CHAPTER 142: SWITCH IT OFF

[...Continued from the previous Chapter ]

The light from the Ritual pyre swore high outside...it even flickered in through the shadows of the chamber, but Kieran felt none of its warmth.

Everything seemed as though it was merely a distant memory, something he couldn’t grasp. Everything was numb.

Lyla lay beside him...his mark still glowing faintly on her neck, their fates now irrevocably tied. The weight of the bond felt like a chain around his neck, and for the first time in a long while, Kieran couldn’t breathe.He felt suffocated. Choked.

His eyes drifted close again, but his mind was far from resting. It was slowly crawling through memories.

A time when his world had been as simple as the laughter shared with his twin brother...Karl.

( start of flashback. Decades ago... )

" Why are you running like a girl, brother? Come on! You can do better! Come on... catch me! "

There used to be meadows in and around the Blackmoon pack which were now barren. Either there was some construction raised over them or a road had been paved over those areas.

They used to be once alive with the sounds of their feet, light and carefree against the grass. Kieran’s laughter rang through the air...bright as a day, as he chased after Karl, who darted away like fish in water...a grin stretched wide across his face.

He had always been a fast runner. The little devil!

"You can’t catch me!Oh just give up already!!!" Karl taunted again, his voice filled with that daring arrogance only a boy of their age could possess.

Kieran’s heart swelled with a joy so pure it felt like the sun itself lived within him. His twin brother...his mirror image.Except for their eyes. Kieran had golden while Karl had silver.Karl was not only a brother....he was also that one friend who always had his back, even when the weight of their worlds felt too heavy for their young shoulders.

The world had been wide and full of possibilities back then.

Their bond was unbreakable. Kieran had always thought they were invincible together. Brothers. Alphas. Bound by blood.

They had been inseparable.

But then...

( The memory shifted like a nightmare, and Kieran’s chest tightened... everything went dark... like it was doomsday... )

The moon was high, silver light spilling across the old stones of their father’s hall ( the fortress that now stood perished, where Autumn had been taken). But the light didn’t feel like safety. It felt cold. So suffocating... ( like Kieran was feeling at the moment!)

Kieran’s hand was trembling around the hilt of the dagger.

He hadn’t meant for it to happen. But Karl had been different ever since they returned from a hunt.

There had been something in his eyes for days...and that night...it had turned to something darker. Something so wrong even the witches were scared...they had no answer...no anecdote.

Kieran had pleaded... tried to pull all strings... but he wasn’t the Alpha yet... he couldn’t call the shots!

The moment had come, inevitable, like the sharpening of a blade.His hands were on their father’s feet, holding on, desperately. " No, Father! You can’t do it! He is my brother... your son! I won’t let you do it... "

Their father’s voice still echoed in Kieran’s mind. " Oh no! I am not the one who is going to do it.You must kill him, Kieran. It’s for the pack. He is dangerous...rabid. He cannot be brought back anymore.And if you don’t kill him, it will spread to you... then I will lose both sons and the pack will lose its Alpha! And you know what happens to a pack that has no Alpha... no claim... Don’t you? "

He had never questioned his father before. But this... this was Karl.

His brother.

His twin.The one person who had always shared his soul, his dreams.

"Do it, Kieran," their father had ordered from the shadows.That voice... that command... still made him wake up often at nights...

He had stood there, frozen for a moment, watching Karl’s eyes darken. His own blood. His best friend. The boy who used to laugh with him, run with him, fight beside him. But now... Karl was a threat??A danger to the pack???

How did he let that happen??? But he was too young to dig deeper... too naive to push through...

Karl had pleaded. "Please, Kieran. You know I didn’t mean it. I didn’t...you won’t brother...I know you won’t..."

But there was no time for words. There was no space for weakness. The pack needed protection. Their father had already made the decision for them... Kieran was only there to follow through... just so he could make it least painful... because if he didn’t, their father would send someone else... They would be more cruel. More dangerous.

The least he could offer his little Karl was a dignified end!

Kieran’s own heart had shattered...stopped...as he turned the dagger in his brother’s back.

His scream rang out. "No!" But it was too late.

The blood sprayed across Kieran’s face.

His knees buckled as he held Karl in his arms, feeling the life drain from him, the light leaving his twin’s eyes. His brother gasped, his hands slipping from Kieran’s. His last words were a whispered...broken breath.

"Why?"

Kieran’s hands were stained. His heart was ruined. His brother was gone.

They said there had been no other choice. No other way.

But his soul had been torn in half that night.

His golden iris had changed...

Orange!!! Bright... burning... something had snapped... a door had closed... something had taken over... and that was the first time Kieran had shut it down... because rationalizing the situation was too much pain.

( end of flashback. Back to the chamber amidst the Ritual pyre)

Tonight, his heart was missing some similar beats... too irregular...too loud like the sound of his own heart beating in his chest drowned out everything else.

Kieran sat up slowly, his fingers curling into the sheets beneath him. He could still feel Karl’s blood on his skin, still feel his brother’s dying breath against his cheek.

A part of Kieran had died that night. He had sacrificed his humanity, his innocence... for the pack. For the survival of his world.

He could hear his father’s voice, that cold, commanding voice, ringing in his ears."Do what needs to be done, Kieran. You are the Alpha now. You make the hard decisions.It is not easy...the Alpha title demands sacrifices. "

Was that it? Was that really all there was to it? His heart burned with the questions, but the answers had been silenced long ago.

Kieran knew that nothing in this world would ever replace the hole he had left in his heart.

His fists clenched.

He had once killed his brother for the good of the pack. And now he had sacrificed Autumn.

He had done what was needed...It felt like everything was slipping away. The world was fading.

Kieran realized he couldn’t keep doing this. He couldn’t keep pretending to be the man everyone wanted him to be. The Alpha.The savior.

He had to stop feeling... he had to go numb if he wanted to function.

With a strained, defeated breath, Kieran squeezed his eyes shut.

But when he opened them again, they weren’t the same.

The gold that had once gleamed in his irises was gone, replaced by a burning, vicious orange.

The Alpha had died tonight.

The humanity switch... was off!