Chapter 563 - I can’t live without her
When the chopper dropped Humphrey and Kylie at the Centenary pack, disappointment hit them the second their feet touched the ground hard enough to knock the air out of their lungs.
The pack was in complete shambles. The grounds that used to buzz with life sat nearly deserted, and the silence hanging over everything felt wrong down to the bone.
No excited voices carried through the air, no warriors moved around with any real purpose, no sense of the strength and order that should have wrapped around an Alpha’s territory like a second skin.
It was like the entire pack had fallen asleep while disaster tore straight through the middle of it and left nothing but wreckage behind. The atmosphere reeked of pure despair, thick enough to taste.
Kylie’s eyes swept across the ruined surroundings, lips pressing into a thin hard line that said more than words ever could. Humphrey’s expression sat even darker, jaw locked tight. Neither of them needed to ask how bad things had gotten. The truth was written all over the empty paths and the quiet that shouldn’t have been there.
Reaching the pack house, they summoned some maids and warriors who laid out every detail of what had gone down, including the full mess of Ravyn and Daisy’s conditions.
Every new revelation piled another heavy weight onto their chests until breathing felt harder than it should.
By the time the last of it came out, Kylie was furious enough that her hands shook, while Humphrey looked like he was barely holding his temper in check, the veins in his neck standing out.
The pair headed straight for the hospital and found Ravyn sleeping like he didn’t have a care left in the world.
For a long moment Humphrey just stood beside the bed staring down at his son, something cold and sharp twisting in his gut.
He didn’t hold back for a second. His hand cracked hard across Ravyn’s face, the sharp sound echoing through the whole ward and jolting the younger man awake.
Ravyn’s eyes opened slow, and instead of getting pissed he just smiled. It was a strange empty smile, like the slap had barely registered through whatever fog he was living in.
Then his gaze slid past Humphrey and Kylie and landed on Doctor Raymond standing right there beside his parents. The smile vanished like someone had wiped it clean off his face.
His eyes hardened in a heartbeat, and all the anger that had been buried under exhaustion came rushing up hot and mean.
"You. What are you still doing here?"
Raymond stiffened hard, looking from Ravyn to Humphrey and Kylie, clearly caught off guard by the raw hostility pouring out of the Alpha’s voice. Ravyn pushed himself higher against the pillows, eyes never leaving the doctor.
"You’ve been working with Daisy all along. Isn’t that why she promoted you? Did you fuck her too?"
Kylie and Humphrey didn’t like the language one bit, but neither of them cut in. The nervous flicker in Raymond’s eyes told them more than any words could. The man was hiding something and doing a piss-poor job of covering it.
"Alpha, I never slept with your wi—"
The word wife never made it all the way out. Ravyn’s entire face twisted with pure fury, lips pulling back.
"If you call her my wife, I will kill you."
Raymond swallowed hard enough that his throat bobbed. The threat wasn’t empty, and there wasn’t a single trace of hesitation in Ravyn’s voice. Raymond dragged in deep breaths trying to steady himself.
"I never slept with her, Alpha. I swear it."
Ravyn stared at him, breathing growing heavier by the second, chest rising and falling hard.
"But you were against Sera too. You pushed me to go after her, to demand things she didn’t want to give, and it tore her up."
The memories surfaced back in one after another. Raymond insisting Ravyn should pay Seraphine to train him like she owed him something. At the time every word had sounded reasonable. Now they looked completely different, twisted and ugly.
One memory after another locked into place and Ravyn felt sick realizing how easily he’d let himself get played.
And after seeing everything that had gone down, Doctor Raymond didn’t have the guts left to keep lying.
"Alpha, those were Daisy’s doings, but there are patients needing my attention."
He turned toward the door like that would somehow get him out clean. "You are fired. Leave this pack now."
Raymond stopped dead. His lips parted like he wanted to plead his case, but one look at Ravyn’s face killed the words right in his throat. There was too much anger sitting in those eyes. Doctor Raymond lowered his head and walked out without another sound.
The second the door clicked shut behind him, Kylie slowly turned toward her son, arms crossing.
"Congratulations. How many doctors do you have left?"
She clapped once, the sound mocking and sharp. Her sarcasm carried heavy disappointment, but underneath it sat something more painful, real concern.
If she’d been the one handling it, she would’ve settled on a punishment that didn’t leave the pack short another trained pair of hands but Ravyn didn’t even flinch.
"Mom, he’s done more harm than good. She tried to copy Seraphine’s cure and thanks to him some of my warriors are paralyzed for good. The humble ones can learn and take over."
His voice came out so quiet and humble that even Gray and Riven, wondered if they were looking at the same man. This wasn’t the Ravyn they knew.
The guy who used to walk into a room and own it now sat on a hospital bed with swollen eyes, exhaustion carved deep into every line of his face, and guilt weighing down every word that left his mouth.
Kylie stared at him for several long seconds. Something had broken clean through inside her son and it showed.
"I see. So why is Daisy still in the dungeon? Give me the key."
Humphrey’s voice cut in hard but Ravyn’s expression locked up tight. He refused without a word, just a hard shake of his head. He knew exactly why his father wanted that key. The pup. Even after everything Daisy had done, Humphrey still wanted to protect the child growing inside her.
"Ravyn, killing Alpha blood can bring curses down on all of us. Exact your revenge after she gives birth."
The second those words left Humphrey’s mouth Ravyn’s face crumpled like someone had reached in and crushed whatever was left holding him together. Neither Kylie nor Humphrey saw it coming. Ravyn broke down hard, tears pouring out of him.
"Curse? She... I killed my own child for her when she knew Bryan wasn’t even mine. I want nothing to do with anything that has her name on it."
His voice cracked so hard it barely held together. He covered his face with both hands but it did nothing to stop the tears. The guilt sat too deep, too heavy.
Kylie’s heart twisted hard at the sight of her son falling apart right in front of her. Humphrey looked away for a second, jaw tightening, unable to watch him break.
They both felt helpless down to their bones, but they would be damned before they told him Seraphine’s child was still alive. That secret could change everything and neither of them was ready to drop it.
"Ravyn, you want nothing to do with Daisy, we hear you. But that pup is our grandchild and we will raise him or her as our own. Now give me the key."
Kylie’s voice came out soft, none of the earlier sarcasm left in it. Just a mother trying to hold together what little remained of her son. Ravyn stared at her through eyes still full of tears.
For a few seconds he didn’t move at all. Then he slowly reached into his trouser pocket, pulled out the key, and set it in his mother’s open hand. Kylie closed her fingers around it tight. A faint smile stretched her lips before she looked at him again.
"You stink. Go shower."
The bluntness of the words almost felt out of place after everything that had just ripped through the room, but somehow it was exactly what Ravyn needed. A tiny reminder that she was still his mother. That despite the wreckage all around them she was still right there.
Kylie and Humphrey turned toward the entrance of the ward. They had barely taken a few steps when Ravyn’s voice stopped them cold, pleading and raw.
"Mom, Dad, please help me win Sera back. I can’t live without her."