Chapter 181 SHATTERED DREAMS

Chapter 181 SHATTERED DREAMS

SHATTERED DREAMS

HAYDEN’S POV

I felt the sweat sparkling on my forehead as it dropped onto my cheeks. “What the heck did you just say?” Did I hear her right? I was shaking all over as I looked straight into Mildred's eyes, but she was facing down. I could not look deep into her eyes to see if she was really serious. She gave off no emotional expression on her face. “What the hell did you… Did she just say they’re dead?” I couldn’t accept this. “How could my kids be dead just like that? I haven’t even watched them grow up to become full-grown men. How could they die just like that? Who could have done this?” I thought to myself as I tried to be brave and strong.

Immediately, I rushed up to my room as my Beta followed closely behind me. He got into my room with me and shut the door behind him.

“Don’t tell me you believe what the Luna just said, Alpha,” he said to me, not even allowing me to get my emotions in check.

I knew I could not break down now. I could not break down in front of my Beta. He would see me as a weak Alpha. I had to be strong as I faced him. “What the hell do you think you’re saying? I just received the news that my children are dead and you’re telling me not to believe it? Do you even know Mildred better than I do? You know how she acts. She would never joke about something like that, especially if it concerns our children. You have seen how she can be if anything happens to them. Even when someone died inside their room, you saw how she reacted and how crazy she became about everything. Even when the children, the twins, didn’t have even a scratch on their bodies, you saw how crazy and mad she went. Now that our children are dead, do you think she would joke about something like this? What kind of mother would joke about the death of her children? Just shut up already!” I shouted at him, pouring all my anger and transferring all my aggression onto him.

I shouted at my Beta, not wanting to break down as I faced him. I did not want him to see the emotional pain clearly showing on my face, because I knew my facial expression always gave away what I was feeling deep inside.

“No, Alpha. I need you to be strong. Don’t believe her. You know the Luna, Mildred. You know how she can be concerning her children’s safety. Did you even see how she was when they were kidnapped? Did you see how crazy and mad she went? How can you believe that now that our children are dead, she’ll be all calm like that? Did you see her shout? She didn’t even blame you for anything. Normally, knowing the Luna, she would have blamed you and accused you of everything you did. Even things you didn't do. Now she isn’t even saying anything. She just gave you the information. Just like that. Without any emotion. Did you see her face? She didn’t even cry. She didn’t even look pained.”

“What are you trying to insinuate? Do you know how shocked she is? Do you know that at times the death of one’s children can make someone go into shock to the extent that he or she wouldn’t be able to give off any facial expression? She might be going through a lot deep down, even if she’s not showing sadness. She is a mother. Don’t forget that. And you know how crazy she can be about our children. Just stop it already, please.”

“No, Alpha. I know what I am saying. She is not acting like herself. You know how crazy she can be about those children. I am not sure they are dead. Do not believe her.”

As I looked at him, what he was saying made sense. She asked me to stop the battle, and then she didn’t give off any facial expression. And I couldn’t even see any scar on her showing that she fought whoever might have killed our children or that she had cried. Nothing. Even when she came to stop me from killing Alpha Kael, normally she would have killed him with her bare hands if she knew that her children had died at his hands. But what the hell is going on? What else is going through her head? I thought as I looked at my Beta.

“Think about it very well, Alpha. You are smarter than this. And you know how she can be. Don’t fall for a lie. What if she decided to hide them to keep them away from you? What if she decided to hide them away from the palace so nothing would happen to them? What if something happened and she just took them somewhere far away? Far away from you? She is trying to take custody of your children and she does not want you to see them ever again. She started doing it right from when she was in the palace. You know how she kept you away from your children, not allowing you to see them even though you are their father. Do you think she will not be able to take them far away? Far away from you? Depriving you of seeing your own children?”

He said this to me, and I started to reason out what he was saying. He really had a point, and there was sense in what he said. But I couldn’t believe that Mildred would do this to me. “I can’t believe that. Never.” But then I had to think straight. Mildred can do anything for the safety of her children, even to the extent of taking them away from me. And I wouldn’t allow her to separate me from my children. “No, that’s never going to happen.”

