MATED TO THE SECRET ALPHA
Chapter 218: Alpha Dennis

Chapter 218: Alpha Dennis

Reana stood stunned.

She felt nothing, except a cold, horrible nothingness in her chest where there used to be light. A thread. A bond.

She wasn’t mated to Ryder—at least, not this ’lifetime’, but she felt an instant connection. However, right now, Reana’s heart was hollow.

She felt fear.

The type that makes you get cold feet and your teeth chatter, even when you stand under the sun.

The kind that settles deep in your gut and claws up your throat like bile.

The sort of fear that didn’t scream, but whispered, ’He’s gone.’

"No..." Reana mumbled, eyes fixed on the distant ruins, now obscured by smoke and crumbling stone.

She didn’t blink. She didn’t breathe.

Her hands shook as she touched her chest. Her heart was beating rapidly, as if attempting to leap from her chest.

She and Ryder didn’t need links and bonds. His presence in her heart felt like something permanent. Like her soul had been stitched to his before time began.

And now?... There was nothing... Only cold.

A soft whimper escaped her lips, and she stumbled forward.

"Luna—" Marcus reached for her, his hand trembling ever so slightly.

"Don’t touch me!" she snapped. Her voice cracked as she pulled back, eyes wild and unfocused.

Reana turned to the six warriors, her voice rising, trembling with a fury that bordered on madness.

"I want every single one of you up that mountain! I don’t care if you have to crawl. Dig with your fangs if you have to—but find him!"

No one moved.

Their eyes glistened. Shoulders trembled. Even the bravest and strongest of them—Marcus—looked broken.

And that further served to irritate Reana. "You don’t get to stand there feeling hopeless!" she roared. "He’s in there—under the rubble—waiting for us to bring him home. So go! Bring my mate back to me!" Her arm shot out, finger stabbing the air toward the ruins. "NOW!"

That shattered the silence. It broke the dam of grief holding them still.

The warriors surged forward, snapping into motion, sprinting toward the devastation like wolves unleashed.

They all knew it was too late. The seal, the connection they had with their Alpha has snapped.

Their Alpha had gone to find them earlier, and charged them with protecting his woman with their lives —if the need ever rose.

They were baffled by that order, but now, they finally understood why. It was a farewell message.

Marcus watched the warriors dive into the ruins, eyes red from holding back his tears. He stepped closer to Reana, hoping to break her illusion. Lowering his voice, he began. "Luna. He—"

"He isn’t," she bit out through gritted teeth. "He can’t be."

Tears slipped down her cheeks, and she furiously wiped it. Her legs gave out, but she caught herself. Her body and soul, even her wolf, knew Ryder had met a devastating end, but Reana refused to accept it.

She stared at the ruins, whispering under her ragged breath: "Please... come back. Just come back to me."

Marcus stares at their crumbling Luna who was refusing to believe the obvious. Alpha Snow might be unnatural, but there was no way he could survive that devastation. Not to mention, their link has been severed and his life lamp would have gone off already.

The Dark Snow Pack members all had life lambs suspended in their temple. Once they die, the lamp goes out.

The Dark Snow Pack members would soon pour into the Mainland and nowhere would be safe for any pack...even him.

Marcus clenched his fists, heart heavy as he hoped upon hope for a miracle.

Meanwhile, the drama from Rena and her warriors had snapped everyone else from their stunned state, but not the Alphas, their warriors, or the watchers of the sacred ground dared to move.

None of them understood what happened there. Even the black figure that was blown out of the cave earlier on was nowhere to be found now.

"What happened?" someone mumbled.

"It–it looked like an earthquake...?"

"An earthquake does not explain what we’ve just witnessed. Someone broke through the walls and flew out like a ragdoll."

All eyes turned to the distance where the figure in black had been, but now, the person was gone but the deep gush he left behind sat on the field like a reminder that what they saw wasn’t an illusion.

"What kind of power was that?" Alpha Harrex whispered.

"Not ours," Alpha Dren replied. "Not any pack’s."

An eerie wind passed through the valley, stirring the ashes. It carried a scent none of them recognized—ancient, electric, and cold as death.

Just then, Alpha Dennis, who’d been watching Reana from the onset, opened his mouth.

"Luna Reana of the Black Moon Pack seems to know what happened here today." His voice cut through the murmurs. "Can you enlighten us, Luna?"

Reana didn’t answer. She probably didn’t even hear him.

Her gaze was still fixed on the mountain, as if sheer willpower could bend stone and time—could peel back the debris and summon Ryder back to her. Her lips trembled as she silently mouthed something over and over, a mantra only she could hear.

Marcus frowned, stepped forward and positioned himself slightly in front of her like a shield. "What does Alpha Dennis of the South Wood Pack mean by that?"

"I speak to your Luna," he growled.

Silence descended as everyone watched the drama. Beta Theon and Alpha Julius watched from the side. They knew that Alpha Dennis had been waiting for a perfect moment to hit Luna Reana, and now was that time to strike.

"My Luna is not obligated to answer you," Marcus shot back, his voice steady but cold.

"Insolence!" Malric barked.

"And you are...?" Marcus’s gaze snapped towards him, voice cutting sharper than ice. "Another puppet with too much bark and no bite?"

Gasps rippled through the gathered crowd. Even the wind seemed to pause, waiting.

Malric’s face turned crimson. Just as he was about to retort, Alpha Dennis raised a hand to silence him, eyes locked on Marcus with a calculating glint. "We all saw what happened here. That blast wasn’t natural. That creature wasn’t normal. And now it’s vanished. Your Luna seems to know something, seeing that her so-called mate is involved. So, don’t you agree that she owes the rest of us an explanation for destroying our sacred ground?"

Reana’s shoulders twitched.

A flicker.

Marcus felt it, saw the way her hands clenched at her sides. Theon stepped forward now, finally intervening...