Alpha's STOLEN Mate Chapter 120

Elowen

Sera departed as elegantly as she'd arrived, gliding toward her carriage without a backward glance.

"Mother!" Kaius called after her. "When I have news about Father—when we find him—I'll send word immediately!"

She paused at the carriage door, one hand on the gilded frame. Without turning, her voice drifted back: "If he returns as anything other than a corpse, there's no need to inform me of bad news."

Then she was gone, the carriage rolling away down the long drive.

Kaius turned to me with a self-deprecating smile. "God. That's what passes for love in my family."

I was still processing everything Sera had told me—the scars, the warnings, the talk of Berserker blood and Lycan transformations. My mind felt like it was spinning in circles.

"Elowen?" Kaius's voice pulled me back. "What's wrong? Did she say something to upset you? Did she criticize you?" He moved closer, concern evident. "Don't take it personally. She means well, in her own twisted way."

A cold laugh escaped me. "Well! She certainly seems selfless, doesn't she?"

Then I looked at him directly. "She showed me her face. The scars. Your father did that to her, didn't he?"

Kaius's expression tightened. "She shouldn't have shown you that." He ran a hand through his hair, clearly uncomfortable. "But yes. From my earliest memories, my father was everything an Alpha King should be—decisive, fair, strategic. He was respected by his warriors, trusted by his allies, even admired by his enemies for his honor."

His voice dropped. "But with my mother... it was different. He had no patience with her. No control. He'd lose his temper over the smallest things and—" He stopped, jaw clenched.

I could see the pain there—old wounds from a childhood spent watching his mother suffer. This was Kaius's own scar, deep and never fully healed.

I reached up and pressed my finger gently to his lips, silencing him. *Enough. You don't need to relive this.*

After a moment, I met his eyes with all the certainty I could muster. "I won't become your mother."

Confusion and something like fear flashed across his face. "What? You think—God, Elowen, do you think I would hurt you?" His hands found my shoulders, grip almost desperate. "Whatever you're imagining, whatever she put in your head—"

I kissed him. Soft, brief, but definitive. The conversation was over.

---

We were heading back inside when Evelyn appeared from around a corner, practically bouncing with energy.

"There you are!" I said, grinning despite my lingering unease. "I haven't seen you in two days. What happened to our Chief Elder? Did he finally get tired of your company?"

"Don't be crude!" Evelyn looked genuinely offended. "Faelan and I aren't engaged in some tawdry affair. We're Grimoire Companions!" She said it with such pride, like she'd invented a new title.

"Grimoire Companions?" I couldn't help but laugh. "Is that what we're calling it now? Because I distinctly remember you not returning to your room last night. Or the night before. So where exactly have you been?"

Evelyn's grin turned wicked. "If I told you we spent two straight nights in a single room reading *The Witch's Labyrinth of Eternal Moonlight*, would you believe me?"

"If it's Faelan we're talking about," Kaius interjected with amusement, "I'd absolutely believe it. That man values books more than he values human interaction."

"Well!" Evelyn huffed. "Just because we're Grimoire Companions doesn't mean we can't do... other things." The way she said it carried heavy implications. "I'll have you know that witches possess charms that ordinary people can't even comprehend. But once someone truly understands our allure—once they get it—they become utterly intoxicated. Obsessed. Consumed."

Kaius held up his hands. "My mistake. I apologize. Just... please don't destroy our Chief Elder completely. I still need him functional for the investigation."

"Oh, don't worry." Evelyn pulled a folder from her bag with a flourish. "I made sure he finished your little assignment before we dove into the next six hundred chapters tonight. You know how slowly he reads, right? Painfully slow. So I gave him extra motivation to wrap up his research quickly."

She thrust the folder at Kaius. "This contains Faelan's analysis—multiple formulations that should counteract Flesh-Weaver control magic. Complete with ingredient lists, proportions, and where to acquire each component."

Kaius opened it immediately, scanning the contents. His eyes lit up as he read. "This is... incredibly detailed. He's identified four different antidote variants, cross-referenced with historical cases—"

"There's one problem," Evelyn interrupted. "See that last ingredient? The one with the asterisk?"

Kaius's face fell slightly. "Moonpetal essence. Only available at... Lysandra's sanctuary."

"Exactly." Evelyn's expression grew more serious. "The rest you can buy from various apothecaries and suppliers. But that one? You'll need to visit our reclusive witch friend."

Kaius looked at me, energy returning to his features. "Elowen. We finally have actionable intelligence. We can actually start working toward a solution."

I nodded, determination settling over me. "Then let's not waste time."

---

With my lightning rifts, gathering the ingredients was absurdly efficient. We appeared outside an apothecary in the Southern Territories, collected rare herbs and crystallized minerals, then jumped to the Northern Markets for alchemical bases and preserved specimens.

Within an hour, we had everything except the moonpetal essence, all carefully stored in enchanted vials in Kaius's pack.

"Lysandra's cave next," I said, already forming the mental image of her sanctuary. The hidden entrance, the winding passages, the chamber where she'd healed Frost—

I tore open a rift and we stepped through.

The world reformed around us, and we stood at the entrance to Lysandra's sanctuary.

Except something was terribly, horribly wrong.