Defy The Alpha(s)

Chapter 422: Alone

"You’re finally awake."

Those were the first words Asher Nightshade heard when his eyes fluttered open. He turned to the side and saw his father seated beside the bed, a deeply amused expression tugging at his face.

"I was beginning to think you’d sleep for eternity," Henry said. "Would’ve solved most of my problems considering you’ve been a real pain in my ass lately. But alas, I still need an heir, and I’m not exactly in the mood to start over with another one who’ll just betray me in the end."

Asher didn’t respond. He shifted his gaze around the room instead. He was in the hospital again. The steady beep of a heart monitor echoed annoyingly in his ears and his body ached like hell. If this was what living felt like, then maybe being dead wouldn’t have been so bad.

No. He couldn’t think like that. He’d promised his purple queen a lifetime.

With a grunt, Asher pushed himself up into a sitting position. His eyes landed on a bouquet on the nightstand, and hope surged in his chest.

"Don’t get excited," Henry said, following his gaze. "It’s not from the girl. Alaric brought those. Since when did you two become so close?"

Asher stayed silent.

Henry narrowed his eyes. "Well, you boys were once united at one point."

Yeah, they had once been united against Patrick after Elijah had handed them over to be experimented upon, so he could figure out what made them "tick".

If Alaric had come, what about Violet? Was she safe? Had they found her?And how long had he even been asleep?

Henry let out another mirthless laugh when Asher still wouldn’t speak to him. "It’s almost funny," he said, "how you’re treating me like this when I’ve been here the whole time, and not even the bitch you nearly died for bothered to visit you."

"Don’t call her a bitch again," Asher warned, his voice cold. "And if Violet didn’t come to visit me, then she’s smarter than I give her credit for. I wouldn’t trust what you’d do to her, not with your track record."

For a moment, father and son locked eyes in a tense staredown until Henry burst into laughter. It was long, hollow, and dripping with mockery. "Really? Is that what you think? That the bitch was thinking about you?" he sneered. "Let me crush that fantasy for you."

At once, Henry picked up the remote from the nightstand and turned on the television mounted to the wall.

As if on cue, a broadcast was playing already. The camera panned over a crowd of cheering students, then cut to the two smiling anchors behind a sleek news desk.

"It’s not all doom and gloom in Lunaris Academy these days," the female broadcaster began with a bright smile. "Finally, we have some good news to share and what a story it is. Amidst what’s been a particularly dark season for the school, a light has broken through."

Her co-anchor, a well-groomed man with peppered gray hair, nodded. "That’s right, Tessa. The news of a confirmed fated mate bond has spread like wildfire. And not just any mate bond, we’re talking about Griffin Hale, one of the Cardinal Alphas, and a human named Violet Purple. I’d say this marks a symbolic victory in more ways than one."

The screen shifted to footage from earlier in the day. It was a video that had gone viral online and it was of Griffin and Violet sharing a kiss at the haircutting ceremony. Then a perfectly edited clip rolled and this time, from the celebration afterward.

It was Griffin and Violet dancing excitedly while pack members cheered around them. Then another cut was of the two of them stepping into Lunaris Academy’s campus hand in hand as students screamed their names like fans greeting celebrities.

"It’s been called a good omen," Tessa added as the scene faded back to the studio. "Fated mates have always been celebrated in werekind history as signs of divine favor. But what makes this even more powerful is that Violet is human."

Her co-anchor leaned in. "Exactly. With recent reports of human students being bullied and marginalized within the academy, this changes the narrative. If the Moon Goddess herself paired a human with a Cardinal Alpha, then it sends a strong message. It may even shift inter-species politics moving forward..."

But Asher wasn’t listening anymore.

The television droned on as the broadcasters continued to gush over the union and speculate on its impact, but to Asher, the world had muted.

His gaze was locked, and frozen, on the screen.

The broadcasters had paused on a close-up of the kiss, zooming in just enough to clearly show the mate rune etched into both of their necks. Violet’s face was radiant, her lips curved in a smile that was real while Griffin had his arms around her, sheer contentment in their eyes. They looked so happy.

Asher’s chest tightened, his vision tunneling. Violet was mated. Not just that, she was fate mated to Griffin? The cold reality settled over him like a fog, numbing every nerve. She had moved on without her.

Asher’s gaze stayed fixed on the screen, so intense he didn’t even feel the tear sliding down his face until Henry leaned in and grabbed his jaw, tilting it in his direction.

"Such weakness. Pathetic," Henry said coldly, inspecting him like a failed experiment. "This is not what I taught you."

He shoved his face away with a rough hand, and suddenly Asher felt small again. He was back to being that boy from long ago, always striving, always falling short under his father’s gaze.

This time, when Henry grabbed him again, it was harder and painful. And his voice was like poison.

"The girl’s gone now. So pull yourself together. If anything, you should be grateful this happened. I was planning to get rid of the bitch anyway, but it looks like the Moon Goddess did me a favor."

The light dimmed in Asher’s eyes and Henry saw it and kept going.

"Graduation is what you should be focused on. No more bitches, do you get me?" noveldrama

Asher didn’t respond.

But he didn’t need to. Henry was already convinced his message had sunk in.

Henry stood to leave and had only taken a few steps toward the door when he stopped. Slowly, he turned back, watching Asher in silence for a beat.

"You know what?"Henry said suddenly, his voice oddly amused. "Go after the girl."

Asher blinked up in confusion. But then he caught the glint in his father’s eyes, and saw the trap for what it was.

Henry smirked. "You always claimed you weren’t like me and that you were better. But chasing a mated female and ripping apart a goddess-chosen bond?" He chuckled. "Even I wouldn’t sink that low. But I suppose children always outdo their parents, don’t they?"

With that final twist of the knife, Henry turned and left.

Silence fell in the room, heavy and cold while Asher sat there, hollowed out.

The goddess had mated Violet to Griffin and not him? Not him? Not after everything? He saw her first. He worked the hardest for her!

But nothing.

As if suddenly drained of life, Asher slowly curled in on himself, pulling his knees toward his chest. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he reached for a memory of his mother. Her voice. Her warmth. But it all felt far away. Too far.

In the end, he was always alone.