Kieran stood over Vera as he hurled the boulder just over her shoulder, missing her head by inches as he let her roll over!!!
His breath came in ragged gasps. Each exhale was seething with rage so molten it could melt through bone.
Vera’s battered body barely moved now...dirt caking her skin, blood dripping from her brow, her shoulder dislocated, ribs cracked beneath her heaving chest as she tried to grasp whether she actually had ,or not, just survived that assault.
She whimpered, coughing up a mouthful of red, but even the sound of that made Kieran snarl louder.
"Don’t whimper, bitch!" He growled, eyes wild and glowing. "You don’t get to make innocent sounds." He hauled her up by her hair...brutally...forcing her to kneel.
Vera cried out, scrambling to balance on her knees, arms shaking. "Alpha...please, please, I..."
His hand crashed into her cheek again, snapping her head to the side with a sickening crack. "Don’t call me that!" he bellowed. "I am not your Alpha anymore. You are not even worth the air you are still breathing!"
Vera collapsed again, eyes wide, body writhing in the soil like some broken doll. "I am sorry! I swear...!"
"Sorry?" Kieran laughed!
He kicked her in the stomach, sending her sliding several feet into the mud with a ragged scream. She tried to curl into herself, but Kieran was already there...dragging her up by the collar of her torn clothes...grip too strong...more than iron.
"I trusted you once!" He slammed her back into the ground so hard, the breath fled from her lungs. His knees pinned her arms, his clawed hands fisting the fabric of her shirt."You know what the worst part is?" he whispered, voice shaking. "It’s not that you touched her!" He slammed his fist into the ground next to her head, spraying soil. " It’s the fact that you thought I would do nothing about it! "
Vera sobbed, every nerve in her body screaming in terror, in pain. She tried to lift herself. "Please, Alpha, please...I am not an enemy anymore. I swear I am not...I learnt my lessons..."
"You are unworthy of being my enemy...you filthy rat," Kieran hissed, leaning in until his face was inches from hers.
Then his fist cracked against Vera’s jaw, snapping her head to the side with a sickening crunch. Blood sprayed across the dirt, her body crumpling like a broken doll before she caught herself on trembling arms.
"Pathetic," Kieran snarled.
Vera coughed more blood into the dirt. Her hair was matted with sweat and blood, sticking to her face in tangled strands. She tried to crawl back, but Kieran’s boot came down on her wrist, grinding bone into the earth.His claws unsheathed, glinting in the moonlight as he dragged them down her cheek...too slow, too deliberate, savoring the way her breath hitched.
Blood welled in their wake, dripping in thick rivulets down her chin.
Another backhand sent her sprawling.
Vera flinched, curling again into herself, her entire body shaking. She was a wolf...a predator...but right now, she looked like nothing more than a terrified prey waiting for the killing blow.
Kieran grabbed her by the throat, hauling her up until her toes barely scraped the ground. Her fingers clawed at his wrist, nails breaking against his unyielding grip.
Vera’s good eye widened as he slammed her back into the dirt so hard the ground trembled.
She gasped, ribs screaming, vision swimming. But Kieran wasn’t done.
He straddled her, his knees pinning her arms, his claws digging into her collarbones.His fist connected with her stomach again...then again...each blow driving the air from her lungs.She knew he was doing some irreparable damage to her internal organs but who cared when death was literally staring in her face.
Vera choked, her body convulsing, but Kieran didn’t stop.
"You forgot," he snarled, "that I always finish a job, Vera...Always..."
Vera’s vision blurred. Blood filled her mouth again. Her pulse thundered in her ears.It was screaming run run run...but there was nowhere left to go.No way to escape...
He reached for her neck.
Vera choked on her own scream.
But just as his hand closed around her throat...tighter yet trembling with fury...something shifted in her vision.
She noticed something.
Still blazing gold... but there was something deeper hidden there.
Loss.Desperation.Like he was scared of losing control.
Like he had already lost control and didn’t know how to get it back...
It hit her like a jolt.
He wasn’t using rationale... his emotions were getting the better of him.
Maybe not just from what she did. But from something else that he could not stop.
From what he almost lost.
From what he could not undo.
What could it be? In her attempt at hiding from the Blackmoons, she had actually lost complete contact with them. She had no idea about any of their latest developments. She did hear rumors about a marriage at Blackmoons but she presumed it was possibly Kieran claiming Autumn . She didn’t pay much attention because she didn’t want any more trouble. Dax giving her that second chance to get away was more than what she could have asked for... that idiot still loved her... she was certain... even after she made it very clear that she did not want to have anything to do with their stupid mate bond.
A possessive, submissive Beta was not good enough for her... she wanted more. If Dax could stand against Kieran for her... She could have given it a thought... But nah! She knew he was more loyal to Kieran than to himself. Stupid fool!
Anyways, Vera had caught the scent of a weak spot... and now all she had to do was manipulate.
She blinked through her swollen eye, coughing hard, her voice genuinely weak and hoarse.
"I... I know you want to kill me, Alpha..."
His grip did not loosen.
"But before you do..." she gasped, bloodied lip trembling. "Let me apologize....To her." A pause. "To Autumn...please..."
Kieran stopped,her blood still dripping onto his forearm... " Consider this my dying wish... "