I Died, Alpha Regretted

While they were clawing my insides, severing the parts of my body, laughing at how the blood of Crimson Crescent’s Luna’s blood was gushing like a river, my Alpha was in another place, happily dining with his first love she-wolf. While I was on the verge of death, hearing my wolf’s painful growl, he was celebrating the 10th anniversary of their first meeting.

I tried to survive. Until I could no longer hold on to the thread of life. ‘Please, my Alpha… Please, save me.’

Yet my begging fell into deep ears. What was the use of our mindlink if he was not interested enough to adhere to my cries?

‘Stop playing mind games with me, Aurora. I am not going home tonight.’

Figured. This worthless of a mate would never even bat an eye if I died right before him. Perhaps this was for the best… Perhaps dying was better than this useless Alpha coming to save me in this hellhole.

And just like that, after three shifts of the moon, the Alpha together with the whole Consul of the Crimson Crescent Pack was investigating the series of murders around Autumnvale Town, the place where the pack resided. The gruesome murders had been the talk of every wolf.

In the meeting house of the pack, together with the elders, his Beta, and the healers, Alpha Logan stood in the middle. “The victim fought for her life until her last moments. We shall send her spirit to the Moon Goddess at ease after finding the ends of this case.”

Little did he know, he was dissecting the death of his very own wife—the one he couldn't stand, the one he never loved, yours truly.

**

Who would have thought that beneath the trash that was tossed on the piled-up garbage, a fragment of me was there? Real classy, wasn't I?

The night was deep and the town was eerily quiet. Autumnvale had always encountered newsworthy things, but that day was rather terrifying than the other nights. An elder who shifted into his wolf form was roaming the empty roadside when suddenly his senses were triggered. The smell was awful, like that of a rotten dead rat, and the more he went nearer, the more he could not stand it.

Right then and there, a part of me was found. The black bag among the piled trash revealed a human leg bone.

As soon as it was reported to the Consul of the pack, I saw myself overviewing everyone working hard to discover more body parts all over the town.

At that point, it was like a nightmare come to life. The Crimson Crescent Consul tried too hard to figure out who murdered the victim they discovered.

"Is this another sign of pack wars? I don't see any suspicious movements of the neighboring packs yet," one of the elders uttered.

What was I even doing?

A mirror reflected the light of the same moon, and there I saw no one. I was not there. My reflection... was not there.

Did I really become a Lunar Wraith? A spirit vengeful and scarred enough not to cross the river valley to another life. A Lunar Wraith whose spirit craved justice and peace, but could I ever attain those?

"The Alpha is here," one of the pack members announced, and there he was, my mate—Alpha Logan Thunderheart.

They visited the roadside where a part of me was found. They analyze the spatters of blood and the black bag where a fragment of my flesh was discovered. It was so messed up that all I could feel was my heart falling down my stomach.

But even my mate was taken aback by the horror show before him. "This is some next-level brutality," he whispered, face going pale.

Meanwhile, the pack's Beta, Dimitri Sage, was also inspecting everything himself.

"Let's break it all down to pieces, Alpha. We can't leave anything behind."

And there, Logan pointed out every detail like a smart wolf he was. "See these stains? It looks like they clawed the victim to death. And those marks on the wall? The victim must be awake the whole time."

The Beta scratched his head, saying, "According to our pack's healer, the victim is a young woman under thirty. This is quite messy, just who did she piss off to end up like this?"

That very moment, Logan who was thinking so hard already had a hunch. "This isn’t no random brutal murder. Someone's got a grudge and they're just getting started. If a pack is involved with this, we are not going to let them run away. They'd pay for their sins."

And guess what? He was right. Even though there were a lot of negative things to say about Logan, I could tell that his instincts were sharper than his claws when he shifted into his wolf form.

Oh, how much I would pay to see his face once he pieced everything together. Perhaps being a Lunar Wraith was not bad at all. Did the Moon Goddess send the fragment of my soul down here to witness how my mate struggled?

Not long after, the Consul found a ring at the scene of the crime.

"We sealed the ring that was found. It is important evidence," one of the pack Consul members said.

When Logan heard that, he picked up the sealed ring without any expression left on his face. Dimitri, who was just beside the Alpha suddenly went quiet while staring at the bloody ring.

When he could no longer hold his curiosity, he whispered, "Alpha, isn't this ring familiar to you? The mateship ring you had with the Luna..."

However, Logan seemed not to care as he inspected the object. He glanced at its features and noticed every single detail it had, including its inner part where there was no engraving.

"It's probably just the same style." He shrugged his shoulders.

Once the Consul was done, Logan who was left alone lingered by the scene for a while, lost in his thoughts. After a bit of contemplation, he glanced down, and by the shifts in the color of his eyes, I could tell that he was trying to talk through the mindlink we had.

Who would answer him back when I was already here—a lonely Lunar Wraith?

He stood there, trying to do it over and over again, his eyes glowing, making use of the power bestowed to him, but to no avail.

"Damn it. Now she's not even listening to my voice? All she does is throw fits!"

One thing was for sure, Logan was confident that the mateship rings we had had engravings on the inside.

But seriously, my Alpha, what was the use of his sharp instinct and Alpha brain when he didn't even know that metal engravings were easy to vanish?

It only took me six months to buff out our initials on the ring.