Chapter 263: This can’t be goodbye
(... continued)
Kieran’s arms tightened instinctively around Jasper the moment Autumn shoved the boy into his chest.
"Father?" Jasper whimpered, clinging to his clothes nevertheless, his small fists trembling."Are you really my Dada, Mr. Wolf?"
Kieran swallowed hard, forcing down the jagged knot in his throat, his gaze pinned helplessly on Autumn as he simply nodded before shrugging with a dejected heave. "Seems like I am, little guy!"
Autumn was already stumbling forward.
Her legs wavered, her body lurching with grief, but she still ran... like she dragged herself across the blood soaked sand until she collapsed at Lyla’s side.
Kieran’s breath stuck.
The world slowed down.
He watched Autumn’s hands hover...shaking violently...over her sister’s shredded torso.
Autumn’s fingers twitched, too afraid to touch, too afraid to make it worse."Oh...Oh..." Something like a faint gasp barely made past her lips.
But then Lyla’s hand moved.
With effort that seemed to tear her apart, she lifted her slick, trembling fingers and seized Autumn’s hand. She pressed them weakly to her lips...and kissed them...bloody... but warm... too warm...too heartfelt.
Autumn broke.
A louder sob ripped out of her chest. Her body folded as her tears spilled without any more brakes.
"Wha...what happened??" Her voice cracked like glass, words stuttering and scattering like pearls from a torn necklace."What happened here, Lyla?! What did you do?! Why...how the fuck did you end up like this?!"
Lyla’s chest heaved...another gush of blood spilled from her lips as she coughed, shaking constantly.
"I...I am so sorry, sis." Her voice rasped, trembling against the rattle of her lungs. "I never...never meant to hurt you. Never...ever..."
Autumn shook her head violently, choking...her hands pressed harder to Lyla’s wound.
"Ssshh! Don’t you dare speak like that...I never held anything against you...not really...I promise.Now, stay still, I will fix this, I swear...Just...let me focus!"
Her blue flames flared to life, licking her palms, searing the air with their heat as she tried to press them against Lyla’s wound. Magic flared... but then fizzled.
Nothing happened.
"No! No...no...what the hell...." Autumn’s sob cracked into a desperate scream. She pushed harder. Her flames roared brighter, trembling out of control. "Why isn’t it working?! It has to work...it has to...damn...goddammit..."
Lyla coughed again, spitting blood down her chin. And yet...through it...she smiled faintly.
Her fingers curled weakly around Autumn’s wrists, pulling her hands away from the wound.
"I know you have great powers now," she whispered, every syllable jagged with pain. "But even your powers...can’t bring back someone who wasn’t really alive in the true sense..."
Autumn froze. Her face crumpled with horror, tears blinding her.
Lyla’s gaze wavered, her breathing grew ever more shallow. "I did die that day at the lake, sis." Her words rasped...grazing past Autumn’s soul like a broken arrow. "And no...it wasn’t your fault. It was all part of a bigger plan that my bastard of a father was cooking."
Her body jolted with another cough, thicker blood bubbling from her lips now.
"I was dragged back against my will. Necromancy bound me. I had no control..." She wheezed. "It took me so long...to understand what was going on. I should have killed Roanoke the moment I learned the truth. But killing him...would have killed me too. I was bound to him. And you weren’t here...I had to live to take care of our girls...Alpha Kieran...he wasn’t in the right frame of mind to look after two infants after you went missing,Autumn...I had to beg for that necromancer’s life...I had to..."
Her trembling hand lifted, pointing with a broken finger. Autumn leaned in to support her, guiding her shaking head.
Lyla’s eyes shifted towards Freya, still shaking and sobbing in Kieran’s arms.
A weak smile touched her bloodied lips.
"That one’s yours, sis. She has been such a brave little girl and my bundle of joy ever since the day the Alpha brought her back from the cave. And my little one...my Willa...she’s probably back at the pack."
Her hand clenched around Autumn’s with surprising strength, pulling her close.
"Please...please take care of my Willa." Her voice cracked, desperate, her gaze burning through the haze of death. "She isn’t like your children. She is weak...a little scared. She is even afraid of her own father..." After a pause she added. " Alpha Kieran never looks at my Willa like he looks at Freya...or ever Jasper. Look..." Autumn saw Kieran’s arms wrapped around the two, his stand super protective. "He just met your boy but he is already in love with him."
Lyla’s hands clutched tighter against Autumn’s fingers. "I know he thinks the birth of my child was a mistake...but my Willa is innocent...she has no clue about the politics.She is a pure heart. Promise me, sis...promise me you won’t let her be alone.Please.I beg you..."
Autumn’s whole body convulsed with sobs as she nodded furiously, gripping Lyla’s hands with all her strength. "I promise...I promise you, Lyla...I will protect her, I will love her like my own....I swear it...even if I have to fight Kieran...I will..."
Lyla’s chest rattled violently. Her breath broke into hiccups...they were no longer steady gasps.
Her bloodied lips trembled as she pulled Autumn closer. Her whisper grew ragged against her ear.
"There is something else that you must know. Autumn,listen carefully." She hiccuped some more before continuing. "Mother...she is still trapped somewhere, Autumn." Her words were faint, slipping between more hiccups, barely audible. "That necromancer...he never let her rest. Please...please find her...help her...they are...they plan to exploit her till the end...save our mother, Autumn...I know it’s something only you can do..."
Her voice faded into nothing but shivers of breath.
One final hiccup.
Her chest stilled.
Lyla’s trembling fingers went slack in Autumn’s hands.
And just like that, the light in her eyes was gone.
" Lyla??? Lyla, wake up!" Autumn shook her a little...Lyla’s entire body slumped...her head lolled.
" No! Noooo! Lyla...we are not saying goodbye again...Lyla, wake up!!!" Autumn let out a blood wrenching scream that tore the night apart, folding herself over her sister’s body as her tears drowned the sand. " No, Lyla... come back... you don’t get to leave me like this... no... no... you can’t... "