Chapter 50: Why
For a really long... long time... Autumn simply stared into Kieran’s eyes.
Her fingers slowly clenched around his shirt and she yanked him close as if trying to ask... "Why?" Yet not a single word left her mouth.
Kieran sat there, patient, looking back at her with the same intensity... hoping for a reaction... retaliation... anything. But it never came.
" I... I shouldn’t be here, Kieran!" Autumn tried to sit up.Tears slid down her cheeks. "You made vows to her, Kieran.You are a... married man! I shouldn’t... "
" You are my mate... my fated... "
" You chose someone else! Lyla is your mate now! Please don’t make this any more difficult than it already is... I am... I am not feeling very well... " She tried to push her way through but Kieran held her firm. " Feel like a whore right now...I feel illegitimate... like I have felt all my life... "
"I haven’t rejected you,Autumn.You are still very much my mate...The legitimate one. " he said quietly.
She flinched. "But you haven’t claimed me either" Kieran still held the towel, his fingers brushing her jaw.
Autumn sucked in a breath that felt like knives in her chest. "Why are you doing this?You made your choice. You stood under the Moon and claimed my sister. You left me...like everyone else! You..." Her voice rose until it broke again, and she turned her face away, hating the hot tears that spilled despite her effort to choke them back.
" I am right here, Autumn! I would never leave you!!! "
Autumn jerked back, as much as her weakened body would allow.She turned back sharply. "Why not?! Why would you not reject me and yet claim her? Do you know what that did to me? Do you have any idea what it was like... how it felt like when you... when you... " Autumn knew she was starting to hyperventilate. So she clutched the sheets tighter.