A Luna for Alpha Kieran-Chapter 286: No other way

( Back at the Blackmoon Stronghold - Old World)

The world had gone still.

Too still.

The blue fire that had roared from Autumn’s veins moments ago now flickered weakly around her, trembling like a candle about to die.

The air smelled of death, despair and tears. The ground beneath them was still warm...warm from the blood of Alpha Malrick...mutilated and killed.

And right there was Freya...right within Autumn’s reach...and then she wasn’t.

Autumn’s breath hitched. A single sound broke out of her chest...soft at first, like heavy a gasp...but it cracked into something raw and uncontainable.

"Kieran..." Her voice shattered. "Kieran..she’s gone..."

He didn’t answer. Couldn’t.

Her hands clutched at the front of his shirt, trembling, yanking him closer, until her forehead slammed against his chest.

The impact made him grunt, but he didn’t pull away. His arms came around her, instinctive, fiercely holding her as if he himself needed the grounding...he himself was about to shatter.

"I just found her," she choked out between ragged sobs. "I just found my baby girl, Kieran. I didn’t even get to hold her properly. I didn’t even get to kiss her and..."

Her words drowned under her own cry. It was the sound of something tearing inside a soul.

Kieran pressed his lips against her hair, breathing her in like a drowning man gasping for air. His jaw clenched so tight it hurt.

"I know..." he whispered, voice breaking against her temple. "I know, my love."

But he didn’t. Not really. The ache clawing through his chest felt endless, but Autumn’s pain...it was something else. It was the kind of pain that made the world tilt.

Her hands were everywhere...pressing against his shoulders, gripping his neck, clinging to his collar as if he could somehow keep her from falling apart. She had so much power... an endless reservoir of that... yet she felt helpless...utterly helpless. It was useless if she couldn’t use it to save her daughter.

"I want her back," she howled, her voice echoing into the dark. "I want our baby back, Kieran. Please... please bring her back."

The last word broke into a whisper.

Kieran shut his eyes. His own tears burned behind his lids, but he forced them down, swallowing the taste of salt and helplessness.

He pulled her closer until there was no space left between them...her face buried in his chest, his hand cradling the back of her head, fingers tangled in her hair.

Her body shook in his arms. Every sob wracked through him like aftershocks.

He lowered his forehead to hers. Their breaths collided...uneven, heavy, desperate.

"I will find her. I promise," he murmured, voice hoarse. "Do you hear me, Autumn? I will find her. No matter where they took her...no matter what it costs me.I will bring our girl safely back home."

Her eyes...wild, fever bright through the tears...lifted to his. "You can’t promise that. We have no way of tracking that kind of darkness...even my powers are useless...useless..."

"I just did."

His thumb brushed her cheek, wiping away the tears only for more to fall instantly. His hands trembled, and his own composure finally cracked. He pressed his face into her shoulder, a soft sound escaping him...half growl, half sob.

"I should have protected her," he rasped. "I should have..."

Autumn pulled back, cupping his face with both hands, her palms still faintly glowing blue. "Don’t. Don’t do that to yourself."

Her voice trembled, but it was soft. "You couldn’t have stopped this. Neither of us could have. That Miasma...it was like a corruption of my own powers. I couldn’t even feel it until I saw it and then Freya was gone. ."

He nodded against her touch, unable to speak.

The silence that followed was strange...like the world itself was holding its breath.Like they had never been apart...ever.Like it was and had always been just the two of them...It felt right... too natural.

The blue fire around them dimmed to a faint shimmer.

Autumn’s sobs had slowed to trembling exhales. Her fingers traced over Kieran’s jaw...over the line of his scar, over the pulse in his throat.

"Kieran.I think I know where to ask for help. I am hoping they will be able to track Freya for us. "

Kieran’s eyes met hers...red rimmed, hollow, but fierce. "Then let’s go. What are we even waiting for? "

Autumn’s lips parted, trembling. "Yes.I just hope they can." She pressed her head tighter against his chest.

