That simple gesture made her freeze.
Her lips parted with a tiny gasp...a breathless sob wrapped in stunned joy.
Her hands flew up to her mouth, eyes wide and glistening. "She is alive...? Oh my God, my sister is alive,Kieran?Really? " She laughed, for just the split of a second. A light, trembling laugh. "I...I thought she was gone forever...How? How is this possible?I watched that boatsink...I held her bracelet...the last thing I could save...before...before I buried her memory!"
Then her gaze dropped.
Her fingers ghosted over the embroidery on his wedding robe. She touched it like it burned her.
Realization seeped back in, slow...venomous.
"You are... you are wearing this because...?" She blinked at him, blinking faster, as if trying to erase what she was seeing.
She stepped back.The tears came too fast.
"So... it’s true." Her voice was just a broken breath now. "You brought my sister back from the dead and now you are marrying her?"
She shook her head violently, her curls whipping around her. "No. No. No, this...this is some kind of joke, right? Kieran...just tell me this is a joke. Please," she begged. "Please just...just say it!I will laugh...I will..."
He did not laugh. He did not explain.
He only looked at her like she was a wound he couldn’t stitch close.
"Stop it for the Moon’s sake!" she snapped, grabbing the fabric of his wedding outfit in her fists. "Say something! Tell me this is a nightmare! This isn’t happening! This isn’t real!"
Kieran flinched but said nothing.
Her legs gave out slightly, and she caught herself with a step back, sobbing harder now.
"You knew what she meant to me," she whispered. "She was mine... You knew I broke when she died... and now...now you bring her back only to marry her?Why, Kieran why? What did I do to you for you to torture me ? I don’t understand...I really don’t...Kieran!!Motherfucker say something!"
Her scream ripped through the air.
"YOU CAN’T PLAY WITH ME !" she sobbed. "You don’t get to do this to me!!!"
She tore at her own clothes, shaking, as if trying to wake herself from a nightmare. "I have been sleepwalking through hell for years, Kieran! You don’t get to make me bleed again !"
The crowd was watching.
No one dared intervene.
Autumn screamed again, hoarse and wild, as if something deep inside her snapped...her voice breaking with all the years she had locked pain behind walls too high to climb. " I know what you are doing! This isn’t Lyla! She can never come back from the dead... you are using her name... to torment me... you just want to break me... this was your game all along... "
Mango’s footsteps came too late.
Autumn didn’t even feel the hands wrapping around her shoulders.
The man she thought she knew.
And this...this wasn’t a return from the dead.
It was a betrayal from the living
The eyes that used to hold whole constellations of love were veiled now, cloudy with pain.
Yet didn’t move an inch.
It gutted her. Deeper than she thought was possible. Her knees gave out and she hit the ground, palms slapping hard against the floor, eyes never leaving his face.
"No," she whispered. "Don’t look at me like I’m a memory. I am still here. I fought...I will fight till the end...you don’t get me,Alpha! You don’t break me!!!"
Kieran finally took a step toward her.
He didn’t rush to her.
He just looked at her, closer.
And Autumn, stared back. Her internals screaming, " He is not mine anymore... never was! " But that night... the last night they spent together... all lies? Grooming her so he could shatter her ?
"Where is she?" Her voice cracked like dry earth. "Where’s Lyla? I want to see her. With my own eyes. I want to see my dead sister come back from the fucking grave!"
Kieran’s gaze tore deep into her. "Autumn... You should go inside. You are not well. You need rest..."
"Don’t you dare," she hissed. "Don’t patronize me you fucking asshole!"
" Mango, take her inside! "
Mango’s grip tightened at the command.
"Let go of me, Mango!" Autumn shrieked, trying to yank free, but Mango held tight.
Autumn’s whole body shook. Her arm raised like she was about to land a punch on his pretty face. But then her breath shattered. "Coward," she muttered, defeated. "You could have at least looked me in the eyes while breaking me."
Mango gently tugged her back. "Autumn,come on...let’s go...please..."
And just as Mango began to pull her away, Autumn felt a shift behind her.
The crowd parted slightly. A black car rolled to a stop just beyond the garden arch.
Autumn’s breath hitched.
Her father’s old car.
The one he only drove on ’special’ days, when he felt generous enough to play pretend family. She used to ride in the back with Lyla. They would sing to songs they weren’t supposed to like. They would laugh.
Kieran walked away from the stage...away from her effortlessly...and towards the car.
She saw him reach for the passenger door and open it.
All grown... but no doubt it was her... those features... exactly the same... like frozen in time.
Honestly, she looked like a vision in white lace...delicate as a snowflake. Her dark hair curled and pinned back in soft waves.
Autumn saw Kieran lean down and whisper something into her ears.She blushed, visibly and smiled.
Then, like some sacred ritual, he reached in and lifted her.
Autumn did not realize she had stopped breathing until her body gave way into Mango’s arm.
Kieran carried Lyla toward the altar...his bride...in his arms.