Chapter 81 81
Alpha Knox~~
Two years ago, the palace had a strange visitor, and I was stunned that it was Angeline, one we also thought had died with Phoebe. She looked so worn out, like someone who hadn't eaten very well since she left, and as though she had no blood left in her.
It was my sister who took her in behind me, had the chefs prepare something so delicate for her, and then she washed up. By the time she recovered, began asking for me.
I returned to the palace that day and heard rumors that someone's ghost had visited the palace, and they were all in trouble, because my mate was still nowhere to be found. I pretended I didn't hear all that and only focused on getting to my room…only to stumble on Angeline, who was seated on the floor, right in the corridor, and my sister, who had a chair, sitting beside her.
My eyeballs almost fell out of my sockets staring at her, who stood up as she saw me and bowed. “Alpha Knox,” she mentioned, and then got back to her seat.
I turned to my sister, “What is happening? Isn't this Angeline?”
Eve chuckled, “Of course! She's the one. You didn't anticipate such a welcome gift, right? She refused to say anything to me until you returned.”
That moment, I recalled the others calling her a ghost, but my wolf quickly knocked me for thinking such as we never believed such a thing existed.
“If so, then we should go inside, Angeline,” I said to her, and she nodded, standing with the help of my sister.
We entered my bedroom, and I offered her a seat, then asked her, “I don't understand your presence. If you're a ghost and came here because of Phoebe, then I'm sorry to say that she was dead too, and I have no hand in her death.”
She chuckled, “Do I look like I'm dead? Does the ghost look worn out?”
I shrugged my shoulders, “That's all I came up with, because I recall searching for you all through the packs, even after I enslaved the whole Crescent Moon Pack, and their alpha was punished. I thought you were hiding because of him, but when I didn't find you for that long, I thought he must have done to you what he did to Phoebe…”
She shook her head, “He did nothing to both of us. I deceived him, so he must be thinking that he won,” she said, and I pretended I didn't hear the plural word she used at first. “Unfortunately, if that thief didn't show up to me, I wouldn't have done that to her as payback.”
“Angeline, you're sounding so weird. What about you make us understand? What thief are you talking about?” Eve, who was as curious as I, asked her.
That was when she narrated how she was ready to die in Phoebe's place, but a thief stabbed her, thinking she had money with her. She fought back aggressively since she was her fellow female, and had her take her place too.
She wore the girl Phoebe's dress, covered her face with the mask which was carved with Phoebe's face, and then left her wounded on the floor.
“Phoebe was never dead, nor was I, even though I wanted to. I was searching for where to get treated from the stab when I was abducted by traders and happened to find myself in the foxes clan, which is so far away from there. When we got dispatched from the ship, I escaped from them. But because I had no money, I only trekked, rested at night, and ate fruits from the woods until today,” she breathed in and out. “Dean must have thought that she finally killed Phoebe. I knew there was no way she would leave the palace, and they wouldn't come after her; that's why I thought dying in her place was the only option.”
I couldn't feel tears in my eyes. It was as if I had waited long for this day, to tell my men who knew how much I refused mourning my mate that she was indeed alive.
“She must be somewhere, but truly alive,” Angeline said to me, her voice coming with assurance.
It was from that moment that I began searching for Phoebe again, until I found her in the lycan clan.
Who would even believe she would come after me when I was getting ready to leave with Angeline, the slave mistress, Eve, and the rest of them who mattered to her? I wanted to let her know that we've been waiting for her, including the whole pack…and the pack priestess that I finally heard was waiting to bless our matebond and union.
Just like Angeline explained to me, she did to her once we took her inside…and she couldn't help but break into tears.
“Do you know how much I hated myself, thinking that you died? I blamed myself all through, for passing out when I should have protected you.” She couldn't control her tears any longer.
I hurried beside her and offered her my shoulder, “Feel free to wet my shirt all you want. Cry it all out while we wait to merry with you. I'm really happy we have to stay with each other again.”
But she wiped her cheeks before resting on my shoulder. I inhaled her scent, and our wolves chuffed with each other.
It was all fun, filled with happiness that we were all gathered for her sake.
Soon, my chief guard walked in and bowed to me. “Alpha, the lycan princess, is waiting outside.”
Phoebe quickly raised her head, “Princess Avire?”
My chief guard nodded and all smiles plastered on her face.
“She's been taking care of me since I went to her. I don't know how to pay her back,” she began sobbing again, and all I could do was chuckle.
—
Later on, we all went outside to meet with the pack members and other alphas, who, after the death of Dean, had redeemed themselves.
The supreme alpha stripped Dean of his alpha rank, then ordered him into exile. He had just died of sickness there last year, and I loved that he didn't die so easily like he wanted.
Once Phoebe and I stepped out, every pack member got to their knees, bowing in greetings. They had finally come to accept, including the pack councils, that she wasn't an image of her father and deserved to rule them.
Beta Drogo and his daughter were stripped of their wolf rank and had been in the dungeon, too. The supreme alpha ordered that they must not leave until he said so, and I had no say in it, either.
When I turned to Phoebe, she was smiling really hard, waving her hand at the princess who had already been served by the servants. And soon, the priestess showed up to bless our union.
I didn't have the time to ask her if she would marry me, but I knew that she wanted it too, just like me, or she wouldn't have returned.
Before the presence of the pack members, our mating ritual took place, and then she was crowned the luna of the pack.