Chapter 217
Leon’s POV
Xavier got the glory, soon to become Alpha King.
Adrian got the love, turning the ultimate trials into their romance show.
And me? I just kept losing.
The night after the final trial, I returned to my hotel room alone. The room felt cavernous and cold despite the luxurious furnishings. I tossed my jacket onto the king–sized bed and headed straight for the minibar. I grabbed a bottle of whiskey and didn’t bother with a glass.
The first swallow burned my throat, but the second went down smoother.
I slumped into the leather armchair by the window, staring at the small town lights below. Everyone else was probably
celebrating right now. Everyone except me.
I pulled out my phone and scrolled through my photos, stopping at one I rarely looked at but could never bring myself to
delete.
My mother and me at Snow Valley Resort. She wore a bright red ski suit that stood out against the pristine white snow, while mine was navy blue with white stripes down the sides. She smiled brilliantly at the camera, her blonde hair peeking out from under her matching red cap. I grinned awkwardly with a gap–toothed smile, having just lost my two front teeth
that week.
When exactly did she take me skiing? Who took this picture? Dad never joined us on these trips. Maybe Skye’s father, George? The woman in the photo felt both familiar and like a stranger. Her features were becoming harder to recall
without looking at photos.
I took another long swig from the bottle, feeling the liquor warm my insides.
I couldn’t understand why the sacred fire thought my mate bond with Skye was the most important thing in my life. Me, liking her? How could that possibly be true?
But the more I drank, the blurrier my mother’s face became in my mind, and the clearer Skye’s image grew.
I remembered when Skye came to the cemetery a year after my mother died. I was sitting cross–legged by my mother’s grave, arranging white lilies in the small metal vase. The granite headstone still looked too new, too clean. Then I heard footsteps and turned to see Skye approaching with a blue and white kite shaped like a swallow.
Without saying a word to me, she started unraveling the string, looking up at the clear blue sky. My grie rage. My mother had died protecting her, and this was how she showed respect? Flying a kite in a cemetery?
sformed into
“What are you doing?” I shouted, jumping to my feet. When she didn’t answer, just continued preparing her kite, I snapped. I pushed her hard, sending her sprawling onto the grass. I yanked the kite from her hands and started tearing at the delicate paper and bamboo frame.
Only after destroying it did I notice something written on the back of the kite. It was a letter to my mother in Skye’s childish handwriting:
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Chapter 217
“Luna, please don’t worry. Leon is a genlus. All the teachers say he’s amazing and will become a powerful Alpha someday. But he still hates milk, and Ethan is taller than him. Don’t worry, I’ll grow up fast and help you ta
心
take care of him.”
Skye had run away crying. I gathered up the pieces of the kite and sat there holding them until sunset. After that day, 1 drank milk every morning and night without complaint.
Another memory surfaced.
When I was fifteen and struggling with a complicated fighting technique my father wanted me to master, I grew frustrated after failing repeatedly. I didn’t know Skye had been watching me practice. The next day, I found a video on my phone of my father demonstrating the exact move from multiple angles. She must have secretly recorded him during training sessions. She never mentioned it, and I never thanked her. I practiced for weeks using that reference until I perfected the technique.
Was that love?
I didn’t know. To me, she was the person my mother died protecting. My hatred gradually transformed into something like caring.
But in her eyes, I eventually disappeared. She gave Adrian all the kindness she once showed me.
As her mate, I could have forcibly marked her. But I never stooped so low. My pride wouldn’t allow it.
When I finally sobered up slightly, a firm knock sounded at my door. Alpha Xavier stood there in his perfectly tailored suit, looking nothing like a true Alpha should. An entertainment star who resembled a male version of Julia Roberts with his perfect hair and camera–ready smile. His wolf was probably weaker than Adrian’s.
“What? Won a lucky election and came to gloat?” I asked with contempt, not bothering to invite him in.
He didn’t react to my mockery. Instead, what he said next shocked me. He wanted me to join him in sending the current Alpha King Thomas to prison.
“Why should I trust you? Why should I help you?” I questioned, crossing my arms over my chest.
“Because your mother was a righteous and kind Luna, Xavier replied, his expression serious. “If she were alive, she would
support this.”
“Don’t try to manipulate me using my mother,” I growled, gripping the doorframe until my knuckles turned white. “I barely remember her anyway.”
Xavier stopped trying to persuade me. He handed me a folded piece of paper and said, “Tomorrow night at 8. If you change your mind, come to this address.”
“Another self–righteous asshole,” I muttered after he left, crumpling the paper and throwing it across
Jom.
It landed in Ethan’s hands as he walked in without knocking. He smoothed out the paper, raising his eyebrows as he read
- it.
“Interesting,” he said, looking up at me. “Are we going?”
Eventually, Ethan and I decided to go to Xavier’s meeting place. I hadn’t expected Skye and Adrian to be there too, sitting close together, their shoulders touching. A vicious thought crossed my mind: hadn’t that guy sacrificed his heart’s blood? Why wasn’t he dead yet?
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The room also contained several other Alphas, showing Xavier’s determination to take down Thomas was real.
My attention quickly shifted to the slideshow Xavier started playing on a large screen. The images showed mutilated bodies of Rogues. Despite fighting them countless times, the cruel torture and organ harvesting he showed us made my stomach turn. The victims included children, their small bodies cut open and emptied like hunting trophies.
The moment I accepted the USB drive containing the evidence, I had made my decision. I would help Xavier take down Alpha King Thomas, not for him, but for the victims.
The pain from dissolving the mate bond with Skye forced me to numb myself with wolf alcohol later that night. Rather than being rejected by her, actively rejecting her was my last shred of dignity.
Was it just a “blood curse” as she claimed?
When I closed my eyes, I could still see the sympathy on her face, but not a trace of love.
Like every other time I’d been hurt, I curled up alone on my bed, waiting for the pain to slowly drain away.
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