Chapter 94: Theodore is injured
(Eleonora’s POV)
A mechanical voice crackled through the phone: “Tomorrow at noon, Drake’s Hollow, five million in cash.”
Theodore’s voice was raw with emotion. “Let me see her. I need to confirm she’s still alive.”
But the line went dead.
I watched my son clutch the phone with trembling hands. His eyes held a desperate gleam that terrified me more than any enemy we’d ever faced.
“Theodore, don’t go yourself,” I pleaded, stepping closer. “If it were a real k********g, they would have demanded a ransom long ago. This call is highly suspicious.”
He wasn’t listening. His gaze was fixed on some distant point, lost in his obsession.
“Call the pack enforcers,” I continued urgently. “Let them handle this. You’re walking into a trap.”
Theodore finally looked at me, but his eyes were hollow. “I don’t care if it’s a trap. If there’s even the smallest chance she’s
there…”
“Theodore, please-”
“Prepare a helicopter,” he barked at The Alpha’s Sentinels. “And get the money. Five million in cash.”
The sentinels exchanged worried glances but obeyed immediately.
I grabbed his arm. “This isn’t the calculating Alpha who handled Alaric’s k********g attempt. You’re not thinking clearly.”
He shook me off with surprising gentleness. “Mother, I have to try. I can’t live without her.”
The helicopter’s rotors began spinning outside. Theodore walked toward the door without looking back.
This wasn’t my son anymore. This was a man on the verge of complete collapse, driven by desperate love and crushing
guilt.
As the helicopter lifted off, I made a difficult decision. I pulled out my phone with shaking fingers.
“The people you found for me last time,” I said, my voice firm despite my fear. “Arrange for all of them to come. I need to pick the one who looks the most like her.”
(Theodore’s POV)
The designated location was an abandoned warehouse by a river in Drake’s Hollow. The desolate spot offered no cover,
leaving me dangerously exposed.
My sentinel captain stepped forward. “Alpha, let me go in your place. This feels wrong.”
I clutched the case of money tighter. “No. If she’s in there, she needs to see me.”
The warehouse loomed before us, its broken windows like dead eyes. I walked inside alone, my footsteps echoing in the
empty space.
Two masked rogues emerged from the shadows. Their scents were unfamiliar, but their postures screamed danger.
“Where is my mate?” I demanded.
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Chapter 94: Theodore is injured
They pointed to a small room at the back of the warehouse. Through its grimy window, I could see the river flowing below.
I walked to the window and held the case out over the water. “I want to see her safe and sound, or you won’t get a single
cent.”
The rogues tensed, but before they could respond, a voice called out from the room.
“Theodore, I’m here.”
My heart stopped. That voice–it was unmistakably Olivia’s.
Without thinking, I dropped the case into the river. “Go fetch it yourselves.”
The rogues scrambled out the window and into the water below. I rushed toward the room, my pulse thundering in my
ears.
Hope bloomed in my chest for the first time in months. She was here. She was alive.
But the room was empty of Olivia.
Instead, a frail old she–wolf was tied to a chair. On another chair sat a single white lily–Olivia’s favorite flower.
“Help me…” the old woman cried, her voice weak and trembling. “The young she–wolf just escaped. I can lead you to her.”
My hands moved to untie her bonds without hesitation. Any lead to Olivia was worth pursuing.
In that instant, the old woman’s supposedly bound hand flashed free. A silver dagger plunged deep into my stomach.
Pain exploded through my body as blood sprayed across the room. She pulled the blade out and lunged again.
“Old wolf, I’ve avenged you!” she screamed.
I caught her wrist, the brutal truth crashing down on me. This was a trap. There was no Olivia.
“Where is my mate?” I choked out, blood filling my mouth.
The old woman cackled with pure hatred. “I don’t know where she is, but I know where you’re going! The moon goddess’s
judgment!”
Her face twisted with rage. “You sent my grandson to the Warden’s Post and caused my old mate to die of a broken heart,
so you can join him!”
Elder Corbin Drake’s mate. The pieces fell into place as she lunged again.
I crushed her hand with immense Alpha strength. The silver dagger clattered to the floor, and she collapsed unconscious.
Staggering out of the room, I clutched my bleeding abdomen. The silver burned through my flesh like liquid fire.
My sentinels had subdued the two rogues. Hope had curdled into pure, unadulterated rage.
I dragged one of the rogues up and unleashed all my pent–up agony. My fists became a bloody blur as I roared, “You lied
to me!”
I knew the voice was a recording–I’d recognized background noise from Isadora’s mating ceremony. But I had desperately wanted to believe it.
The rogue, terrified, screamed the motive. “The Drake family of Drake’s Hollow! You ruined us because of Alaric’s affair! He just made a small mistake that all Alphas in the world make!”
The words struck me like a physical blow.
“You cheated yourself,” the rogue continued hysterically. “What right do you have to do this to us!”
My foot came down, breaking his hand. The rogue shrieked in pain.
“You lunatic! No wonder your mate left you! You deserve it!”
The final words shattered me. All strength drained from my body.
I collapsed into a pool of my own blood, my vacant eyes seeing only Olivia’s pure, beautiful face before everything faded.
The harsh lights of the pack infirmary swam above me. I was shivering, an intense cold seeping into my bones.
The silver poisoning from the dagger made my healing slower than usual. Every breath was agony.
As the moonlight herb–based anesthesia began to pull me under, my blurry vision focused on a face that was almost, but
not quite, real.
A she–wolf with Olivia’s voice and gentle features leaned close. “Theodore, let me take care of you from now on.”
In my delirium, my hand shot out, grabbing her wrist and pulling her into a desperate embrace.
(Eleonora’s POV)
Outside the window, I sighed in relief, turning to Caleb. “Thanks to you; for finding a she–wolf who looks so much like
Olivia.”
My words had barely settled in the air when a piercing scream erupted from within the infirmary room.
