<h4>Chapter 124: Chapter 124: The Curse of the Mate (02)</h4>


    His hands shook as he gathered her into his arms, pulling her close as if he could will warmth back into her body.


    "Mother... please..." The words cracked out of him like a dying me. His shoulders heaved, his cries tearing through the room, raw and unrestrained.


    He stood there helpless, watching his Alpha and friend break apart in front of him, clutching his mother’s body as his sobs echoed against the stone.


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    And for the first time, he feared Kael would nevere back from this—that a part of him had died right there with her.


    The walls were closing in on them.


    He could hear the growls and the bloodthirsty fight that was going on outside to hunt them down, and he knew they didn’t have much time.


    Her father’s warriors were everywhere, circling, waiting for the signal to strike them down. He knew if they stayed another heartbeat, they would all die there. And yet Kael did not move.


    Kael was still on his knees, clutching his mother’s lifeless body, his face buried against her hair as if he could breathe her back to life. His shoulders shook with every ragged cry, and the sight of him... his friend in all but blood tore him open.


    "Kael!" he hissed, shaking him by the shoulders. "We have to go! Now!"


    Kael didn’t hear him. Or maybe he did, but he couldn’t let go. His hands tightened around her, desperate, refusing to surrender. His wolf raged under his skin, a storm so wild he thought Kael would explode, but still he clung to her like a child refusing to leave his mother’s side.


    Behind them, the link from their Alpha thundered again desperately. He knew their Alpha had already lost. Take the heirs! Get them out alive, no matter what it costs!


    He had no choice. With his heart breaking, he forced Kael’s arms free from her body, ignoring his cries as Kael struggled against him. His fingers wed at the ground, reaching back for her, but he wrapped his arm around Kael’s chest and dragged him away.


    "No!" Kael’s scream tore the air, raw and guttural. He thrashed in his hold, his strength nearly ripping him apart. "Let me go! I’ll kill her! I swear I’ll rip her apart... Selene!"


    Kael looked back then, his eyes finding her in the chaos. And gods... he would never forget that look. Bloodthirsty and shattered. Kael’s gaze burned like molten steel, his lips curled back in a snarl that was half man, half wolf.


    "You will pay for this, Selene," Kael growled, his voice low and venomous, shaking with fury. "Until I am alive... you will pay for killing my mother."


    The words cut the air like a curse, a promise forged in blood and grief.


    But Selene... She only stood there. Still as a statue, her face unreadable, her eyes empty. She didn’t blink, didn’t flinch, and didn’t even breathe faster at his threat. She looked at him as though his rage was nothing more than the buzzing of an insect, something too small to matter.


    That broke him more than the blood on his hands. For the first time, he saw Kael lose himselfpletely. Kael’s chest heaved, his eyes burned red, and inside him he could feel it... a fire had been lit, one that would never die.


    He tightened his grip, hauling Kael backward step by step, as warriors closed in on all sides. "Kael! We can’t stay! You’ll die here! Think of your brothers!"


    Kael resisted, but his strength was nothing against the tide of bodies pouring into the hall. He dragged him, Kael’s heels scraping the stone, his eyes still locked on Selene until thest possible second.


    That was the night Kael changed. The night grief hardened into vengeance, when the boy he knew was burned away and something more dangerous took root in his chest.


    And today, when so much time had passed, everything had changed—yet they were at the same ce and in the same situation.


    His friend was slowly being consumed by the grief of losing his mate. He did not even understand how the moon goddess could grant Kael a mate who was the murderer of his mother.


    But fate had already been written, and he was no one who could change it.


    His only hope was that no future held more pain for his Alpha.


    "Alpha..." he called him, but just like the past few minutes, Kael did not answer. Still, he called again, because he knew they had to get out of there.


    She was not here. How much longer would they aimlessly wander, searching for her when there was practically no clue left of her?


    Or whether she was even alive or not.


    Just as he was lost in thought—whether he should call him once again—something strange happened. Kael, who had been motionless for so long, suddenly woke up and sat straight, looking into his eyes. And the words that left his mouth were something he had never considered.


    Kael looked into his eyes and whispered, "She is alive."


    "Nothing has happened to her... my heart did not lie. She is truly alive, breathing."


    It didn’t take a minute for him to understand whom Kael was talking about. He knew it was her—Selene. But the question was, how did he suddenly know?


    And it seemed Kael also understood his expression, because his next words answered his question.


    "Aeron and Luca have met her in Midnight Pack. We are going back to our pack. Call all the scouting members," Kael said in one breath, like he couldn’t even wait for a second.


    And he wouldn’t lie—he saw a spark of hope reigniting in Kael’s eyes, one he had never seen before. Could her arrival really change something in his Alpha’s life?


    He hoped that she could give Kael the happiness he truly deserved. Please, moon goddess, let them all out of misery. Let them have a chance to live for themselves.