CHAPTER 213: PLEASE...

[Old World – Blackmoon Colony...Outer Camp]

The camp was hushed, moonlight glazing the clearing in silver.

Fires smoldered low, warriors stood guard, but the night was restless...word had already traveled fast that their Alpha had gone into the Greater Woods abandoning his Luna in active labour...and had not yet returned... It was past midnight.

When he finally did... he was almost unrecognizable.

Kieran stumbled out of the treeline, his body shredded and soaked in both blood and mud. His steps dragged, yet his arms were rigid...unyielding...as he held the tiny bundle to his chest.

The pup was wrapped poorly in bloodied cloth. She whimpered faintly as the sound muffled against his skin.

The warriors nearest the border froze. "Alpha!" One of them gasped. "Goddess... you are bleeding, Alpha..."

"Don’t touch me." Kieran’s voice cracked like a whip, broken even...his face shadowed by grime and dried tears.

He shifted the bundle higher against his chest, shielding it instinctively with his own body.

They backed away instantly.

No one dared move closer.

His mind was already elsewhere.

He was yelling through the mind link again. "Scouts, report. Any leads?" His tone was clipped, frayed with exhaustion. " Check the cave again. Check again and again. Every crevice. Every shadow."

"Alpha..." came the hesitant reply of one scout. "We have gone over it thirteen times already. There is nothing but blood, fur and claw marks that vanish without any trail. No body. No scent. Nothing...absolutely no clue,Alpha..."

Kieran’s jaw tightened until it creaked. Out loud, he rasped under his breath, "No. That’s not enough."

Through the link, his voice thundered. " Go again. Turn every stone. Every damned inch of that cave. Find her scent. Find something.Scan and comb the perimeter... I can’t let her go like this... I can’t... "

There was silence, then reluctant agreement. "Yes, Alpha. We are on it! "

It was worse than chasing ghosts.

Kieran dragged himself further inside the camp, his gait uneven.

Every step jarred his ribs, made the wounds along his flank weep fresh blood . But he didn’t care. His arms never loosened around the newborn.

A few pack healers rushed forward, panic flashing in their eyes. "Alpha, please...you seem injuried...what happened? Let us help..."

He bared his teeth in a snarl. "Not me. Her. Tend to her first."

They froze as his arms shifted just enough to reveal the tiny bloodied face tucked beneath his chin. Gasps rippled. "A baby?"

"Our Alpha’s heir..."

Kieran ignored them. His mind was a storm.

He rasped through the mind link once more. "Scouts, what’s your update?" It wasn’t even five minutes. His mental voice broke with ragged edges. "Tell me you have found something."

"...Alpha," one finally whispered through the link. "...nothing new."

Kieran’s knees nearly buckled. He gritted his teeth, breath tearing raggedly through him. Out loud, to himself, his whisper cracked: "No. She is there. She has to be."

"Alpha?" One of the healers edged closer. "Do you mean... Lady Autumn? Is she..."

"She is still out there..." Kieran’s head snapped up, his eyes burning like wildfire. "Don’t say it. Don’t even think about anything else... I forbid it... Do you understand?! "

The healer backed away, nodding.

His arms clutched the newborn tighter, and his voice dropped to a whisper only the pup could hear. "She is somewhere close by. She has to be."

The baby stirred against his chest, her tender, small mouth opening with a soft cry.

Kieran flinched, then looked down at her, panic tightening his throat. "Shhh, baby girl. It’s alright. Daddy’s here." He rocked her faintly, though his hands shook violently. "I will find her. I swear to you, I will bring her back."

Through the mind link, another scout tried gently, "Alpha... we can send another team at dawn. Perhaps if we regroup.."

"No!" Kieran’s mental voice shattered through the link, making several flinch physically. His next words were a broken growl. "Keep looking. You go back again and again. You don’t stop until you bring me something. Do you hear me? I don’t care if you scour that cave until your paws bleed. Find. Her."

A heavy silence fell. Then: "...Yes, Alpha."

Kieran dragged himself further towards the center of the camp, his bare feet leaving smears of blood behind. Every eye was on him...on the newborn in his arms, on the great, ruthless Blackmoon Alpha who had never looked so ragged, so broken ever before.

