5

CHAPTER FIVE.

Alpha Jacqueline was recklessly in his chamber. He just received words that his father was at it again, his seizures rose a little bit more than before.

Alpha Jacqueline couldn't go to see the old alpha because he was scared of how much worse he could have turned.

He could have gone to see his father but was scared of breaking down and lashing out at the healers who were doing close to nothing. Though even without checking, he could guess his father's presence changes.

The old alpha, who was strong and handsome before, had turned frail, with weak skin wrinkled and eyes escaping into his head. He was in great pain, and there was no sight of Carl, neither was there Rosalie.

Alpha Jacqueline tried to connect with Carl through his mind and finally, he was able to reach him after a lot of trial, "Where are you?" His voice was a mix of worries and coldness.

"We're almost in the castle, my alpha." Carl's response was very calm.

"Get here immediately." Alpha Jacqueline commanded and blocked Carl off.

After hearing from Carl and blocking him off, Alpha Jacqueline's emotions and feelings changed. He had been clouded with the thoughts of his dying father at first and had not really focused on other things, but now, it drew on him that Rosalie would be here with Carl, his childhood friend whom he ditched for his true mate who turned out to be nothing but a bitch.

He became anxious. He had heard everything about what was going on with Rosalie lately, and how much he hated that she moved on so quickly. To him, six years were like a twinkle of an eye, she was too quick to move on and forget him like she never cared.

A frown crept on his handsome face and his hands involuntarily clenched. His teeth clasped in annoyance, and he suddenly developed a hatred for Rosalie. He knew he would make her see she couldn't live without him, and he would always remain her first choice.

Alpha Jacqueline's nose picked a familiar scent of sweat and manly cologne with a faint fragrance of sweet and vanilla. His frown dropped before his legs acted without his brain and he dashed out of the chamber to the stairs where the scents before so strong, and there they were, Carl and Rosalie.

His face rated red, and he began to glare at Carl's hands, which were around Rosalie. His heart, which he had always thought was dead, began to beat faster, and his head almost busted because of the way Rosalie was coiled up in Carl's hand.

He tried to look away and contain his anger, but he couldn't and he felt so strange for an alienated emotions to cloud him whole.

Carl got to where he was standing with that chill aura oozing from him, he bowed, "Alpha Jacqueline."

Jacqueline ignored his acknowledgement, "What took you so long and why were you blocking off all my trials of communication?!" He lashed at Carl.

"I dare not block you off my mind, alpha Jacqueline, never. It must be the barrier between our world and that of the humans, you made it strong and almost impenetrable, maybe that's why you couldn't reach me, but all the same, I'm sorry for keeping you waiting." Carl bowed again and couldn't look up to Jacqueline's eyes. He knew in a moment like that, Jacqueline shouldn't be pushed to the edge.

Alpha Jacqueline was able to pull himself together when he saw the sincerity in Carl, and his anger reduced before drifting his eyes towards Rosalie. He needed no one to tell him what was going on to see her looking numb, "You forced her here."

"She refused to see you, so I brought her forcefully like you had wanted."

"Good. Bring her to father's room, he became worse."

"After you, my alpha."

Alpha Jacqueline glared at Carl but began to lead the way to his father's chamber afterwards. He had his hands tucked into his pants pocket, and his steps were fast but barely heard. It was as though he was sneaking, which he wasn't.

They go to the old alpha's room, and the healers who were surrounding the bed give way for them to walk through to have access to the dying man.

Jacqueline rushed to him, "Father!" He called and held his father's hand which had gone cold, and his eyes were shut.

The old alpha was looking worse than Jacqueline's imagination. He was looking so dead and old.

The old alpha was only a 700-year-old werewolf, and he should be looking so young and handsome like a 40-year-old human, but the sickness had eaten up everything wolfie in him. He had become a weak human, and his age caught up with him, causing his wrinkles and shrinking skin.

If it's not that he still possessed his scent, Jacqueline could have vowed that a weak human was personifying his father.

He turned his worried eyes to Carl, "Why are you still holding her dear? Wake her up and let her begin her treatment on my father." He snapped at his beta.

Carl bowed, "I'm sorry, alpha."

Carl dropped Rosalie to her feet and swept her hair to her back to see her face, before running his palm all over her face, and like that, Rosalie sneezed back awake.

Her eyes ran around the unfamiliar room, not taking note of the familiar faces in the room, "Where am I?" She questioned aloud.

Alpha Jacqueline was too impatient to watch her cluelessness, he got hold of her arm from behind and pulled her to her purpose of calling, "Heal him!" He commanded her harshly, pointing at the old alpha.

Rosalie stared at the old man on the bed, and immediately backed away from the side, "Alpha Cosmos!" She recognised the man on the bed.

Slowly, her eyes went to the man who pulled her, and there he was, the man she loved most in the world, who was also the man she hated most. "Jacqueline." She mumbled.

That single word held all the pain in her heart, the bite and peak, different from what she had always felt whenever she saw him, all she felt was pain, nothing but pain. Though she couldn't deny she missed him, if he could say sorry to her, Rosalie was ready to throw herself in his arms like in the old days.

She still loved him as much as she hated him.

Alpha Jacqueline was not in the mood for any sort of familiarity. He huffed, and his glare rested on Rosalie's face, "Do your fucking job here and stop behaving like a wet puppy who lost his way!" He snapped at her.

He's changed, Rosalie noticed, and the old her must have recoiled and run to the bed to heal the old alpha just to please Jacqueline, but at that moment, she was dead. That side of her died just now, when the look Jacqueline was casting at her was not at all what she expected. He managed to hurt her yet again, but she would prove her changes too.

"No!"

Alpha Jacqueline staggered in shock, "What?"

"I said no! I won't heal the old alpha." Rosalie declared, mirroring herself up like a little devil.

"You've got to be kidding me!" Jacqueline's emotions got the best of him, and he grabbed her neck, pushing her to the nearby wall, "What do you mean 'no'? Do you think I was requesting for you to heal him? I commanded you to do so, and that's what you'll do!"

"I won't!" Rosalie strongly disagreed.

Jacqueline's eyes turned black in anger and his grip tightened. He was so mad, and the fact that his father was the only family he had left, but the strong-headed woman was not ready to heal him til she tasted his wrath.

"You will heal him!" His voice hardened, "You will!"

"Alpha Jacqueline!" Carl gasped and hit Jacqueline's hand away.

Alpha Jacqueline shot him daggers with his eyes. "What do you think you're doing?"

Carl held his gaze, "I'm sorry, alpha, I had to stop you. Seeing that she's not as strong as she should be, you'll kill her, and no hope will be left of your father anymore. Also, she's your best friend, you'll regret it if she dies in your hands."

Alpha Jacqueline was frustrated, he ran his fingers through his hair and made to talk, but one of the healers in the room gasped out. "T.... The old alpha, he... he is....." She was shaking, so she couldn't complete her words.

Alpha Jacqueline rushed to her frightfully, "What's happened to him?"

She gasped more, "The old alpha is breathing his last."

Jacqueline immediately turned to Rosalie, who was still massaging her strangled neck on the floor, and she was coughing, "Please, I beg you, heal my father." He fell on his knees, clasping his hands together, "Please, for the sake of old days. Please."