Chapter 252: Worth it
[ Old World - Other end of the Woods]
The forest split apart beneath Kieran.
Branches snapped, roots ripped, rocks scattered...none of it mattered. His massive wolf form tore through the night like a storm unchained. His paws pounded the earth hard enough to bleed, claws shredding soil, splintering bark, dragging scars into the world with every stride...
Faster... and faster...
His breath burned like fire in his chest...
His wolf howled in pain... in joy... in bewilderment... it was too much... too overwhelming, even for an Alpha Wolf of his stature... tears burst forth his eyes..
He didn’t even realise when he started crying...only the howls echoed his ache.
He was breaking while he was sprinting...
Kieran’s mind reeled, barely able to hold a single thought without it shattering into a hundred pieces.
"A son? My son? I...Really do have a son..." He laughed,he cried...his voice broke inside him, half snarl, half sob. "Autumn!!! What’s been going on with you? Where are you?You rejected me...you left our daughter to die...I mourned you, missed you every night...everyday...every hour...But you? You hid this baby from me? How dare you?!!!How could you hide him from me?!"
He leapt over a freshly fallen tree...massive tree...his body scraping, fur tearing against jagged branches. Blood streaked his paws, but he didn’t slow. He didn’t feel anything at all.
"Why, Autumn...why?What changed all of a sudden?!" His teeth snapped as though chewing her name to pieces. "You promised me once... You swore we would share everything! You promised to stand by me...where did you run off? Why didn’t you talk to me?!!!"
His wolf covered several miles within minutes...
"My blood runs in his veins...I can feel it...and you kept him locked away from me?So I wouldn’t know him?!"
His massive frame slammed against a cluster of trees, splitting them apart, pain burning across his shoulders as bark cut deep. Still he surged forward, foam at his mouth, eyes glowing wild gold.
He was clearly in pain... but that pain was coming from inside...
He could see it...just ahead in the sky...the streak of blue he had never known but had always longed for.
" My baby boy! " His wolf howled.The sound ripped through the night, scattering birds from their nests, silencing even the crickets.
"Where are you, Autumn?!" His chest heaved, his ribs aching. "Why would you do this to me?! Why would you deny me this?"
His eyes blurred, but he could not blink...his boy wasn’t close enough to relax.
The earth shook beneath his paws. Kieran tore through the forest... until a sound cut through the chaos.
Another howl. Another smell in that area...Not Jasper’s or his... a different wolf’s presence...then he heard a voice yelling at the skies...
"Jasper! Come down! Your mother will be furious if you don’t!You can’t go running away like this...Pup! Listen to me! Come down...We will make your favourite cake tonight.I promise!!!"
Kieran skidded, mud spraying behind him, golden eyes snapping forward. The words hit him like a lightning strike. His heart stopped. His wolf froze mid stride.
Mother??!!
Autumn??!!!
Kieran’s chest clenched so hard he could barely breathe. Hope...blinding hope...started burning inside him...it rushed through his veins.
He squinted his eyes, trying to recognize that voice... finally the face registered... It was Orion.Alpha Thorgar’s right hand man.
And he knew. He knew where Autumn was.
But he had shifted back into his massive red wolf... probably sensing the presence of another predator in the area... his presence...
Through the branches and mist, Kieran saw the hulking red wolf.
His head was thrown back, eyes blazing, voice cracking as he begged the child circling the skies one last time before turning his attention back to Kieran.
Kieran’s throat trembled, his wolf bristled. It was certain the person in front of him knew Autumn’s whereabouts.
All he needed to do was talk to him properly...
Kieran’s bones cracked as he forced the shift back, fur receding, skin splitting through. His mouth twisted with those desperate words. "You know where she is,don’t you ? Where is Autumn? Tell me..."
But Orion had already made up his mind what he needed to do when he first spotted Kieran.
To him, Kieran was bad news.
The red wolf’s eyes narrowed. Those pleading innocent,caring eyes vanished. In its place was an apex predator...ready to defend his territories... protect the ones he held dear...
Kieran’s pulse spiked...a flicker of doubt cut through his hope as he saw the red giant come at him... charging...
"Wait... no, I don’t want to fight...I come in peace...all I want...need...are some answers..." He took one step forward, his frame still breaking apart mid shift...turning back into human..."I just need to know about Autumn..."
But he didn’t finish.
Orion lunged.
The forest exploded with the impact.
The red wolf slammed into Kieran’s half formed human body like a meteor, teeth sinking deep before he could even finish shifting.
"Fuck!!!!" Kieran screamed, bones snapping as he was ripped from one form to the other, his body caught in the agony of both. Blood gushed hot across his chest as Orion’s jaws tore into him.
"Bastard!" His voice cracked into a roar, claws scrabbling at red fur and flesh. "I wasn’t...I wasn’t here to fight! I am following my baby...I just needed to know about Autumn!"
Orion didn’t stop. If anything, he panicked more.
His wolf’s weight crushed Kieran to the earth, his teeth burying deeper, a snarl vibrating through the night.
Pain detonated inside Kieran’s ribs. His shift faltered as he tried to shift back into his wolf...leaving him more broken, half man, half wolf, body tearing here and there.
"Mother fucker,stop this madness!" he howled, blood bubbling in his throat. " I am telling you I come in peace...Don’t do this.I don’t want to fight..."
But the red wolf only shook him harder, silencing the peace negotiator with another savage bite.
Kieran’s vision blurred, gold fading to red. His body screamed with torn mid- shift muscles...and shattered bones.
The ground beneath them drowned in Kieran’s blood.
And still, even as darkness pressed at the edges of his sight, one thought carved itself into the ruin of his mind... "If he knows where she is... then I can’t die for it... " With much difficulty, Kieran grabbed Orion’s fur and yelled right at him, staring into his wolf eyes..." Just tell me where she is... "