Kieran
Rue was not their soulmate.
And yet…It felt like she was.
The first day was devastating carnage. Time did not pass, instead it bled like a wounded beast, crawled like endless torment. They tore through the labyrinth as if every breath they took was a betrayal to her soul, every beat of their heart, a crime. Dante had ruptured the crumbling hive into smithereens, shattered the walls with so much electricity the skin of his arms had peeled, and the tips of his fingers darkened into iron and smoke.
His madness tumbled into the territory of extreme Rampage.
But no one could stop him, for they were all just as mad, just as feral with their grief.
Despair.
Seraphim's waters expanded to its maximum, surging beyond reason, beyond his control. A cataclysm of tidal waves that flooded the ruins, crashing through the labyrinth in a desperate hunt for her scent. Levi seemed to unravel across the stars, reaching for the shadows in the universe. His mind was stretched thin and raw, and he leapt from galaxy to galaxy like a maniac.
Altair and Valentino swept through the wreckage with thick venom dripping from their tails. They sunk their limbs into the remains of the Lonely, pumped rotting husks full of their poison. The eros coaxed lost souls back to the living in search of a sign—a sign of Rue.
And Halcyon? He forced his transformation, feathers igniting into hellfire and smoke. He transformed into a phoenix that clawed through the realms of hell and heaven, just so he could breathe life into the slaughtered, headless monster. He pushed himself so hard, the fucking thing exploded. The mangled remains turning into blood and bone. Halcyon cried when the last of it crumbled into ash in his hands. The body of the alien that had taken her away had been their greatest hope.
They needed a trace.
A single thread.
A whisper.
But there was nothing, only failure.
They plunged into the search, disappearing into despair. 36 hours blurred in a fever dream of panic, with hives torn apart and planets left smouldering in their wake. The pack split, forming countless teams that fanned across the galaxies, digging into rubble for a mere flicker of her presence. They went through a thousand hives, a million planets. They scoured the lands for traces of her soul.
Kieran had shone his rays from the sky, casting his light from the heavens like a dying sun. He forced himself to read every trembling curve of the planets, every shudder of the stars. His vision burned through mountains, seas, and oceans. But the fucking Lonely were all just insects. There was no telling where she could be, and no hive king quite as intelligent and as ruthless as the one in the cave. Not one bore the same savage, cunning, cruelty as the monster that had stolen her away.
It was like searching through the seas in a fucking storm.
They had lost.
The last of their sanity fractured at sunset on the second day. It did not shatter with a scream, but with a sudden knowing absence so horrifying and so cold, it shocked them from the inside out. Kieran could not quite describe what he'd taken for granted—the hum of her presence, the latch of her existence upon his soul. The quiet pulse that tethered her to them all. The connection. It had ripped away from their grasp, stolen into the arms of a fucking monster.
The bond that had formed was dying into embers.
How could they have allowed her to go with them?
And for what?
Kieran's expression was grim.
So that they could feel fucking better in a mission with a portable guide?
Outrageous.
Dante was the first to fall. He collapsed into the insanity of a Rampage, and when the final pulse of his fury, his Rut and his unbearable grief hit him, it swallowed him whole. He shattered all in his path, the ground fracturing, the walls crumbling. His last order, rasped through bloody lips, was for them to save themselves, to put the pack first over a mere Omega.
And yet, ironically, he was the first to fucking go.
Dante was never quite cured after all, had always seethed and boiled in the pain of his poison. The creep of Rampage had been a blade between his ribs, lodged tight into bone. And Rue had been a godly salvation that they had taken for granted. A balm that soothed a wound that was too deep, too close. Without her presence, he imploded like a dying star.
There was no other guide that could save him.
Dante needed time.
Time that they did not have.
It did not take long for their Rampage to creep to its peak. For the sickness of Rampage to crawl up their spines and burrow into their bones. The pressure rose to a peak that was so lethal, so violent, that it became fucking impossible for them to step into another hive. Impossible to proceed with the search without shaking hands and blurring visions. One step into the ink would have turned them all completely mad.
And so, the next day was hell.
A hell where their minds frayed, and her absence grew like a searing hot brand on their souls.
Fermented grief clung to their home. The walls seemed too close; the air too thin. Every breath Kieran took was thick with the ghost of her sweetness, soaked into the fabric, buried in the grain, in the seams of their furniture, in the skin under his nails. Rue was everywhere, and the knowledge of that was so immense it had him nauseous with grief.
They broke within hours of enforced rest.
No one could eat or sleep.
Halcyon was the second to unravel, descending so quickly it was as if they'd truly lost her. He had his face buried in a shirt of hers, clinging on to the last of her scent like a prayer. Each breath was inhaled so deeply it seemed like the fever of grief, wheezed out with a shaky gasp. He did not speak, did not move. Just laid in her bed, shaking through a Rampage that did not hold the usual needy fire. It was now darker, an echo of horrifying sorrow. His knot swelled uselessly, claws tearing into his flesh — a perverse Rut that he seemed to fucking hate.
