A Luna for Alpha Kieran-Chapter 279: Can we talk?

[ Blackmoon stronghold... Old World... Corridors ]

Autumn’s boots struck hard against the stone floor, each step echoing sharp, clipped, like a drum of her anger... her cheeks were flushed with humiliation.

Her chest still heaved with uneven breaths.

Her hands curled into fists at her sides.

The burn of Kieran’s words...actions...his very presence...suffocating yet churning something she couldn’t deny...utter humiliation.

Alpha Malrick’s words still clung to her skin like smoke she couldn’t scrub off. "So you are back together..." Autumn couldn’t help thinking about the past... the last time she saw that man... the last time it felt like things were finally getting back to normal before her life took a complete U-turn.

Autumn pressed her palms on the back of her neck, looking up.

Her lips moved but all that came out was something between a half curse, a half mutter.

"...always dismissing me at his own whim... fuck...am I stone? "

But her steps faltered.

Something tugged.

A faint pull at the fabric of her dress, small but insistent.

Her body stilled mid step. Her brows furrowed as she twisted around, irritation etched sharp on her face...until her gaze dropped.

And softened.

There, standing barely knee high, was little Freya.

Her tiny fingers clutched the hem of Autumn’s dress, knuckles pale with how tightly she held on.

Autumn’s breath caught, then eased into a smile. Gentle. Automatic. Like a reflex she couldn’t suppress when she saw the girl.

She bent slightly, ready to crouch, ready to soothe her unruly curls bouncing here and there.

But Freya did not smile back.

Her big golden eyes...usually so wide and bright with mischief...were shadowed, serious. They flickered with something heavier, something that pressed down on her small shoulders.

Autumn straightened a little, blinking, the smile faltering into something more cautious.

"Freya? What is it, love?"

The girl’s grip on her dress only tightened. She tugged once more, small but determined.

Her lips parted, her voice soft but steady.

"Umm,if you don’t mind...Can I talk to you, please?"

Autumn froze.

The tone...the weight...was far older than the child standing before her.

Her throat worked in a small swallow as her anger drained, replaced by something else entirely.

She glanced around the hall, where the shadows stretched and silence lingered.

Then she looked back down at Freya.

The girl’s eyes never left hers.

Unblinking.

Serious.

Waiting patiently for a response.

Autumn’s breath shivered a little as she crouched down slowly, lowering herself until her eyes were level with Freya’s. 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

Her fingers trembled as she reached out...hesitant at first, as though afraid the girl would vanish if she touched her. Finally, her palms cupped Freya’s small cheeks...the warmth of that soft skin seared straight into her bones.

For one suspended moment, time seemed to stop.

She wasn’t seeing the almost two years old baby, she was seeing the new born baby girl she was forced to abandon. Her soul quivered, her heart clenched too hard...

Autumn’s throat convulsed, her lips sealed shut, her lashes clumped together with unshed tears.

The sight of Freya’s cute serious little face staring back at her was too much... so much alive, breathing... full of life that she thought was gone... forever.

Far too cute, this baby girl.

Her chest caved, shuddering, and then...

The dam broke.

A violent sob tore free as Autumn pulled Freya’s tiny body against her chest, arms locking around her like steel. She buried her face in Freya’s hair, clutching her desperately, as if letting go would mean losing her all over again.

" I thought I lost you..." the words fractured out of her throat, jagged and wet.

"I thought you were gone... forever... I thought I would never see you again in this world..."

Her sobs came harder now, racking through her entire body, shaking her shoulders, spilling hot tears down her cheeks into Freya’s hair.

She squeezed the little girl tighter, her grip almost trembling with fear, as though she expected Freya to slip through her arms like smoke at any second.

The hallway echoed with her cries...it started flowing unrestrained.

Freya didn’t resist. She stood pressed against Autumn’s chest, her tiny hands clutching weakly at Autumn’s dress, her wide eyes blinking as though she understood more than she should.Yet she looked confused and lost for words.

Autumn’s voice cracked again, almost incoherent between sobs.

" My darling... my sweet girl... I thought... I thought the fates were so cruel to take you from me..."

Another sob ripped free, sharp, breaking her words into pieces.

Her body rocked gently as she clung to Freya, inconsolable, the flood of pain she had buried pouring out into the silence of the corridor, one tear after another.

At first, Freya did stand frozen.

Her little body went stiff in Autumn’s crushing embrace, arms dangling uselessly at her sides. Her wide eyes blinked once, twice...startled by the sudden flood of grief pressing down on her.She did not understand the reason. Nor the cause.

Autumn’s sobs shook through her like an earthquake. The sound was raw, guttural, breaking the silence of the hall with unbearable weight.

Freya’s lips parted slightly, but no words came.

She simply stared up, her small chest rising and falling with quick, shallow breaths as she tried to understand this torrent of emotion spilling all over her.

Seconds stretched, long and trembling.

Then...something shifted in Freya’s gaze.

The rigidness in her arms softened.

She blinked again, slower this time, her brows drawing together. Watching Autumn’s tears stream and stream, seeing her shoulders collapse in grief...it broke something inside the little girl.

Her tiny hands, hesitant at first, rose up between them.

One palm pressed awkwardly against Autumn’s damp cheek. The other patted, small and clumsy, against her back...hesitant pats that grew steadier, more certain.

Her voice was so small it almost vanished into Autumn’s sobs.

"...It’s alright..."

She patted again, gentler now, her tone more insistent though still trembling.

"...It will be fine..."

Her hand rubbed in a tiny circle, as though mimicking comfort that she had once been given.

Then, a little louder, with fragile conviction Freya added.

"Please don’t cry...it will pass...whatever it is!"