Chapter 24: Guilt

The Alpha pair traveled the all too familiar path to the basement. They passed door after door, only stopping to comfort a wary pack member, reassuring that their Luna was safe and unharmed. Alexandra was ridden with guilt; she hadn't meant to stir up a panic, but like usual, her lack of thought before doing something, bit her in the ass. It seemed like she had been gone for thirty minutes, but in her home realm, she had been gone for almost three hours; and it seemed that when she wasn't there, things tended to go haywire... things went crazy.

The mansion was silent as if the wolves inside of it were still reeling from the shock and panic that had consumed them this morning. On a normal day, the mansion was buzzing with liveliness: wolves doing their daily jobs, pups running around, chefs cooking the meals, couples playing around. Alexandra loved those days, the days where she could just sit down and talk to a pack mate, the days were the sunlight flitted through the windows; but Adeline had gone feral again, and their Luna had disappeared, along with the only Oracle in North America. Normally, it took just a day before the lesser wolves resumed their liveliness, but something told her that it would be days before the mansion returned to its active state.

As the Alpha pair headed towards the basement that contained their dangerous daughter, the mansion seemed to hold its breath.

Alexandra and Dillon stopped in front of the heavy metal door that would reveal a staircase cloaked in darkness. They weren't bothered by the darkness; they had been down that staircase so many times, that their feet were accustomed to the drop and rise of the stairs. They could both walk down with their eyes closed, and they'd still be able to locate the cell Adeline was in.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Dillon's jaw clench, the muscle there feathering with the pressure. She had explained everything that the djinn had said to him, and he hadn't taken it well. As she was explaining the curse to him, her mate had spun around and punched the wall over and over again. He was so enraged that someone could've betrayed them, that he didn't feel the tear of flesh as his fists went through the wall, and back out. Alexandra didn't like to see him so upset and hurt, but she understood his need to hit something. It pained her to see the blood pouring from his hands, but she knew that when his fist would enter the wall again, the wound would already be healed. Sometimes, pain was needed to remind you of your mortality, of your place on this earth.

So, she had let him rage.

When he had finally calmed down enough to face her, Alexandra saw the pain and rage and sorrow churning in those stunning eyes. Tears had welled up in her own eyes, but she wasn't ashamed to admit that she let them fall. Crying wasn't shameful if you were doing it for the right reason.

As Alexandra and her mate descended the stairs, she remembered the djinn's words. For some odd reason, they had been twisting and writhing in her mind ever since she left the Djinn Realm.

Everyone you will ever meet knows something you don't.

'What did that mean?' Alexandra wondered, shaking her head.

Alexandra slipped her hand into Dillon's and squeezed it reassuringly. She could feel his wolf rising, its instincts roaring at him to find the traitor, and rip whoever it was, into ribbons. Dillon's wolf wanted to feel flesh beneath its paws and blood coating its canines, it wanted to listen to the traitor's howls of pain as claws tore into the soft flesh of an abdomen, releasing intestines and blood onto the floor. The wolf would take his time, he would welcome the screams and blood like a lover, and he would smile the whole time.

Alexandra and her wolf felt the same way, maybe even more. Whoever had cursed their daughter, whoever had betrayed them and bought the Rage Curse, would pay with their life. If Dillon found the imbecile before she did, Alexandra knew that nothing could stop her from being a part of the execution. Not even a coven of witches could stop her from tearing into the wielder. Whoever it was.

They would find it, even if it was too late for Adeline. They would hunt down the wielder until their last breaths, and even in death, they would track the plains, mountains, rivers, and deserts of the after-life looking for the witch.

"Mom? Dad?" A soft, hoarse voice asked. Adeline.

Alexandra let go of her mate's hand and rushed to the cell. Even in the dark, she could perfectly see her daughter's bandaged and bruised body.

The Luna didn't even look down at the cell door as she jabbed the key that had been hanging on the wall into the lock, and twisted. With a click, the lock was unlocked, and the door swung inwards.

The Alpha pair rushed into the large cell and embraced their pup. Adeline was never an affectionate pup, even before the incident, but after the first attack, Adeline rarely allowed anyone to touch her, let alone her parents. But the Luna kept hearing the djinn's words, they radiated in her ears, twisting and yanking at her heart.

And if you don't find the welder by the time Adeline is of mating age... then she will travel to the Afterlife.

The Afterlife.

Adeline's birthday was only a few weeks away, and the big eighteen loomed. For normal wolves, the weeks leading up to their eighteenth birthday were celebrated and filled with planning and, if they wanted, transfer papers to other packs. But also, many wolves anticipated the arrival of their eighteenth birthday, because that was the year that started a long life of searching and, if the searching ended in success, love. When a wolf reached the age of eighteen, they were old enough for a mate bond to open. They were old enough to find their mate.