I immediately went to her room and saw her sitting at the edge of her bed, staring into space, looking confused. I felt pity for her as my Beta’s words replayed in my head. “Can I really believe this? Look at the way she looks. I bet she is all shocked about the death of her children.” I recalled when she walked into their room and saw a dead rogue inside their room, how shocked and angry she had been. I had seen how she loved her children and how she blamed me for releasing the fact that they were born with a prophecy. I saw how mad and crazy she went when I released that information. I know how seriously she took the safety of her children. She even went as far as training them from when they were just babies, training them to protect themselves.

"And she also goes through hard training every day to protect our children, not even depending on me as the Alpha of this pack. Even though there were a lot of guards standing right in front of their rooms, she didn’t trust anybody, not even me, their father. How could she not feel the pain of her own children?” I thought as I moved closer and hugged her tightly.

I tried to be strong in front of my Beta and everyone else, but I couldn’t anymore. As tears burst out of my eyes the moment I hugged her, she also started crying as I consoled her. “Shh. You don’t have to cry. Just calm down. Crying won’t solve anything. Just tell me where their bodies are. How come? What happened to them? I don’t understand anything. What happened? I was only gone to the battlefield for a few hours and then I heard you say they are dead. How come?” I asked her.

The only thing she said to me was, “I threw their bodies into the river.”

I was really shocked. “She threw their bodies into the river.” She didn’t even allow me to see the bodies of my own children before she… But at this point, I couldn’t get angry with her because she was down. They are also our children. I thought about her feelings and told myself that if she calmed down, I would ask her a lot of questions. But right now, I needed to be considerate. I was trying to be strong, but I couldn’t, as we both cried in each other’s arms, crying profusely for the death of our children. “Children that we haven’t even seen grow up,” I thought as I kept patting her back while crying on her shoulder.

There was nothing I could do at this point. There was nothing I could do to bring back our dead children. “Even if I am the Alpha, this is one of the things an Alpha just has to be strong about. I have to be strong for Mildred. No, I can’t cry anymore. I have shed enough tears,” I thought to myself, wiping the tears off my face.

Then she released herself from my grip and sat down on the edge of the bed, staring into space, not uttering a single word. She didn’t even blame me, and I wondered what had really gotten into Mildred. “The shock of our dead children really made her distant. She didn’t even blame me for anything that was happening.” Normally, she would have blamed me, shouted at me, and acted rudely, transferring all her aggression to people in the palace. But she wasn’t saying anything. “It felt as though she was just a walking dead person who wouldn’t say anything,” I thought as I decided to leave her alone as I was also grieving for our children.

Immediately I walked out of her room, and I saw a guard. I looked directly at the guard and motioned for him to come over. Immediately he stood in front of me. I looked him straight in the eyes. “You are one of my most trusted guards, and that’s why I made you a personal guard. Just do one thing for me. Do this one job.”

“I’ll do anything you say, Alpha,” he said.

“Good,” I patted him on the back. “I want you to be on her tail. Don’t take your eyes off her. If she ever leaves this palace, report to me immediately and tell me her whereabouts and whatever she is doing. And one more thing, make sure she eats,” I said before walking away as he bowed before me.

When I got to my room, I saw my Beta standing right in front of my door. I didn’t utter a single word to him as what he said earlier was still ringing in my head. “I could not trust anybody at this moment, and that was why I told him to be on her tail.” When my Beta followed me inside the room asking how my chat with her went, I couldn’t answer that right now because she was in a lot of shock.

“I am very sure she must be disappointed in herself that even though she vowed to protect our children, she wasn’t able to protect her sister. She vowed the same thing would never happen again to anyone she loved. But now she has failed at that.” I wondered what situation she must be in. I said to my Beta, “But what you said can’t be ignored either. So I want you to watch over her. I want you to investigate what happened today.”

I had seen a scar on her arm when I was consoling her, but I didn’t want to ask her anything because she wouldn’t be in the right state to answer me. So I really want to know what happened today in those few hours I was on the battlefield. “Figure out and investigate what happened, where she went, and why, while I was away,” I said to my Beta.

“Just know that,” he said.

“Yes, Alpha. Consider it done,” he replied, walking out of my room as I slumped onto my bed, shaking all over because of my children’s death. “It has really gotten to my nerves, and I can’t even control my emotions any longer,” I thought as I continued crying profusely, sitting on the floor.

I let all the emotions out, unable to hold them back any longer. There was nothing I could do. I really loved my kids, even when she kept them far away from me. I had wished I could play games with them and teach them how to fight, train them the same way my father trained me. But now th
at opportunity has been taken away from me, I thought.