Chapter 177
177
Adelaide’s POV
My wolf let out a mournful howl in my mind, its low growl shaking the candlestick into a shower of sparks.
The image of Cedric nailed to the moon altar exploded in my mind.
I remembered how he used to grab my wrist as a child. ‘
The scenes shifted in my memory, and suddenly I saw Mallory holding his shattered skull.
My hardened nails dug fiercely into my palm.
My wolf eyes contracted into vertical slits in the darkness, and my moon goddess necklace suddenly grew
hot.
“Cedric is dead,” I growled, my voice laced with a wolf’s howl, my cedar pheromones tinged with the stench of blood.
Tommy’s wolf hair on his neck bristled under the aura.
The cruel images flashed through my mind, the pain making it hard to breathe.
I didn’t want to believe this false hope…
But I immediately had my horse brought out. The road to Redwood City was too rugged for a car. I had to ride.
I had to leave for Redwood City at once.
As I took the bundle from Beata, I could feel her ears trembling violently.
Her neck mark oozed faint comforting pheromones, but she shuddered uncontrollably.
All the wolves staying at the Frostfang Pack gripped their claws tightly around the pine table.
The bloody smell of the massacre had long faded, but the sulfur bite marks on the back of every corpse’s neck still lingered in memory.
When we counted the bodies back then, no one was missing, especially among the children.
I said I didn’t believe it, but a spark of hope ignited in my heart.
I shook the dew off my fur cloak, my fingers absentmindedly caressing the moon goddess necklace at my collarbone. The moonstone glowed coolly with each heartbeat.
But then I remembered that scene. Besides the skull, there was the bloodstained clothing on the corpse–1 recognized it as Cedric’s.
I had made those clothes for him when I returned to the Frostfang Pack, preparing new outfits for all my/3
177
+20 Free Coins
nieces and nephews.
When I took the bundle, I wasn’t fully awake. I just muttered, “Beata, I’m just going to check. I know it can’t be him. I wasn’t holding out hope. But… bring me Cedric’s favorite sling. The one I made for him, with his name carved on it and the wooden fork painted…”
“Got it, right away!” Beata rushed off, tripped on the stone steps, but ignored the pain and limped on.
“It can’t be Cedric,” I whispered to myself, my voice trailing off into a wolfish howl.
Before long, she brought me the sling.
I traced the name “Cedric” engraved on it. As my fingertips touched the rough wooden handle, my wolf suddenly wailed in my mind.
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The pine sling still bore bite marks from a pup, and each carved letter held cedar pheromones from that
year.
After a long while, I looked up to see blood seeping from Beata’s knee.
“Beata, your knee…” I pressed on her bleeding wound.
“An Alpha’s order is an omega’s duty,” she insisted, shaking her head defiantly. Her temporary neck mark suddenly glowed faintly.
I glanced at Valentine, Ivy, and Jessica–their eyes glistened with tears and cautious hope.
No one dared to hope too much, fearing another letdown.
As I left, Ivy called out, “Wait!”
She ripped open her wolf leather pouch, wrapped a piece of apple pie in oil paper, and hurried over. “If that child is Cedric… well, have something to eat on the road.”
As the Frostfang Pack’s best baker, she always mixed herbs into her pies, claiming they sped up healing for injured wolves.
Her voice caught, her wolf ears drooping, “Tell him the Frostfang Pack has plenty of candied fruits.”
I knew what she meant–if it really was Cedric, give him the pie.
I packed the pie into my bundle and led my horse out.
As I mounted, I looked back–everyone stood at the pack’s border.
Tears finally streamed down my face.
With a sting of emotion, I raised my whip, dug my heels into the horse, and it neighed, galloping wildly
away .
My horse could cover a thousand miles in a day, but that required full exertion.
2/3
the third day, and back to five hundred on the fourth–so five or six days to Redwood City.
But the horse would be utterly exhausted, needing several days of rest upon arrival.
The cool August weather was perfect for traveling.
Anxious and impatient, I wished I could fly to Redwood City, to Lance’s side, to see that child…
If Cedric was alive, he’d be nearly seven now.
Unconsciously, it’s been almost two years since the Frostfang Massacre.
My wolf nuzzled my spine in the depths of my mind, its pheromones like silk wrapping around my trembling nerves, “Maybe it really is your brother’s pup.”
“Don’t lie to me,” I tightened my grip on the wolf–head carved saddle, my knuckles whitening.
The horse suddenly sped up, its hooves shattering the water’s surface. In the crisp sound of its gallop, I heard my heartbeat pounding against my ribs.
I kept telling myself, “don’t think too much, just take a walk, don’t hold any hope.”
I couldn’t bear another disappointment.
“What if it’s another false hope…” My voice shattered in my throat, but my wolf suddenly roared deafeningly.
Its silver image appeared in my mind, its fur still damp with water mist. “So what if you’re disappointed again? Frostfang wolves aren’t tripped by the same scar twice.”
Five days later, just past noon, I finally arrived in Redwood City.