Alpha’s Regret After Putting Me In Jail novel Chapter 232

Chapter 232: A Daughter Lost, A Mother Gone

Chapter 232: A Daughter Lost, A Mother Gone

(Celeste’s POV)

“Grandmother!” I cried out, my voice breaking as I rushed to Eleanor’s bedside.

“Mother!” Alpha James’s voice joined mine, equally panicked.

I grabbed her cold hand, pressing it against my tear–streaked face. The warmth that had been

there just moments ago was rapidly fading.

“Grandmother, please wake up,” I begged, my silver–scarred wolf whimpering within me.

“Please don’t leave me.”

She looked peaceful, almost serene with that faint smile on her lips. But she wasn’t

responding. Not to my touch, not to my voice, not to my tears falling on her weathered hand.

“Get Dr. Pierce immediately!” I shouted at the beta wolf standing frozen by the door.

The wolf snapped out of her shock and bolted from the room. Alpha James stood on the other

side of the bed, his face ashen, his golden eyes wide with disbelief.

“Mother,” he whispered, reaching for her other hand. “Mother, open your eyes.”

I couldn’t stop the tears streaming down my face. My silver–scarred wolf howled within me,

sensing what my heart refused to accept.

“She was just talking to us,” I said, my voice barely audible. “She was fine. She was smiling…”

The door burst open as Dr. Pierce rushed in, his medical bag clutched tightly in his hand.

Without a word, he moved to Eleanor’s side, gently nudging me aside.

I watched, holding my breath, as he checked her pulse, leaning close to listen for breathing

with his sensitive wolf hearing. Each second felt like an eternity.

Finally, he straightened, his face grave. “I’m sorry. Former Luna Eleanor has passed.”

“No!” Alpha James’s voice boomed through the room. “That’s impossible! She was speaking

with us just moments ago!”

His wolf howled inside him. I could sense it, could almost see the golden wolf raging against

the confines of his human form.

“She can’t be gone,” I echoed, clutching Eleanor’s hand tighter. “You said she had days left. You

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< Chapter 232: A Daughter Lost…

said ten days!”

Dr. Pierce’s expression softened with compassion. “Sometimes, with wolves of strong bloodlines, there’s a final surge of energy before the end. It’s called a ‘return to light‘ – the

flame burns brightest just before it’s extinguished.”

His words pierced through me like silver daggers. I collapsed against the bed, my body

wracked with sobs.

+8 Points >

“No, no, no,” I repeated, as if denial could somehow bring her back. “Grandmother, please…”

Sarah Miller stood at the foot of the bed, tears flowing freely down her weathered face. Her

silver–gray wolf keened with grief, the sound almost audible beneath her human skin.

“She wanted to see you free,” Sarah said, her voice breaking. “That’s why she spent her last

energy on the severance ritual. She couldn’t bear to leave this world without securing your

freedom.”

Her words only intensified my grief. The realization that my grandmother’s final act had been

for me, that her last struggles had been to ensure my well–being, crushed me under its weight.

“I didn’t want this,” I sobbed, laying my head against Eleanor’s still chest. “Not at this price.

Never at this price.”

Alpha James stood immobile, as if the life had drained from him as well. The dominant wolf

aura that typically surrounded him had vanished, swallowed by grief.

“Alpha,” Dr. Pierce said gently, “let me prepare a calming tincture for you.”

Alpha James shook his head. “No.”

The word was hollow, empty. He turned mechanically toward the door, his steps slow and

heavy.

။

“James,” Sarah called after him, but he didn’t respond.

I couldn’t look up from my grandmother’s peaceful face. I couldn’t stop crying, couldn’t stop my silver–scarred wolf from howling within me.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered to her. “I’m so sorry I brought you pain. I’m sorry I couldn’t save you.”

My tears fell on her face, but she didn’t stir. She would never stir again.

(Alpha James’s POV)

A crowd had gathered outside Mother’s quarters. Lucas and Victoria stood at the front, their faces anxious. Beta wolves, servants, and pack members filled the corridor, all waiting for

< Chapter 232: A Daughter Lost…

news.

+8 Points>

“Mother has passed,” I said, the words barely audible.

Yet they were heard. A wave of mournful howls and cries erupted from the assembled wolves.

Victoria collapsed against Lucas, her sobs echoing through the corridor.

I looked up at the night sky through a nearby window. It was clouded, starless, as if the moon

herself mourned my mother’s passing. A cold realization washed over me like a silver chain – I no longer had a mother.

–

My feet carried me forward, away from the cries and the grief, through the pack house and out

onto the grounds. I stumbled once, my legs suddenly weak.

A beta wolf rushed to help me. “Alpha, please let me assist you.”

“Leave me,” I ordered, my voice harsher than intended.

I glanced down at my right hand, still stinging from the three forceful slaps during the pack severance ritual with Celeste. How eagerly she had participated in breaking the bonds that

had tied us for fourteen years.

Not only had I lost my mother tonight, but I had also truly lost the daughter I had raised from infancy. The daughter who had once looked at me with adoration, who had called me “Father”

with love rather than cold formality.

The weight of this double loss pressed down on me, making each step harder than the last. My golden eyes reddened with unshed tears, but I refused to break in front of others. An Alpha must always maintain strength, even in grief.

I continued walking until the voices and cries faded behind me, until I reached the edge of our territory where darkness enveloped me like an old friend.

Only then did I allow myself to collapse. My legs gave way beneath me, and I sank to my knees on the forest floor. The grief I had been holding at bay erupted from me in choked sobs and howls that echoed through the woods.

“Mother,” I wept, all pretense gone. “Mother, forgive me.’

In the darkness, with no one to witness, I allowed myself to be not Alpha James of the Winter Pack, but simply a son who had lost his mother, a father who had lost his daughter. The pain

of it was almost unbearable.

My wolf howled within me, the sound escaping my human throat as a keening wail that rose

toward the cloud–covered moon.

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<Chapter 232: A Daughter Lost….

(Lucas’s POV)

+8 Points >

By dawn, news of Grandmother’s death had spread to our allied packs. Messengers had been dispatched throughout the night, carrying the somber news to those who needed to know.

The mourning hall of our pack house was draped in silver–white cloths, as tradition demanded. Mother and I knelt beside the ceremonial pyre where Grandmother’s body lay, prepared for the

final moon blessing that would occur at nightfall.

Mother hadn’t stopped crying since Father broke the news. Her usual composure had shattered completely, leaving her vulnerable and lost. I kept my arm around her shoulders, trying to offer what little comfort I could.

The door to the mourning hall opened, and Alexander Steele entered. His white wolf’s aura

was subdued out of respect, but his presence still commanded attention.

“My deepest condolences for your loss,” he said formally, bowing his head to Mother and then

to me. “Former Luna Eleanor was respected by all packs.”

Mother nodded, unable to speak through her tears. Alexander looked around the hall, his

ice–blue eyes searching for something or someone.

–

I knew immediately who he was looking for.

“Mother, I’ll be back shortly,” I murmured, gently disengaging myself from her.