But sadly, not many wolves found their mates that young. In fact, many had to wait many more years, centuries even, before they caught the scent of the one holding the other half of their soul. But finding your mate was a miracle in itself; Alexandra had seen multiple wolves that never found the other half of their soul, their mate. Alexandra had to put those wolves down when their beast took over; she didn't want to, but she'd never forgotten the looks of relief and hope as her hands snapped their necks. They would be at peace with their mates in the Afterlife. They had fought and served this world well, so they deserved rest and the love that they had never found.

Alexandra ran a hand through her daughter's short hair as her tears coated bruised flesh. She heard Dillon mumbling something in Adeline's ear, but she wasn't paying any attention to him, at the moment.

"Where were you? Where were you?" Adeline's voice was shaky, but no tears flooded her icy eyes. The Luna's hand wrapped around the nape of Adeline's neck, pulling her head forward until they were forehead to forehead.

"Where were you?" Adeline body shook with the emotions pressing down on her chest, her body. Alexandra closed her eyes, letting her wolf fill her lungs with their pup's scent.

She was okay.

She was okay.

"I had to leave to speak with a powerful being, regarding your curse," Alexandra said. "I had not meant to leave as long as I did."

Adeline sucked in a ragged breath, "Did you find out how to break it?

She had been dreading that question.

"Yes," she forced out through her teeth. "But before I explain anything to you, let's get you unchained and cleaned up."

Her pup opened her mouth to protest, but Alexandra was having none of it. She was still running a hand through Adeline's knotted hair as she pulled back to look into the icy orbs that reminded her so much of her mate's eyes.

"Things are going to change, Adeline. And I expect you to accept them, and move on. I know that you are terrified of losing control, as you should be, but you need to remember that you have no control over it. Whatever happens, whatever you do, others don't have to forgive you, but you need to forgive yourself. We are going to break this curse, and when we do, you are going to pull yourself together. You are not going to give up." Alexandra stared into her daughter's eyes to emphasize her point. Even though Adeline wasn't like other teenage Lupises, she was still a teen- things tended to go in one ear, and out the other.

As the Luna pulled back, standing up to her feet, she could've sworn sadness flashed in those icy, beautiful eyes.

Before she could say anything more, Dillon released his daughter, walked to the other side of the cell, reached through the bars, and pulled the key off of the wall.

"Thank you," Alexandra said. She could still tell that Dillon was still mad at her when all he did was a strained shrug of his shoulders. He was acting like a pup!

His eyes met hers for a fraction of a second in a silent glare, the muscles in his jaw rippling with the pressure of his clenched teeth. Alexandra knew that he would be mad at her, but she didn't think that his anger would last this long!

"You jumped into a portal into another, unknown realm, with the only Oracle in North America with you, and you were gone for hours! What did you expect me to feel? I am damn lucky that Travis hasn't called yet, and demanded to know what happened! If he were any other Alpha, he would be waging war on us just for putting Sasha in danger!" Dillon fumed through the mating bond. "So, mate of mine," he snarled, "I may be acting like a pup, but you were acting mindlessly."

Alexandra's shoulders slumped with the guilt of her action. She had terrified him, and her pack. She didn't at all get angered by his words; she deserved them.

"I am so sorry, Dillon." She looked at him, but he wasn't paying any attention to her. His large, calloused hands jammed the key into keyholes of the shackles; a sharp clink telling him that he had unlocked the chains from Adeline's wrists and ankles.

An exaggerated breath filled her ears, but she was the only one to hear it as Dillon helped their daughter to her feet.

"It's okay..." he sighed. "I shouldn't have said that."

"No," Alexandra growled. "I deserved that. I should have come to you, told you what we were going to do. I know I scared you and the pack, and I apologize. I was mindless and unaware of consequences, and I put the Oracle's wellbeing at risk."

She was sincere with her apology, but there was one thing that she was never going to apologize for. Alexandra was head-strong, bold and even hot-headed at times, but she always had good intentions on her mind. The only reason why she had gone into that portal so willingly, even when the possibility of success was so low, was the very thought of healing her daughter. Everything she did, everything she had ever done, was in the name of loyalty and her family. She had jumped into that portal with hope and determination in her heart, and the whole time she was falling, her daughter's face was flashing in her mind. Loyalty was one of the main reason her pack adored her so much. Before Dillon and she had taken over the Southern Pack, a cruel, ruthless alpha had been dictating it with an iron fist, and a whip. Alexandra still remembered the first few years after Dillon had killed the cruel alpha... to say it was rough was putting it lightly,

During those first few years of tears and blood, Alexandra had learned the art of loyalty and selflessness. Those first years had shaped her into the wolf she was today, and for that, she was grateful.

She would die for the ones she loved. Blood or not.

Alexandra smiled gently as her beautiful, but still very prickly mate, scooped up their weak daughter in his arms. His stunning eyes met hers, and for the first time since she stumbled from the bathtub, he smiled at her.

Yes.

Yes, she would most definitely die for the ones she loved.