Leaving Morane’s home some minutes after Kira had left the pack, Bryan and Aiden stepped into the mansion, their faces cold and holding no emotion. They walked in like they were robots controlled by a remote.
Elara and Orion, who stood waiting in the hallway, spotted them as they walked in, and Elara’s hands fidgeted nervously. She could already sense the pain within her sons and tried to reach out to them.
“Darling…” She called softly, her voice trembling as she reached for Bryan, but he walked past her without a word, like he couldn’t see her.
“Aiden,” Orion called out, his voice firm but filled with concern. But Aiden did the same, not answering and just walking.
“I don’t know about this,” Elara said to Orion as she watched her sons climb the stairs. “I really don’t know.”
“They need time,” Orion said, placing a comforting hand on Elara’s shoulder, his expression showing how worried he was. “Everything will be fine.”
Reaching the top, Bryan walked straight to the bedroom, entered inside and closed the door behind him. He clicked it, locking it, as he didn’t want any form of disturbance or anything at all.
Aiden, however, walked toward the study. He entered the room and did just as Bryan had done, his hand lingering on the door handle for a moment before he locked it.
Inside the bedroom, Bryan leaned against the door for a moment and just stared into nothing.
“Her scent is still so strong,” he whispered to himself as his chest grew heavier with each passing second. “I can feel her.”
He tried to hold it together, tried to remain strong as an Alpha should be, but the memories of how he used to chase her around the room, how they laughed and teased each other-everything about her was too strong, and that dam inside him began to crack.
He let out a shaky exhale, his hand clutching his chest. The pain was like nothing he had ever felt before; it was like his heart was being crushed over and over again, giving him no time to breathe.
Bryan let out a strangled sound, part gasp, part sob, but it caught in his throat, refusing to come out fully.
“Uh…uhh…” The sound escaped him again, broken, desperate, and needy. It was like he was trying to cry, but his body wouldn’t let him. He staggered forward, his knees buckling as the first tear fell.
“UHHH!” Bryan sank to the ground, his back sliding down the door until he was seated on the floor with his head in his hands. Then the sobs came, ripping through him with such unexpected force.
“Kira,” he whispered, clutching his chest again as the emptiness inside him felt endless. The pain, the love, and the fact that there was nothing he could have done broke him.
Bryan cried harder, his tears soaking into his hands. “Unghh goddess,” he whispered, his cry that of a wolf mourning the loss of his mate.
Aiden, on the other hand, was not any different. In the study, his hand rested against his chest, fingers curled into a fist as he leaned against the closed door.
The pain had started spreading through him, and at first, he tried to push it away, tried to suppress it, but it wasn’t working. He hit his chest with his hand once, then again and again, trying to force the shattering pain away.
Silent tears fell as he kept hitting his chest. He still fought to hold himself together, but it was too much.
Aiden was going to hit his chest again but ended up gripping his shirt tightly as he finally let it all out.
“Why does it hurt so much?” he choked out, his tears falling faster now. “Why?” He asked and resumed hitting his chest again, the motion weaker as his strength gave way to the overwhelming pain.
Aiden’s shoulders shook as he let out a guttural cry, his head tilted back against the door, the tears never stopping.
Meanwhile, outside, in the hallway of the upstairs floor, Elara and Orion stood. They weren’t sure they had ever heard their sons cry that way before.
The agonizing cries of Bryan and Aiden reached them, and Elara’s eyes grew misty with tears.
Her breath hitched, and she covered her mouth as each broken sob hit her.
“Orion,” she whispered, her leg almost giving out beneath her. “We have to do something.”
“They are hurting too much,” she said, her voice loud enough even though she still had her hand covering her mouth. “We can’t-”
“It’s okay,” Orion reached out, wrapping his arms around her. “I wish there was something I could have done,” he murmured, closing his eyes and letting out a long, heavy breath.
“I understand that there was no choice, but I don’t know how they will survive this,” she said to Orion, dropping her hand from her mouth. “I have never seen them this way.”
And as another sob broke through from Bryan’s room, then Aiden, her entire body shook, and she clung to Orion, unable to bear the sound of her sons in pain.
“They need this,” Orion said softly, hugging her tightly and rubbing her hair as she also sobbed. “We cannot take this pain away from them.”
“I know,” Elara nodded, the tears still flowing. “I just wonder how Kira would be feeling. I’m sure she is in so much pain, and it hurts me seeing them this way.”
Hugging her tighter, Orion remained silent, letting her cry as much as she wanted too. They all needed it.
Everyone had been trying so hard to stay and remain happy these few days, and now… there was nothing to be happy about.
In a heartbreaking moment, Kira, Bryan, and Aiden felt the same pain, each clutching to their chests where it hurts the most.
They could not feel each other anymore, and a part of them in each of their hearts had been broken.
The end was finally here and now…
It was all over.