THE ALPHA WHO HATED ME - Chapter 41: Chapter 41

**Ronan's POV**
The dreams start three nights after Celeste's party. Three nights since I confronted her about what she did to Evangeline. Three nights since I stood in my driveway afterward, staring at the cracked binding stone and trying to convince myself that defending her meant nothing.
At first, I think it's guilt. The normal kind of guilt that comes from letting someone get hurt on your watch. The kind that makes you toss and turn and question whether you did enough.
But these dreams are different.
They're too real. Too vivid. Too full of details I shouldn't know.
In the first dream, I'm standing in a forest I've never seen before. Ancient trees stretch toward a sky that's too dark, too full of stars that pulse like heartbeats. The air tastes of magic and danger and something else I can't name.
And there she is.
Evangeline.
But not the Evangeline I know. This version of her glows with silver light, her eyes burning like miniature suns. She's kneeling beside a dying tree, her hands pressed against its bark. Green energy flows from her fingertips, and the tree shudders back to life.
She looks up at me, and her face is streaked with tears and blood.
"You're too late," she whispers. "You're always too late."
I try to run to her, but my feet won't move. I try to speak, but no words come out. I can only watch as shadows rise from the ground around her, reaching for her with claws made of darkness.
She doesn't fight them. She just looks at me with those burning eyes and says, "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."
Then the shadows swallow her whole, and I wake up screaming.
The second night, the dream is worse.
I'm in the same forest, but this time I can move. I run through the trees, branches tearing at my clothes, calling her name. But every time I think I'm getting closer, she seems farther away.
I find her in a clearing, surrounded by men in dark clothes. They have her on her knees, her hands bound behind her back. One of them holds a knife to her throat.
"You brought this on yourself," he says. "Your kind should have stayed hidden."
She looks right at me, even though I'm hidden in the trees. "Tell him," she says. "Tell him I never wanted this."
"Tell who?" I try to shout, but my voice comes out as a whisper.
"Tell him I'm sorry."
The knife moves, and I wake up with her blood on my hands.
The third night is the worst of all.
In this dream, I'm not in the forest. I'm in my own bedroom, but it's wrong. The walls are covered in symbols I don't understand, and the air smells like copper and fear.
Evangeline sits on the edge of my bed, but she's not alive. Her skin is pale as moonlight, her eyes hollow and empty. Blood stains the front of her dress, spreading like spilled wine.
"You could have saved me," she says, her voice coming from very far away. "You could have chosen differently."
"I tried," I whisper. "I tried to protect you."
"You tried to protect your image. Your reputation. Your comfortable life." She reaches out and touches my face with fingers that feel like ice. "You never tried to protect me."
"I can try now. I can fix this."
She laughs, and the sound is like breaking glass. "There's nothing left to fix. I'm already gone."
"No, you're not. You're right here."
"Am I?" She starts to fade, becoming translucent. "Are you sure?"
I reach for her, but my hands pass through empty air. "Don't go. Please don't go."
"I have to. They're coming for me. They're coming for all of us."
"Who's coming? Who's they?"
But she's already gone, and I'm alone in a room that smells like death and regret.
I wake up gasping, my sheets soaked with sweat. My heart pounds so hard I think it might break my ribs. The binding stone around my neck burns against my skin, hot as molten metal.
I tear it off and throw it across the room. It hits the wall with a crack that sounds too loud in the silence.
My bedroom is exactly as I left it. No symbols on the walls. No smell of copper. No ghost sitting on my bed.
But I can still feel her presence. Still hear her voice echoing in my head.
*Tell him I'm sorry.*
Tell who? Sorry for what?
I stumble to the bathroom and splash cold water on my face. The mirror shows a stranger staring back at me. Dark circles under my eyes. Hollow cheeks. Skin that's too pale, too drawn.
I look like I'm dying.
Maybe I am.
The binding stone lies on the floor where I threw it, the crack I noticed before spreading like a spider web across its surface. Silver light seeps through the fractures, pulsing in rhythm with my heartbeat.
Or maybe not my heartbeat. Maybe someone else's.
I pick up the stone, wincing as it burns my palm. The moment my skin touches it, images flood my mind. Not dreams this time. Something else. Something that feels real but makes no sense.
Evangeline in a forest, her hands glowing with strange light. Animals that seem to be speaking to her, though I can't understand how. A fountain showing her things I can't make sense of - flashes of fire and shadow and faces I don't recognize.
And through it all, her wolf. But not the quiet, suppressed creature I've always sensed through our bond. This wolf is different. Older somehow. Like it's been sleeping for ages and finally woke up.
*She's changing,* my own wolf whispers. *She's becoming something we don't understand.*
"Becoming what?"
*Something that was never meant to be controlled.*
The images shift, and I see her in places I've never been. With people I don't recognize. But they all look wrong somehow. Like they're not quite human. Not quite wolf either.
What is she getting involved with? What kind of people is she meeting?
The weight of that knowledge hits me like a physical blow. She's not just an Omega. She's not just some girl from my school. She's... something else. Something I don't understand.
And I let people treat her like garbage.
The binding stone grows hotter in my palm, and I see one more image. Evangeline walking through empty streets, her face streaked with tears. She's leaving. Running away from something.
Or someone.
