ELIAS VERNAL
The moment Alfred's words fell, thunderous applause erupted through the venue.
Guests clapped enthusiastically, offering their congratulations and celebrating the fact that I had finally become a father.
I stood among them, dazed and lost like a fool who couldn't find his bearings.
It felt like they had all conspired to play a cruel joke on me. I stared at the projected photo of the newborn on the stage screen. The absurdity of it froze me in place at first, then transformed into rage that propelled me onto the stage!
I snatched the microphone from Alfred's hand and grabbed his suit collar.
Regardless of his status, I roared in his face. "Answer me! What the hell is going on? Where did you get this baby? He can't possibly be my child!"
Sure, I had been labeled a "playboy," but those rumored girlfriends were all fabricated. I had never even slept with any of them!
If Alfred had actually believed one of those women and accepted whatever baby they'd brought, claiming it was my son, then he had truly gone senile, so desperate for an heir that he had fallen for the most obvious scam!
"Elias, watch your behavior," Alfred scolded me. "With all these guests watching, do you want to ruin everything?"
"If you can't give me a reasonable explanation, then yes!"
"Fine. It seems we need to talk in private." Alfred discreetly gestured toward a VIP room on the second floor, but I refused.
"We'll talk, but not now," I said. "I need to find Serenity."
Alfred smiled. "What if I told you our conversation is about her?"
"What?" I looked at him warily. Below us, guests murmured uneasily at our confrontation. I glanced at them, then released his collar with a cold expression. "You'd better give me a satisfactory answer."
"Oh, I will." Alfred nearly stumbled. He took an awkward step back but maintained his "composure," pretending nothing had happened as he smoothed out his wrinkled suit.
He signaled the band to keep playing, and we walked straight toward the second-floor VIP room.
Along the way, I caught Liv rushing to follow us out of the corner of my eye. But I was in no mood to wait for her. I followed Alfred into the room and slammed the door shut, locking it behind us.
All the noise from outside vanished.
Only the two of us remained, locked in a tense standoff.
"You can talk now." I stared him down. "Whose baby is that? And why did you mention Serenity?"
"I told you. It's your child," Alfred said. "A purebred with Lycan blood. The new heir to the Vernal pack."
"That's impossible! Even Serenity wouldn't believe such nonsense about carrying my child! If one of my so-called girlfriends told you she was pregnant with my baby, then you have finally lost your mind, so obsessed with getting an heir that you'd fall for such an obvious lie!"
Alfred remained unfazed by my mockery. He said slowly, "Really? What if I told you this child belongs to you and Serenity?"
I hadn't expected that answer. "I never gave her a permanent mark. How could she possibly get pregnant?"
"For fated mates, a permanent mark isn't necessary. Even a temporary mark can make it possible." Alfred turned my mockery back on me. "Elias, you've been married to her for over a year. Do you even remember how many times you've been with her? No matter how careful you thought you were, with that much time and your bond, anything could happen!"
What he said might actually be true.
I didn't want to admit it, but following his logic, all those things about Serenity that had felt off suddenly made sense. Why she avoided me. Why she refused to see me. Why she looked so thin when she collapsed, yet her stomach had seemed slightly rounded...
"She really was pregnant…" I murmured. The realization crushed my chest.
I tugged at my collar. "She was pregnant and never told me?"
She had given birth alone, and I, the father, was the last to know?
No, wait. Herman had told me about this. But what had I said?
She's lying to me.
I hadn't trusted her.
The realization made my head spin.
Now I desperately needed to see Serenity, to ask her about the child, to confirm she was alright. The anxiety from our severed bond tormented me.
I wanted nothing more than to shift and force Alfred to hand her over.
Faced with my aggressive stance, Alfred remained relaxed. "She just gave birth and is resting. She can't see you. You know how exhausting childbirth is."
I roared at him, unconsciously releasing my dominance. "If she can't see me, then give me the address! I'll go to her myself!"
Alfred finally met my eyes. "Why are you so worked up, Elias? Haven't you always disliked her? Didn't you say you never wanted her as your mate?"
"That was—" The words died in my throat.
Yes, that's what I'd thought before marrying Serenity. That's what I'd told her. Because back then, I'd still wanted to repay Liv for saving my life by giving her the Luna position... When Serenity suddenly took that position, I'd hurt her countless times.
But why, now that this possibility was actually happening before my eyes, did it feel like my entire world was collapsing?
