The Cost of Love

Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Song of the chapter is called "Give Me (Too Much) Love." It's a basically Ed Sheeran's "Give Me Love" layered FOUR times over itself, alternating in each ear. Plug in your headphones, and it's AMAZEBALLS. Seriously. It's worth a listen. 

Connor POV

Walking out of Kiara's room in a state of panic, I wait until I am far enough away from the pack house to completely lose it. I let out a scream of anguish, mid shift, and it turns into an echoing snarl once I'm fully turned into my wolf. 

My paws hit the forest floor with a thump, and I take off running. To where? I don't know. Frankly, I just needed some way to let out all my pent-up frustration. And as much as I hate shifting, going for a run as a wolf lets off a lot more steam than if I were to run normally. My werewolf senses take over so that I don't have to worry about crashing into something, and I can get lost with my own thoughts.

Two Months. 

That's it. I have two months until I have to destroy Kiara. Destroy her, her father, and her pack. The image of Kiara under me, gray eyes wide and betrayed, begging me not to kill her only makes me run faster.  It makes me fucking sick, how sadistic I am. 

Almost as sick as the initial feeling of pride when Kiara told me I was going to become Alpha when she turns 18. 

Because right after that thought crossed my mind, I realized I wouldn't become Alpha. In two months there would be no pack to be Alpha of. Kiara didn't need to feel nervous about becoming Luna; she'll be long gone before that decision has to be made. 

I have to stop suddenly so that I can catch my breath. I hadn't realized I was about to pass out from exhaustion. When I look up, I'm shocked to see that I unconsciously ran to the large wooden house I had grown up in for 17 years. The shutters on the windows were falling off, and the front door looked sunken in, like it had been slammed too many times. Now I notice the stark contrast between Saxton's house and the pack house. 

The pack house is warmer, more welcoming, and was so even when I had been a rogue. The hunters' house was run down, and frankly kind of disgusting. With my werewolf senses, the pungent stench coming from the house hits me more than it would the hunters, and makes me want to gag. 

My large wolf body paces back and forth across the porch, trying to distract me from my mind trying to rip me to pieces. It wants Kiara, that much I know. But every fiber in my being since I was five years old has been telling me that wolves are evil, repulsive, and needed to be taken down. I've been taught that I was the chosen one, the one that will finally be able to do the world a favor and destroy the wolves. 

And now I have Kiara. Who's not evil-- actually far from it-- and who's not repulsive in the slightest. Could it be that what I've been taught, what I've been trained to do ever since I can remember, is all a lie? 

"Well, if it isn't Lover Boy."

I'm brought out of my trance to find Nick leaning on the porch railing with his arms crossed. He's carrying a beer in his right hand, which would explain the unmentionable stains on the front of his shirt. He throws me a pair of jeans and a T-shirt, which I change into immediately after shifting back to my human form. 

Random hunters nod at me in greeting as they pass by, each one with a menacing look on their face and blades in their grip. I nod back swiftly, keeping my full attention on Nick. 

"I can't do it," I admit in a growl. My hands grip my hair tight in frustration as I try to keep my anger bottled inside so I won't accidentally shift. "I-"