Mated To The Crippled Alpha-Chapter 250: The Seer

I used to think dying was the worst thing a person could do to another person. I truly believed that was the edge of cruelty.

But I’ve learned something ugly since then.

There is no edge.

People can be colder than any nightmare you can name. They will keep pushing and pushing, like there’s some sick pride in seeing how far pain can go.

What I saw in that ward wasn’t even the full darkness. It was only a crack in the door.

And Vicky’s end... it was enough to turn a strong stomach with just one glance.

The worst part was that her head was the least damaged. 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

When I stepped inside, it was there—right at my feet.

Her eyes were wide open, fixed on me like she still had something to say, and my skin went tight all over. The back of my neck prickled. My instincts screamed at me to run.

"Ugh..."

My body listened before my pride could. I stumbled back into the corridor and dropped into a crouch, gagging hard. Every time I shut my eyes, I saw hers again.

I kept thinking about the way she looked when we left the ward. That strange peace on her face, like she had already let go.

What was she thinking in that moment?

How do you walk into your own death with your chin up?

Who built that shadow network? What did they do to these people? Why would someone rather die than give up a single name?

"Riley." Lewis’s voice cut through the mess in my head. "Are you alright?"

I lifted my face slowly. I didn’t even need to touch my cheeks to know I was pale and soaked in cold sweat.

"I’m fine," I lied.

Lewis’s eyes held something soft and pained. "How can you be fine?"

He didn’t push me to look back. He just said, "Let’s leave first."

I nodded, and as we moved, I stole one quick glance at Adam. He looked hollow, like someone had taken his insides and left him standing anyway.

When we got into the car, I went quiet.

Maybe it was the scene itself that broke something in me. Maybe it was the thought of what happened before the explosion—someone putting a device inside her like she was nothing but a container.

Either way, I couldn’t shake it.

Lewis pulled me into his arms, firm and close, like he was trying to warm my shaking body with his own heat. That steady dominance sat under his calm, not loud, not showy—just there, protective and sure.

"Elena," he murmured against my hair, kissing the top of my head. "Don’t worry. You’ll be alright."

Pressed into his chest, my voice came out small. "Who could be so heartless... so full of hate... that they can destroy this many lives?"

Lewis’s hand moved slowly up my back, steadying me. "People can be like that," he said quietly. "Some things don’t follow logic. You can’t fix them with common sense."

I swallowed, then asked the question that had been burning in me since Vicky started talking like she was reading from a script.

"Lewis... tell me the truth about your brother, Oliver."

Everything kept circling back to that name, back to whispers and old wounds. But how could a dead man have Juilan as his son? And if he wasn’t dead, why stay hidden for so long?

Was he watching from the shadows, waiting for the pack to weaken?

Vicky’s words had hinted at a link. And the more I thought about it, the more it felt like the Hale pack wasn’t being attacked from outside.

It was being eaten from inside.

I couldn’t hold it in anymore. I needed the truth, even if it hurt.

Lewis let out a slow breath. His face stayed calm, but his jaw tightened once, like he was choosing his words carefully.

"I only learned this recently," he said. "Adam isn’t the only child."

My heart thumped. "What do you mean?"

"They had triplets."

I stared at him. "Not twins—three?"

Even in a powerful pack, that should’ve been celebrated. Three pups at once. A miracle. The kind of thing elders brag about for years.

"So how did it turn into this?" I asked, my voice low. "How did something like that become... a tragedy?"

Lewis looked out through the windshield for a moment, eyes dark. "Jeffrey was overjoyed. He went up to Mount Spiritus to get a protection charm for his mate. That’s where he met a seer—an old spiritual guide. The man said one of the three was born under a bad mark. That child would bring harm to the Hales... maybe even break the pack."

I frowned immediately. My first reaction was to reject it. "But they were still in the womb. How can anyone make a claim like that and call it fate?"

Lewis’s gaze slid back to me. "Elena," he asked softly, "do you believe in fate?"

I went silent.

Before, I would’ve laughed. I would’ve called it nonsense.

But I had died. I had come back. I had felt my soul tugged like a leash by a bond that refused to snap.

With the pendant around my neck and Lewis’s scent wrapped around me like a vow, it was hard to say I believed in nothing anymore.

So I asked instead, "What did Jeffrey do?"

"At first, he didn’t believe it," Lewis said. "He insulted the seer and left. But later, the Hales fell into a trap. The pack almost went broke. Trouble kept stacking. His mate got worse. Jeffrey went back up the mountain."

My mouth went dry. "And?"

"The seer told him to end the pregnancy."

My stomach turned.

Lewis kept going, voice steady but heavy. "By then, the pups were already far along. Their mother could feel them. She refused. The day she went into labor, the sky shifted—strange signs, storms, things the old ones whisper about. She delivered two boys and a girl."

I held my breath. "So... which one did Jeffrey choose?"

Lewis’s eyes hardened. "Adam was the smallest. The weakest. The other two took most of the strength from their mother’s body. She died right after giving birth to the last child."

My chest tightened.

"Jeffrey couldn’t tell which of the twins carried the bad mark," Lewis said quietly. "So he left it to his guards. In secret, he chose to spare only Adam... because Adam was barely alive."

My fingers curled in my lap. The cruelty of it hit like a slap.

I spoke slowly, piecing it together. "So the person outside... might not be your second brother."

Lewis’s gaze turned colder. "It could be my sister."

Then he added, voice even darker, "Or both of them survived."

A chill slid down my spine. "And they came back for revenge."

I hesitated, then forced the next question out, softer. "What about your mother?"

Lewis’s expression barely changed, but the air around him did. Like a door closing.

"Adam was weak, so Jeffrey showed him kindness when he was young," Lewis said. "But Adam was never strong enough to lead. Jeffrey’s heart stayed with his first mate. He never remarried."

His hand tightened once on my shoulder.

"I only exist because of my mother’s schemes," he said. "I stayed with her until I was two. Then I was taken back to the Hale territory. Those years are a blur."

My throat tightened. "Where is she now?"

He lowered his head a little and shook it. "I don’t know. Jeffrey said she died. I searched, but all I found were reports of her death."

I stared at him, and suddenly his whole past made more sense. The way Jeffrey treated him. The coldness. The disgust for anything outside "legitimate." The way Lewis always stood like he expected the ground beneath him to betray him.

I asked quietly, "Is that why Jeffrey put his hopes on Juilan?"

Lewis nodded once. "Yes."

I looked at him and felt something ache hard in my chest. Lewis wasn’t just fighting enemies outside the pack.

He was fighting a history that never wanted him.

And still... he rose.

Still... he held his head high.

I leaned closer without thinking, my body moving on instinct, wanting to press my forehead to his, wanting to remind him he wasn’t alone anymore.

Then my mind snapped back to Vicky’s warning, to the masked woman, to the triplets that were supposedly erased.

"So," I whispered, "the woman Vicky mentioned... she’s probably your sister. And they didn’t go after Jeffrey because... they want him to watch the Hale pack fall. They want that prophecy to come true."

Lewis’s eyes flashed, sharp and final.

"No," he said, voice low with pure certainty, the kind that makes people obey without realizing they’re obeying. "As long as I’m here, the Hales will never fall."