The Alpha's Unwanted Bride

Chapter 741: THE ILL

The journey to the Pack House felt much longer than usual.

Perhaps because this time I wasn’t simply delivering herbs.

This time we were leaving home.

Even if Mother insisted it was temporary.

As I went through the village, I thought of father and wondered where he was.

Where he was even going to stay?

When I got back home I was going to try reasoning with mother.

He was father after all.

His leg.

He had been a happy craftsman.

Making beautiful boats and Furniture.

It was his goddess given talent mother had called it.

Unfortunately he had had an accident one day and his leg was gone.

It became difficult to do his work.

One of the few things that made him happy.

Mother had consoled him and tried her best to heal his leg but eventually been unable to.

Soon he had slowly begun to resent her.

Resent himself.

He went to the one place no one should turn to.

Drinking and whiling away his life.

It broke my heart.

When I was younger and fresh of father’s accident, the neighborhood pups made fun of me.

I had grown to simply be stuck to mother’s side.

And now years later, he hadn’t changed.

Except even get worse.

I sighed to myself.

He was nowhere to be found.

I couldn’t even ask anyone around for him.

Mother wouldn’t take it.

The wheels of the cart rolled over the dirt road while Penny pulled steadily ahead.

I sat at the front, occasionally glancing back at the boxes and trunks stacked behind me.

Everything Mother needed for healing.

Everything we could carry.

The rest would have to wait.

I sighed.

Then immediately found myself thinking about the hidden compartment again.

The little dress.

The bracelet.

The strange crest.

Questions continued to circle endlessly inside my head.

Who did they belong to?

Why had Mother hidden them?

And why had they felt so familiar?

I reached up and absentmindedly touched the emerald necklace around my throat.

The only family heirloom I had ever known.

Mother had always been strangely protective of it.

A little too protective.

My fingers tightened around the stone.

The same uncomfortable feeling returned.

Something wasn’t adding up.

Something hadn’t been adding up for a very long time.

Penny suddenly snorted.

I blinked and realized the Pack House was already visible in the distance.

The enormous stone structure rose above the trees.

I hoped that they had forgotten my mischief the previous day and was no longer in trouble.

Normally the sight of the pack house fascinated me.

Today something else caught my attention.

There were far more guards than usual.

A lot more.

I frowned.

The closer I got, the more obvious it became.

Wolves were everywhere.

Training grounds.

Watch towers.

Courtyard.

Pack walls.

Servants rushed around carrying supplies.

Messengers moved back and forth.

Everyone seemed busy.

Everyone seemed tense.

“What in the world is happening?” I muttered.

When I finally reached the gates, the guards barely glanced at me before waving me through.

That alone was strange.

Usually they enjoyed being difficult.

I guided Penny inside and immediately noticed groups of servants whispering amongst themselves.

Several looked excited.

Others nervous.

Curiosity immediately got the better of me.

Naturally.

I climbed down from the cart and stopped beside two maids carrying baskets.

“What happened?” I asked.

The younger maid looked startled.

“You haven’t heard?”

“Heard what?”

Her eyes widened.

“The Alpha’s son is ill.”

Of course.

This was why we were here in the first place.

“I forgot about that.” I waved off.

She gave me a confused look. “Isn’t that why you’re here? So that your mother could attempt healing him.”

I mumbled something inaudible to myself and then faced the servant.

“What actually happened to him?” I asked.

She gave a light shrug. “It’s still a bit of a mystery if you ask me. It was said he fell.”

“Fell?” I asked lost.

“Exactly.” She chipped in.

This was bizarre.

If he simply fell, then why were we even here in the first place.

“You make it seem like it was a matter of life and death.” I said looking around the buzz in the pack house.

She gave a light shrug. “Well that’s the strange part. He fell and started shaking all of a sudden. They are trying to get everyone and anyone to heal him. The Alpha would have all our heads if any of his sons die.”

I blinked. “Sons?”

“Yes, he sent both his sons here.” She declared.

For as long as I had lived here.

I didn’t know much about our pack Alpha and his family.

What I did know was that this was an annexed territory that was under them.

The main pack house, the moonlight pack was miles and miles away from here.

You wouldn’t even get there in two weeks.

So naturally we minded our business and moved on.

But now hearing that all of a sudden the Alpha had grown interest in the pack and now sent his sons here was strange.

I sighed heavily. “I should meet my mother. Can you direct me to where I can find her?”

She pointed it out to me.

“I do hope your mother succeeds in healing him.” She told me. “I’ve heard rumors that all healers who attempted in healing him and failed are being sentenced to death.”

That startled me and the hairs on my back rose in alert. “Why?”

She gave a slight shrug. “Well, I guess it’s because they wasted time treating him and just leaving him in a much dangerous state for the next one. He is dying.”

My throat felt dry.

I hurriedly went in the direction of where she had pointed amidst the mumbling and gossiping staff.

“I’m here with the healer. She is my mother.” I said to the guards who stood attention at the door.

They looked at me suspiciously and then stood aside.

The doors were opened and I walked into the hot room.

It was a massive bedroom befitting a prince.

I had never been in one as such and it made me feel a bit of shame.

“Ruby!” Mother called from the bed. “Good you’re here. Did you bring the rest of my healing bag.”

“Yes mother.” I nodded as I hastily rushed to the bedside.

She collected it, and to my amazement the boy lying still on the bed was none other than the squirrel boy.

Bale.