CHAPTER 273: YOU HAVE TO BELIEVE

(... continued)

"Don’t you fucking lie to me, Kieran...I saw you... I can never forget that moment...It still gives me nightmares...Don’t you dare lie on my face!"

Autumn’s hands slammed into his collar. Her fingers curled around the fabric, yanking him forward until their foreheads almost met...almost with a bang.

Her breath scorched his lips...her body trembled against his as she shook him...hard enough that his teeth nearly clacked.

Her voice ripped out of her throat with overflowing agony. Her scream cracked the walls, rattled his chest.

She shook him again, harder, her blue flames sparking along her arms, licking against his chest without care if they burned.

"I saw you push that dagger inside!" Her voice shattered on the words...her eyes wild, flooding with tears that were too difficult to hold. "...you stabbed him right after you came around... I saw it with my own fucking eyes!"

Her grip trembled, jerking him as though she could wring the truth out of him. "After that...I... then I remember nothing else..." Her voice broke into raw fragments

Kieran’s body rocked under her force...his breath hissed as though he was the one who was being stabbed at the moment.

His eyes seared into hers, but his hands twitched uselessly at his sides, caught between shoving her off and dragging her in again.

Kieran’s breath caught...then, as if something inside him snapped, he moved.

His arms shot around her waist, yanking her flush against him as they sat up. The collision was rough...messy. He crushed her to his chest with a grip so tight it stole the breath from both of them.

" Let.Go.Kieran..." Her fists thudded once against him...twice. But his hold only grew stronger. His face pressed into the side of her hair...his voice finally broke...raw and hot...into her ear.

"I don’t remember anything after I woke up, Autumn..." His words tumbled out, jagged, low, trembling. "But I do remember what I saw in that trance...and it was scary...it was fucking scary because I thought I was gonna lose you...forever...and when I finally came around...you were...GONE!!! Like without a trace...just simply vanished...do you have any idea what that did to me, huh? Do you have the slightest idea, Autumn?"

Autumn twisted in his arms, trying to break free, but his palm pressed to the back of her head, locking her there... forcing her to look into his eyes.

His chest rose and fell against hers.

His thumb brushed the edge of her jaw without thought, trembling, betraying the desperation that hung between them... tearing them apart, then sewing each breath back together... What a sweet torment it was.

"I swear to you...I would never...." His voice was fierce, shaking. "You have to believe me, Autumn...There is no other option...I can’t prove it right now. But I can only tell you what I know..."

His forehead pressed hard to hers...his words dropped to a growl...raw enough to scrape the marrow of her bones.

"...I did not kill your father.That’s the truth. "

Autumn’s lips parted, her eyes were oceans of fire...of storm...pupils so wide they swallowed the blue.

"You are lying...you have to be lying...because...because where is he if he is not dead?Do you think he would just sit somewhere and watch you take over his pack and do nothing?I mean do you even hear how ridiculous your excuse is, Kieran? Tell me...Kieran...go on..."

Her fists slammed into his chest again.The blows weren’t enough...she pressed harder into him, nails dragging over his shirt, clawing the fabric like she wanted to tear his skin.

Kieran grunted. "I am not lying, Autumn. For Moon’s sake, stop crucifying me for something I did not do!"

Autumn’s throat constricted. Her body shook violently...her tears finally spilled...searing her cheeks as they slid against his skin. She shoved at him again, but her palms splayed over his chest and stayed there.

"It won’t work, Kieran..." her whisper splintered into a sob, her forehead slipping against his shoulder. "Don’t...don’t make me want to believe you when all I want is to hate you. All this time...I trained for nothing but revenge..."

Kieran’s lips brushed dangerously close to hers, choking the space between them. His voice dropped."Hate me all you want, Autumn.But stay with me. Scream, curse, hit me. But don’t you dare walk away from my life ever again...Don’t you fucking dare,Autumn..."

Her nails dug into his shoulder and back. She gasped his name like a wound."Kieran...!!!"

"Autumn..." His voice was a plea, a demand, a desperation...His thumb traced her eye brows, trembling so hard it made her shudder.

His other hand fisted her hair, pulling her head back just enough to force her to meet his burning eyes.

The silence around them thickened, vibrating with the storm in their bodies. Rage. Love. Grief. Longing. All of it colliding, grinding them together until it was impossible to tell which was which.

Her lips hovered a hair’s breadth from his, trembling, both of them breathing like they had been running for their lives.

"Kieran, I need the truth. I need to know what happened to my father...I am neither stopping nor resting before I do," she whispered, her voice drizzling over his shoulder. " And if you are lying, Kieran, I promise I will kill you with my own hands."

His chest heaved.

"Kill me now if that will give you peace."

Strangely enough, his words stung Autumn for some reason.

" I never tried to deceive you,Autumn.I know I treated you like shit...because I was an asshole. I still am. I am not ’good’ at love...alright? I never had any practice...but with you, I am trying,Autumn.I really am. I can’t lose you. And our kids need you. You can not abandon us,Autumn. I know you won’t."

He held her cheeks between his palm... and she let him... her body slumping... the blue flames around her were gone... her eyes desperately flickering all over him...

" Autumn...I will say it again until my last fucking breath..." His forehead slammed harder onto hers, their lips almost colliding with the force of it...but he did not kiss, though every single cell in his body begged to. He held back...he struggled. So close to this salvation. Yet he held back. "I did not kill your father,Autumn and that is the truth. "