The True Alpha of Lupine (Seraphina and Ronan) novel Chapter 267

THIRD–PERSON POINT OF VIEW

Chapter 267 Trapped

“Trapped HOW?!” Alpha Gideon’s voice shattered the tense silence, his eyes blazing with fury. Now, everyone in the clearing could feel it, the danger thick in the air like a storm waiting to break.

Aran wiped the blood from his lips, his voice steady despite the pain. “That’s a question for the one who let evil set a trap in the territory,” his eyes lifted, locking onto Alpha Hugo.

Every gaze in the clearing shifted to Alpha Hugo, but it was Gideon’s fury that flared first. “Nonsense!” he snarled. “Hugo would never do that!”

Aran rose, his movements slow and deliberate. He drew a blade from his side and, without hesitation, cut into the palm of Hugo’s hand. “When you come in contact with pure evil, your blood turns black,” he explained, the dark stain spreading across Hugo’s palm.

Gideon froze, disbelief washing over him, but Hugo remained eerily silent. His refusal to defend himself only fueled the anger of the others. Alpha Darious, seething with fury, stepped forward.

“Why the hell did you do this, Alpha Hugo?!” he demanded, his voice low.

Hugo’s voice was barely a whisper as he answered. “To save everyone from the Alpha King’s wrath.”

A confused murmur rippled through the crowd. “What?” Darious‘ voice was harsh, demanding clarity.

“The Alpha King promised to spare the Academy, our pack, and our families if we sprinkled the ashes on the borders,” Hugo continued, his voice tight with the weight of his actions. “I -I just followed his orders.”

Gideon’s growl was guttural, filled with an anger that was nearly primal. “But I was supposed to do that, Hugo!” His eyes flashed with betrayal. “I clearly said we wouldn’t do it! That it was wrong, and yet you–why the fuck did you follow those orders?”

Hugo’s expression twisted with frustration, guilt, and something else, something deeper. “To save everyone, Gideon!” he shouted back, his voice raw. “I’m single. I have no family. But you do! You have a mate, a daughter, a pack. The people in the Academy, the healers, guards, everyone, they all have families! They have people to protect! It was okay for me to take the risk. I was willing to die if something went wrong. But you–you have too much to lose! I didn’t know the ash would trap us all here! I didn’t know!”

He was shaking now, his breathing ragged, but his words hung in the air like an accusation.

The clearing fell into a heavy silence, the tension that had been mounting finally hit its peak. A sense of dread crept over them all as a strange mist began seeping from the trees. The sky above them darkened, the clouds crackling with something ominous.

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Chapter 267 Trapped

Everyone held their breath as the mist thickened, and then just as the atmosphere reached a breaking point the clouds above burst open, releasing the rain

FINN

The moment the link between Austin and me snapped, I knew he was dead.

I froze mid–step, but my wolf went feral, claws scraping inside my skull. Rage drowned out every sound. Leaving the carnage behind, I stormed up the stairs two steps at a time, flames flickering at my fingertips.

I kicked open the office door.

Father sat behind his desk with a cigar, as calm as ever. His Beta stood beside him.

Not for long.

I grabbed the Beta by the throat and he ignited at my touch, skin blistering, bones cracking as fire consumed him. His screams tore through the office before dying in seconds, and I hurled his burning corpse out the window. Glass shattered. The scent of charred flesh filled the room.

“What the fuck did you just do?” Father growled.

“My Beta’s death,” I snarled, stepping in front of his desk, “Paid for by yours. You stalled enough time and to pay the price of that tell me everything if you want your pack and people alive and safe,”

He exhaled smoke slowly, eyes colder than the steel in his drawer. “I know why you’re here. But it’s too late. Alpha King Charles might already be dead.”

“It’s never too late until I think so. Moreover, the death of that cowardly King is not my concern,” My voice dropped. “I’m here for the truth, the Blood Petal. I know Seraphina is the Blood Petal, but it wasn’t her who destroyed those she–wolves. If it were, people wouldn’t be obsessed over her, they would avoid her. Something else surrounds her. Something worse. Tell me what it is.”

Father leaned back, studying me. Then he said, “It was the curse surrounding the white flower that touched those she–wolves‘ bellies that ruined them.”

“What kind of curse?”

His expression darkened. “Did you ever wonder why those she–wolves went mad? Why did some die? Why did some simply disappear?” He tapped ash into a tray. “Was it truly just to find the fetus hosting the Blood Petal? Or…did they need the energy of those pregnant she–wolves for something else?”

I froze, “I’ve heard of a ritual…where they store the energy and aura of pregnant women to

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create another pregnant woman‘

Chapter 26,7 Trappert

“A living womb,” he confirmed and pushed a book toward me. “That curse drained those she wolves of sanity, energy, and soul. It hollowed them out.”

I flipped through the pages, as drawings of symbols and mutilated wombs filled my vision

“What was all this for?” I asked, my voice rough.

“I don’t know.” He lit his cigar again. “The Alpha King executed the ritual from the shadows. He pretended he only wanted the Blood Petal. But I discovered their secret the day your mother was put into the ritual. It was never just about Seraphina. The curse was what drove those she wolves mad, missing, or killed them.”

My mind spun. While the Blood Petal was hunted…another womb was being created.

Another vessel.

For another purpose.

And whatever it was, every instinct in me whispered the same thing:

Seraphina was never the end of the ritual.

She was the beginning.

“Why has the Alpha King been looking for the Blood Petal?” I asked, my voice sharp with the weight of the question.

Father went silent for a few moments before responding. “I only know that he has been protecting it while searching for someone else.”

“Someone else? Who?”

“Someone he was secretly worshipping,” he replied, his eyes cold and distant. “The King was never right in the head. That’s why we, the Council, took over the important matters in the realm. His mind was consumed with finding the Blood Petal.”

“And he wanted to find her before she turned twenty–one,” I said, the pieces clicking into place. “Because something would happen when she did, right?”

He nodded solemnly. “The Alpha King never revealed his full plan, but he seemed to have told Milton, reluctantly, about it. He asked him to awaken the Blood Petal within Seraphina, to protect her from Alpha Asher’s obsession with killing her. He knew she had to be strong enough to defend herself from someone who controlled the curses. But the King’s plan fell apart when Seraphina awakened before her twenty–first birthday.”

He paused, his gaze unwavering. “But it seems the King always had a backup plan. He died

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