The Mourning Alpha

Arrows flew again—this time hitting his parents. Screams erupted in the hall as panic spread. People ran in all directions while Lestus shouted for the guards to find where the arrows were coming from.

The atmosphere that had initially been filled with happiness and excitement was immediately thrown into a frenzy.

“No! Mother! Father! Roetta!” Alpha Chase shouted, his voice breaking as tears poured down his face. “No, stay with me!”

Chase could not hold back the tears that fell from his eyes as he watched his parents lay on the ground, pierced with arrows.

He wanted to go to them, but…

Roetta trembled in his arms, blood seeping from her chest. “My… love…” she whispered, struggling to speak.

“No, no, don’t talk. You’ll be okay. Someone get the pack doctor! Now!” he yelled, his hands shaking.

“It’s… it’s hopeless…” Roetta said, her voice weak and cracked as tears streamed from her eyes.

“No, it’s not! Roetta, don’t say that! You’re still breathing—there’s hope!” Chase cried. He looked around frantically. “Zeran! Hold my parents—don’t let anything happen to them!”

He kept yelling, feeling his sanity slip through the spaces in between his fingers.

Roetta placed her bloody hand on his. “Listen to me, Chase… I love you. I’ve always loved you. And I know you love me too. But please… don’t waste your life grieving for me.”

“Stop it. Don’t talk like that! The doctor is almost here. You’re going to make it,” he said, his voice cracking again. But Roetta started coughing up blood.

She tightened her grip on his hand. “Promise me you’ll live… that you’ll be happy. I don’t want you to suffer for me. It might be hard… but please move on.”

“Don’t talk like this, Roetta. You can’t leave me. I need you,” he whispered, holding her hand tighter, desperate to stop her slipping away.

Roetta’s wolf, Quafina, whimpered inside her, growing weak. She reached out to Remos—Chase’s wolf—who cried out in pain through his soul.

“I love you, Chase. I love you so much,” she whispered.

“I love you more. The doctor’s almost here. Please hold on, Quafina… just a little longer,” he begged.

He needed her to hold on. From the corner of his eyes, his parents were no longer breathing. He could not lose them all in a day, in less than ten minutes his life has taken a dark turn.

“I love you, Alpha Chase. I love you, Quafina…” she whispered—and then her body went still.

“Roetta? Roetta!” Chase shouted, shaking her gently. He checked her pulse. Nothing. “Roetta!” he screamed, louder this time.

She took her final breath.

Chase let go of Roetta’s hand and collapsed onto the floor. Everything felt unreal—like a twisted dream he couldn’t wake up from. Zeran rushed over to him, but Chase snapped.

“Don’t come any closer!” he yelled. Zeran froze.

Chase broke down in heavy sobs. “No… no!!! This can’t be real!” He crawled to his parents and held them. “You all can’t leave me! Please, if this is a joke, stop it now! I’ll do anything—just come back!”

The pack doctor finally arrived. He knelt beside them and checked one after the other. After a long pause, he looked up.

“I’m sorry, Alpha… they’re all gone.”

They’re dead… dead… dead…

The words echoed in Chase’s mind as his heart shattered. Zeran, who had been mind-linked by Lestus, ran back into the palace—only to find Chase looking wild with grief, his eyes red and full of rage.

He could hardly recognize his best friend. The man kneeling in the middle of the hall was no different than a mad man.

He yelled, he cried, he pulled on his hair. He lost all form of composure.

Who could blame him? His world just came to an abrupt end.

“Stop! Chase, you have to stop this—” Zeran tried to reason.

“Stop? Stop what, Zeran?” Chase snarled. “You don’t know how this feels. You don’t understand this pain! My heart is burning! My whole world just disappeared!”

He grabbed Zeran’s face as if desperate to get his point across.

“They were my life!”

“Please… calm down,” Zeran said softly. His eyes tinged with tears.

“I can’t! I won’t! I lost everything today. My mate, my parents… What do I even have left to live for?” Chase snapped. His voice cracked, and fresh tears streamed down his face.

He clawed at his own heart. It hurt too much he didn’t think he could survive the pain.

He wanted his wife back. He wanted his parents. The people who genuinely cared for him, his mate who loved him.

Now she was gone.

And so were the two people who raised him.

Chase suddenly stopped yelling.

The change was quite abrupt, garnering the concern of people around.

Zeran touched him. “Chase?”

“Whoever did this will pay. I’ll make them suffer for what they’ve done. I’ll destroy them slowly.” Chase said coldly.

“We will find whoever is responsible,” Zeran said, his own voice heavy with pain.

“They were supposed to be protected!” Chase roared. “What use are those guards if they can’t protect the ones I love?”

His tone and mood shifted from crazed to calm and ten bagk to crazed. Zeran actually feared that his friend had lost his mind.

Zeran saw where this was heading—Chase was about to order an execution.

“No one knew where the arrows came from, Alpha,” Lestus said quickly. “The palace was fully secured. We double-checked everything.”

“Then explain how they got in!” Chase growled, his eyes blazing with fury.

“They might have blended in with the guests,” Zeran offered.

“If they did, we should’ve seen them. Someone should’ve noticed where the arrows came from!” Chase shouted back.

Zeran took a breath. There was no point in trying to see reason with him. “If that’s true, then maybe they were invisible. Which means… witches. Or vampires.”

Chase went quiet.

Then he spoke again—this time, his voice low, cold, and dangerous.

“Whoever did this… whoever caused me this pain… I will wipe their entire bloodline from the face of this earth.”

The pack mourned the loss. No matter how sad they felt, they could never imagine just how broken Chase was. He was lost.

“I’ll end them all,” Chase growled as Remos surfaced, letting out a thunderous howl that shook the palace.

Everyone stepped back in fear.

Alpha Chase was no longer just a grieving man.

He was a storm.

And someone would pay.