A bush of dark red rose flowers.
Now, Killian did not remember seeing those the last time he was here, and while he was no plant enthusiast, he was pretty sure that he could identify a rose bush when he saw one… even if it hadn’t blossomed yet.
Nothing like that had been here.
Something about them seemed truly ominous.
Perhaps, it was how very dark red they were… so dark that they reminded him of the blood that flowed through his veins…the very same blood that had literally flowed on the plains a couple of days ago. Or perhaps, it had something to do with the fact that they seemed to have grown and blossomed overnight.
Now, don’t get me wrong— it was not as though the Alpha without a pack was afraid of blood in anyway… far from it, but he just had a bad feeling… hated the way at the sight of the flowers, blood was the first thing that came to his mind. But the thing was that he had never seen roses that dark red, and the colour had unnerved him a bit.
Apparently, the bush had drawn his mate’s attention too, for she inched closer to it in interest, an action that surprised the Alpha a bit, for he did not think her conscience that strong to fight the Red Moon’s influence, to try to do things on her own whim, for Killian knew that it was her human form that was attracted to plants, and not her wolf.
And so he tried to reach out to her.
Kendra.
She heard him alright, her furry head snapping to glare at him hard as she readied herself to attack, eyes a blazing red… but there was no other form of recognition. All he got for his effort instead was a growl so vicious that he would have backed away in fear had he not been Alpha and her mate.
And so maybe, she was still somewhat under the influence.
He reasoned begrudgingly.
Killian heard some rustling at the other end of the grove, and he turned to listen closely, trying to see what could possibly be lurking out there… hoping that it was not another wolf, because he was going to commit murder if it was, especially if it was male. He just knew it. Thankfully, he did not see anything weird, even with his wolf’s vision.
A frantic yelp snapped him out of his thoughts, making him quickly turn back to his mate, but he was already too late.
She had been bitten by something!
The Alpha was by her side in a flash, anxiously checking to see what had harmed her so, but he saw nothing around save for the weird rose and its vicious looking thorns. A lone, bloody scratch on her fury white belly confirmed his suspicions. She had not been bitten, she had been scratched.
The rosebush was poisonous!
A frantic howl left the Alpha wolf’s lips, and he quickly slapped himself to snap out of it. Now was not the time to turn? Not when Kendra was growing weaker by the minute. He had no idea what to do, but he was going to die before he let anything happen to the only person who made him feel complete.
Killian, I. Am. Dying.
He heard her voice in his head, teary… and yet filled with so much love… w—with so much peace.
Tears slid down his cheeks as he tried to suck the poison out of the cut… the only thing that came to his mind, for he had no idea where to turn to, no one to go to, seeing as everyone was not themselves.
There was truly no one around to help him.
That revelation made another howl slip past his lips. He was truly alone.
And his mate was going to die.
Was this truly the essence of the Red Moon?
To take back everything he had been blessed with in just one day?
For that was exactly how it seemed.
He could not even think in that moment... but did it mean that had he accepted to reclaim his pack, he would have lost them too?
There was no answer to that.
I love you so much, Killian… so much. And if I were given the opportunity to choose all over again, I will choose this… I will choose you, Killian… even if it will bring me back to this very moment.
He hugged the coffee coloured wolf to him, trying to stay strong even though his heart had already began mourning… her teary, sad eyes were still a bloodshot red, a far cry from their normal cerulean, but she was getting weaker by the minute, so weak that she could not even fight him for coming close even if she wanted to.
He was going to lose her.
At this point the mighty Alpha had been reduced to nothing but prayers as he bawled his eyes out like a baby, his heart heavy with so much sorrow and regret. Perhaps he should have asked that they stay in the basement instead… maybe if they had, all of this would not have happened. He knew it was too late to be lamenting and regretting decisions past, but he could not seem to help himself— he could not even stop if he tried.
But there was one thing that was at the back of his mind, even though his distress was not thinking about it. Why was she not turning back into her human form? Wolves almost always died in their human form—
Mother Nature’s way of restoring what was supposed to have been. So why wasn’t the same thing happening to his mate?
Why was Aphrodite so cruel that she would deny him his last kiss to his mate in her human form?
Of course, this was all her doing!
There was no denying it. No one had to tell him, hell even a wee pup who heard his story would not suffer to figure it all out.
“I HOPE YOU’RE HAPPY NOW!” The broken Alpha yelled to the skies as he ripped his shirt in despair, his body wracked with sobs. “YOU HAVE TAKEN EVERYTHING FROM ME ONCE AGAIN, JUST TAKE ME TOO AS WELL!”
You know, Killian truly did not know which was more painful, not having known love and true companionship at all… or knowing it and having it ripped violently from his grasps in a flash.
People spoke about how it was better to have loved than not to have experienced love at all, and in that moment, if you had asked the poor wolf what he thought, he would have called it lies. All of it.
He was doing just fine, living his life alone… a sad life, but a manageable one nevertheless.
And then the only person who had been making that life a little bit manageable had become the one who made it all better, and now she was dying right before his eyes, and there was nothing he could do about it. He could not even fucking transform into his wolf, so his beast could mourn its mate properly. Like hell if it didn’t hurt.
“I hope you’re happy now,” He whispered again, suddenly feeling defeated… like he did not have any fight left in him anymore.
This time, Aphrodite had truly won.
She could do whatever she truly wanted.
He did not care anymore.