Bonds

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 there being no visible wound on my father. His chest rose and fell with each labored breath, his once powerful frame now reduced to a frail shell. Yet, as he spoke of the past, a spark of his former self ignited in his eyes- a chilling mixture of pride and something akin to amusement.

"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 strength. But there 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 cold, steely resolve.

"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 explain the attack, the one that had fractured the fragile peace between the packs. But as he spoke, a different picture emerged-one devoid of remorse, painted solely with ruthless ambition.

"The plan was simple," he continued, his voice gaining a sliver of strength. "A swift raid, a display 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 claws bared. But then... chaos. A stray bullet, a panicked shift... and then silence."

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 and..." He trailed off, a flicker of something that might have been regret crossing his face, but it was fleeting.

"The details are unimportant," he continued, his voice laced with a dismissive arrogance. "Collateral damage is inevitable in any war. You will come to understand."

I stared at him, incredulous. Collateral 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 blameless either. He retaliated, striking at our pack with equal ferocity. It was a war, a game of dominance, and someone always 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 I saw was the shattered innocence of a young life lost, a life needlessly taken in the crossfire of his ambition. He was responsible for her brother's death, 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. F*ck, this was so messed up.

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

10:28 Sat, 22 Jun Chapter 84

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 voice laced with a weary resignation that seemed at odds with his earlier arrogance. "Every victory comes with sacrifices. You wouldn't understand until you've held the reins of power."

His words hung in th air, laced 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 responsibility had morphed into a justification for his actions, a shield to deflect any flicker of remorse.

"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 voice laced with a bitterness that sent shivers down my spine.

"You think Stone cared about collateral damage when he retaliated? My right hand man, who was like a brother to me died. We all have scars, Alex, both physical and emotional. It's the price we pay for existing in this world."Contentt bel0ngs to N0ve/lDrâ/ma.O(r)g!

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 seemed remorseful about it.

"There's a difference between accepting the dangers and actively courting them. You didn't just walk into a warzone, you orchestrated it! And for what? A flimsy grasp at more power?"

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 world, the weak are devoured by the strong. I was protecting what was ours!"

His outburst was laced 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 each labored breath. The defiance drained from his face, replaced by a profound weariness, a hollowness in his eyes that spoke of a deeper regret than he cared to admit.

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 decline.

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 his orders. But mostly, there 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, lahout the tangled web of consequences E.I.Y that had ensnared me and Amaya, binding our destinies together in a way that felt both cruel and inevitable.

The revelation sat heavy in my stomach. The war between our packs, the unspoken animosity-it all unspoken stemmed from this one horrific incident. And now, here we were, the children of those consequences, bound together.

His gaze flickered towards me, a e

flicker of something akin to pain crossing his face before he schooled his features back into a mask of indifference, "

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 her if she knew, she could not hate me because of it.

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 found their identities."

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

"The two children are Ivan and Miranda McCall."

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