Chapter 121: Chapter 121 Meeting With The Guest 5
His voice carried uncertainty, yet there was also desperation behind the suggestion. At this point, he was grasping at anything that might explain Nathan’s abnormal behavior.
After all, Nathan and Maddison had already been together for quite some time. Nearly everyone from both packs knew about their relationship, and Maddison herself had long been openly spreading the news that she was carrying Nathan’s pup in her belly.
Under normal circumstances, most people would naturally assume their bond had already deepened to the point where nothing could shake it.
By now, perhaps the only one truly unaware of everything happening around him was Nathan himself.
Ever since Ashley’s supposed death, Nathan had gradually locked himself away within his own world. Although he continued functioning as Alpha on the surface, everyone could tell something inside him had changed.
Truthfully, many people within the two allied packs had complicated feelings regarding Ashley’s death. While plenty had blindly followed public opinion and joined the attacks against her after her downfall, deep inside, her death still left an undeniable ripple in their hearts.
Most of them had grown up alongside Ashley. They had watched her work tirelessly for both the pack since they were young and admired her for years, whether they wanted to admit it or not.
And after she was gone, the effects became impossible to ignore.
The Black Mountain Pack’s company, which Ashley had once managed so flawlessly, quickly began falling into disorder. Although she had already prepared numerous long-term plans and systems before her death, there were still countless issues that required someone capable enough to execute them properly. Even when Blake and Brent stepped in to stabilize things, problems continued surfacing one after another.
The entire pack slowly descended into chaos.
Morale weakened. Internal conflicts increased. The atmosphere inside the territory became heavier day by day.
And perhaps the greatest proof of all was standing right before them now, their Alpha himself.
Yet no one wanted to openly acknowledge that truth.
Because if they did... then it would mean everyone had played a part in driving things to this point.
But perhaps the cruelest part of everything was that deep down, many of them actually felt guilty.
They simply refused to acknowledge it.
Because once they admitted that both Packs had fallen into such disarray partly because of their own actions, they would also have to face the fact that they had collectively pushed Ashley toward her downfall.
And people like them, who are prideful, selfish, and unwilling to shoulder blame, would rather twist the truth than confront their own conscience.
So instead of reflecting on themselves, they gradually shifted all the fault onto Ashley.
In their minds, if Ashley’s mother had never exchanged the babies at the hospital years ago, none of this would have happened in the first place. Ashley and Maddison would have grown up in the lives they truly belonged to, and there would have been no confusion, resentment, or tragedy.
Some of them even convinced themselves that if Maddison had been raised beside Alpha Derek from the beginning, she would have become just as capable and admired as Ashley, perhaps even better.
And because of those thoughts, their once genuine admiration for Ashley slowly transformed into bitterness, anger, and mockery.
The countless years Ashley spent working tirelessly for the pack were no longer remembered as sacrifices but were instead dismissed as obligations. In their eyes, everything she had done became something she should have done to repay the fact that she had unknowingly occupied someone else’s place all those years.
It no longer mattered that she had practically worked herself to exhaustion for the sake of the pack. It no longer mattered that she had carried responsibilities far beyond what someone her age should have endured. None of it was considered enough anymore.
Because only by convincing themselves of this twisted logic could they ease the guilt festering in their hearts.
And so the cycle continued.
The more guilty they felt, the more they vilified Ashley to justify their actions. The more they vilified her, the easier it became to ignore their own responsibility.
Until eventually, the girl they once admired and cherished became nothing more than a villain in their eyes.
"Grrrraawlll!"
Nathan released a deafening growl that echoed across the entire territory, the sound so savage and furious that it made the surrounding warriors instinctively stiffen in fear. His massive Alpha wolf bared its long canines threateningly while saliva dripped continuously from his maw, splattering onto the ground beneath him as though he had completely lost all rationality.
His bloodshot crimson eyes swept viciously across the warriors surrounding him, glowing with such violent intensity that they resembled the eyes of a demon rather than a werewolf Alpha. The terrifying killing intent contained within that gaze alone was enough to make weaker pack members tremble uncontrollably.
Some of the younger warriors with weaker mental fortitude felt their knees buckle on the spot, their breathing turning ragged under the crushing pressure of Nathan’s unstable Alpha aura.
Combined with the savage hostility radiating from his blood-red eyes, several nearly lost consciousness entirely from fear.
"Beta Felix!"
One of the elite warriors suddenly rushed toward Felix after temporarily retreating from the encirclement. Mid-run, he shifted back into his human form, his chest heaving heavily from exhaustion and injuries. Fresh claw wounds covered parts of his body, some still struggling to heal properly despite their werewolf regeneration.
"What do we do?" the warrior asked urgently, panic obvious in his voice. "If this keeps going, some of the warriors are really going to die!"
His expression darkened as he glanced toward the battlefield-like scene around them.
"Those who’ve been fighting the Alpha this entire time can barely heal anymore. Their wolves are already exhausted from this endless cycle of getting injured, healing, then getting injured all over again..." he continued grimly. "We need to think of a way to calm the Alpha down before things get worse."
The moment those words fell, the atmosphere around Beta Felix grew even heavier.
Because deep down, everyone already understood one terrifying truth, and that is, if they failed to stop Nathan soon, their Pack might end up destroying itself from within before any enemy even had the chance to attack them.
Beta Felix sank into silence, his brows tightly furrowed as conflict churned inside him. Slowly, he bit down on his lower lip so hard that his sharp canine pierced through the flesh, drawing a thin line of blood that seeped down his chin unnoticed.
The metallic taste spread across his tongue, yet he seemed oblivious to it, completely lost in thought as the tension around him thickened.
Seconds passed in heavy silence before his expression hardened, as though he had finally forced himself to make a painful decision. Drawing a deep breath, he lifted his gaze and spoke in a grim voice. "We have no other choice... let’s sedate the Alpha first."
Sedating an Alpha was no small matter within werewolf society. In fact, it was considered one of the gravest forms of disrespect one could commit against an Alpha, and in the worst cases, it could even warrant a death sentence.