I bit down hard. My fangs pierced my gums. The taste of blood sharpened my focus. I refused to show the confusion and weakness. I threatened Alfred coldly. "I'm only asking one more time. This is an order. Tell me where Serenity is!"
Even Alfred couldn't defy the current Alpha. He finally relented. "She's at a psychiatric sanatorium in the suburbs. I arranged a birthing room there."
"How could you put her with mental patients?!" And in such an isolated place. It would be torture!
"There are no mental patients." Alfred waved dismissively. "You think I'd let the heir stay around people like that? The place is completely empty. I cleared everyone out."
"Cleared out? Then what about the medical staff?" A terrible feeling crept over me as I watched his indifferent expression.
His silence fed the darkness churning inside me.
"Answer me!" I slammed both hands on the glass coffee table, the impact rattling the room.
He looked at me with surprise, as if seeing his son for the first time.
"It's a bit late for you to start worrying about your Luna now."
"What do you mean?"
"Unfortunately, she's probably already dead," Alfred stated the fact in an icy tone. "The moment she delivered the heir, her purpose was fulfilled. I saw no value in saving her. By now, she has likely bled out on that operating table."
I understood every word individually, but together they made no sense. My brain rejected them outright.
My fingers were trembling. Something burned inside me. Was it rage? Or something else?
I stared at Alfred. He was my father. This wasn't the first time I'd witnessed the cruelty and ruthlessness in his nature. But now, it felt like I was truly seeing for the first time just how…despicable he was!
"Why did you have to kill Serenity?" I demanded coldly. This was no longer a confrontation between father and son, but an Alpha questioning an Elder. "Don't try to claim you had nothing to do with this. I know how you operate. But I don't understand. Even if she's an Omega, even if she's a suspected…traitor, she was still a member of the Vernal pack. She was my Luna! Why did you have to kill one of our own? Answer me, Alfred Vernal!"
"You're asking me? Don't you understand it yourself?"
He paused briefly. Faced with my unusually serious demeanor, he didn't dodge this time.
He sneered. "Look at yourself right now, Elias. Have you looked in a mirror? You don't look anything like a calm, powerful Alpha. You've already lost your mind over that Omega, and you don't even realize it! You ask why I had to eliminate Serenity? Because of her influence over you!"
"A pack's Alpha must be the strongest and most ruthless. He cannot have any weaknesses—especially not a mate of low birth and weak abilities becoming his vulnerability!"
"Even setting aside that Serenity might be the traitor who sold out the pack, even if she weren't, I would never allow her to stay by your side!"
Serenity was my weakness? Hearing this felt laughable, yet I couldn't laugh.
Fenrir whispered inside me that Alfred was right. I did care about Serenity.
No matter how many times I said I wanted to divorce her, I still wanted her alive. I didn't want her to actually die.
In that moment, I felt like a child suddenly jolted awake from a dream, confronting an icy reality. I couldn't bear the consequences of losing her!
Just imagining the possibility made Fenrir howl in agony inside me.
I had thought I didn't love Serenity. I had denied my true feelings countless times… I had assumed she would always be by my side. But I was wrong!
Completely wrong!
As long as she was alive somewhere in this world, even if not beside me, I could always find her, see her face.
But if…if she left this world, where would I go to see her?
In that moment, my heart ached beyond measure. Faced with Serenity's life or death, things like deception and betrayal no longer mattered. I just didn't want to lose her. I didn't want her to vanish from this world forever! The pathetic thing was, only on the eve of losing her completely did I finally wake up and understand this!
I was such a fool.
"Tell me where the sanatorium is." My voice was terrifyingly low.
I couldn't breathe. My heart hurt so much I wanted to pass out. But I couldn't collapse here. Because it wasn't over yet. I still had a chance to find her and save her!
Annoyed, Alfred pulled out a business card and tossed it onto the table.
"The address is on there. Go find her yourself. But don't waste your effort.
Even now, all you'll probably find is a corpse —" I couldn't listen anymore. I swung my fist and slammed it into his face.
Alfred fell backward, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth. He stared at me in disbelief. "You actually hit me? Elias, get back here!"
I ignored his shouting. I grabbed the card, turned, and stormed out of the room.
Liv was standing outside the door, her ear pressed against it. When I opened it, I knocked right into her. She let out a pained cry.
"Elias, where are you going? The gala isn't over yet! What about our dance?
Elias —" Her voice faded behind me.
Alfred, Liv, the startled guests. None of them mattered. I ran out of the venue with only one thought in my mind.