"We will get her back, Autumn," he whispered into her hair. "Even if I have to tear through the whole damn void or darkness...or whatever...I will get her back."

Autumn didn’t answer. She just closed her eyes, her tears soaking through his chest.

And for a long moment...they didn’t move.

They stayed there...like two broken halves of a promise...clinging to each other in a world that had just stolen their light.

Kieran stayed like that for a while...holding her as though letting go might make the loss more real.

But eventually, the silence grew heavier. Even grief had to move, or it would drown them both.

He drew in a long, shaky breath. His voice, when it came, was low,rough, scraped hollow by pain.

"Autumn," he murmured against her hair, "let’s go!"

He gently took her wrists, prying them free...not with force, but with a kind of exhausted tenderness. His thumbs brushed over the red marks her tears had left on her cheeks.

"I know you don’t want to," he said softly. "But if we stay down, we are wasting precious time."

Autumn nodded weakly, wiping at her face with the back of her hand. The skin beneath her eyes was swollen, her lashes wet. Her voice, though quiet, carried that fierce undercurrent that was always hers.

"Alright," she whispered. "Alright... let’s go!"

Autumn took a single step back, her gaze lifting toward the bruised sky.

It was still burning faintly red...the afterglow of what had been torn open not long ago. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

The stronghold below them looked like a wounded heart, bleeding silence, preparing for Alpha Malrick’s funeral.

Autumn turned to Kieran, eyes still wet but burning with something new... "Hold on to me," she whispered.

He frowned slightly, trying to understand. "What are you..."

Before he could finish, her fingers slid into his. The instant their palms met, the faint shimmer that had been dancing around her skin flared alive again.

Blue light rippled outward from her feet like a shockwave, licking across the stones, then rising, lifting.

"Trust me."

The world around them blurred.

Kieran’s breath caught as the ground fell away beneath them, the gravity itself bending to her will. He looked down... the landscape was rapidly sinking.

The blue fire coiled around their joined hands, wrapping them in a cocoon of pure luminescence. It wasn’t hot...humming, pulsing.

Kieran’s fingers tightened reflexively around hers. He could feel it...the energy coursing through her, flowing into him like a pulse through a vein. It wasn’t just flight. It was her essence. And it felt like she was channeling it through him too.

"Moon above, Autumn... what is this?"

She turned her face toward him, the light reflecting off her tears, making them look like glass shards suspended midair. "I missed you too," she said softly. "Though I am ashamed to admit that."

He couldn’t answer. His throat felt tight.

He understood what she meant.

The wind pulled at his hair, whipped around his shoulders. His wolf stirred within, awed, unsettled, drawn even more towards their phenomenal mate.

Her free hand rose, fingers splaying open into the air. The blue fire followed, weaving itself into streaks, forming translucent wings that unfurled from the light around them. The sky itself seemed to part.

They soared higher.

Without thinking, he squeezed her hand tighter. "Autumn.You are shaking."

"I am channeling too much power," she admitted, her words coming in fragments.

"Then why are you..."

"So that our aura and essence are indistinguishable...that’s the only way they will let you in...I am hoping so..."

Kieran stared at her profile...the soft light etching her features, the fierce determination warring with heartbreak. He had never seen anything like her. Never felt anything like this.

"Autumn," he said quietly, "Who are these ’they’?"

" You will see. And you know one of them very well! "

The wind roared louder, the flames burning brighter. The world below was completely gone now...only light and darkness stretching infinitely.

Kieran’s other hand rose almost without thought, brushing her arm, tracing the line where the blue glow met her skin. It pulsed against his touch, almost like it responded to him.

Her eyes flickered toward him, startled...then softened.

"Don’t be afraid," she murmured, tightening her fingers around his. "I won’t let you fall."

Kieran scoffed. "I am not afraid of falling," he said under his breath. "I am afraid of what happens if you burn yourself out."

Autumn didn’t answer. Her throat worked as if swallowing emotions. There was no room for that until they found out Freya’s whereabouts.