Offered to the Triplet Alphas

Chapter-108. Grave of love

[Asher]

The numbers on the screen of the laptop before my eyes blurred into meaningless shapes. The voice of my cabinet members sitting around the round table faded into a distant noise.

I was supposed to focus on the budget plan, the foundation for the pack's next financial year - a matter of irrefutable importance, especially with the impending celestial trying to break into our realm every day. We had to put extra monetary focus on tightening the pack's security.

Yet, my mind had abandoned the conference hall entirely.

It was just my body in this room. My everything else was with Xanthea.

Since last night, Xanthea had been sitting motionless on the cold marble floor, staring at the forget-me-nots with sunken, dead eyes, watching the last of blue blossoms wilt and droop in the flowerpot.

And I had been staring at her in the back of my mind, waiting patiently, desperately trying to understand what it could mean for her to watch the flowers die.

Was she waiting for her own death?

Was it a timer for something?

I tried to care about anything that was being discussed. But no matter how badly I tried to focus on the cabinet meeting, Xanthea's silence and the depth of her hollow gaze overshadowed everything. And then I heard her voice echo in my mind. A soft, trembling whisper that barely reached me, but it was enough to end my longing.

I finally heard her beautiful voice.

Not her screams, her sobs, or her cries. But her tranquil voice - the voice that breathes life into my very soul.

I took a deep breath, my heart pounding a few beats faster as I sat straighter in my chair, loosening my tie.

"How could you?" she murmured.

I squinted, sharpening my focus on her voice.

"How could you... so casually... wield your curiosity... as such a cruel weapon against so many innocent people?"

Her words sliced through the noise of the meeting, absorbing me wholly. I shut my eyes.

Her hands trembled as they pulled the flowerpot close and cradled it to her chest, her tears dripping on the parched soil, damping it dark.

"Mom..." she whispered.

And then it happened. The moment I had been waiting for.

It happened so suddenly, so explosively, I felt its impact with a physical jolt as adrenaline flooded my veins, the tips of my fingers tingling as they dug into the armrest of my chair.

"I HATE YOU, MOM!"

Her scream tore through my mind with such force that my eyes snapped open as she hurled the flowerpot across the room.

The sharp sound of shattering clay merged with the thunder cracking in the dark sky. The flowers, leaves, dried soil and broken shards scattered on the black marble in a mess around Xanthea as she glared into nothingness, panting badly, her hands clenching her chest.

My chair scraped loudly against the floor as I shot to my feet. The abrupt movement startled everyone in the cabinet, their murmurs ceasing in an instant.

All heads turned toward me. Bewilderment and alarm stunned their expressions. Everyone abruptly rose to their feet, disoriented.

"What happened, Alpha?" Draknor took an alarmed stance, his tone wary, as though he was bracing himself for a war or an invasion.

Without wasting another second, I strode out of the conference hall.

'Draknor. Take over the meeting,' I commanded through the mindlink.

'Alpha, what could be more important than the budget meeting at a time like this?' he asked, his voice a mix of concern and confusion.

'My wife,' I replied, breaking into a sprint as the corridor stretched endlessly ahead.

***

My shadows twisted and folded the air around my body as I ran forward. The corridor walls dissolved into a void of swirling darkness and light. My steps came to a halt as the void collapsed and reshaped around me into the familiar hallway outside my penthouse.

I gazed at the door, knowing that my Xanthea was just beyond it.

I took a deep breath, bracing myself as I strode toward it, but stopped, my hand lingering over the handle as I shut my eyes.

had turned my house into a prison.

faith, I

Please save me...

Please... help me...

me. Steeling myself, I unlocked

grew heavier as I neared the bedroom. The door was slightly ajar; the room buried in darkness and a biting

head held low, her figure a shadow against the towering

pain because I could not. Soothed it because I

in the twisting clouds as lightning flooded our bedroom in fleeting bursts of light. For a moment, it felt as though the storm didn't

us

programmed Xanthea's psychology

manipulated Xanthea's emotions through her diaries, but she had conditioned her mind in such a way that

a daughter. She wanted Xanthea to be her new vessel, to take her place and continue Cadence's life

fall on my wife. Xanthea was meant

battle and conquer before she could face and

to hate, someone to channel her pain and rage toward - and it couldn't be herself, Ezra, or Raven. So, I will have to

day, my Xanthea will come to me and admit that she doesn't deserve any of this. Only

day was not

the flower towards her, I asked her a question, fully aware that answering it might hurt her and tear her identity apart all over again.

the sky and she finally lifted her head, her eyes meeting mine. Until now, she hadn't even noticed my presence. Tears flushed her

trembled out of her parched lips as

to get up, but

her to save her from the fall,

name was the only way to clear the dark mental daze she had

at her with an impassive face. She winced, scrambling to her feet as she stood before me, peering at

barefoot. Shards of glass were scattered all over her

trudging through the shards without a

I gritted my teeth.

Fuck this!

unclenched my fists. Shadows rushed out from my palm, spreading across the floor like a dark fog, sweeping the shards away

know I hurt you. I knew you were mad at

again... I was so scared. How could

tinged with suppressed rage, which abruptly shifted to a self-loathing

it. Even so, I knew you'd come to me when the time was right. You were watching me.

her gaze shyly as she wiped off her tears,

to punish me... you would have isolated me in your dark room, not here, where I am surrounded

licking tears off her lips as she shook her

wouldn't be a punishment. I would still be in your embrace, surrounded by our memories. I have made mistakes and I

took another step towards

she looked at me with uncertain eyes, fidgeting with her

the glass and silence gripped

even talk to me now?"

I averted my eyes, failing

me to

slipping towards the edge of insanity, and the only thing that was keeping

when I wasn't by

in realization. Icifer, who had been clawing to take over me for the last five days, was

didn't destroy the flowerpot because she finally understood she should hate her mother, not herself. No... she did it to lure us here. To

fingers, its petals scattering on the floor. In that instant, my danger sense spiked, paralyzing my mind and body.

I push

a line

my fists, my muscles

can't be because right now she was the one

"Asher... I'm sorry..."

stepped closer, but there was hesitation

all my heats. I might not remember the time our souls spent

clenched my jaws, my eyes darkening. Her words twisted inside

remember us," she said. "I remember you.

with no emotions, no warmth. They were just as hollow as

what I had yearned

me, it wasn't

tried to resist, a part of me longed

as she stood

to touch my face grazed against my jaws when I turned