The Forbidden Heiress At The All Male Alpha Academy-Chapter 201: The Truth Behind Her Death

I’ll get straight to the point.

I do not trust you. I never have. But I trust the inevitability of what is coming, and I trust that you understand it as well as I do. Theodora must never be told the full truth until she is strong enough to survive it.’

Theo’s vision blurred. What truth was what?!

’You asked why I agreed to your arrangement. The answer is simple: because if I didn’t, you would find another way. You always do. Promise me this, that when the time comes, you will not break her before she has a chance to fight back,’

Theo’s chest felt too tight to breathe, "Arrangement?" she whispered.

Her fingers turned the page again, desperation creeping in.

’She is not a weapon. She is not a vessel. She is my daughter. If you ever forget that, Cain Pendragon, then I will haunt whatever remains of your soul.

The letter ended there. There was no signature, but a pressed thumbprint at the bottom, faint but unmistakable. Her mother’s.

Theo sank into the chair behind her without realising it, her knee screaming in protest as the weight of it all crashed down on her.

"She knew you," Theo whispered. "She knew what you were,"

*Theo...* Seraphina murmured, shaken. *This changes things.*

*No,* Theo said hoarsely, staring at the letter, *It explains things.* 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

Her mother had been involved with Cain in some way, and she had been bargaining with it. Theo closed the folder slowly, her expression hardening into something cold and focused. A year after her mother had passed away, Cain had suddenly befriended her father.

A presence filled the door, and she didn’t bother to look.

"Now you know," He said coldly, "Your mother locked your fate with mine since you were born. She sought my help in getting rid of the demon from you, because the Pendragons were the only blood she knew associated with anything of that kind,"

Theo didn’t say anything. She just kept staring at a distance.

"I agreed, and it was to be done when you turned fifteen. Not because of anything, but because of the Moon events that would happen around that time. The Blood Moon, the Yellow Moon, the Void Moon. They were perfect for what was to be carried out,"

Void Moon? She’s heard that before.

"Only that you were never going to get rid of the demon," Theo continued herself, causing him to stop, "You were planning to get rid of me, Instead,"

"And as lucky as you were, the Moon events never took place that day. Moreover, your mother died before then,"

Her mother’s death. That was one thing she tried never to remember, because it hurt too much. The guilt behind it, and how it kept growing every day and every time she refused to visit her mother’s grave.

"That’s enough," Theo stood up, straightening, "Whatever happened between you and my mother remains between the both of you. I don’t know what you were expecting me to feel or say by seeing this letter,"

She walked toward the door, toward Cain, to leave the space.

"Do you remember what happened during your first transformation cycle?"

Theo’s feet abruptly stopped.

"Between the ages of nine and ten. It was just around the first time your wolf stirred inside of you. The first time it truly emerged,"

Her fists tightened.

"Wolves are born as cubs, and they stay as cubs for almost a year before reverting to their human form. For the next few years, they are not able to transform into a wolf as their wolf goes into a dormant stage as it prepares for its first transformation cycle. It’s after that cycle that one is able to speak to their wolves, and then proper training finally begins. Can you remember what happened to you during your first transformation cycle?!"

She faced him with a frown, "What’s brought about all of this? What does my transformation cycle have to do with any of this?"

Cain took a step forward, and the walls of the room seemed to shrink with him and the air thickened till Theo felt like she was breathing through water.

"It has a lot to do with this," he said quietly, "Because if I remember it properly, you and your mother left the house together... but returned separately,"

"I never left the house," Theo quickly said, "She left alone,"

"Is that why you like to avoid the thought of picturing her body without a head? Why you never visited her grave but always looked in that direction?"

"Don’t-"

"You’ve always thought of your first transformation cycle as... noise," he continued calmly, "Fragments. Red flashes. Nightmares that never quite formed into memories,"

Her frown grew deeper, her breath slowly deepening.

"But your cycle was different," he went on, "Silver wolves don’t lose themselves the way others do. They don’t descend into confusion, or pain, or rage,"

He began circling her slowly, his boots quiet against the floor "They enter into a state of insane focus,"

She held her breath.

"You didn’t grow fangs and claws and tear through everything that moved. There were no signs of a beast rampaging. That’s why the elders were confused. That’s why the pack couldn’t decipher what exactly caused her death, and that’s why the reports never made sense.

Theo’s vision blurred at the edges.

A narrow path in the dark. Her mother holding her hand as they walked down the place.

A sudden pause from Ten-year-old Theo, who was now standing alone a few feet from her mother, and Daphne’s lips whispering calm words to her.

"Your wolf didn’t howl," Cain continued, "She didn’t fight for control. She only took hold of it for just a second, and it was more than enough,"

A pressure built behind Theo’s eyes, and she felt Seraphina whispering something incoherent, along with a shiver that started from her wolf.

"More than enough for her to align,"

The shiver spread to Theo’s body, and she felt it on her hands more than everywhere else. When she lifted her hands, she saw a smaller version of it.

And those hands were covered in something.

"You saw red," Cain stated, "And in that moment, you weren’t yourself anymore. It was the beginning of the true awakening of a wolf different from many others,"

Her fingers twitched, dripping down of what they were drenched in.

"You were execution,"

The memory surged, unbidden. Theo remembered it all.

Her mother turning.

Surprise widening her eyes when she realized what was happening to her daughter. Her soothing words that didn’t make any sense to a mindless Theo at that point.

One step closer—

"It was fast," Cain said, "So fast there was no fear. No scream, and no struggle,"

Theo’s chest burned, all the breath leaving her lungs. Her hands trembled violently now, horror written clearly in her amber eyes. The blood dripping down her hands, and a head that lay severed just across her.

"No ripping. No frenzy," he finished. "Just a single, flawless motion that ended everything,"

She wanted to raise her hands and cover her ears. She wanted to stop listening to him, but her hands were shaking too hard and the memories happened like it was right in front of her eyes.

"That is why the cut was clean," Cain said, stopping behind her, "Cleaner than any blade. Cleaner than any claw. And when you came back to your senses, you couldn’t believe what had happened. At first, she knelt beside her corpse and touched the blood with your hands. But as fear began to take over, you ran home. When they brought her body back from that lonely path, no signs of a struggle, you cried like a daughter who had lost her mother,"

Theo’s throat closed completely.

"The trauma forced your body to forget what happened, but your mind never did. Hence, the guilt you feel whenever you think of her,"

"I..it wasn’t me," A tear streaked down her face.

"There it is again," Cain walked back to her face, swiping the tear again, "You trying to forget. Trying to reject the thought. Like you did... eleven years ago,"

"It wasn’t—"

"You killed your mother, Theodora. Stop denying it any longer. I need you to accept it—" Cain’s voice lowered more, and he brought his lips to her ears, "—so your soul can break even further,"