The Alpha: Claiming His Enemy's Daughter
Chapter 64: I WILL NOT GIVE MY LOYALTY TO YOU

Chapter 64: I WILL NOT GIVE MY LOYALTY TO YOU

"Oh, no!" Grace gasped, as she started panicking. "She is not breathing!"

On the other hand, Hanna was crying. She sat down in a corner of the room, hugging herself. She couldn’t stop crying no matter what. Amee and Grilla approached her to console her, yet she was inconsolable right now.

"Please... please, save her..." Hanna whimpered, with her eyes fixed on Iris’ bloodied face. No... they said she was not breathing now.

"This will not do," Ardand mumbled. He narrowed his eyes. "I can’t get her."

Ardand and Grace tried their best to make Iris start breathing again, but to no avail. Her body was still warm and her heart was still beating, only it grew weaker by the minute.

"Grace!"

Grace could only let go of Iris’ hand as she started to blow air into her mouth before proceeding to do chest compressions, because she knew healing magic could only do so much to help Iris.

She was so desperate to make Iris breathe again, as if her life was hanging on a thread. She wouldn’t be able to live her life without apologizing to her and thanking her for everything that she had done.

She herself saw the whipping marks on her back the last time she treated her, thus she could imagine what kind of pain that she had to go through when Iris helped them, but they hated her so much without knowing about it.

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"People are still trying to know what happened to her," Ethan said, as he stared at Iris’ sleeping face. "They won’t stop coming to wish her well either."

Word traveled fast about what had transpired ten days ago, about what Iris, the wicked alpha’s daughter, had done for them and what she had to go through in their hands because she had helped them.

But the ultimate blow to them was; the ghastly scars on her back.

Those people, who were not there to hear what Hanna said directly or see Iris’ scars, found out about everything she did and showed their gratitude toward Iris. They prayed for her and asked the guards daily about her recovery.

Jace and Ethan, also all the people in the pack house were so surprised to see how those peoples’ hearts changed. They went from hating her being their luna to now cherishing her. They were actually elated at the fact of her being their alpha’s mate.

They went as far as saying that she was their alpha’s second chance mate, that they were destined to be together, and it was fate.

Cane didn’t respond to that in any way.

However, he came to visit Iris in her room every day for the past ten days.

Grace and Ardand managed to make her breathe again, but the injuries that she sustained were too severe and because Iris’ body was not very responsive to healing power, they couldn’t heal her fast enough. They needed to do it conventionally.

"Have they found the herbs that Ardand asked for?" Cane asked Hanna, who was standing next to Iris’ bed. She would be here for twenty four hours and wouldn’t leave Iris’ side if it was not necessary. She would make sure that Iris got her medicine on time and wiped her body. She would inform Grace immediately if Iris got a fever.

"No, they are still looking for them," Hanna replied in a sad voice. She looked haggard, because there was nothing that Amee or Grilla could say to make her take some rest, as she didn’t want anyone to take care of Iris, as though she didn’t believe them.

After what happened, her feelings were valid.

It was painful to see how everything had to turn out like this and now they missed Hanna’s smile. Nowadays, she didn’t even smile, nor did she want to greet anyone that she saw. She was still angry about what they had done to Iris and this made all the people become even more remorseful, including those, who didn’t participate in hurting Iris.

"Tell me if you need anything," Cane said curtly and Hanna bowed her head respectfully before the alpha walked out of the bedroom with Ethan following behind him.

"Don’t you want to meet with Aria?" Ethan asked when they were in the hallway. Cane wanted to look over the last day of the construction of the fort in the mining site. "She has been asking for you."

Moreover, Cane wanted to talk to Redmond. He was supposed to meet with the former warriors from the Blue Moon pack sooner, but with everything that happened, it had been delayed.

"I will see her when I want to see her."

Cane was always so cold, but from his answer, Ethan could say that the alpha was thoroughly upset and disappointed by what the mistress had done.

Based on the report, it was the mistress who had provoked people around the tents, who were grieving over their loved ones, to start attacking Iris.

It was easy to instigate something like it because the seed of hatred was already there.

Cane had already given her a warning when she tried to let those warriors defile Iris the last time, but it seemed Aria didn’t take it seriously and this was another thing why the alpha had forbidden her from coming near him. He didn’t allow her to come to his room, to the training grounds or the mines, those were the places that he frequently visited recently.

"Aderan had arrived in the Celestial Moon pack and met with alpha Derick, the alpha thanked you for the magic stones that you sent." Ethan told him about the letter that he received this morning. They were inside the carriage that would take them to the mines. "Alpha Derick will help you in finding the best sorcerer around his place and lend them to you."

"Hm." Cane nodded.

"The alpha is under the assumption that you will use the sorcerer to install a magical device, to strengthen your defense against the monsters in Goffa mountain," Ethan said.