The image fades, leaving me standing in my bedroom, holding a cracked stone and drowning in something I don't want to name.
I threw the stone to stop the connection, but it's too late. The bond between us is stronger than the magic that was supposed to suppress it. I can feel her out there, somewhere in the darkness, scared and alone and thinking no one gives a damn about her.
She's wrong.
I do give a damn. I've always... No. That's not what this is. This is just pack responsibility. Alpha duty. The obligation to protect those weaker than myself.
That's all it is.
That's all it can be.
But maybe being wrong isn't the worst thing in the world. Maybe being a coward is worse.
My phone buzzes on the nightstand. A text from Celeste.
*Can't sleep. Thinking about you. Love you.*
I stare at the message for a long time. Three simple sentences that should make me feel something. Anything.
But all I feel is empty.
I delete the text without responding and sink back onto my bed. The sheets are still damp with sweat, but I don't care. I pull the covers over my head and try to pretend that the dreams aren't real. That the bond isn't pulling me toward someone I'm supposed to forget.
But even with my eyes closed, I can see her face. The way she looked at me in the dreams. Sad and disappointed and utterly alone.
*Tell him I'm sorry.*
Tell who? And sorry for what?
The questions circle in my head like vultures, picking at the remains of my certainty. I used to know exactly who I was supposed to be. The future Alpha. The dutiful son. The perfect mate for a perfect girl from a perfect family.
Now I don't know anything except that some girl from my school is in danger, and I'm the only one who seems to care.
It's not personal. It's just... duty. Pack responsibility. The obligation to protect those who can't protect themselves.
My wolf paces restlessly, agitated by the broken bond and the distance between us and... her. He wants to go to her. Wants to protect her. Wants to make up for all the times we failed her.
But what if it's too late? What if she's already gone?
The thought makes my chest tighten with something that definitely isn't panic. It's just... concern. Natural concern for a pack member in danger.
Or maybe she's blocking me out. Maybe she's learned to shield herself from the connection that's caused her so much pain.
I wouldn't blame her.
I try to reach out through the bond, to sense where she is, but all I feel is emptiness. Like she's moving farther away with each passing second.
Or maybe she's blocking me out. Maybe she's learned to shield herself from the connection that's caused her so much pain.
I wouldn't blame her.
I close my eyes and try to sleep, but every time I drift off, I see her face. Sometimes she's glowing with power. Sometimes she's covered in blood. Sometimes she's just the girl I met on her first day at school, nervous and hopeful and completely unaware of how much I was going to hurt her.
The dreams don't stop. They follow me into the deepest parts of sleep, where I can't hide from the truth I've been avoiding.
I need to protect her.
I've always needed to protect her.
And I'm going to lose her if I don't do something soon.
My wolf grows more agitated with each passing hour, pacing and snarling in the back of my mind. *You waited too long once. Will you do it again?*
"This isn't about waiting. This is about doing what's right for the pack."
*You're Alpha. Start acting like it.*
His words cut deeper than they should. Because he's right. An Alpha protects his pack. All of his pack. Even the ones who don't fit the mold.
Especially the ones who don't fit the mold.
It's not about feelings. It's about duty. About doing what's right. About making sure someone under my protection doesn't get hurt because I was too proud to act.
The binding stone pulses with silver light from the floor, its cracks spreading wider with each beat. Soon it will shatter completely, and then there will be nothing left to hide behind.
No more excuses. No more delays. No more pretending that pack duty doesn't include protecting her.
When morning comes, I'll have to make a choice. The same choice my father made twenty five years ago. The same choice that's been haunting my family for generations.
Choose duty to the pack elders, or choose duty to those who need protection.
Choose the path everyone expects, or choose the path that leads to doing what's right.
The dreams make it clear that I'm running out of time. That whatever she's becoming, whatever danger she's in, it's happening now.
And the only question left is whether I'll be brave enough to choose to help her before it's too late.
Or whether I'll spend the rest of my life dreaming about a girl who died because I was too much of a coward to do my job as a protector.
The stone cracks a little more, and in the silver light that spills out, I see her face one last time.
She's not asking for forgiveness anymore.
She's saying goodbye.
That's when I hear it.
A sound from outside my window that makes my blood turn to ice. A howl, long and mournful, cutting through the night like a knife. But it's not the howl of any wolf I know. It's older. Deeper. Full of pain and power and something that makes every instinct I have scream danger.
I'm at the window before I realize I'm moving, pressing my face against the glass. The yard below is empty, but I can smell something in the air. Something that doesn't belong.
Her scent. Faint but unmistakable.
And underneath it, something else. Something that makes my wolf whimper and retreat to the deepest part of my mind.
The howl comes again, closer this time. Not from the yard, but from the forest beyond. And with it, a single word carried on the wind.
A name I've never heard before, but somehow know is important.
"Lunara."
The binding stone shatters completely, silver light exploding across my room like a star going supernova. And in that light, I see her one last time.
But she's not the girl I knew. She's something else. Something ancient and powerful and utterly alone.
Something that's calling for help.
Something that's running out of time.
The light fades, leaving me standing in darkness, holding pieces of broken stone and finally understanding what I have to do.
I have to find her.
Before it's too late.
Before she disappears forever.
Before I lose the only thing that's ever mattered to me, whether I'm brave enough to admit it or not.