Serenity, wait for me.
Please, wait for me.
Following the address on Alfred's card, I led a team and stormed into the sanatorium hidden deep in the mountains.
The gates were locked. I kicked them open with one blow. Metal screeched and snapped as the entire gate crashed to the ground.
"Get in there and search!" I shouted harshly.
The drive from the gala normally took two hours. Tonight, I made it in forty minutes. The speed had left Herman pale. He had probably never seen me this way.
No one hesitated. Herman immediately led everyone into the sanatorium, and they tore through every room.
"Report—nothing on the first floor!"
"Report—the second floor clear!"
"Keep searching! We must find the Luna!" Herman didn't dare look at my face. He just barked orders at the searching warriors.
"Alpha! Come look at this!"
In the end, it was Charles, the family physician who knew hospitals best, who found the room that had been used as a birthing suite.
My heart pounded wildly. The moment I approached the operating room, I caught the scent of Serenity's blood. Even mixed with the sharp smell of disinfectant, I could identify it clearly. She had been here!
But what I found inside was devastating.
Blood was everywhere.
Not just on the operating table. The floor was covered in massive pools of it. The stark red was so shocking that I immediately shouted, "Charles!"
The doctor quickly examined the room. His expression grew more grave and more fearful by the second.
"Alpha…" His voice trembled. I ordered him to tell me the truth!
"With this much blood loss, the mother's survival would be… unlikely," Charles answered woodenly. "Whoever delivered the baby clearly never intended to keep her alive. There's no emergency equipment for maternal complications. No blood supplies. No medication."
"Shut up!" I'd ordered him to speak, but now I didn't want to hear it.
I was afraid. Afraid to hear that terrible news. I'd rather deceive myself—as long as I didn't hear it, she might still have a chance to survive!
My voice trembled with fear. "Serenity can't be dead!"
I looked down. The trail of blood on the floor led out the door. That meant Serenity had escaped this operating room.
I followed the blood trail with my men. The bloody marks varied in intensity. Sometimes I could even see bloody handprints on the white walls.
My eyes burned as I imagined her dragging her bleeding body down this dark, cold hallway—she was so afraid of the dark and of enclosed spaces.
We reached the back door of the building. Beyond it lay dense, layered forest that slowed our tracking. I sent the warriors to fan out while I followed Serenity's lingering scent myself.
The farther I went, the more uneasy I became.
Fenrir began tearing at his own flesh in agony, unwilling to face the nightmare that was becoming clearer by the second.
But in the end, I still had to confront reality — "Alpha!" Herman found traces of Serenity up ahead and called me over.
I pressed down on my racing heart and rushed toward him. Then I froze in place.
I saw a steep cliff. Below it, a rushing river.
Under the moonlight, white rapids churned and roared like countless hungry mouths. And her trail ended right here.
"The Luna's blood stops here. She likely fell," Herman hesitated as he reported his findings. "From this height, combined with her condition…" Was it already too late?
All strength drained from my limbs. Herman's voice faded away. Reality seemed to drift far from me. My mind filled with only one thought: Serenity was down there! She was in that river!
"I'm going down to find her," I said and surged forward.
Herman and the others were horrified. They immediately blocked me. "You can't, Alpha! The current is too strong. You won't find the Luna in conditions like these!"
"Let me go!" I roared, no longer able to recognize who was standing in my way. My eyes had gone red. All I wanted was to break through their barrier.
"I have to find her now! She must still be alive! Yes, just like Liv —" If Liv could survive, so could Serenity?
No. My heart told me firmly that she could! If miracles existed in this world, then one had to happen for my mate. In that moment, my heart betrayed my oath to my savior. I even wished I could trade Liv's miracle for Serenity's survival!
None of the warriors could withstand my attacks. Only Herman could just barely hold me off.
In desperation, he stopped hesitating and shouted louder. "Going down there won't help! The Luna can't be alive anymore. The pack can't lose you too —" Herman threw himself at me again, reckless and determined. "There are no signs of struggle anywhere along the cliff edge. You know what that means!"
My violent movements stopped abruptly. Like a punctured balloon, all my strength vanished in an instant.
My body began to tremble. I clutched my head in my hands and collapsed to my knees.
Yes, of course I knew what it meant. Serenity had jumped on her own.
She'd told me so many times that she wanted freedom, and I'd never once taken it to heart.
Now she had taken it.
Serenity had left me forever.
She was dead.