Alex’s POV


    The sterile smell of disinfectant was a constant assault on my senses, blending with the metallic tang of blood that seemed to linger in the air despite th


    of the past, a spark of his former self ignited in his eyes- a chilling mixture of pride and something akin to


    amusement.


    ConTEent bel0ngs to N?v(e)lD/rama(.)Org .


    “We were young and foolish then,” he rasped, “Ambition burned bright in


    both our bellies, Daniel Stone and I. We craved power, influence, dominance that stretched across both worlds- the human and the werewolf”


    A humorless short escaped his lips, a dry rasp that echoed in the sterile silence. “There was a constant struggle, skirmishes along the borders, tests of s


    was also a… respect. We understood the boundaries, the lines that shouldn’t be crossed.”


    He closed his eyes for a moment, his weathered face etched with a weariness that went beyond illness. When he opened them again, they glinted with a


    “Then came the opportunity. A chance to cripple Stone’s hold


    on a crucial exchange route, a power move that would solidify my position as the alpha with the most influence.”


    My throat tightened. This was it, the moment he would exin the attack, the one that had fractured the fragile peace between the packs. But as he spok


    one devoid of remorse, painted solely with ruthless ambition.


    “The n was simple,” he continued, his voice gaining a sliver of strength. “A swift raid, a disy of force, a message to the other packs. Nothing more.”


    A cold dread settled in my stomach. “But it went wrong, didn’t it?”


    He gave a curt nod, his expression unreadable. “There was a fight, of course. It was brutal, fangs and ws bared. But then… chaos. A stray bullet, a pa


    The silence in the room felt even heavier now, “Daniel’s son, a young boy barely out of his pup year just like you, he was caught in the crossfire. Dead an


    “The details are


    unimportant,” he continued, his voiceced with a dismissive arrogance. “Coteral damage is inevitable in any war. You wille to understand.”


    I stared at him, incredulous. Coteral damage? As if the death of a child was a


    mere statistic in his quest for power. “How can you say that?” My voice was shaking with a mix of anger and disgust. “A child died! Someone’s son.”


    He scoffed, a harsh, grating sound. “Sacrifices are made. It’s the price of power.” His


    voice hardened, a cruel edge creeping in. “Besides, Stone wasn’t meless either. He retaliated, striking at our pack with equal ferocity. It was a war, a g


    loses.”


    The air crackled with tension. My father’s words hung heavy in the sterile silence, his justifications hollow and empty. He spoke of war, of a game, but all


    a brother she never got to know. Did she know? This was why Daniel Stone hated me so much. If Amaya had known why did she still mate with


    me. Fuck, this was so messed up.


    “And then,” he continued, a hint of satisfaction creeping into his voice, “the Moon Goddess decided to y a cruel joke. She blessed Stone


    with a daughter, and she turned out to be your mate.”


    A wave of nausea washed over me. “You killed her brother,” I whispered, the


    words catching in my throat. “And from what you’re saying. I must have been around three years old at the time. That’s why I don’t remember.


    I was the same age as the boy you had killed.”


    The realization hit me like a physical blow. The reason for the constant tension between our packs, the unspoken hatred simmering beneath the surface


    it all stemmed from this single, horrific event. My entire life had been shaped by a war that wasn’t mine, a rivalry fueled by my


    father’s insatiable greed.


    He looked at me, his face devoid of any emotion. “So what? It is a harsh world, Alex. The strong survive, the weak perish.”


    I shook my head, unable to believe his callous disregard for human life. “No,” I whispered, my voice firm despite


    the tremor running through me. “You don’t get it, do you? This isn’t a game. It’s real life, and real lives were destroyed because of your ambition.”


    “There’s always a cost,” he coughed out, his voiceced with a weary resignation that seemed at odds with his earlier arrogance. “Every victoryes w


    His words hung in th


    air,ced with a truth I couldn’t deny. The responsibility of leading a pack was immense, the decisions life or death. But for him, it seemed, that responsib


    “But a child?” I pressed, “How can you justify taking an innocent life?”


    He remained silent for a long moment, his gaze fixed on a point on the sterile white wall. Finally, he spoke, his voiceced with a bitterness that sent shiv


    “You think Stone cared about coteral damage when he retaliated? My right hand man, who was like a brother to me died. We all have scars, Alex, both


    His words were a harsh truth, a reminder of the brutal reality of the


    werewolf world. But even as I acknowledged the inherent dangers, a line had been crossed that I couldn’t ignore. The death of


    a child, regardless of the perpetrator, was a tragedy that couldn’t be justified by power struggles or the weight of leadership. It was wrong and he hardly s


    “There’s a difference between epting the dangers and actively courting them. You didn’t just walk into a warzone, you orchestrated it! And for what? A


    A flicker of anger sparked in his cloudy eyes. “It wasn’t flimsy, Alex! It was about control, about securing a future for our pack. Don’t be naive. In this worl


    His outburst wasced with a desperation that surprised me. Was this the fear of death talking, or a genuine belief in his actions?


    “But at what cost?” I challenged, my voice steady. “You


    built your empire on bloodshed, and now it’s crumbling around you. Look at yourself, a shell of the man you once were. Was it all worth it?”


    He fell silent again, his frail chest rising and falling with eachbored breath. The defiance drained from his face, reced by a profound weariness, a ho


    In that moment, I saw him not as the


    ruthless alpha, but as a broken man burdened by the weight of his past. The cost of his ambition had Indeed been high, a truth mirrored in his own declin


    The silence stretched between us, thick with unspoken emotions. Part of me still yearned for a flicker of remorse, a genuine apology for the life lost on hi


    was a chilling realization.


    This wasn’t just about the past, about a rivalry fueled by a single tragic event. It was about the present, ahout the tangled web of consequences that had


    both cruel and inevitable.


    The revtion sat heavy in my stomach. The war between our packs, the unspoken animosity–


    it all stemmed from this one horrific incident. And now, here we were, the children of those consequences, bound together.


    His gaze flickered towards me, a flicker of something akin to pain crossing


    his face before he schooled his features back into a mask of indifference, “There is more. The attack I had ordered had more than just one casualty.”


    I hated the way he said casualty like taking the life of an innocent child meant nothing to him, I wanted to stand up, to leave. I wanted to find her and ask


    He coughed, snapping my focus back to him, “There was another powerful pack. The Alpha and Luna lost their lives.”


    My eyes narrowed, “So you killed more people.”


    “No, that’s not what I’m trying to tell you. They had two children, kept their existence hidden I am guessing to protect them and it wasn’t until recently I fo


    The way


    he said the words made me know that whatever next he would say.


    “The two children are Ivan and Miranda McCa