Replacement Bride for the Alpha of the North - Chapter 32

Chapter 32: I DON’T WANT HER TO BE MY REGRET
Only heavens knew what would happen if the two of them were left alone. It was very dangerous. Especially after the chaos that almost transpired less than an hour ago.

“Zander…” Pyro tried to talk some sense into him. He already reminded him countless times not to provoke Zenith further than necessary, but this morning, he clearly had stepped out of line and almost created chaos.

However, Zander was still the king, and Zenith might be able to deny him. But aside from his twin brother, everyone else fell into the same category as the king’s subjects.

Axel hoped Pyro could dissuade the king, but the royal beta only managed to call his name before he relented and usher all the people out of the bedroom instead.

Seeing this, they didn’t have any other choice, but to leave as well. Praying there would be no blood spilt in their absence.

When it was only the three of them with Dawn still unconscious, the room became eerily quiet. Despite saying there was something he wanted to talk about with Zenith, Zander remained silent.

Only after a quarter of an hour had passed that the king finally spoke, but even then, it was not about the problem at the dining hall.

“People from the other continents tried to weaken us from inside. I found a traitor, a warrior. He has been sending information to the outside world.” Zander approached the bed, but Zenith growled dangerously, warning him not to take another step closer, which made the king sit down on the seat nearby. “I need them to believe that they managed to fool me.”

“You should have killed the traitor.” Zenith caressed Dawn’s cheek. He listened to what Zander was saying, but at the same time, he put his focus on the woman in his arms. Her body was cold and she looked pale.

Was she that scared?

Now that he was calm enough, Zenith could tell that Zander didn’t really mean to kill her. He knew very well when his brother intended to kill someone.

“You have dealt with him.”

Zenith clenched his jaw. He understood what Zander meant. The man that he sent to kill Dawn was the traitor that he talked about.

He didn’t lose anything when Zenith killed him.

If the traitor managed to kill Dawn, that was good, but he wouldn’t go out of this pack alive, Zander was very sure about that, but even if he didn’t manage to kill Dawn, Zenith would take care of the traitor for him.

In this case, he could get rid of the traitor without raising any suspicion. It was simply death on a mission.

“Stay away from her, Zan. I am dead serious in this matter.” Zenith raised his head to look at Zander for the first time since they entered this room. His expression told him how serious he was with his threat.

“She can kill you.” Zander took off his mask and put it down. The same face stared back at Zenith, but with a different demeanor. “She will kill you. You want to sacrifice yourself? For what?”

“I want her.”

“You will regret it one day.”

Zenith didn’t reply immediately, he stared at Dawn’s sleeping face again, there was this deep sadness in his eyes, which Zander couldn’t see from where he was.

“I had to make sacrifices. I would have regretted either way.” Zenith brushed Dawn’s lips with his thumb gently. “But, I don’t want her to be my regret.”

He had tasted that kind of regret. He knew how it felt and he was not going to walk down the same path.

“What happened to you, Zen?” Zander’s expression hardened. “This is not like you at all.”

Zenith didn’t answer that question. The only thing that he knew was; the dream kept coming back to him. It was more vivid than before.

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“No, please… believe me. I didn’t do it. I will never do that… please, I am your mate, aren’t I?” Dawn was crying at this point, she was begging and kept telling him the truth, but he didn’t believe her at all. He didn’t even spare her a glance.

The look on his face, the way his eyes pierced through her heart, his silence was terrifying, but even more when he started to speak.

“You should be grateful I keep you alive.” Zenith’s voice was dark and unpleasant, it was laced with so much rage and enmity. “Now, live quietly as if you are dead. I don’t want to see your face or hear your voice. Live like that for the rest of your life.”

Her heart shattered to hear such cruel words and when he turned around, she didn’t even have the energy to chase after him, nor did she have the strength to tell him that she was telling the truth.

Everyone said she lied, not a single soul believed her, to the point, she questioned herself and her own sanity.

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When Dawn woke up, she was alone in Zenith’s bedroom, and the sky had turned so dark. She looked around her with her heart beating so fast. She dreamed of something, but she couldn’t remember.

The only thing that left was this restlessness. She felt this deep sadness for no reason at all.

Dawn rubbed her face and touched her tears. “I cried in my sleep?” She frowned. “What I was dreaming about?”

Gradually, Dawn remembered what happened in the dining hall and touched her neck. There was no wound, it must have healed, since it was not a deep wound and her blood had been cleaned too.

She wondered what happened between Zenith and Zander after that.

Did Zenith get punishment under the pretext of attacking the king? Would he get himself into trouble? Dawn couldn’t tell and she couldn’t stay in this bedroom. Sleep had long left her.

Because she couldn’t fall asleep, she decided to walk out of the bedroom and found Thean, Zenith’s personal warrior, right outside of the door.

“What are you doing here? Where is Zenith?” Dawn asked. Why would Zenith put his personal warrior here when he was not around?

“The Alpha is having a conversation with the King right now.” Thean explained that he was there because of the alpha’s order.

“Oh, okay…” Dawn mumbled.

“How are you feeling, my lady?” Thean was very polite with her. He had heard what happened and felt a little bit off with the way the alpha acted around this woman. “Do you need something?”

“I am a little bit hungry…” Dawn admitted. She didn’t even eat breakfast and now it was already late at night, which meant, as far as she knew, she didn’t eat anything for a whole day.

“You can wait inside, I will ask someone to bring something for you to eat.”

“Thank you.”

Dawn returned to her bedroom and waited for her meal. Not so long after, Pyllo came with her food, but before she gave it to her, she cut a small chunk of the meat and ate it.

“What is that for?” Dawn frowned.

“I am sorry, my lady, but the Alpha ordered us to taste the food first in front of you.”

Dawn immediately knew where it came from and just waved her hand for Pyllo to leave her alone. This morning, she was so close to being killed. If this kept going, she would really lose her life one day.

When her stomach was full and the night grew darker, as the temperature became very cold, Dawn decided to sleep.

She didn’t know when exactly Zenith returned, but when she woke up in the morning, the man was already hugging her. No wonder she was sweating. This man was literally all over her.

“Hey, you are suffocating me…” Dawn said in a small voice, trying to get away from his strong arms and long legs. “You are too hot.”

His body temperature was too high, she felt like she was sleeping beside a furnace.

“Zenith?” Dawn frowned, but then when she placed her hand against his chest, she could feel his temperature was not normal. “What is it? You got a fever? Zenith?”

Do shifters fall sick too? Dawn had never heard about shifters getting sick, especially a mere fever.

“Zenith, you are burning.”

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Emily started showing, she could hide it when she was wearing a cloak, but when she dressed modestly, you would be able to see that little bump.

This made Luna Julia excited, she always talked about how she would be a grandmother and prompted Alpha Tony to immediately hold the ceremony for the two of them every now and then.

However, in Julia’s joyful moment, one thing that hit Tony hard was the fact that while the baby would be Julia’s first grandchild, that baby wouldn’t be related to him at all.

This was not a baby that came from Dawn. He didn’t feel any connection whatsoever and as the days passed, the more resentment he felt toward Julia and Emily. The two of them acted as if Dawn had never been there, as if his daughter had never existed.

“Sooner or later, you need to pass down your title to Blake, it will be better to announce it during the ceremony,” Julia suggested one bleak morning.

“What do you mean?”

Julia blinked her eyes and explained this matter, as if she broke it down to a toddler how to count. “This is very obvious right? Blake will be the future alpha of this pack. You said it yourself,” she reminded him.

“He would have been the future alpha of the pack had he been with Dawn. What I said is not relevant anymore.”

Julia was furious when she heard that.