Both of them had the same problem with the monsters, though in Celestial Moon pack, the monsters were more aggressive than here. That was also why they needed assistance from a sorcerer.

"Do you think it will work?" Ethan knew about the problem that Cane was facing and Grace had told him about it with the alpha’s permission, but he didn’t think an offensive or defensive sorcerer would be the right person for Cane to ask for a solution regarding his problem.

Cane said nothing, but his eyes were fixed on something in the distance. He needed to think of a solution as to what he should do if that did not work; if he couldn’t produce an heir. How could he impregnate someone when he was sterile?

Two years.

Within two years, Iris should be pregnant with a baby.

They arrived at the mines and Stone immediately greeted the alpha and the gamma, as he walked them to the fortress. He told the alpha that the repairs had been finished and now the fortress was strong enough to hold back an attack more massive than last time.

"Do you know the reason why the fortress broke down?" Cane asked, as he walked on top of the fortress to look over the entire Goffa mountain. He could spot a few monsters and judging from it, it seemed he needed to hold a monster hunt within the next month.

"From what I learned, it seemed there was something big or heavy that had collided with our fortress," Stone explained his reason why he thought that way.

"Which side did the force come from?"

"Pardon me?"

"From which side the force that broke down the fortress came from?"

With that question, Stone seemed to realize it. "I- it was from inside." He tried to recall and could tell that the force came from inside.

Cane and Ethan met each other’s eyes in understanding for a brief moment.

Aderan had told them that the king had put someone inside the pack and now they knew that this someone was not only a spy that would just report everything back to the king, but also someone who would cause trouble inside this pack.

They needed to find out who it was before this person caused more casualties within the pack.

"I want you to investigate that."

And after that, Cane looked around the fortress once again before he requested for Stone to lead the way to Redmond, with whom he needed to finish a long overdue conversation.

The former warrior was working in the mines. And after they managed to dig forty five magic stones to fulfill the quota to satisfy the merchant with Iris’ help, they were barely able to find two more.

It still stunned Stone to see that Iris could do something like that. A power that they had never known about.

"There, the red-haired guy, it’s Redmond." Stone pointed to a man from afar, while one of Stone’s men went over to him and informed him that the alpha wanted to see him.

The red-haired guy named Redmond glanced at Cane, who was walking in his direction. He grumbled something inaudible and threw his shovel away before approaching Cane.

"I don’t need to bow to you, do I? After all, I never pledged my loyalty to you, so you are not the alpha for me," Redmond spoke with so much audacity.

"No. I am not the alpha for you. I am your master and you are my slave."

Redmond didn’t like it, if he could, he would shift into his beast and attack Cane there and then, but that was not going to happen, since all of them here had been forced to drink Rottingbane leaves, which rendered them unable to shift into their beasts.

The same thing that alpha Gerald had used on all of his slaves. You would need at least a cup of Rottingbane leaves in order for you to not be able to shift for three to four days. It was a strong poison for a shifter, though it wouldn’t kill them.

"Now, tell me what do you want to say?" Cane didn’t even offer for him to sit somewhere to make this conversation more comfortable. He simply approached him to have this important conversation with him.

"I want you to free the Blue Moon pack," Redmond said point blank.

"I don’t need to, because this is still the Blue Moon pack theoretically, since I didn’t merge the two packs together yet." Cane watched the red-haired man before him, as he started seething. "You have two choices; you can pledge your loyalty to me, or you can work in this mine until your last day in this life. I am fine with either of your choices."

Cane appeared nonchalant, as if he didn’t need more reliable warriors to help him to defend these two packs.

"I want the third option," Redmond said with a smirk, it seemed he had predicted what Cane’s answer would be and came up with an entirely different idea.

"I don’t remember offering you a third option," Cane said in a light tone. He looked around leisurely and got a little bit of a flashback about when he worked on this site. It was not a pleasant memory to remember, but he couldn’t help it. It came without him even being able to prevent it.

"Nah, your two options didn’t even sound good." Redmond gave the alpha a wolfish smirk. He folded his arms in front of his chest smugly, yet the alpha didn’t seem to be affected by his audacity. He still looked calm and hard to read.

Cane said nothing, thus Redmond took this as a cue for him to tell him what was in his mind.

"I don’t want to pledge my loyalty to the people from the Howling Wolf pack, I just want to pledge my loyalty to the people of the Blue Moon pack." Redmond lifted his chin, despite his situation right now and the way his body was caked with dirt, he still stood tall and proud like the warrior he was. "I know what Alpha Gerald had done to your people was unfair."

Cane scoffed when he heard that. How people from Alpha Gerald’s side always belittled the hellish days that his people had to go through in the hands of their alpha was still unfathomable to him.