Chapter 19 - Her Persistence

CELESTINA VILLARAMA’s POV

All has been set to place. By now, I seriously have no other reason why I would still bother going back to the Crimson Moon Pack. Especially now that Ice witnessed how I have been neglected by the alpha himself.

“What do you plan to do now? Lucas would definitely come to me in search of your whereabouts, then give you a justifiable punishment,” Ice inquired as we were slowly approaching the pack house, as if there wasn’t an argument between us just a few minutes ago.

“It’s not like I have committed such a dreadful sin.” I glared at him. “Aren’t you going to explain exactly what happened between you and the rest of the pack? It seems like I’m the only one who’s being left behind, completely clueless. Even Lucas knows something about you that no one else does,” I said at the same time that I halted my movements, then crossed both of my arms below my chest.

Ice neither stopped nor paused to glance at my direction. “Let’s go in, Celestina. Any conversation right now would be entirely meaningless. We have to face Lucas before the sun rises if you still wish to live another day.”

I could no longer rebut and do anything against the delta when the pack warriors greeted us both.

“The alpha has been looking for you, Delta Ice and Lady Villarama. Please proceed to his office this instant,” said by one of Lucas’ men.

***

Clock struck four in the morning when the doors opened for us.

“Lucas, what did you want to talk about?” Ice immediately questioned as we entered his office.

“Ice, you’re finally here,” Lucas mumbled as he turned around to face us. “I’m assigning you to be the one to bestow Celestina’s punishment. If you won’t be able to give me a response within half an hour, I’ll annihilate her from this realm,” Lucas proclaimed.

I noticed Ice’s small gasps as his lips parted ways. “What’s the meaning of this? You should know best that it’d be impossible for someone like me to move according to what you just said, Lucas!” Ice was obviously frustrated.

Even though Lucas was the alpha, it seemed to be like the two were normal friends who didn't bother about having a formal conversation.

“Oh, really? Well, if that’s the case…” Lucas gave a signal to his men and after a few seconds, I was already held captive. “You’re the one who chose this. Celestina, if you’ll start to hate someone, then give all your hatred to Ice. Blame him for your death, he had the chance to save you after all.” Lucas said all of those while his smirk was still shown on his face.

My feet weren’t on the ground. The wolves on my sides were both muscular and their eyes were fixated on the alpha. I thought that they were purposely avoiding having eye contact with me, because they might suddenly feel the urge to let me go to let themselves free of guilt.

“Stop, Lucas!” Ice yelled from the bottom of his lungs as he clenched both of his fists, which I didn’t expect he would be able to do. “Let her go… Let Celestina Villarama go!”

There was a glimpse of what appeared to be a thick layer of visible vibrations that came out from Ice’s mouth after he shouted. And that was the sole reason why the wolves decided to remove their grip on me, despite not being ordered by the alpha.

“See? I told you that you still have a lot of potential within you that hasn’t been released just yet. You only need a little bit of rage, and I knew that Celestina would be the perfect vessel and is the one and only key for that to happen,” Lucas commented, then clapped his hands like a kid who was amused with the outcome of his scheme.

Ice didn’t speak. He was gasping for air, presumably trying his best to calm himself down. Those eyes of his were giving such a deadly aura, as if he would be able to turn the tables around, and be the one to kill Lucas instead. Then, reign over the entire Silver Moon Pack. Seems like what he said before wasn’t wholly a mere hoax.

“We had an agreement, Lucas. You swore to me that you will never involve…”

“Involve who, Ice? Who?” Lucas kept on provoking Ice as he knew that Ice wouldn’t be able to mention whoever it was.

Ice bit his lower lip. “You swore that you would never get Celestina into this mess, Lucas!”

My eyes widened in realization that he was actually pertaining to me and not anyone else. “W-what?” I stuttered in confusion about what sort of business I had with Ice.

Ice held his chest as tight as he could. His knees wobbled and I saw just how his veins were randomly popping out from his forehead and even from his neck. His face was slowly turning red and some parts of it were almost black as if he was running out of breath.

“H-hey!” I held his shoulders and forced him to face me. “What’s wrong with you? You’re definitely not doing alright…” I was beginning to panic when I saw how much blood was gushing out of his own nose, while some were sprinting out of his mouth. “Alpha Lucas! Do something, Ice is going to die,” I hurriedly said, with the thought that he would actually offer me a helping hand.

But that was a mere fairytale of mine.

There was absolutely no way that Lucas would help, what did I even expect?

“Ice deserves all of the pain that he has to endure right now. You don’t have to worry about a thing, he won’t die from something as simple as that, Celestina,” Lucas tried to reassure me, but his words weren’t even passing through my mind.

There wasn’t anything that I could think of right now other than Ice’s situation. I don’t know why I suddenly remembered the image of Ace, as if he would be the only one who can save Ice as they were blood-related. I’m sure that he’s also the only one who knows how to cure Ice.

“Ace… Please, if you can hear me, come to me…” I whispered to myself, shutting my eyes to be sincere with my words.

I sensed Lucas sitting on his swivel chair as he held his chin, amused by the sight of his underling in pain.

‘You should call for your mate. Why are you searching for someone who’s not interconnected with you by any means? You could’ve at least called the moon goddess instead of someone who doesn’t give a damn about him.’

My inner-wolf was babbling nonsense.

“Miss Celestina Villarama, you called?” a familiar voice resounded within my mind, and I knew that it was no other than Ace himself.

“A-Ace!” I screamed out his name and I was literally surprised to see that he was just standing in front of me. “How did you get in here?” I asked.

“That’s not important right now. I’m more concerned with the reason why you had to urgently seek my aid, but…” Ace gazed upon the lying body of his brother. “It seems like I already know the reason why.”

Ace tried to get out of the office, but I immediately held his arm to stop him from getting away.

“Please do me a favor, Ace… I believe that you owe me one since I reported how Master Kristoffer was in the risk of losing his life. This time around, it’s your turn to help me out, at least just this once,” I murmured.

Even if I had to lose a lot of dignity right here and now, I didn’t care. I rubbed both of my hands together as I knelt on the ground to sincerely beg for his aid.

Ace was literally having second thoughts as I noticed how he kept on switching his gaze from me to Ice. “F-fine! Just know that I’m not doing this for the sake of this guy — I’m doing this to pay my debt to you and to Master Kristoffer who has been saved because of you,” he declared his own defeat, which made me glad.

Fortunately, Lucas didn’t interfere with what Ace was doing to Ice even if it was slowly recovering Ice’s strength.

“Amusing…” Lucas muttered to himself.

“A-argh!” Ice groaned as Ace continuously pressed onto his chest.

It’s like Ace was removing some sort of evil spirit inside Ice’s soul. “Just a little bit more, Ice. Hold out for a short while…” Ace said. His voice sounded so soft. If only I didn’t know of his identity, I would have mistaken him for an angel. “Great!” He exclaimed at the same time that Ice repetitively coughed as if he was finally released from his sufferings.

There was a short pause between the twins as they gazed upon one another, which Ice most probably didn’t expect to see.

These two should seriously just make up; they obviously have a lot of stories to tell one another.

“My business here is done. I’ve paid my debt to you now, Miss Celestina Villarama. I hope this would be the last time that you would be in need of my assistance, since it would be the best if you would always be doing well with your life here in this new pack of yours,” Ace bid his farewell, then gave his respect over to Lucas as he bowed his head with his clenched fist on his chest.

Ace really left without saying a word to the brother that he saved.

If only their pride isn’t serving as a hindrance…