A Luna for Alpha Kieran-Chapter 41: Dead

The cheers of the crowd were a dull roar in Kieran’s ears.

It was nothing more than a sound that scraped against his skull like broken glass. His arms were steady as he carried Lyla toward the altar,yet his heart trembled.

Her body was light as a doll’s in his grip, almost hollow.

Kieran looked at his arm...the emptiness despite the beautiful woman he was carrying...like a mockery of what this moment should have been.

It was true he still couldn’t feel Autumn physically...but he could always sense her presence.He didn’t have to look at her to know she was there, nor sniff her smell...

From the corner of his eye, he saw a flash of dark hair, a whirl of limbs...Autumn, thrashing like a wild thing in Mango’s grip, her screams muffled but her agony literally vibrating through their mate bond like a serrated knife twisting in his ribs.

He still couldn’t feel the bond, yet could feel the intensity of her heartbreak...her hatred.

Even her curses felt like a sweet wine and he was left bewildered... aching when he could hear them no more... Mango had dragged her away like she was told.

While Mango dragged her away, her fingers had knotted in Autumn’s shirt, her mouth moving which meant she had to resort to magic to restrain Autumn.She was fiercely fighting. She was a fiesty one.

When Autumn disappeared behind the stone archway, the silence that followed was almost more terrifying than her cries.

"I hate you." He felt it... to his bones!!!

He felt it. The moment her heart ruptured. The moment she wished him dead.

"She is strong," he told himself, "She will get over this.Get over...us." But the lie tasted like ash in his mouth.

Yet his face remained smooth, his lips curled into the practiced smile of an Alpha who had learned to bleed silently. He nodded at the guests, at the elders, at the wolves who would never know the cost of this farce.

The officiant, a tall and graying elder draped in ceremonial silver, approached with a grace...taking his sweet time, so slow...that felt like a mockery of the chaos inside Kieran’s soul.

"Alpha Blackmoon," the officiant intoned, finally stepping forward on the pedestal, "under the sacred moon, you and Lyla Curzon are bound by blood and vow."

The crowd erupted.

Kieran’s fingers twitched at his sides.

This was it.

The beginning of the end.

His stomach turned to lead. He could already feel Autumn’s phantom nails clawing at his skin, her voice in his head..." You promised. You swore you would come back to me! "

" You can’t do this to her," his wolf snarled inside. "To our mate."

But he had to.

At this moment,he appeared.

Roanoke Curzon limped onto the platform.He was dressed in a deep maroon robe with gold trimming. He made his way up the altar with his usual pompous smile. One hand rested heavily on his crutch, the other cradled a gift box wrapped in blinding golden foil.

His crutch thudded against the wood like a death knell, a grin splitting his lightly wrinkled face. "Ah, Alpha Blackmoon!" he crowed, as if this were a celebration and not a funeral. "Do not delay! Mark her, mark her! The gift must be given right after the bond is sealed...tradition, you understand!"

Kieran’s jaw locked. "Mr.Curzon, perhaps you should take a seat..."

"Nonsense!" Roanoke waved a gnarled hand, his eyes glinting with something vicious. "My Lyla has waited long enough, hasn’t she? Poor girl, lost for years! How she suffered the cruelty of fate! " He chuckled, as if the ’cruelty’ were a joke. "But fate works in mysterious ways, eh?"

Kieran’s vision blurred red.

Lyla, standing motionless beside him, said nothing.

Her eyes were vacant, her lips parted slightly like a ghost in a white dress. She hadn’t spoken since the ceremony began. Hadn’t even looked at him.

Roanoke gave a theatrical sigh. "It would be a shame to withhold such a special gift. Just a little bite, Alpha. Make it official."

Kieran looked down at Lyla. She didn’t blink. Didn’t flinch. Her hands were at her sides, open, waiting. Maybe even... resigned.

He closed his eyes.

He could feel Autumn’s soul screaming across the miles.

"You motherfucker!"

" You cheat! "

" You bastard! "

He almost smirked at how well he knew her...he knew exactly how she would be cursing...but then the same thing was like a noose around his throat.

"But only after you seal the bond, son." Roanoke continued. "That is our tradition, and traditions must be honored."

"Roanoke..." Kieran’s jaw tensed. "We can do this after. Please take your seat.I insist!"

Kieran was inches away from losing his shit. Roanoke tapped his crutch impatiently. "I will! But...well? The bite, Alpha. Or do you need help?"

The audacity!

Kieran’s fingers curled into fists, his claws piercing his palms. Blood welled,hot...shameful.

"Autumn, forgive me...if you ever can! "

He turned to Lyla.

Her throat was bared, her pulse fluttering like a trapped bird.

He leaned in.

Closed his eyes. fɾeewebnoveℓ.co๓

And sank his teeth into her skin.

Lyla’s skin broke under his fangs, and the bond sealed with a heat that should have been sacred...but all Kieran felt was rot.

The bond did not sing like it was supposed to!

It screamed.

A howl tore through the night. Autumn’s.

It was a sound so raw it seemed to split the sky open, to shake the stars loose from their constellations.

Kieran recoiled as if burned.

Their bond...his bond with Autumn..

twisted, snapped, then lashed back like a whip, wrapping around his lungs and squeezing him.

He could not breathe. Could not think.

The lingering echo of that scream was like such despair that the birds scattered, the pups clung to their mothers, and the entire hall fell silent.

Kieran’s knees almost buckled.

He gripped the altar. His fangs ached.

His mark on Lyla pulsed with unwanted power...but it did not reach his heart.

His heart that was dead...that had been ripped from his chest the moment Mango dragged Autumn away.

"Autumn..." he whispered.

Lyla did not speak. She did not look at him even then. She did not cry or smile.

But Kieran could not focus on her because he knew... Autumn was dying.

Not her body, but her soul.

And he had killed it.

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