Chapter 253
Atasha’s POV
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Are you alright, father? I asked as I watched his hand tremble around the empty glass, his knuckles whitening as he tried steady himself. It was not my words that did this to him.
it was what stood a few steps away.
Celeste lay on the other bed.
Her face was barely recognizable.
Ulcerated wounds spread across her skin in angry clusters, some already darkening at the edges like they were rotting from the inside out. Her lips were cracked and stained, her breathing shallow and uneven. Whatever had touched her had not stopped at the surface. It had eaten inward, leaving her body looking like it was being punished for staying alive.
The smell reached us a second later.
It clung to the air and crawled into the back of my throat, thick enough that even I had to slow my breathing. I saw my father flinch when it hit him, his stomach tightening, his face turning a shade paler.
“What… what happened to her,” Collin asked, his voice strained.
“Poison.” I said quietly. “From the Demon Fangs.”
His head snapped toward me. “Demon Fangs.”
“Yes,” I replied. “They used something new on her. Something meant to rot slowly.”
I stepped closer to Celeste’s bed, my expression tightening just enough to look pained, restrained, and concerned.
“I tried to heal her,” I said. “But I couldn’t.”
That part came easily.
“Whatever they used wasn’t just poison,” I continued. “She’s been cursed.”
Obviously, I had not tried to heal Celeste at all.
Not once.
But my father did not need that truth yet.
Collin’s breathing grew rougher, his chest hitching as he stared at Celeste, disbelief and horror fighting for dominance in his eyes. His body reacted before his pride could stop it.
He coughed.
Blood spilled into his palm again, splattering against the floor this time. His shoulders shook as he struggled to breathe through it, his body protesting the shock piled on top of what it had just survived.
I moved immediately, placing a hand on his back as if to steady him.
“Easy,” I said softly. “You’re still weak.”
He wiped his mouth with trembling fingers, smearing red across his skin, then looked at me again. “You didn’t want to bring me here,” he said, more statement than question.
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Chapter 253
I nodded slowly
“No,” I said. “I didn’t,”
That part was true.
D
“But this is the reality of Nightfall now,” I continued. “This is what’s left.”
He swallowed hard.
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“William worked with Demon Fangs,” I said. “He planned this for years. The poison and the cave as well as the underground
forces.”
I kept my gaze lowered.
“He believed Nightfall was already dead,” I added. “Because its Alpha had been asleep for too long.”
Collin stiffened.
“He thought the pack was useless,” I went on. “Leaderless and easy to break.”
My father closed his eyes briefly, his jaw tightening as he forced himself to breathe evenly again. When he opened his eyes, they were glassy, but focused.
“And if I hadn’t arrived with the Northerners,” I said quietly. “He would have succeeded.”
Silence pressed down on the room.
The distant drip of water sounded too loud.
Collin’s shoulders sagged slightly. He looked older in that moment. Which almost made me laugh. Collin knew about the cave and demon fangs. It made me wonder if he is going to pin everything on William.
I straightened and turned slightly toward the others in the room.
“Help him back to his quarters,” I instructed. “He needs rest. He needs time.”
Healers stepped forward, supporting my father as he slowly rose from the chair. He hissed softly when his legs protested, another cough tearing through him, but he did not resist.
As they guided him toward the door, his eyes lingered on Celeste one last time.
Then on me.
I met his gaze calmly and nodded. Then I watched the
guide him out.
Two healers supported his arms while another stayed close behind in case his legs gave out again. Collin tried to keep his chin lifted, tried to walk like an Alpha returning to his quarters and not a sick man who had just coughed blood onto the floor. Every few steps his body betrayed him anyway, shoulders tightening, breath catching, the faint tremor in his hands impossible to hide.
He did not look back at Celeste again.
He looked at me once more before the doorway swallowed him, and I gave him the same calm nod I had offered earlier.
The door shut.
The room felt larger after that, emptier, even with Celeste still lying there like a warning no one wanted to touch. The smell stayed. The torchlight continued to flicker. The drip of water kept time.
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Chapter 253
Cassian stepped closer, his presence filling the space the moment my father was gone.
He did not ask gently.
“Why are you letting him go?” Cassian said.
I turned my head slightly toward him, letting my expression soften into something polite.
“If I don’t,” I said. “How will I know who he is working with?”
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Cassian’s gaze stayed fixed on my face, like he already knew the answer and was waiting to see how much I would admit out loud. I kept the smile, but inside my thoughts moved faster.
Collin Black had always been treacherous.
He was the kind of man who called himself Alpha while poisoning the true Alpha. The kind who smiled at enemies, shook hands with allies, then stabbed whoever was easiest the moment no one was looking. He had hidden behind laws when laws protected him, and ignored them the moment power allowed it.
Now he had woken up and realized one thing.
He did not have control anymore.
He could pretend, he could posture, he could demand, but the pack was not his. The North was in his house. His Beta was in a cell. His daughter was not his daughter, and she was standing on the other side of every door.
Collin knew that.
And a cornered rat would do anything to survive.
He would crawl. He would bargain. He would sell names.
He would lead me to every snake that helped him.
I looked at Cassian. “Tonight,” I said quietly. “He will start moving again. He will try to reach someone. He will try to make promises. He will try to trade something for safety.”
Cassian’s mouth tightened, his eyes narrowing slightly. “And you’ll let him.”
I smiled at that.
That night, the rain returned.
It started as a steady tap against the windows, then grew heavier until the sound filled the corridor outside my room, a constant wash that made the packhouse feel smaller, trapped between wet stone and the storm.
I stood by the window and watched the darkness beyond the glass. Water streaked down in crooked lines, blurring the courtyard lights until they looked distant and weak.
It reminded me of another night.
It had rained like this when Cassian let me see the truth about my so–called family. When the last scraps of hope I had been clinging to were ripped out of my hands and thrown into the mud. When I finally understood that there had never been love in that house, only ownership and convenience.
My fingers curled around the edge of the windowsill as I stared out.
Then I heard the soft clink of porcelain behind me.
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Chapter 253
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Cassian was at the small table near the fireplace, sitting like the storm had nothing to do with him. A cup of tea rested in his hand, Steam rose from it in thin trails. His posture looked relaxed, but I knew better than to confuse that with comfort.
He was simply waiting.
Always waiting.
I turned away from the window and walked toward him.
Cassian’s eyes lifted to me immediately, tracking every step, taking in my face like he was reading what I refused to say out loud.
I stopped beside the table and looked down at him.
“Shall we go on a night stroll?” I asked.
