“You have won it all, Aphrodite… you have won.” For some reason, those were the only words that kept flowing from the Alpha’s lips as he mourned his now cold mate.
She looked as though she was only stuck in a deep sleep, her wolf’s snout slightly opened, and her coffee brown thick fur cool to the touch. It was almost as though she were going to wake up any second from now and laugh in his face… mocking him for thinking it was the last he was going to see of her and telling him that it had all been some sick, stupid joke.
To think that he was not going to see that lovely smile that always lit up her face again.
He was not even going to see her beautiful hair that had him mesmerised no matter what style it was in… whether it was a messy or a neat bun atop her head, or whether it had been intricately chignoned or just left alone to flow down her back in waves… nor was he going to hear her voice that was someway somehow like music to his ears even if she was only being her sometimes charming, sometimes very annoying self.
Her wolf form was going to be the last of her he saw before she left him for good.
Tears flowed harder from the Alpha’s silver eyes even as another howl escaped his lips.
He could feel it… his wolf trying so hard to fight whatever it was that had a hold on him. It was not working.
There was another sound of rustling, but this time, it was from the rose bush, and then the Alpha heard it, loud and clear, a voice. “If I have won, why do I do I feel like such a failure then?”
It was a sultry, melodious voice.
One that reminded the Alpha of the calm after a storm... of a meadow, clear after a tumultuous rain… that reminded him of never ending love— one that was ever loyal and true,
Like the one he had with Kendra.
At first, Killian could only hear more rustling, the sound making him instinctively pull Kendra’s cold wolf closer to himself… but then he realised that something weird was beginning to happen to the rose bush. The rustling became even louder as it began to take the shape of a woman, and then it stopped suddenly when the figure metamorphosed right before his eyes.
Aphrodite!
He could easily see why she was the Goddess of love and beauty.
For her countenance was simply put, otherworldly.
From her flowy dark red gown— the same colour the roses had been, each rose still very much alive so much so that it looked like she had grown into the rose bush and had had it redesigned to fit her body in an elegant dress— to her curly, jet black almost knee length hair, she could have already won the price. But what really sealed the deal were her eyes—the lightest shade of blue he had ever seen—so blue that they reminded him of the ocean.
At that point, the Alpha without a pack just did not understand.
What was she so insecure about that she would punish an entire generation simply because one woman had been called beautiful?
It made no fucking sense.
The Alpha had a lot to say to the deity who had caused him so much pain and years of loneliness… but in that moment, as he stared at her magnificence, he found that he was quite tongue tied.
“We finally meet, Killian Silvercrest,” She acknowledged in her breezy voice, looking so regal as she stood there. “I would say it is nice to finally make your acquaintance, but I am not sure that the feeling is mutual.”
The broken Alpha lifted a tear stained face to glare at her, his wolf’s silver eyes shining through his with so much hatred, “Are you here to rub it in?” He spat venomously, “To rub it in my face and drone on about you have managed to still take everything away from me despite the Moon Goddess’ intervention?”
“Well, I am not going to lie, Killian… that was the plan,” The deity stated pensively, her light blue eyes staring deep into his soul, “Although now, I am not so sure.”
“What do you want from me?”
The growl was clear, his wolf was going to do everything it possibly could to come to the surface... to—to harm the celestial being, to extract its own pound of flesh, putting all consequences to damn.
“I guess all in all, I just need an ear to listen...” Came her simple answer. “You know, I find that I have quite the story to tell with no one to tell it to.” She finished rather sadly, a delicate, creamy hand playing with one of the live dark red roses on her dress.
Killian stared at the Goddess of Love as though she had lost her senses… and perhaps she really had, for of all the people she could have easily gotten to talk to, was it he, the very same person that she wanted totally annihilated that she’d come talking to?
It made no fucking sense.
“I must admit, when I started to take your family down one by one,” The blue eyed Goddess continued unfazed, “There was this wonderful thrill that came to it— you know… sweet, cold vengeance,”
Killian did not know, but it was not as if she was going to stop talking even if he tried, for she seemed to be far, far away... lost in thought.
“That thrill is no longer there though,” She confessed, disappointment and a little bit of confusion lacing her tone as her blue eyes turned to meet his gaze, “And to think you were my most favourite conquest.” She took a difficult step closer, and it was then Killian noticed that her gown actually had roots, meaning she was practically rooted to the ground. She hadn’t used the rose bush for a dress like he had initially thought,
She was the rose bush.
“Your father and siblings were so easy to take down... so—boring. And then you came along. I do not know what was so special about you, that made Mene actually challenge me, but whatever it was that the Moon Goddess saw in you, it made me curious.” She threw a crazy cackle that convinced the Alpha wolf of what he had been suspecting all along:
That the celestial being was batshit crazy!
“I must admit, you have spunk, Silvercrest. Perhaps, it is what has made your downfall even more saddening than the rest of your family.”
At this point, Killian still could not bring himself to say anything without lashing out at the deity, and so he just stayed there mute, hoping that at some point, she would get tired and leave him alone to carry on with his mourning.
“Kendra Sullivan.” She tsked sadly as she took in the dead wolf in his arms. “A lovely wolf no doubt… such a shame that she had to die for something that did not concern her in anyway.”
“DO NOT FUCKING SAY HER NAME!”
At that point, the Alpha just lost it, his flesh tore from his bones only to be replaced with dark fur as he made to pounce on her with a roar, but she kept him suspended with this brilliant red light, and just in time too... for his claws would have done some serious damage to her flawless skin had it made contact.
In that moment, Killian Silvercrest was too far gone in his wrath to remember this was a very vindictive Goddess he was dealing with, but the thing was… what was the point in remembering anyway? He had nothing more to live for.
He was without pack...
He was without mate.
And so what really was the point if it really was for nothing?
“You do not give up, do you, Killian Silvercrest?” This time when she spoke, there was humour in her tone, and she also seemed... pretty much impressed.
Lowering him down gently onto the floor, the red beam that had initially kept him from damaging her face reached for his dead mate instead, taking her high up until she was suspending in the air, metres far away from his reach.
No one told Killian to shift back into his human form this time, wanting nothing more than to reason with the celestial being before she did something stupid and irrevocable to his mate before he was able to say all of his goodbyes.
“Aphrodite! Let her go, please...” He bellowed in her face, anger and helplessness letting his voice break a little bit.
He did not know what came upon him in that moment, for a part of him silently called out to the Moon Goddess... the same person who had put him in this mess in the first place.
Only that this time, when he saw the lone white wolf appear once again in the bushes, instead of fear… all that rushed into his lungs was nothing but pure, immense relief.
Perhaps… just perhaps, all was not lost after all.