stood in front of them and told them the truth. "I'm going to Alpha Vexhood's territory. I might not come back."
Their faces had crumpled. Some had grabbed onto my robes, begging me not to go. Others had simply stared with hollow eyes, already mourning.
I'd called my brother over in front of them all. "If I don't return, you handle the burial of my fated mate. You take care of them." My finger had pointed at each child, each grandchild. I had instructed them not to tell any of the elders.
My brother's jaw had clenched, but he'd nodded. He understood. Everyone in the pack knew what it meant to visit Alpha Vexhood.
The children couldn't stop crying. They'd already lost their mother in the most horrible way possible. Found hanging from our bedroom ceiling like some kind of twisted decoration. Her neck at an unnatural angle. Her eyes still open, staring at nothing.
Who would believe it? Who could imagine such evil?
The only reason I wasn't locked up for her murder was the totem. Alpha Vexhood's own totem, left at the scene like a signature. Without that, the whole pack would have blamed me. They would have said I killed my own fated mate.
But I had to confront him. I knew it was dangerous. I knew he might kill me for daring to challenge him. But what kind of man would I be if I just accepted this? If I just bowed my head and pretended the gods had commanded my wife's execution?
How dare he claim the gods wanted this?
My hand moved through my hair again, fingers catching in tangles. The pain was sharp and real.
"Your honor." The voice made me jump.
The servant's head poked through the doorway. His face was carefully neutral, but I could see something strange, which I couldn't put together.
"He's waiting for you now."
I moved behind him out of the room. My feet heavy like a stone had attached to it.
The totem pressed against my palm through the wrapping. A few servants we passed glanced at it, but no one said anything. They probably thought I was bringing a gift. They had no idea I carried evidence of their Alpha's crime.
I tried to keep the grief off my face, but I could feel it there, in the tightness around my eyes, in the way my mouth pulled down at the corners, in the hollowness of my cheeks. I'd barely eaten since finding Pauline.
The servant kept glancing back at me. His mouth opened once, like he wanted to ask if I was alright. But he swallowed the question. Smart boy.
My feet continued their heavy march behind him. Thump, drag. Thump, drag.
But something was wrong. Different.
The air should have been thick with incense. Usually, Alpha Vexhood's territory reeked of burning herbs and sacred smoke. The horns should have been blowing, announcing the presence of visitors. Spiritual ceremonies should have been happening in every corner.
Instead, everything was quiet. Too quiet.
I saw a few servants carrying out their duties, but their movements were mechanical. Empty. The spiritual activities that usually filled this place were absent. It felt like walking through a house where someone had just died.
We passed the main gates. I noticed pack members and important visitors being turned away at the entrance. A wealthy merchant stood arguing with a guard, waving his hands in frustration. The guard just shook his head, unmoved.
No one was being allowed in. Except me.
That should have comforted me, that I was still considered important enough to be granted access. But it only made my stomach twist harder.
"Sir," the servant's voice dropped to a whisper. "Alpha Vexhood won't meet you in the guest living room."
I nodded. That made sense. This was personal.
"Not in the private quarters either," the servant continued.
My eyebrows rose. That was unusual.
"Not even in the Elders' forum meeting room."
Now my feet slowed. "Then where?"
The servant's shoulders tensed. "His bedroom, sir."
The words hit me like a slap. In all my years serving alongside Alpha Vexhood, I had never been invited to his bedroom. That was his most private space. The inner sanctum where only his closest family and personal servants were allowed.
Part of my mind tried to make sense of it. Maybe he was ill? Maybe he couldn't leave his bed?
But I pushed those thoughts aside. I wasn't here to worry about Alpha Vexhood's health. I was here for Pauline. For justice. For answers.
We finally stopped in front of a thick oak tree, wooden down, made up of heavy carving symbols of power bequeathed by the gods to alpha Vexhood.
The servant's hand wrapped around the door knob.
Go in sir,” he stepped back on the doorway, for my entrance
I walked forward. My boots crossed the threshold. The room beyond was dimmer than the corridor, lit by only a few candles.
Behind me, I heard the door swing shut. The click of the latch felt final. Like a trap closing. But I tried my best not to flinch.
I turned away from the door, my eyes adjusting to the low light. The room smelled of sickness and something else, something wrong that I couldn't quite name.
My gaze traveled across the floor, over expensive rugs, past furniture that cost more than most pack members earned in a year. Then it landed on the bed.
My whole body went rigid.
My mouth fell open.
My hand, still clutching the wrapped totem, began to shake.
Because there, on the bed, I saw something shocking.