Wolf-less Omega Luna

CHAPTER 25: DAMAGE

Axel's POV

I watched silently as Alana’s heartbeat picked up, her pupils enlarged and the color drained from her face.

Which hurt more? The wolfsbane burning my throat down to my stomach or the horrified look on Alana’s face?

It was her expression. —Outright downcast and dejected.

“Fuck! It burns” “Arghh!” “Wolfsbane in fucking champagne?” “Are you trying to kill us all?!”

Werewolves in pain screamed from the left, right, and center.

Fuck! Peace party in the mud.

How could anybody have gotten their hands on enough wolfsbane to poison the whole pack including visitors?

Only a handful of high-ranked soldiers in the pack knew of our wolfsbane supply. We kept them intact for rogue wolves and their kind, not for our pack members.

Shrill cries of she-wolves pulled me from my well of thought and I looked around to glimpse males rubbing their females’ backs to somehow soothe the effects of the toxin.

“It won’t stop!” “It fucking burns!”

Almost everyone was affected.

Shit! Mom.

An annoyed growl took over.

“Are you okay?” I shook Alana by her shoulders.

“How… wha… how did… this…”

“Come with me,” I growled, putting my hand in front of her protectively as I made my way to my Mom who was coughing and choking on wolfsbane, practically pulling a subconscious Alana with me.

“Son, how did this happen? How did Wolfsbane get into the drinks?” My father asked brewing with anger, his neck reddened with the effects.

“I don’t know, Dad.” Four clattered against my skin, wanting to tear forward and rip whoever did this to pieces.

“Mom, are you okay?”

“I’ll be fine,” she said in between coughs. “Go help the rest.”

“Alana, stay here,” I commanded. “I’ll be back shortly.”

As soon as I let go of her, she sank to the floor knee first, cradled her head in her arms, and hurled her knees up, curling herself into a ball.

All I wanted to do was hold her, squeeze her, kiss her senseless, and tell her that I was going to fix this. All of it.

I crouched low to her and pulled her head into my palms. I couldn’t leave her.

“Axel,” Mom grated. “Now!”

I shot a glance around the field to people crying, tearing their necks, cursing.

With our healing abilities, everyone should recover within hours. I mulled over allowing them to heal on their own while I stayed beside Alana. She was mine, and my place was by her side.

“Son!” Father barked.

A growl rose to my throat.

It took all of my willpower, and every other quality in me to drag myself from Alana to my feet and zoom off.

Tyler. I opened the mind link.

Yes, Alpha.

Arrange for fresh water to be brought down to the party. Come with as many charcoal pills as possible. Now!

A brief pause indicated his confusion before he responded. Right away. I moved with my wolf speed to my office, violently tore a cabinet open, and retrieved multiple bottles of activated charcoal and a few bottles of uncontaminated water.

Within seconds, I was back in the field, my gaze finding Alana first before I cracked a bottle open and handed a pill each to Mom and Dad with the water.

Activated charcoal was kept in the pack in cases of emergencies of wolfsbane poison. Its effects could be felt within an hour but with our werewolf genes, it could be absorbed within minutes, causing it to be the perfect nullifier for the toxin.

I swiftly passed pills to the people around me while cursing under my breath.

Tyler had come down and was handing pills and water to the crying wolves and soon, the snarls, cries, and curses were downed to whimpers and finally, silence.

Whoever did this was out to get Alana. This was her first activity as Luna and curses were downed to whimpers and finally, silence.

Seeing as she was one of the few people who wasn’t affected by the wolfsbane, that wouldn’t be hard for them to do.

My body shook with unbridled rage.

Alana still looked almost lifeless. Her skin had turned pale, her eyes white and distant, everything in ruin.

“It’ll be okay, Princess. Everybody is fine now.” I made my way to where she was still dropped on the ground.

She looked around slowly and shook her head, a habit I picked up from her whenever she was tensed. I pulled her in a tight hug, her skin cold to touch.

Fuck.

“My most sincere apologies, Alpha Elias. This was a far cry from what we planned the evening to be.” I walked around checking up on my pack mates and the visiting Alphas since the party was now cut short.

“This doesn’t tell well of your hospitality, Alpha Axel,” a frown crowned his forehead as he stood protectively over his female with disheveled hair and spoke.

“Consider the supplies for the next month on the pack as a sign to extend our apologies.” And that was enough to shut him up.

“Very well then.”

“Return to Hyde Pack safely.”

“Alpha,”

“Alpha.”

The simple yet effective show of respect and favors was sufficient to put us and the visiting pack's

Alphas on good terms.

I watched the last of them drive off into the night, and pack mates return to their homes.

All through this, my hand was firmly on Alana’s back as she trailed beside me in a trance-like state. I couldn’t bear to leave her in the care of any other person.

The Alphas who were to stay over had retreated and I led Alana back to her room.

“Princess?”

“Huh…”

“It’s all okay now. Come back to me,” I said softly, scanning her deep-toned eyes for her. The goofy and sarcastic Alana.

“Yeah, I’m… I'm okay.” It was barely a whisper. Obviously, she did not believe that.

I cleared my throat. “I know we agreed to give this time, and space for us to ease into this, but I cannot let you stay alone anymore. Not after what happened tonight.”

“I’m fine,” she choked out.

“You’re not. We haven’t fully bonded but I can still feel what you feel. Faintly. You’re not.” I repeated. “You’ll move in with me.” I gestured to my room door.

Her glossy eyes met mine as though she just noticed my presence for the first time that evening and she shook her head slowly.

“Hey, hey, hey,” I cupped her face in my hands, trying so hard to steady my crazy heartbeat because I couldn’t bear to see Alana in despair.

I had never seen this version of her. So broken, lost, and so low. It hurt me to my tail.

“What if it was worse?” A single tear finally broke through the glass shield coating her eyes and I went wild.

“It could have gone a lot worse, but it didn't. We’re okay now. Everybody is okay.” I controlled my voice low and soothing even if I wanted to smash the nearest door to shreds.

The entrance to the pool in her eyes flung open as her sobs grew louder and she muffled them into my chest, the warm fluid soaking my shirt and clinging on my chest.

My nostrils flared. The growl reverberating in my chest and the brewed rage made my body shake visibly. Published by Nôv'elD/rama.Org.

I tightened my grip on Alana to stifle the extent of our bodies both shaking in pain, but for two very different reasons.