Tuesday morn.
Killian stared long and hard at his reflection in the mirror as he adjusted his cravat. If one looked real close, they would have seen the shine in his eyes… the shine that was half tears, half determination.
Oh, but men didn’t cry,
And Alphas definitely had that dreaded word deleted from their vocabulary.
The Alpha of the Silver Crest Pack had this heavy feeling in his chest, and you definitely would have one too if you had to do what he was about to in a few minutes.
‘Alpha, everything is set.’ His gamma, Miguel announced through the mind link.
The hour had finally come, it seemed.
‘Is she still in her chambers?’
‘Yes, Alpha. Rhea is in there with her as we speak, she wouldn’t be coming out any time soon.’ Came the reply.
Good.
‘I’ll be with you shortly,’ Killian finally said, shutting off the mind link. With a sigh, he continued working on his cravat, gods knew how much he hated these things, but he figured it would probably be the last time he’d wear one anyway… and so he tried to quell his irritation.
He had barely finished with it when a knock sounded at his door and a certain redhead burst in. “Killian? What is going on?” She asked, her green eyes wide in confusion. “You sent for me? Are you going somewhere?”
“Sit, Artemis.” He ordered, “I have to tell you something,”
The slender woman did as she had been told, and Killian joined her. “There are some things Kendra and I haven’t told you yet. She had been so conflicted, and it had been eating her up, but I had promised her I was going to tell you myself… and so here it goes,”
With that, he proceeded to tell her everything— well not everything, everything, just the things he felt she needed to know.
“I honestly cannot waste your time, Artemis… I am officially a lost cause, and no one can save me save for one woman, and even she doesn’t want to. You deserve someone better who won’t drag you down with him. And I know for sure that there is someone Aphrodite has in mind for you, but it sure as hell isn’t me, and that fact isn’t going to change no matter how much we try.”
The she-wolf sat for a while, just taking it all in. When she had finally processed the information as best as she could, she said, “I really appreciate your honestly, Killian… and I’m glad you decided to share this with me. I have a strong reverence for the gods and I-I… there’s no way I’m going to come between you and the plans they have for you.” She squared her shoulders, even though she could feel her heart slowly breaking. You see, she didn’t even know when it had happened, but she had come to care for the Alpha. He was broody, sure… and he mostly didn’t talk much, granted… but he was one of the few males in her life who had treated her with nothing but the utmost respect, and for that she was grateful.
She stood up, “I can see that you have somewhere to be, and so I wouldn’t take up any more of your time. Kendra will come around, I just know she will.” She said with a small smile, and then she walked out.
Well that had gone much easier than he had thought.
Killian stepped out of his study not long after and headed for the town square.
Today, his life was totally going to change.
*****
Kendra was still finding it unbelievable how Killian had just agreed to make her go on her quest.
True, she hadn’t exactly made it easy for him, but Kendra knew that her stubbornness never stopped him before. For some reason, he seemed to be the only one who could meet her head to head… perhaps it was why the Moon Goddess had decided to pair them together as the First Mates.
Genuinely speaking, the she-wolf still had a lot of questions. Did that mean there were going to be more people blessed with the Moon Goddess’s weird blessing?
Or was it going to be just her and Killian?
She didn’t have much time to ponder over those thoughts though, for her nanny, Rhea interrupted her reverie,
“Kendra, do you really think this quest is necessary, especially in this time? Killian needs you child,”
The dark she-wolf rolled her eyes. She wasn’t sure just how long she could hold hearing those words over and over again, she was this close to calling everything off, “Come on Rhea, please… let’s not talk about this especially on my last day here, you don’t think I know this?” She lashed out, a bit too hard, but who could blame her?
“You think I’ll just let him die like that? I need some space to think. I’m going, so just drop it already.”
Rhea raised her hand in surrender, she knew how her ward could get when aggravated, and so she just kept mum and continued to help her with her packing.
****
The town square was packed to the brim as Killian made his way up to the podium, an entourage of young male wolves behind him, the crowd of werewolves loudly cheering his name as they wondered what could have possibly made their Alpha decide to call such an early morn meeting.
Tears welled up in the Alpha’s eyes— his second batch that morning alone— at the warm welcome he received.
Perhaps, he was becoming weak.
At the elevated podium stood Dante, Miguel, and Alpha of the Riverdale Pack, Tyrone Riverdale. The blond-haired Alpha clapped his frenemy’s shoulder in a strong hug, offering his silent support. He could only imagine how his peer was feeling in that moment.
Killian nodded his appreciation and then acknowledged his two right-hand men. And then he turned to address his pack,
Finally.
“Good morn, brothers and sisters, I’m sure you’re all wondering why I called such an early meeting. I’ll get right to it. I’m sure by now all of you have heard rumors about my family’s curse in one form or the other,” He took a deep breath, “Well the rumors are true,” He admitted, a chorus of loud gasps running through the crowd at his confession.
“Unfortunately, my curse puts you all in danger, and in a bid to protect you, I have no choice but to renounce my role as Alpha and disband the Silver Crest Pack—”
He was cut off again by another series of gasps and loud chattering among his wolves. He kept silent, giving them some time to process the information, and then raised a hand when he was ready to continue, the town square quickly quieting down once more. “Alpha Riverdale here has agreed to absorb you all into his pack, where I can assure you that you will be better off in, but you can also choose to become rogue if that is what you prefer, I would not advise you to choose this option though with the Curers lurking about on every turn,” He said,
“We’ll stick with you till the end, Alpha Killian!” A male wolf shouted from the crowd, his statement drawing series of loud ‘yeses’.
Killian was touched, really he was… but he wasn’t going to toy with their lives, it would kill him if someone died for his sake.
“As much as I appreciate the sentiment, guys… I’m afraid I can’t joke with your lives like that. My decision is final.” He said sternly, injecting as much Alpha aura as he could into it. His wolves cowered in fear for a few seconds, and then the aura suddenly faded, the renunciation suddenly setting in as one by one, Killian felt the link that bound him to his pack tear off. The suddenness of it all had the once powerful Alpha crumbling to his knees.
As Tyrone and his two right hand wolves helped him up to his feet and off the podium, Killian couldn’t help but think about the fact that the last thing his now former pack would have in mind of him was how he had turned into nothing but a pathetic wolf in his last days.
And it was nothing but the absolute truth. He had given up, he had let Aphrodite win… he didn’t have it in him anymore to fight, and so he had lost it all,
If that wasn’t pathetic, Killian didn’t know what else was.