Alpha King Xavier - Chapter 78: Chapter 78

Xavier
“What did you do?” A man snapped at the seven-year-old boy that was already shaking in front of him.
The boy raised his head slowly, but he soon looked away. “Fa_ther,” he called in a shaky voice.
“Don't call me one!” the man yelled again, and the boy jumped up. “You are not fit to call me one. My blood will never be a coward! You see! That's what you are! A coward!” he announced in a deep, clear voice.
The young boy couldn't look up again. He was terrified by the expression on his father's face and the harshness in his voice.
“Please, let my friend go.” His voice shook with a slight tremor to it. “Don't harm Rick,” he pleaded softly.
The man huffed. “Who said you are in the position to beg for his life? Have you begged for yours?” He hissed, turned around, and started to walk away. He stopped to look at his beta.“Lock him up. No food or water for two days. He will start his training immediately. If he hesitates, kill his best friend.”
I woke up with a gasp. I coughed several times and hurried out of the bed to drink water.
The dreams, the fear—they were all coming back.
I'm suddenly in the middle again. I've promised to find Gwen, but then I also promised to give Autumn what she wanted.
But I can't die yet, until I find Gwen.
And it doesn't even look like I can do such a little thing. Why is it so difficult to find Gwen?
The door opened suddenly, and my nose twitched at the familiar scent. It's Rick. Does he ever sleep?
“Are you alright?” he asked and moved closer to me.
I managed a nod. “Just the same old dream.”
Rick sighed. “Why is it coming back now?”
I thought about it as well and scoffed. I knew the answer. I didn't need to search for too long.
I've always had the dreams over and over again until a few years after my father died and I found Gwen.
“Xavier!” Rick called worriedly.
I looked up at him and forced a smile to my face. “Yes?”
Rick walked closer to me. “I don't like this. Tell me, what have you been thinking?”
I looked away again. I seriously have no answer for that. I have been thinking about a lot of things.
“I'm currently thinking of the meeting I have with all the Alphas tomorrow.“
“We will find Gwen,” he assured me.
“And if we are not able to?”
He sighed. “You've tried your best, Xavier. You are not to blame.”
I closed my eyes mentally for a moment before I looked up at Rick again. “I killed my mother, Rick. And I almost killed you. Now, my mate is missing,” I scoffed, embarrassed at myself. “My father trained me to be strong, to be very powerful.”
“No! He trained you to be wicked and callous! Just like him!” Rick cuts in. “And you didn't kill your mother; your father did,” he corrected.
I regarded him for a moment. “He killed my mother, Rick. He made me a coward, actually. He made me weak. If I can't protect my mate, who then can I protect? That makes me weak!”
Rick started to shake his head. “You protected Autumn. You woke up at the right time. If not, it would have been more disastrous now.”
For no reason, I felt satisfied in my soul just hearing that. That I was at least able to stop myself from making a forever mistake. I found myself looking away and thinking about it at the same time.
Autumn has recently taken half the space of my heart. No matter how hard I try, it's just not possible.
“You love her, don't you?”
I scoffed. “I don't.”
“You can't lie to me, Xavier. I've known you since forever.”
I looked at him again. “I must be insane if I love Autumn when I'm expecting Gwen to return to me. Do I plan on marrying them both?” I moved away, signifying to him that I was done with the conversation.
But Rick followed me. “You can't always avoid the topic. You will talk about it one day. You hated the moon goddess for not returning your mother to you. You begged her to for days. You starved yourselves.”
I swallowed harder on the lump that had suddenly appeared in my throat. It suddenly felt like I couldn't breathe. Rick was opening a wound I have always wanted to keep hidden forever.
“But she didn't. That was why you swore not to follow her rules. That was why you promised not to marry your fated mate like the moon goddess will want you to.”
“Stop!” I found myself screaming.
I couldn't keep listening. I didn't want to listen anymore.
“I will keep talking, Xavier. You won't stop me this time. We are at a war, and it's better we get ourselves in one boat.”
I turned to look at him again, almost shifting in the process. Without looking at myself, I knew I was in beast mode.
Rick ignored this and continued. “When your mate went missing, you blamed the moon goddess too because you felt she was the reason you had such a wicked man as a father. She was the reason why your life is such a mess.”
I took two steps forward and filled the space in between us. I gripped Rick by the neck and pinned him against the wall.
“Stop talking!” I thundered.
"_a father that threatened to kill your best friend if you didn't behave well. But even though you weren't able to save your mother, you saved me, Xavier. If you hadn't stood strong then, I and my family would have been dead.”
This was the dream I had just now.
I can still remember everything though, as if it happened yesterday.
I felt a pain stabbed my heart suddenly. My hand faltered, and I dropped Rick. Or maybe I intentionally wanted to.
Different images flooded through my mind at once, giving me back the pains I had desperately wanted to bury.
“And now, you saved your true mate,” I heard Rick say, even though, at this point, I had no idea where he was. It felt like he was far away, yet so close.
“But not only that, the moon goddess gave you Autumn. She gave her back to you.”
Enough!
I looked up, and my gaze searched around me quickly. Rick was still where I left him; I was in fact the one that had moved away.
“No, she didn't give her back to me. The moon goddess wanted to punish me.”
I've thought about it, but it was not until recently that I got the answers.
Rick raised his brows. “That's all you ever want to think, Xavier.”
“Because that's the truth! Autumn is my doom!” I yelled, turned around, and walked out of the room.
I didn't want to say much. Rick wasn't supposed to even know to this extent. He wasn't supposed to know I have a countdown already. That Autumn has a wolf, and she's powerful enough to kill me.
How do you all feel about Xavier? Looks like Autumn is his doom and well, he was her key.