It was as if his whole world was in the fragile weight he carried and the gaping hole where Autumn should have been.

At last, his legs gave way, and he sank to his knees before the healers. His voice rasped out, hoarse and shaking. "Help her. She needs milk. She needs warmth. I..." His throat closed as his eyes burned. "...I don’t know how to do this without her mother."

The healers scrambled, preparing cloth, warm water, herbs. But Kieran never let go. Not fully. His hands still enclosed his daughter like she might vanish if he released her even for a heartbeat.

As the baby whimpered again, Kieran bent over her, pressing his forehead to hers. "Don’t cry, little wolf. Don’t cry. I will keep you safe until she comes back to us. I promise."

The healers had barely managed to set out clean cloth and bowls of steaming water when the chamber doors at the far end slammed open.

A midwife, her apron dusted with herbs and milk stains, ran breathlessly into the firelit clearing. She dropped to her knees in front of Kieran, head bowed low.

"Alpha!" she panted, voice trembling but urgent. "Luna Lyla has...she has delivered safely. She gave birth to a daughter. A healthy daughter."

The words should have pierced through the fog of blood and grief.

But Kieran didn’t move. Didn’t even lift his head. His entire being was bent over the small bundle in his arms, as if he hadn’t even heard.

The midwife swallowed hard, then tried again, softer, more carefully.

"She has begun producing milk already. Alpha... it is better for a newborn to drink from a mother than from a bottle. Perhaps..." She hesitated, her eyes darting to the fragile, blood soaked pup whimpering against his chest. "...perhaps take her to the Luna? Let her nurse the child? She will be stronger for it."

At that, something in Kieran twitched.

His back stiffened, his arms tightening around his daughter.

His voice rasped like stones dragged across one another. "...Milk?"

"Yes, Alpha." The midwife lowered her head further, afraid of his storming silence. "She needs a mother’s milk. She will not survive without it."

For a moment Kieran just sat there, the campfire shadows flickering over the gore on his skin, his hollow eyes.

Then without another word he staggered to his feet.

The healers tried to reach for him, but he shook them off, stumbling forward with the doggedness of a man walking through a battlefield.

His arms never loosened, his body still bent like a shield over the newborn.

He shoved past the midwife, through the healer’s hall, and towards the chamber doors reserved for Lyla.

His bloodied hand slammed against the wood, flinging it wide.

And then...he froze.

The room was warm. Clean. Perfumed faintly with lavender. The fire in the hearth cast a golden glow across white silk sheets.

And there, propped against pillows, sat Lyla.

Her hair was braided loosely down her shoulder, her face pale but shining with maternal exhaustion. She was dressed in white silk, her chest exposed as she cradled a small, pink fleshed baby in her arms.

The infant suckled quietly, its tiny hand curled in Lyla’s hair.

"Alpha," Lyla breathed, her face lighting faintly at the sight of him. Relief trembled in her voice. "You are here... finally."

She adjusted, ready to turn and show him her child. "Look... look at our daughter...isn’t she beautiful like the..."

But then her words faltered.

Her eyes widened, freezing on the sight of what he carried.

The blood. The torn cloth. The faint cries of the other newborn pressed to his chest.

The silk wrapped calm in her arms suddenly felt worlds away from the ragged little creature in his.

Kieran didn’t explain.

He stumbled the last few steps and sank heavily onto the bed beside her, his body folding as though the earth itself had broken beneath his feet.

With shaking hands, he lowered the bloodied bundle onto Lyla’s lap, next to her own child...almost shoving past it.

His lips cracked as he forced the words out..."Feed her, Lyla." His voice broke...too raw and pleading. "Please... feed my baby."

The desperation clawed through his tone. He could barely breathe, could barely look at the fragile creature between them. His tears fell hot...silent, dripping onto the silk sheets.

"She is too weak...she hasn’t had a drop since she was born...its been hours, " His throat closed around the words. His jaw trembled. "...she is hungry..."

And for the first time in his life, the great Alpha of the Blackmoon pack, bowed his head.