Chapter 17
In her den, Aurora clutched the death announcement, pacing maniacally. “Finally! The obstacle is gone! Blame yourself, Thea, for standing in my path!”
In his office, Kieran was in a late meeting when his phone buzzed. Reading the news of Thea’s death, his eyes blazed crimson, his massive frame shaking violently.
“Impossible!” he roared, his wolf howling in anguish. His Luna couldn’t be dead.
His beta quickly cleared the room as Kieran collapsed, rushing him to the pack healers.
Two hours later, Kieran awoke, immediately checking the announcement again. “Thea… forgive me…” His voice broke. “How could you leave me? How do I live without you?”
“Book me passage to Norvaria. I must see her one last time.”
Aurora burst in, watching her Alpha reduced to a grieving shell. Even when she’d left him years ago, he hadn’t broken like this.
What made Thea so special?
“You’ll go to Norvaria? She’s dead! Return penniless?” Aurora grabbed his arm.
Kieran’s eyes turned deadly as he seized her throat. “If you hadn’t stopped me from finding her, she’d be alive! You killed her! Once this pup arrives, I’ll destroy you!”
Aurora fled, trembling. “It’s over.” She hadn’t expected Kieran to choose seeing Thea over his wealth. She immediately called Axel, sweetening her voice: “When are you returning? I’ll cook for you.”
The next afternoon, rain fell on Thea’s ceremony. The Blackwoods carried her portrait as mourners gathered.
Kieran arrived unshaven, aged decades overnight. He fell to his knees before her shrine, performing the ancient wolf tribute three times.
12
Chapter 17
“Forgive me, my Luna… I’m late…” He struck himself repeatedly. “I should have controlled Aurora, should have come sooner. Did it hurt? You always hated pain…”
“Please wake up, look at me…”
Among the mourners, a figure in black watched silently beside Magnus, who held an umbrella over her.
“Does your heart ache?” he asked.
“Not for him. For myself,” Thea replied coldly.
When Aurora first taunted her, she’d laid sleepless while Kieran rested peacefully with his lover. Her anniversary moonflowers were Aurora’s rejects. While she recovered from injury, they’d claimed her den, her mating bed.
Shouldn’t she save her sympathy for herself?
