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. No one

my faith, I entrust myself

Please save me...

Please... help me...

me. Steeling myself, I unlocked the door and

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

beneath my shoes as I entered. Xanthea knelt in the center of the room, her head held low, her figure a shadow against the towering windows that framed the storm brewing

hypnotic melody as though nature had embraced her pain because I could not. Soothed it because I could not. I stopped in front of her. Kneeling on

of light. For a moment, it felt as though the storm didn't

light faded, leaving us

psychology

conditioned her mind in such a way that when Xanthea came

to be her new vessel,

on my wife. Xanthea was meant for things far greater than

an external villain to battle and conquer before she could face

pain and rage toward - and it couldn't be herself, Ezra, or Raven. So, I will

that she doesn't deserve any of this. Only then will

day

answering it might hurt her and tear her identity apart all over again. "Weren't they... your favorite

mine. Until

my name trembled out of

weakness as she tried to get up, but

my body had involuntarily taken towards her to save her from the

twice, again and again, as though chanting my name was the only way to clear the dark

scrambling to her feet as she stood before me, peering at me with tears streaming down

were scattered all over her path, their sharp edges inches away from her

a step, then another, trudging through the shards without a

I gritted my teeth.

Fuck this!

palm, spreading across the floor like a dark fog,

again and again. Why didn't you come to me? I know I hurt you. I knew you were

you again... I was so scared.

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

not blaming you. I deserved it. Even so, I knew you'd come to me when the time was right. You

blushed, lowering her gaze shyly as she

in your dark room, not here, where I am surrounded by

licking tears off her

be a punishment. I would still be in your embrace, surrounded by our memories. I have

another

knew you wouldn't abandon me or discard me like your other brides. Because I am... your Xanthea, right?" she looked at me with uncertain

howled outside, rattling against the glass and silence gripped

you won't even talk to me now?" she asked, nibbling on her

my eyes, failing to endure

she tried to hide her frenzy. "This is what you wanted, right? For me to understand that I should hate my mother, not myself. So... I

slipping towards the edge of insanity, and the only thing that was keeping her grounded to reality was

when I wasn't by her

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

understood she should hate her mother, not herself. No... she did it to lure us

slipped from my fingers, its petals scattering on the floor. In that instant, my danger sense

I push her

cross a line I shouldn't

fists, my muscles

she

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

but there was hesitation in her demeanor, like she wasn't sure

you for being with me in all my heats. I might not remember

my eyes darkening. Her words twisted inside me, creating

"I remember

no emotions, no warmth. They were just

telling me exactly what I had yearned to

wasn't enough. Not when

resist, a part of me

flower crushed beneath her bloodied feet as

grazed against my jaws when I turned my back