Chapter 120 Where is he?
Chapter 120: Where is he?
Milo’s POV
Our walk to the arena was as if I was being led to my grave.
No matter how I tried to calm my nerves, I couldn’t stop twisting my fingers till they turned red.
But then the feeling of being watched continued to linger like little needles prickling my skin.
The moment James and I stepped into the arena, I almost wanted you to throw up my empty stomach.
The chants and the roars… they hitted me like a wall. The blood-thirstiness of the howling crowd from the stone chairs above almost made me want to turn back and disappear.
The entire square had been transformed from the last time I was here. The stone pit in the middle arena had been replaced with a massive ring.
“That's the place the fight will happen, Milo.” James said his first words since we left the room.
I forced myself to nod, imagining myself inside the ring that looked more like a death cage with no escape than a fighting ring.
I took the moment to sweep the inside with my eyes. The lowest chairs were packed with the younger wolves, bristling with energy and restless anticipation in their eyes. After the young wolves of the pack sat the pack warriors and hunters, all grouped in their uniform of their respective units. Some were already drinking from heavy jugs. Beyond them, on raised platforms bore the banners of the high-ranking families, and the 5 commanders with their families sat, clothed in their full battle attire, the air seemed different, heavy and filled with unspoken words.
General Joshua's gaze met mine suddenly,
A mistake
I shivered voluntarily immediately, shifting my gaze from going further, I could have sworn I saw a little smile on his face.
“Well, well, look who finally crawled out of his hole.”
A poisonous and annoyingly smooth voice I never wanted to hear reached us immediately we made to walk forward.
Caroline!!
Her name on my mouth tasted like acid.
She stepped forward from the shadows of the viewing corridor, her long red cloak dragging behind her like blood on stone. Her lips curled into a smirk that made my stomach twist even more.
“I heard…” she said, circling slowly, her words loud and intentionally twisted to gather attention, “that you’ve been welcomed into the shadow units. Congratulations.”
Her words dripped with mockery.
I tensed silently, and James shifted protectively in front of me. “What do you want now?”
But she didn’t answer him. Her eyes stayed fixed on me, like a predator savoring its prey.
I opened my mouth, my mind so slow to make up any words, but then the bitch was faster.
“How lucky for you pe… ohh sorry, i totally forgot you are now a shadow.” She said sweetly, tilting her head, while looking at James. “Is that how pathetic and a loser the shadow unit is, going against their iron rule for a cheap whore to come into their ranks.”
A series of strangled choking sounds and gasps came from people around, who heard her.
My chest constricted, my whole skin burned at her merciless and loud words that didn't waver at all.
“Caroline, mind your words, else…”
“Else what…?” She spat, coming closer, like a dangerous snake, while releasing her aura that was almost on par with James.
My eyes widened.
“What will you do, if I speak the truth out aloud? Even the shadows couldn’t erase the truth. The whole pack knows already.”
It pressed against me, Heavy and Suffocating. I fought the urge to take a step back, but then, at the last minute I held my stands. Clenching my hands into fists. I would not move, not this time.
“Don't slander the name of the shadows— or I swear, no matter who you think you are, even your father won't be able to save you.”
I opened my mouth, but no words could come out. I could feel the tension rising between the two. James aura was dangerous and bordered between snapping and control, ready to blow up. For a heartbeat, I thought the two of them would start tearing into each other, but then Caroline faltered, taking a step back.
Her gaze flicked away from jame, but just for a moment, before it switched back to me.
“It's a pity” she said softly, but still loud enough for those around to hear her. “you won't live long enough to enjoy your place as a shadow. Tonight we will see how much of a joke they have become by inducting you, a pet, as a golden badge holder…”
“That is confidential news,” James growled, cutting her short, “how did you know about it.”
My chest tightened, she knows, and now from the whispering around and the way James had reacted— something was wrong.
My chest constricted. An unknown chill crawled across my spine, as the prickling feeling I have been having for a while seems to have increased all of a sudden.
I suddenly had a bad feeling about everything, at the same time my dream flashed across my head— the fire wolf in the forest, The faceless man, the voice of my sister—
Were they all related? Or what—
Before I could choke on the panic swelling in my throat—
“Caroline.” James' voice that was filled with authority, cutted through my scattered thoughts like hot knife on butter, “Go back to your seat.”
James aura rolled out, stronger than before, Her smirk faltered immediately, just a fraction. She blinked, caught off guard by the steel in his voice. But then Caroline’s smirk widened— like she had just won a lottery. But instead of answering, she only tilted her head in a mocking bow, giving me one long last look, before she turned, walking away.d turned away.
Her red cloak swirled behind her, vanishing into the shadows like how she had come.
“Keep walking,” James muttered without looking at me.
I obeyed, stepping in line with his steps.
The closer we came to the area, the more the commanders and high-ranking members of the pack were seated. The heavier the air became. As I could feel their calculating gazes trained on me. The commanders leaned back in their chairs like kings judging a criminal. My throat went dry.
Where was Damon?
“He went for a business conference outside the pack”
That was what James had once told me.
My chest tightened for no reason. I expected — no, I prayed with everything to see him somewhere in the crowd. Or on the dais, with his signature frown that would never leave his face.
But when my gaze swept the uppermost section of the seats, my heart sank to my stomach.
His chair was empty!!
Maybe he was somewhere else that was not his throne of swords he always sat at. Maybe he decided to stand like a shadow behind the elders.
Or even he could be anywhere in the crowd.
But when my gaze swept past every platform, every torchlit corner in the arena…
He was nowhere to be seen.
Not a glimpse of his sharp figure. Not the weight of his heavy presence that would bear down on me every time.
I felt incredibly light and empty.
The MC voice boomed, The people's chants rose higher from something that was being said by MC. but I was hardly paying attention. I couldn’t think of anything else, but the heavy crushing disappointment I couldn’t name.
He wasn’t here.
Damon didn’t care enough to come for me.