Chapter 61 - The Poison

CELESTINA VILLARAMA’S POV

The midnight breeze has begun to give me chills down my spine. Everything was supposed to go according to what I planned, but it seems like fate doesn’t really want me to do anything that can make me reputable. I kept on glancing around the hallway, and I’m currently in front of the alpha’s door after what I discussed with Leo.

The beta doesn’t have any plans to let Ice go, not unless I bring Lucas’ head on my hand as I go back to the dining hall where the three of them were still gathered. I don’t quite understand why he had to go that far, especially with the fact that he didn’t even think twice about letting me kill their alpha. As far as I know, there’s no one that should be permitted to annihilate the alpha within one’s pack, except if there were rebels that hid amongst the crowd.

And maybe, Leo was one of the rebels in the Silver Moon Pack.

“Lucas? Are you inside?” I asked at the same time that I knocked on the door three times before I twisted the door knob to pull the door. Upon crossing its threshold, I caught a glimpse of the alpha staring at the window. “Lucas, have you already eaten? I know that you’re numb and totally unable to move, but you can at least tell me if you’re hungry so I can feed you,” I uttered as I shut the door behind me, approaching his spot.

I placed my palm on his forehead and the other hand on mine, to check if Lucas was down with a fever, and thankfully, he wasn’t ill.

“Where did you go? Don’t tell me that you really went out to urge Leo to replace me for a while?” Lucas asked me, and judging from the tone of his speech, I can clearly tell how much he was worried. “I’ll take that silence as yes. Damn it, Celestina, aren’t you being too reckless? You weren’t here when Leo first came to be one of us. He’s much more brutal than what you’re thinking and how you imagine him to be,” he mumbled, followed by a slight hiss.

I bit my lower lip, feeling a little bit guilty because Lucas’ words were on point. “I was only trying to help you the best that I could, Lucas. And in this scenario, Leo’s the only one capable of that. I’d do anything Leo orders me to do if that were the only thing that could force him to take over your responsibilities,” I said with full confidence.

However, my hands were trembling out of fear that Leo might be hurting Ice at this very moment that I’m conversing with Lucas.

“You’re shaking, Celestina,” Lucas said.

The alpha claimed my hand before I could pull it away from his forehead. His hands were cold. He kept pressing his fingers on my hand as a gesture that I should calm myself down.

“Ice is in trouble, Lucas. I have to do what Leo told me before he even dares to lay his finger on Ice,” I hurriedly whispered to him, thinking that the beta might be eavesdropping on whatever was being talked about inside the alpha’s room.

I noticed how the faint smile faded on Lucas’ lips. It was replaced with a frown, and lines immediately appeared on his forehead. “What do you mean? Is Ice with Leo right now?” he asked in a soft voice as well.

I nodded my head before I explained the situation to him. If there’s anyone out here that can help me contemplate whether I made the wrong choice or not, it’s Lucas—only him and no one else. Having the current circumstances discussed, he opted for me to do what I already chose beforehand.

“But that’s too risky, Lucas. You could literally die in a split second, and no one among your pack would be able to heal you,” I refused.

The alpha clicked his tongue. “We’ve got no other options left, Celestina. If you don’t bring my head to Leo, he would be the one to bring Ice’s head over here and make you enraged… Vexed enough to cloud your mind with the intention to kill both me and Leo,” Lucas explained why I should stick with my choice.

I gulped as I inserted my hands inside my pocket, bringing the bottle of poison out of it. The poison was given to me by Leo before I left the dining area. There wasn’t anything special about its appearance. It just looked similar to plain water, though as I stared at it closely, I could barely see the mini particles of silver that were swimming around the water. I doubt that there’s nothing else other than silver and water, since its texture and viscosity weren’t normal.

“That’s from Sarina, isn’t it?” Lucas inquired as he stared at the glass bottle.

I shook my head once. “I got it from Leo. What made you think that this came from the moon goddess?”

“That’s the same type of poison that I got from her. A single droplet from it was enough to make me numb for consecutive hours, so there’s no wonder if it can easily take my life once I consume all of those,” Lucas told me with a short sigh.

Whatever the case was and whoever originally made it doesn’t matter. My only motive for coming into the alpha’s room was to kill him and return to them to set Ice free.

But then, what would happen afterwards if Leo really did become the alpha? Aside from forcing me to be his chosen mate, I just can’t picture a pack filled with peace and justice when it would be Leo to take part as the sole ruler. Besides, it won’t look great if people start to gossip about how he became the alpha right after he came back from being missing in action for years.

“Are you ready?”

I took several deep breaths before I asked him that. No one’s going to be mentally ready when they know they’re about to face death in a few minutes. I pulled the tiny cork out of the glass bottle, then covered its mouth with my thumb to avoid the scent from being exposed.

“Are you sure that there’s no other way out of this mess, Lucas? Can’t we just persuade the moon goddess to revert your curse now that I’m back here?” I attempted to convince him as much as I could.

If it turns out that Lucas wasn’t fully prepared to die, I will be eternally suffering with regret and shame.

“Just get this over with so you can reunite with Ice. He’s the one you want to save between the two of us anyway,” Lucas murmured with his lips almost not parting from each other, making it difficult for me to comprehend what he said.

“I’m not choosing any of you, Lucas. It’s just that—”

“You don’t have to explain yourself, Celestina. Compared to both Siege and Ice, I’m just a mere stranger who you recently met because of the delta, who introduced you to me.” Lucas smiled at me, and that was the worst smile that I’ve ever seen in my whole life. “Even though it was only for a while, I’m seriously glad that I met you in this life, Celestina Villarama. Until we meet again.”

Lucas’ smile wasn’t really the worst. It only seemed to me that way because of how I sensed the fear that was instilled in his mind as I poured the liquid into his mouth and carefully guided it with a tender touch of my fingers on his lips.

“I-I h-hope you can forgive me for this, Lucas,” I stuttered as I asked for his forgiveness.