Conquering His Cold Heart
Chapter 424 - 424: I'll Be Waiting

Similarly, five other new wolves barged into the Great Hall one after another. Alpha Everard greeted them all with kindness and then welcomed them into the clan.

Seeing those young men and women ready to assume their roles as the proud and loyal members of the Crestfire clan made Everard feel at ease.

If anyone who came to him were as naïve as he was when he first turned, he would have probably felt guilty for the fate they were sealed with. However, seeing them well-prepared made him feel unworried.

"I think this is all." Jerome joined the small group where Everard and the new wolves were sitting in a circle.

The Alpha looked at the Beta and asked, "What do you mean by 'this is all'? Is the ceremony over?"

"Yes, that too." Jerome looked up at the small opening on the roof above the statue of the Moon Goddess and said, "The full moon will soon take her leave. We can then head back towards the castle and rest."

The grey wolf sat beside the black wolf and spoke telepathically as he proudly gazed at the calm faces of six new wolves, "What I really meant to say was that I think these are all the new wolves who will join our pack this moon."

Everard sighed with a sense of relief. For a new Alpha and a relatively new member of the pack himself, he believed that he handled the new wolves well.

'I think it's finally time then,' he thought to himself and longingly looked at the door as if he was wishing that someone would magically appear there.

After taking a deep dive into his wishful thoughts, he said to Jerome, "I guess I will now try connecting with Ruby."

Jerome understandingly gave a nod and replied, "I will stay here with the new ones."

Everard was happy that Jerome was being very supportive. He quickly took a few leaps and found himself in a corner before trying to contact his long-lost confidante.

He took a deep breath in, closed his eyes, and then cleared his head. Then finally, he pictured Ruby's wolf form in his head – a lovely wolf with chestnut brown fur, a fluffy tail, and a beautiful pair of amber eyes.

He suddenly felt an aching sensation in his heart when he recalled the first time he had seen her wolf form. The warmth that he had felt when cuddling with her was unforgettable. But something that happened later that night had put a tall wall between them.

And now, she was nowhere near his reach.

'Ruby, can you hear me?'

Everard tried to direct his thoughts into Ruby's mind.

When he didn't get any response even after waiting for a few seconds, he tried to reach her again.

'Ruby, if you can hear me then please forgive me for how I behaved with you that night. I regret it every single day. If you can hear me then please… please, come back to me, Ruby.'

The words flowed out of his mind without him being able to hold them back.

'I need you here with me… Each day has been really hard without you by my side, Ruby. Please come to me… Don't make me any more miserable than I already am. I need you. Please.'

Everard felt his heart drop once more. He himself was taken aback when he said those things to Ruby without him realizing it. But he couldn't deny that he didn't mean every word that he said. It had indeed been miserable for him, not knowing where Ruby was and how she was.

However, no matter how many times he pleaded, there was no answer from the other side.

And when all else failed, restless Everard used his Alpha card and ordered, 'Ruby, I order you to meet me in the Great Hall within an hour. I will be waiting for you.'

---

When the full moon rose, a few of the prisoners who were in the dungeon of the Atkinson Mansion also began to transform one by one.

Unlike the other wolves, Ruby had a hard time transforming into her wolf self because this was her second full moon. And the traumas that were linked with her first transformation weren't helping her either.

The trauma was creating a mental barrier that was hindering her transformation. She kept on grunting and howling in extreme pain as a fight between her body and her mind was taking place.

One of the guards, a human, banged his baton on the iron bars and then scolded Ruby, "Hey! Quit making a scene and just transform already! Why the hell are you fighting it?"

Lorenzo, who had already transformed into his wolf form wanted to snap back at that man for not giving some space to the already distressed Ruby.

'You wouldn't know our pain when you're just a human, you shit!' he could only growl at that guard and scream in his head.

That guard backed off a little when he saw Lorenzo glaring at him with the intention to kill.

He took a few steps back while mumbling in a somewhat scared voice, "A-And you… don't growl at me."

Lorenzo let out a low growl and slammed his heavy paw on the iron bars to scare off that guard.

The guard was obviously scared since he was just a human. If the wolf in the cell was out, he knew that he would be shredded into pieces in seconds. However, he was confident about one thing.

He pointed his baton at Lorenzo with his shaky hand and said in a shaky voice, "A-And don't even think that you can break out of this cell and run away. T-T-These were specially made to hold prisoners like you."

Lorenzo already knew that and wasn't thinking about breaking out of the prison anyway. He simply wanted that guard to leave Ruby alone. Thus, he backed off a few steps before taking a huge leap and slamming his body against the iron bars as if he really wanted to force his way out.

"Arrghhh!" That guard tossed his baton aside and ran away while screaming like a baby. "I can't do this anymore! Why would they assign a human to stand guard when those pieces of turds are on their strongest?"

Ruby was thankful to Lorenzo for standing up for her.

"Thank you, Mr. Lorenzo…" she uttered in her weak voice and then passed out before even completing her transformation.