A Luna for Alpha Kieran-Chapter 305: The missing link

(... Continued)

Autumn’s muscles moved before her mind did.

One moment she was frozen.

The next she transformed into a FIERCE,PRIMAL, UNCOMPROMISING force.

Her arm snapped backward and she dragged Freya behind her, shielding the tiny girl with her entire body.

Freya whimpered, but Autumn didn’t let her fall...she pulled her close, fingers slightly trembling.

Her helplessness was gone.

Burned away.

In its place rose a fierce wolf mother. The force of nature that she was.

Autumn’s voice tore from her chest. It lashed out,deadly. "How dare you even look at my child."

Her body leaned forward, shielding Freya with a stance so instinctive it could have been carved into her bones.

"STAY. AWAY. I am warning you..."

Her breaths shook.Her eyes burned.

"This will not end well."

The words thundered in the cavern.

But Kieran’s mother...

Oh, she didn’t flinch an inch.

Not even a twitch.

She merely tilted her head, almost bored, an elegant cruelty smoothing her features as she stepped forward...

Slow...Deliberate...Mocking.

Her heels clicked faintly...each sound echoing like a death knell.

"Well. Well." Her lips stretched into a razor thin smile."I already have two of them..."

Autumn stiffened.

The woman laughed softly, almost sweetly.

"One is your spawn." Her smile widened. "Another is your sister’s."

Autumn’s entire world jolted as she realised Jasper and Willa could actually be in her captivity.

Freya’s tiny fingers dug into her sleeve.

Autumn held her tighter.

Kieran’s mother stepped closer, voice syrupy poisonous.

"I can use them... quite well, actually."

Her gaze dropped."...but not without you willingly giving me that one." With a casual shrug of her shoulder she added. "Technical difficulties, you know!"

She lifted a single bone white finger...and jabbed towards Freya’s chest.

The motion...slow, slicing through the thick air...was too close.

Too near.

When Autumn reacted like lightning.

She spun...body curling around Freya...and scooped her into her lap in one sweeping motion.

"Don’t touch her!" Autumn screamed.

Her free hand snapped upward, shaking...and her blue fire erupted from her fingertips after a little effort... she was wasted... but not yet done. Definitely not when her children were in danger. No way in hell.

Her flame didn’t glow, it boomed.

A ring of swirling sapphire roared outward, crackling, dancing, spiraling around her hand, casting shadows like fractured ghosts on the walls.

Autumn pointed the flames at the woman... her voice was no longer just a warning.

"Don’t even think about hurting my kids..."

Silence followed.

A stunned, electric silence.

But then Kieran’s mother broke into laughter.

Not a giggle.

Not amusement.

A laughter that built slow... slow...until it ripped out of her throat like something obscene.

Her head jerked back.

Her mouth stretched too wide.

Her spine arched in a way no living spine ever should.

And as she laughed her body began to change again.

Her skin paled further then split in faint seams along her collarbones.

Black veins crawled across her cheeks like spiderwebs.

Her eyes fractured like shattered mirrors, each shard reflecting a different expression...

delight

hunger

sadness

rage

madness.

Her fingers elongated... bones cracking, twisting, reshaping into clawed talons.

Her gown shredded around her ankles as her legs bent backward...a grotesque, predatory angle, slow and methodical.

Her laugh deepened.

Widened.

Echoed.

Like it was coming from all around Autumn.

Her teeth sharpened into jagged rows...more teeth, even more monstrous.

This form unfurled...

half witch,

half nightmare,

half something far older... the Aura exuding from her was nothing but unfiltered despair.

Even Autumn felt too low for a few moments.

Like all the negativities in the world had come together, concentrated and taken a form.

Everything evil. Everything wrong.

Smoke poured from her skin...thick and swirling miasma like ink dropped into water.

Her voice, when it returned, vibrated through the cavern like a distorted melody.

"Oh, darling," she hissed,

her monstrous jaw stretching unnaturally,

"you think your little fire frightens me?"

Her claws scraped the stone deliberately.

"I have tasted ancient flames before."

Her head tilted, cracking.

"And compared to them...you are a spark.You know whom I mean,Isolde, you know. Your great great great,who knows how many greats...but yeah, you share that bitch’s blood..."

Autumn tightened her hold on Freya.

The blue fire surged brighter.

"Come closer," Autumn whispered, voice trembling from fury, not fear.

"Try. I dare you."

The abomination of Kieran’s mother grinned...every corner of her monstrous mouth widening, stretching, splitting.

"Good," she crooned, dark and delighted.

Her shadow rose behind her like a towering beast.

"Let’s finish the scene."

The cavern shivered as the monstrosity stepped forward.

Autumn tightened her hold on Freya until her arms ached, until her bones felt ready to snap just to keep the girl safe.

