Chapter 6
1034 Words
Chapter 6
Xenois
The night air is a bit chilly as I drive home, a small wrapped gift on the passenger seat beside me.
It's late—nearly midnight—but I've finally fulfilled my obligations at the hospital and at Riley's party.
Now, I can finally head home and see Ollie. I'll apologize for missing his birthday party, give him the action figure I picked up, and promise to take him fishing this weekend.
Lumina will be angry, but she'll get over it. She always does when it comes to this. For the sake of our son.
I checked my phone and was a bit confused about seeing no new messages from Lumina.
My phone has been strangely silent for hours. Usually, Lumina would have called or texted multiple times by now, letting me know exactly how much I'd disappointed her and Ollie.
Perhaps she's finally accepting that, as Alpha, I have responsibilities that go beyond our immediate family and I can't always be there to look after them no matter how much she wants me to.
The pack house is dark when I arrive, which is odd. Normally, Lumina leaves lights on for me. I shrugged it off properly thinking she forgot after putting Ollie to bed and going to bed early. I'll probably make it up to her tomorrow with something. Take a day off and spend it with them.
Ollie would agree to it and forgive me and Lumina would definitely come around as well.
I entered quietly, setting down my keys and the small gift on the table as I looked around and noticed that all lights inside were off and there was no sound of anything being done or moving around.
There's some sort of heaviness in the air, like something is wrong that my wolf immediately senses, but I can't quite place it.
The bond between my mate and I was dull and I could not get a reading off it, but then again it had been muted for a long time on both sides as we closed it off to avoid distractions.
"Lumina?" I called out, switching on lights as I moved through the house, getting more agitated as I searched everywhere for any sign of them. "Ollie?"
No answer. Nobody answered back at all.
I checked Ollie's room first—empty, the bed was still made and it didn't look like he had slept in it this morning.
I also checked that Lumina's study is also empty. I checked the gardens and it was quiet as well.
Frowning at this finally, I push open the door to our bedroom and find her sitting on the edge of our bed, still wearing the clothes she had that morning.
Her face was blank, her eyes were vacant as she seemed to be staring at nothing in particular and her hands were limp in her lap.
"Where's Ollie?" I ask, feeling fear go up my spine.
She doesn't move, doesn't blink or register that someone is talking to her at all.
Just stare straight ahead as if I'm not there.
"Lumina," I said more forcefully, my alpha tone slipping in as I stepped fully into the room. "Where is our son?"
Finally, she looks at me, and the emptiness in her eyes makes me take a step back in shock as I had never seen that look in her eyes.
It's filled with venom, hatred and loathing just fixed for me. She glared at me like I was trash in her eyes.
I opened my mouth to spew out excuses from my mouth, trying to give her excuses for why I didn't come back early when she interrupted.
"He's gone," she whispered, her voice so low that I was barely able to hear it.
"Gone? What do you mean, gone? "Where did you take him?" My fear turned to anger as I thought of different scenarios.
Has she left me? Taken my heir and hidden somewhere? Was this some kind of joke trying to take my son away from me because I missed a stupid birthday party?
"WHERE THE HELL DID YOU TAKE HIM TO? BRING HIM BACK NOW " I yelled as she looked at me calmly. Not bothered about my tone, as she replied
"He's dead, Xenois."
The words hit me like a physical blow, driving the air from my lungs as I staggered backwards.
I searched her eyes willing for this to be some sort of joke, but some part of me knew it was true. She wouldn't lie about this, but I was stuck in denial.
"What? That's impossible. "He was fine this morning," I said, shaking my head trying to cling onto something.
"This morning," Lumina repeats, her voice hollow as she laughs. Her laugh seemed to be haunting me as she stopped and stared at me.
Her fists were clenched by her sides as she looked at me.
"When was the last time you actually saw him? When was the last time you spent more than five minutes with your son?"
I staggered again, my mind racing, trying to remember.
Last week? Two weeks ago? "What happened?" I demanded, my voice breaking.
"We saw you," she said, rising slowly from bed.
"In town. On the big screen. Celebrating Riley's birthday on Ollie's birthday."
"There was an accident. I was hurt by a car, but I pushed him out of the way. Later he collapsed right there in the square. His heart stopped in the ambulance."
"No," I shook my head, refusing to believe this.
"No, that can't be right. Where is he? "Where have they taken him?" I'm already turning, ready to tear the town apart to find my son.
"The morgue," Luna said, and the word stops me cold. "While you were out celebrating Riley's birthday with your other family, I was identifying our son's body."
My knees gave out, and I sank to the floor, despair pouring out from me.
"Why didn't you call me? Why didn't anyone tell me?"
"I called you seventeen times," Lumina says, her voice rising for the first time.
"I left messages. I sent the Beta to find you. You were unreachable. Too busy celebrating."
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