Chapter 231: Chapter 231 Weight of Sorrow
Phoebe’s POV
Pain.
That was my first conscious thought as awareness clawed its way back to me. Not the sharp, clean pain of a wound that could be bandaged and healed, but something deeper. Something that felt like my very soul had been hollowed out with rusty claws.
I stirred awake to find Alpha Wallace perched in the chair beside me, his weathered face etched with concern. The moment my eyes fluttered open, he was on his feet.
"My queen." His voice carried that familiar gentleness, but I caught the tremor underneath. "Thank the goddess you’re awake."
The unfamiliar room swam into focus around me. Clean white walls. The scent of medicinal herbs. Sunlight filtering through gauze curtains. Nothing about this place belonged to me, yet somehow I knew I was safe.
Alpha Wallace’s face seemed recognizable, but my memories felt fractured, like trying to piece together a shattered mirror while wearing gloves.
Then it hit me.
The cramping. The blood. The desperate flight through the forest with Wade carrying me as my body betrayed everything I’d tried so hard to protect.
My baby.
My hand moved instinctively to my stomach, and the flatness I found there confirmed what my heart already knew. The child I’d fought so hard to keep, the life I’d risked everything for—gone.
"My queen, please don’t—" Alpha Wallace moved toward me as I tried to push myself upright, but the room tilted dangerously.
I gripped the sheets, waiting for the world to stop spinning. When I could finally focus on his face, I saw something there that made my chest tighten with dread.
He was struggling with words he didn’t want to say.
But I already knew what he couldn’t bring himself to tell me. My body had already whispered the truth in a language of emptiness and ache.
"Wade and Marcela," I managed to whisper, my voice barely audible. "Are they—?"
"Alive." Alpha Wallace’s relief at having good news to share was palpable. "Both stable. Wade took significant damage, but he’s strong. He’ll recover completely. Marcela... she’s tougher than she looks. They’re both going to make it."
The knot in my chest loosened fractionally. At least I hadn’t lost everyone.
I tried to swing my legs over the bed’s edge, desperate to see them, to confirm with my own eyes that they’d survived my failures.
Alpha Wallace’s gentle but firm pressure guided me back down.
"Not yet, my queen. The healer says you need at least another day before you can walk safely." His expression darkened. "I need to apologize. We should have been faster. If we’d reached you even minutes earlier, maybe—"
I shook my head, cutting off his words. Alpha Wallace bore no responsibility for this tragedy. If anything, his warriors had saved what remained of my shattered world.
"Tell me what happened," I said, my voice gaining strength. "Everything."
Alpha Wallace settled back into his chair, his hands clasped tightly. "We arrived just as Wade was facing three enemies alone. He’d already killed one, but the odds..." He paused, his jaw clenching. "That boy fought like a demon. Single-handedly kept them from reaching you and Marcela while she tried to shield you."
The image formed in my mind—Wade, barely more than a boy despite his warrior’s training, standing against impossible odds to protect his unconscious queen.
"Marcela took a blade meant for you. Nearly lost her leg in the process, but she never let them get close." Alpha Wallace’s voice carried deep respect. "By the time we arrived, the forest was littered with bodies. Wild wolves, enemy shifters, and..."
His words trailed off, but I heard what he couldn’t say.
"Justin and Orion." The names felt like stones in my throat.
"They died as warriors should," Alpha Wallace said quietly. "They took ten enemies with them before falling. Ten, my queen. Their sacrifice bought the time that saved your life."
The words should have been comforting. Instead, they felt like accusations.
"I want to see them."
"My queen, I don’t think—"
"I want to see them." My voice carried the authority I’d almost forgotten I possessed. Even broken, even hollow, I was still their queen. "They died protecting me. I will honor them properly."
Alpha Wallace’s expression grew pained. "Their bodies... the enemies were particularly brutal. What’s left isn’t fit for viewing, especially not by—"
"By their queen?" I met his gaze steadily. "They deserve better than to be hidden away like a shameful secret."
After a long moment, he nodded. "Very well. But not today. You need to heal first."
Alpha Wallace rose to leave, then paused at the doorway. "There’s something else you should know. We captured most of the attackers, but three escaped into the deep forest. They know these territories well."
Ice formed in my veins. "They’re still out there."
"My warriors are hunting them, but..." He met my eyes grimly. "They’ll try again, my queen. This wasn’t random. Someone sent them specifically for you."
After he left, I collapsed back against the pillows, my arms wrapping around the emptiness where my child should have been growing.
The loss felt like a physical wound, raw and gaping. But underneath the grief, something else began to stir.
Rage.
Pure, crystalline fury at whoever had orchestrated this attack. At the enemies who’d stolen my baby’s life before it had truly begun. At the cowards who’d forced brave warriors to die in my defense.
In my dreams that night, the white wolf appeared again. But this time, her eyes weren’t filled with sorrow. They burned with the same cold fire I felt building in my chest.
The following days passed in a haze of healing and rage. Alpha Wallace visited regularly, updating me on the search for the escaped enemies and other matters.
"Perry’s forces have secured the Valerium Kingdom," he reported on the third day. "Complete victory. The king will return in two days."
I nodded, though something had changed in me during these days of recovery. The grief remained, but it had transformed into something sharper.
Something dangerous.
When I was finally permitted to leave the bed, I went straight to Wade. The young warrior remained unconscious, his body still mending from the impossible battle he’d fought.
Looking at his bandaged form, I felt the weight of responsibility settle on my shoulders like a mantle of lead.
"He’s going to be fine," the healer assured me. "Strong as an ox, that one. He’ll be back on his feet within the week."
But as I stood there watching Wade’s steady breathing, all I could think about were the warriors who would never breathe again.
Justin and Orion were dead.
They’d died because someone had decided my unborn child and I needed to be eliminated.
They’d died because I’d been too weak to protect myself.
They’d died because I’d made choices that put them in harm’s way.
But as I stood there, something crystallized in my mind with perfect clarity.
They’d died as my protectors.
Now it was time for me to become something else entirely.
It was time for their deaths to mean something.
