The Alpha's Silent Bride: Seventh Time's The Charm novel Chapter 114

Chapter 114: 114: Nikolai

~ ROSELLE ~

"Nikolai is dead?"

The words barely make it past my lips as I stare at Beau, waiting for him to tell me I heard him wrong.

My entire body freezes. No..This has to be a fucking lie.

Nikolai can’t be dead. "Tell me you’re lying," I whisper, searching Beau’s face desperately. "Please tell me he’s not dead."

Beau’s expression tightens, but he doesn’t answer immediately, and somehow his silence terrifies me more than anything he could possibly say.

The entire pack house has descended into chaos. Warriors rush through the hallways, healers are being summoned, and frantic voices spill through the mind-link around me even though I can’t hear what they’re saying. Everyone seems to know something I don’t, and every time I ask where Ronan is, nobody gives me a fucking answer.

Then another memory sends a chill crawling down my spine. I had heard a loud growl, everyone in the pack house fucking heard it.

It was so loud that the windows rattled, and for a moment, I could’ve sworn the floor beneath my feet trembled. I know that sound belonged to Ronan, but there was something different about it this time. Something darker and far more terrifying than anything I’ve ever heard from him before.

"He shifted, didn’t he?" I ask, my voice trembling as I turn toward Garrett. "That was Ronan."

Neither man answers, my stomach drops.

"Where is he?"

"Luna—"

"Don’t you Luna me. Where the fuck is Ronan?"

Beau steps toward me, but I immediately move backward. "And don’t tell me to calm down. Don’t tell me everything is under control because clearly nothing is fucking under control. Nikolai is dead, the entire pack is in chaos, and I heard Ronan’s growl from all the way out here."

My chest rises and falls rapidly as fear claws deeper into me. "I know he shifted," I whisper, staring between Beau and Garrett. "I just want to know where he is now."

Another heavy silence follows, and that’s when the realization finally sinks in. They aren’t refusing to tell me because they don’t know where Ronan is. They know exactly where he is, but whatever is happening out there is something they don’t want me to see, and worse, they’ve made it painfully clear that they aren’t letting me leave the pack house to find out for myself.

Before I can demand another answer, the door suddenly bursts open, and Celeste rushes into the room. Her face is streaked with tears, her eyes swollen and red as she runs straight toward me and throws herself into my arms.

"I... I..." Her entire body trembles against mine as a sob tears from her throat. "Please tell me this is a dream, Roselle. Tell me Nikolai isn’t really dead. He can’t be fucking dead."

My throat tightens as I wrap my arms around her, holding her as tightly as I can while she breaks down against me.

"I just found out he’s my mate," she chokes out. "We didn’t even get the chance to explore the bond or figure out what we could’ve been. I was so fucking stupid, Roselle. I rejected him, and he still wanted to give us a chance. He wanted to prove himself to me, and I wouldn’t even let him."

What if Irina knew exactly what would happen once he was free? What if she fed me that story because she knew I was naive enough to believe her and desperate enough to help someone I thought was about to be wrongfully executed?

My stomach twists painfully as I hold Celeste tighter.

She knows my secret now too. Before the ceremony, I finally told her what I am. I told her that I’m a Lycan and begged her not to tell anyone until I could understand everything myself. Celeste had been shocked, but she’d still promised to keep my secret.

Now her mate is dead because of a Lycan attack.

Yet she isn’t blaming me.

She isn’t pushing me away or screaming that this is somehow my fault. She’s standing here in my arms, completely shattered, trusting me to hold her together when I can barely fucking hold myself together.

While everyone is desperately trying to figure out how the Lycan escaped, I already know the answer. It was me.

I helped in the opening of that fucking cell, by handing over the key to Irina.

And if Nikolai really is dead because of what happened afterward, then no matter how badly I want to believe Irina used me, I can’t stop one horrifying thought from burning through my mind.

I helped cause this.