Too Late, Alpha. My Silence Was Goodbye Chapter 01

Too Late, Alpha. My Silence Was Goodbye Chapter 01

Seven days after her son’s death, Mara Vale got into a car accident on her way back to the Blackthorn territory.
The silver shrapnel embedded in her calf suppressed her werewolf healing abilities. The physician set her bones and asked her once more if she was sure she didn’t want to notify her family.
“No,” she replied.
The nurse hesitated, glancing at the faded crescent mark on her n**k.
“But you are the Luna of the Blackthorn pack. Alpha Lucian Thorne is just upstairs in a private suite, so should I go get him for you?”
That was when Mara realized the ambulance had brought her to the Blackthorn Medical Center.
She had overseen the construction of this very hospital 3 years ago in her capacity as Luna. From the director down to the youngest intern, everyone knew exactly who she was. Yet at this moment, they all pretended they didn’t see the blood on her leg, just as they pretended they didn’t notice that an entire floor upstairs was lit up for Selena Blackwood.
“I don’t need him,” she said quietly.
Half an hour later, Lucian arrived anyway.
When he pushed open the door to her room, he carried the scent of sea salt mixed with the white rose perfume Selena always wore. The tall Alpha stood in the doorway with an expression darker than the night outside.
“You got into a car accident, so why didn’t you reach out through the mate link?” he asked.
“It’s just a fracture. I’ll live.” She replied flatly.
She looked down at her cast, her tone as calm as if she were discussing someone else’s injury. Lucian frowned, a deep crease forming between his brows.
She hadn’t been like this in the past. During their first year of the mating bond, she would hold up her finger if she so much as nicked it while chopping vegetables, demanding he k**s it better. Over time, he had grown increasingly impatient, coldly reminding her that he was an Alpha and couldn’t constantly cater to her meaningless emotions.
Now her leg was broken, and the silver shrapnel had been burning in her flesh for hours, yet she hadn’t cried out in pain even once.
Outside the door, a pair of nurses lowered their voices.
“Selena only scraped her knee during training, but the Alpha called in seven senior physicians. He carried her into the hospital himself and hasn’t let her feet t***h the ground since,” one whispered. “Meanwhile, the Luna’s leg is shattered, and she came here all by herself.”
Lucian clearly heard them too.
He looked at Mara, waiting just as he had countless times before. He waited for her to question him, to show her jealousy, and to cry as she forced him to choose between his wife and his childhood friend.
She didn’t even look up.
“Selena got hurt during her training by the sea,” he finally offered an explanation. “I happened to be there, so I brought her in. It doesn’t mean anything.”
“Okay.”
“You don’t believe me?” he asked.
“I believe you,” she said, finally raising her eyes to meet his. “She was raised by the Blackwood family. You’ve always said she will be your family forever.”
She had finally learned to repeat exactly what he wanted to hear, but his expression didn’t relax in the slightest.
A guard hurried over just then.
“Alpha, Selena says her knee is hurting again, and she won’t let anyone but you change her dressing.”
Lucian finally had somewhere to direct his anger. “Doesn’t the hospital have physicians? I’m not her doctor.” The guard immediately lowered his head in fear.
He turned back to Mara, his voice softening slightly. “You’re still blaming me for what happened to Theo, aren’t you? That day was an accident. Once you recover, we can have other pups.”
He reached out to take her hand as he spoke, but she pulled it away.
A flash of shock crossed his eyes. Before he could speak, the sound of a crutch hitting the floor echoed from the hallway.
Selena stood outside the door, leaning against the wall. A thin piece of gauze was taped to her knee, but she looked so weak she might collapse at any moment.
“I heard Mara got into an accident, so I wanted to come see her,” she murmured.
She took two steps forward before stumbling. Acting purely on instinct, Lucian caught her and pulled her into his arms.
Leaning against his chest, her eyes welled up with tears as she looked toward the hospital bed. “Mara, I’m so sorry. I never thought Theo would die, so please don’t hate me.”
The room fell silent for a long time.
In the past, merely hearing her son’s name would have made her lose control. She would have lunged forward to tear away Selena’s hypocritical facade, and she would have grabbed Lucian to demand why he was still holding the person responsible for Theo Thorne’s death.
This time, she merely closed her eyes.
Lucian stared at her pale, thin face, feeling a sudden, inexplicable tightness in his chest. “I’m going to take Selena back to her room,” he said softly. “I’ll be right back.”
He carried Selena away, but he didn’t return that night.
At two in the morning, she received a call from the Northstar Sanctuary.
“Dr. Vale, the Silver Venom Research Program in the Northern Reach will be locked down tomorrow night. Once you enter the sanctuary, you won’t be able to leave for at least 10 years, nor can you maintain any personal contact with your former pack. Are you absolutely certain you want to accept the position of chief physician?”
“I am,” she replied firmly.
“What about your Luna contract?” the caller asked.
She glanced at the notification on her terminal. The bond dissolution petition she had submitted a month ago had already cleared the mandatory waiting period. All that remained was for her to personally initiate the final seventy-two-hour countdown.
“It will be severed tomorrow,” she said.
She hung up the phone, pulled out her IV needle, and stood up with the help of her crutches.
The silver shrapnel burned in her bones with every step she took, but she didn’t stop. She had to make a trip to the Lunar Registry before dawn, and after that, she would finally leave the Blackthorn territory behind.