Revenge to the Alpha Mate novel Chapter 190

Chapter 190: Chapter 190

Lily’s POV Watching Miranda clean Ethan’s wound and sew it up (although werewolves with strong self-healing abilities usually don’t need it, deep wounds will heal faster after being sutured), he frowned in pain but still tried to force a comforting smile at me. The flame in my heart suddenly flared up like a prairie fire. Damn those vicious wolves! If they dared ambush Ethan today, tomorrow they’d creep to the town’s edge, threatening defenseless civilians, or worse... they might find my mother’s home and endanger Aurora! The thought alone made me seethe. "Keep an eye on him," I told Miranda before turning to leave. I grabbed my most trusted hunting knife from the rack and tucked it behind my waist. Then I checked the Lycotine magazine in my pistol and cocked it with a sharp click. My movements were sharp and precise, carrying an unmistakable edge of ruthlessness. "Lily, where are you going?" Xaver asked, his voice laced with concern. "To check things out over there," I replied without turning back, my voice cold and hard. "To root out the lair of those beasts who dare to raise their claws. They won’t be running wild near our territory." Just as I was about to call a few people to join me, a voice rang out—so faint I almost mistook it for an auditory hallucination, tinged with a hoarseness long unheard: "I’m coming with you." It was Celena. Standing at the edge of the training ground, her eyes were no longer the empty and lifeless look of a few days ago, but rather condensed with something cold and hard. This was the first time she had voluntarily offered to take part in the operation since Brett’s death. I looked at her. The relentless training had stripped away her girlish slenderness, replacing it with a solid build. Her muscles flowed with power, making her look like a genuinely healthy warrior, which was more agile than the average fourteen-year-old girl. She needed this, needed to do something instead of getting stuck in the quagmire of the past. "Alright." I nodded, cutting to the chase. "You take Jacob’s spot. Stay close to me." Celena stepped forward silently and picked up the short knife that belonged to her. Our squad moved out swiftly, heading straight for the location where Ethan and the others had been attacked. The air was thick with the heavy stench of blood, mostly from Ethan and the other wolves. The ground was littered with chaotic claw marks and traces of the fight. I crouched down, carefully distinguishing the unfamiliar, foul-smelling wolf scent. Damn it, the deer and other small animals in the area had clearly been startled by the bloodshed. They darted back and forth, scattering the wolves’ lingering scent in every direction, making it nearly impossible to track. We expanded our search radius, but by sunset, we still had nothing. "Fuck!" I muttered under my breath, reluctantly holstering my gun. We’d have to ride the motorcycles back first. Dragging my exhaustion and lingering anger back to the wolf den, I froze the moment I approached. Jacob was sitting on the stool by the door, his face still a little pale and his body looked a bit thin, but he had indeed managed to sit up by his own strength and was no longer lying on the bed on the verge of death. His gaze passed over all of us and was fixed straight and firmly on Celena behind me. Jacob’s POV Miranda’s medicine and the werewolf’s own healing power finally freed me from that damn bed, allowing me to drag myself to the doorway. Fresh air flooded my lungs, yet it couldn’t wash away the heaviness in my chest. Every second, I could feel the part of the bond connected to her, like a dry well, silent, cold, and utterly still. It was more torturous than the pain Lycotine had inflicted. Then I saw them return. Lily led the way, her expression grim. My eyes instinctively scanned the group and immediately found her, my mate, my love, Celena. She walked among them, posture straight, stride steady, appearing... healthy. Even more solid than before, like a sapling forged resilient by wind and rain. But God... My heart clenched as if gripped by an icy fist. It wasn’t merely thinness or strength. There was no sign of vitality in her. Those eyes that once shone slightly when learning a new move or showed timidity and curiosity when seeing something novel are now like frozen lakes, devoid of any luster and emotion. Her movements were precise and mechanical, like an exquisite, soulless shell. Numbness, deathly stillness. Brett’s death, along with the pain I had inflicted upon her, had extinguished the light within her completely. It was me. All because of me. A surging self-reproach and heartache that almost submerged me seized my throat. The pain was so intense that I could hardly breathe. My Wolf let out a sad wail deep in its consciousness. It could sense that its companion was there, so close, yet there was a distance between us that was far greater than the sea. That soulful attraction and bond that belongs to a predestined partner is now like a red-hot wire branded on my heart, clearly telling me what I have lost and what I have ruined. I wanted to get close to her, to embrace her, to infuse that damned warmth and vitality back into her cold body, but I didn’t even dare to call her name. Lily and the others clearly sensed the frozen, suffocating atmosphere. They exchanged glances, tacitly and silently bypassing us, and quickly entered the small house. Under the porch, only she and I remained. The air seemed to stop flowing. I sat on the stool, too weak to stand, and could only look up at her. She stood a few steps away, halting her pace. Those hollow gray eyes finally met mine. No hatred, no anger, not even disgust. Nothing at all. That void of tranquility broke my heart more than any intense emotion. We just stared at each other like this, with a chasm called tragedy lying between us, which I had no idea how to cross.