Chapter 27 27

Chapter 27 27
Alpha Kael

I burst through the penthouse doors, my heart hammering a frantic rhythm against my ribs. I had the CDs in my hand, and my mind was racing with a thousand different apologies.

But the massive living room was completely empty. "Odette?" I called out, my voice echoing in the quiet space.

I checked the master bedroom, the balcony, and the kitchen. Nothing. Panic immediately spiked in my chest. Had she run away again? Had I pushed her too far?

"Alpha Kael?"

I spun around to see Beatrice stepping out of the laundry room, holding a stack of fresh towels.

"Where is she?" I demanded, my voice tight with worry.

"Luna is not here, Alpha," Beatrice said quickly, sensing my panic. "Your mother's head maid called the penthouse a little while ago. She asked for the Luna. Odette got dressed and went straight down to the medical wing."

I let out a breath of relief. She hadn't run away. She was just downstairs.

I turned around and headed straight back to the private elevator. As I rode down to the medical wing, my stomach tied itself into nervous knots.

I walked down the sterile white hallway and stopped outside my mother's private room. 

I gently pushed the door open and stepped inside.

The sight before me completely froze my feet to the floor.

The harsh, bright hospital lights had been turned off, replaced by the soft and warm glow of a bedside lamp. My mother was sitting up in her bed. Odette was sitting right beside her on the edge of the mattress.

Odette was holding a soft brush, gently and carefully combing my mother's silver hair. She was humming a quiet and sweet melody. There was no act or manipulation. There was just a wounded girl showing pure and genuine kindness to a sick woman.

And my mother... my mother was smiling so widely her eyes crinkled at the corners. She looked happier than I had seen her in months.

I stood there, a lump forming in my throat, overwhelmed by the beauty and heartbreak of the scene.

Then, Odette heard my boots on the floor.

She turned her head. The moment her brown eyes met mine, the soft, sweet expression on her face completely vanished. The walls instantly slammed back down. She stopped humming. She immediately pulled the brush away and stood up from the bed, creating physical distance between us, as if she expected me to yell at her again.

My chest physically ached at her reaction. I did that, I thought bitterly. I taught her to be terrified of me.

"Ma?" I asked, stepping fully into the room, forcing my voice to stay steady.

My mother turned to look at me, her face practically glowing with joy. "Kael! You are here. Perfect timing."

She reached out and took Odette's small hand, giving it a loving squeeze. Odette looked down at her, the tension in her small shoulders relaxing just a fraction.

"Tell him the good news, Odette," my mother urged happily.

Odette looked back up at me. Her eyes were still guarded, but there was a faint glimmer of genuine excitement hiding behind them.

"Mom is coming home with us," Odette said, her voice soft.

I blinked my eyes. The words didn't make sense in my head. "Coming home?"

"Yes!" my mother laughed, a bright, joyous sound. "The doctor came in this morning. He said I am doing so much better, Kael. He said I can finally live without all this loud, beeping equipment. They are going to disconnect the big machines today. God, I missed the packhouse. I missed my own room."

Odette smiled a small, hopeful smile. She looked at me, clearly expecting me to cheer, to celebrate, or to let out a sigh of relief. She thought this was a medical miracle. She thought my mother was cured.

But I was the Alpha. I had been reading the private medical charts for the last six months.

My heart completely shattered into a million pieces.

When a terminal patient is taken off the life-saving equipment and sent home... it does not mean they are getting better. It means the treatments have officially stopped working. It means her organs are finally collapsing. The doctors were taking her off the machines because there was nothing left for them to do.

They were sending her home to die in peace. She probably only had a few days, maybe a week, left.

A wave of crushing, suffocating grief hit me so hard I felt dizzy. The room spun for a second. I wanted to scream. I wanted to break the walls. My inner wolf howled in agony.

But I looked at my mother's wide, hopeful smile. I looked at Odette, who had finally found a mother figure she desperately wanted to care for.

I swallowed the bleeding lump in my throat. I forced the despair down into the deepest pit of my stomach, putting on the strongest Alpha mask I had ever worn in my entire life.

"That..." I choked out, forcing the corners of my mouth to lift into a smile. "That is amazing, Mom."

I walked over to the bed and wrapped my arms around my mother, hugging her tightly. I buried my face in her shoulder, inhaling the scent of her skin mixed with the sharp smell of hospital medicine. I squeezed my eyes shut, fighting back the hot, burning tears that threatened to fall.

I will talk to the doctors later to arrange the palliative care at the house, I told myself, holding her close. Let her have this joy today.

When I finally pulled back, my fake smile was glued in place. "I will have the east wing prepared for you immediately. We will make it as comfortable as possible."

"Thank you, my sweet boy," my mother beamed. She turned to Odette. "Odette said she would help me decorate my room with fresh flowers from the garden."

"I would love to," Odette said softly.

But as Odette looked at me, her smile slowly began to fade. Her perceptive brown eyes scanned my face.

She was observant. She had spent her entire life walking on eggshells around a toxic Alpha, learning to read every subtle shift in a person's mood to survive.

She could see right through my mask.

Odette's brow furrowed in deep confusion. She could smell my grief. She could see the devastating sadness hiding just behind my fake smile. She couldn't understand why I was radiating so much agony when my mother had just announced she was getting better.

Why is he sad? her eyes seemed to ask me silently. Why isn't he happy?

I looked away from her, unable to bear the innocent confusion on her beautiful face.