XADEN’S POV
Early the next morning Xaden woke up to the cool breeze of the snow.
Jasmine was lying with her head on his chest and then his hands were wrapped around her waist securing her firmly to him.
He felt her shiver and then he frowned and saw that the doors to his wide balcony was very well open.
He gently eased her away from him.
She held on to him fervently and it was not only till he kissed her forehead gently that she relaxed.
As if her subconscious warmed to his kiss.
He was able to pry her away from him and very slowly get out of the bed.
He walked to the corridors and overlook the entire castle.
There was snow everywhere but sunlight was beginning to come out.
The staff were packing the snow off the paths with their shovels while little kids were dancing around in the snow.
He began to wonder what it would be like to have children.
And then a little thought came to his head.
A little boy around the age of six and a little girl around the age of three.
In his imagination they were playing in the snow. The boy had vibrant red hair while the girl had raven black hair.
He imagined them playing and giggling together in the snow and then in his wolf imagination, a woman with red curly hair came and was laughing with them.
When the woman turned he saw it was Jasmine.
It was then he came back crashing into reality.
He shook the thought away.
He was crazy for him to believe or even assume that he could perhaps have children.
He had lost that right a long time ago.
He knew that Alphas were allowed to have bastards in fact most of them had.
Xaden admitted to himself that he wanted a special place for Jasmine in his pack.
To be his mistress and he would face anyone who defied him.
He was ready by all means to make her his.
He could never marry her because she was a slave but she could be his mistress.
He wanted her around him always.
And it weakened him knowing that he would never have children.
That even if Jasmine could conceive that little imagination that had played in his mind would never come to pass.
He took his mind off it and then he made a mental note to ask his men where the snow had come from.
He closed the corridors by using its large and tall curtains to shut it.
Then he turned back to the room.
Jasmine was still sound asleep.
He was tempted to snuggle back into bed but then he knew that he had pressing matters to deal with.
He had been away from the pack for a long time.
He needed to discuss issues.
There was also the issue of Aurora’s burial.
He went grim and then he went down to Jasmine.
He gently set her curls aside and kissed her rosy cheeks.
He tucked her in with the blankets around her to keep her warm.
After that he went off to the candles and put them back on.
He went to his drawers and found one of his fur coats.
He wore it along with a pair of pants and then his boots.
He tied his hair up and walked out of the room but not before looking at Jasmine one more time.
When he emerged from the room the men at his doors bowed at him hurriedly.
"My Lord." They greeted.
"Good morning men." Xaden said with a smile.
And then he began to whistle.
The men looked at each other and said nothing.
"Have my breakfast sent into my study." He instructed. "And send the men in."
They nodded and went off.
When he reached the Study, a very delicious meal of pancakes and eggs along with slices of lamb were there for him.
He drank from the tea and smiled nodding at the taste.
In fact Xaden barely ever noted his food or made remarks.
He took a bite of the pancake and moaned.
"This is delicious." He said to the servant who brought in the meal.
And then Erik and the other men came in.
They greeted him.
But Xaden ignored them and called out to them.
"Do come." He said. "Taste this. This is absolutely delicious."
Erik looked at him like he was crazy.
"In the dungeon." One of them replied. "They are awaiting your orders."
"I will be pardoning them all. No punishments." Xaden said. "They are free to go. You can go see to it that they are now respectively released to their families."
Someone nodded and went away.
"The issue of Aurora." Erik said. "Her body was preserved by Loren until you came. She has not been buried yet."
Xaden nodded. "She would be given a burial one only befitting of a Luna. We can not deny that only in that last hour had Aurora rn insane. She was like tne luna of this pack regardless of her last actions. Those who were in cohorts to have her possessed would be shipped out. Mind my words."
The men nodded and whispered in agreement.
Then he added. "And to those who were lost in her attack. They will be buried as true wolves of this pack. What happened shall never happen again and I will find those responsible for wrecking havoc in this pack."
And then he howled.
All the wolves howled in unison.
And then his radiant blue eyes went back to being calm.
"Where is Damian?" He asked looking around.
The men looked around each other and shrugged not seeing him anywhere.
At that moment the door was flung open.
It was as if a sudden dark shadow was approaching the room.
"My lord."
It was Quincy and he looked distraught.
"What happened?" Xaden asked sensing danger.
Quincy was breathing very hard and then he swallowed.
"I have very bad news my lord." Quincy said.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Xaden was on his horse as they jounryed down the snow towards the path that led to to main gates of the Crescent pack.
Each pack used walls to round his entire territory before having another gate that round his own castle.
The first rounded wall consisted of the village of the other wolves who lived in the pack.
The people were out of their towns as he passed.
Xaden’s pack was extremely large as he had a number of over five million people under him.
And then Xaden saw it.
He came down from his horse and at the gates of the first wall, there wa something hanging from above.
His bones weakened and his body became frail.
His chest was reaching and his breath became uneven.
It was as if his entire body was about to shut down.
On the spikes of the gates was nothing other than the head of Eleanor, his mother.
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