Her blue flames whipped violently around her fingers...unsteady, trembling, but there...alive.

Kieran’s mother took another step.

A sound like cracking glaciers rolled through the air as her monstrous form bent and straightened.

Every movement was slow, drawn out, exaggerated as if time itself refused to come near her.

Autumn rose to her feet.

Her knees were weak.

Her breathing fractured.

Her arms were wrapped around Freya like a shield of flesh.

But when she spoke, her voice was steel.

"Stay behind me, sweetheart," she whispered into Freya’s hair.

"I won’t let her touch you. I won’t let ANYONE touch you."

Freya’s tiny whimper vibrated against her chest.

Autumn’s eyes sharpened.

Her fire burned hotter.

She stepped forward.

Even with a child clinging to her...she was ready to face the creature.

The monster’s smile unfurled impossibly wider.

"Oh, brave little mother," she purred, her voice distorting on every syllable, like three different versions of her were speaking at once.

Autumn threw her first blast.

A roaring ring of sapphire burst outward, ripping through the air, sizzling and snarling as it slammed towards the monstrous woman.

Slow motion...

The blue flames stretched like ribbons...curling, unfurling, shimmering...

They hit her dead on.

BOOM.

The cavern shook.

Pebbles danced across the floor.

A shockwave of blue fire spiraled outward, lifting Autumn’s hair, rocking her back.

And the monster...walked right through it.

Untouched.

Unburned.

Unbothered.

Autumn’s breath hitched.

Her heart slammed against her ribs, but she didn’t back up.

She didn’t blink.

The woman’s talons dragged along the walls, sparks hissing from stone.

"Is that all?" she teased. "I expected more from her descendant."

Autumn snarled, "Don’t talk about my bloodline like you know a damn thing about me."

"Oh, but I do." The monster’s fractured eyes gleamed."I know your mother’s mother’s mother’s mother’s mother..."

"SHUT UP."

Autumn hurled another wave of flames, this one larger, louder, fueled by raw rage and desperation.

The monstrous woman flicked her wrist...

And the flames split.

Like water parting around a stone.

They curved around her, swirling harmlessly into nothing.

Freya whimpered, "Mama..."

Autumn’s heart squeezed painfully.

She ducked as the monster slashed a talon toward her... the claw barely missing Freya’s head by an inch.

Autumn rolled, clutching Freya tight, hitting the floor hard, her ribs screaming...but she didn’t stop.

She blasted upward.

A column of sapphire erupted between them.

The monster shielded her face with an arm, but laughed through the flames.

"Oh, darling," she crooned, "you are too tired for this."

Autumn stumbled to her feet.

She was.

Damn right, she was.

Bones heavy.

Vision swimming.

Shoulders trembling.

But she still raised her hand.

"I don’t care," she grit out. "You won’t get her."

The monster lunged.

Autumn twisted away, barely dodging, her breath catching as the creature’s claws ripped a chunk of stone from the wall like wet paper.

Freya cried softly and buried her face in Autumn’s shoulder.

Autumn’s fire flickered.

She felt it slipping.

Her knees buckled.

The monster paused...

watching her weaken...

smiling like she already owned the ending.

Her steps echoed...

one...

after...

another...

closing the distance.

Autumn backed up until her spine hit cold stone.

She held Freya tighter.

Her flames guttered.

For a terrifying moment...it truly looked like she had no chance.

"Give. Me. The child," the monster hissed.

"No."

"Give me what I came for."

"NO!"

Autumn’s fire flared, weak but defiant.

The monster tilted her head.

"You still don’t understand, do you?"

Autumn’s lips parted...but nothing came out.

Understand what?

Why she hadn’t simply taken Freya the moment she had her?

Why she’d sent Karl?

Why she’d manipulated Kieran?

Why she’d turned Autumn’s father into a creature like herself?

Why all this elaborate chaos...if all she needed was Freya?

The monster smiled, seeing the confusion forming in Autumn’s eyes.

"Oh, good," she whispered, voice wrapping around Autumn like smoke.

"You are finally starting to ask the right questions.Ooops! Too late."

Autumn’s heart slammed in her chest.

Her mind flickered...

Why?

Why?

The puzzle pieces...

scattered...

bloody...

horrifying...

finally began to quiver towards each other.

Autumn’s eyes widened.

The monster leaned in close, her breath cold as a grave.

"Go on, little mother," she crooned.

"Think."

Autumn’s hands shook.

Her flames flickered wildly.

There was a catch...

A rule.

A condition.

A limit.

Something the creature needed...

from Autumn...

before she could take Freya.

Something she couldn’t get by force.

Autumn’s breath hitched.

Her heart pounded painfully.

The monster grinned... all fangs and madness and victory.