A sickness that consumed him.
He wanted her, and yet she was not there.
Even now, Kieran could hear him vomiting into a bin, sobbing, breaking.
Then Valentino, wild-eyed and ferocious, so enraged it had turned his newly blue tails into their former ghosts. He paced barefoot at the door, back and forth, insanity tinged in the sweat-soaked curls. He wandered like a spectre with glassy eyes and a ghostly expression. A single whiff of her scent from clothes in the laundry had him on his knees, trembling and gasping as if the world had fallen apart. His Rampage roared through his body like seizures, his body collapsing to the ground, hands in his hair, rutting into the air with teary whimpering. And then he got up again and paced as if possessed. He must have spent hours at the door, knees shaking from exhaustion.
Broken.
How quickly they descended.
It was as if they had truly lost a mate.
Altair was maddeningly still, spiralling into a state of despair that seemed to settle into his bones. He sat hunched on their bed, fingers digging into himself, trembling with whimpered apologies. His words were fractured on his tongue like a broken clock, begging as if he could will her from the air.
And when Rampage hit him, he clawed his arms so hard that he bled, howling with his teeth digging into his flesh. Kieran could taste his shame, the way he was hard and aching from the poison, and yet so horrifyingly apologetic that his tails were dripping, wilting into the sheets like dying flowers.
"Rue," he whined, broken-hearted. "Where are you, Rue?"
They had never experienced a Rampage quite as intense and as horrifying as this one was.
And then Seraphim, who worked himself into a desperate fever, searching for the traces of her future, for the lines in the sand. His eyes rolled back, sweat dripping down his body. Kieran would catch him falling like a crumpling marionette, and then he'd rise to read the lines. He could not speak, lost in the need to work harder despite the burn of toxin in his veins. But searching was the duty of the three scrying members of their team.
Kieran, Levi and Seraphim would spend the rest of their days looking for her until the very end.
Kieran bit his lips, eyes drifting towards Levi. Levi, who had vanished into the shadow realm, spent hours combing through the darkness of the universe. Kieran could hear him in the fracture of his light. The voice of his mate was hoarse from calling her name in the darkness. Again and again, he screamed. Rue. Rue. Rue. Levi believed more than anyone that she was out there waiting for him to save her.
Kieran bit his lips so hard he drew blood.
Rue was wrong.
An Omega.
Rue was mere prey.
There was a roar of guilt in his chest, twisting painfully like the devil's work.
And yet, she was everything.
Her absence devoured him, ate at his chest and created a gaping pit.
Kieran closed his eyes, his sun rays flickering. They were wounded stars orbiting the ghost of her soul. And everything burned, the heat sizzling under their skins, aching for release, but there was no peace. Just the infinite need for an Omega that was not there.
This was not like the time when Rue had escaped. The emperors had been confident then, they knew that they would find her. It did not matter that her voice willed them to stay on their knees. Rue could not escape from their grasp, for they were the rulers of the universe.
This was different.
This was uncertainty.
This was the cruel build-up of hope and anticipation of the most awful of outcomes. Their instincts roared, grew like a firestorm. Every cell was tuned into the possibility of her return, and yet deep inside, they acknowledged the never-ending silence. The possibility that she could be dead.
They had sent her there, like the most awful of Alphas.
It was all their fucking fault.
When had she become essential to their pack? When had her status changed from a mere tool to something so precious that they were falling apart with her disappearance? Kieran's eyes swiftly moved towards Dante's room.
Dante was chained to the walls. He was completely under Rampage. A crazed fervour twisted from snapping teeth, electricity jolting against the walls, shattering their home. Kieran did not know what he was doing in there. To encroach upon his space would be to dance with death. But he could hear the growling, the snarling, and the sobs. The sound of crumbling stone, the wet, horrifying pound of fist against the walls.
They were stars collapsing into themselves, turning into black holes.
"She's not dead."
Kieran turned to stare at Levi. He stood like a statue. His eyes were red, pupils descending into slits, reminiscent of Halcyon's dragon eyes. The Rampage hissed between them like barbed wire, bodies quivering with the agony of a tearing bond. Kieran's expression crumbled.
"She's not dead," Levi repeated.
Kieran levelled a look at him, his light trembled.
"She's not dead—"
"I know," Kieran snapped, hands fisted in Levi's shirt, a snarl rippling free. "Our sun's not dead." His eyes closed, and he felt for the spark that settled in his heart. The kindle of gentle candlelight that was hers and hers alone. Alive, but unconscious. He released it to look at Levi. The admission was relieving. "I feel it in my soul."
"A sun's spark?" Levi's voice grew pitched. "You've never told me."
"You never asked."
But the truth was Kieran hadn't noticed the little candle flicker, had not realised how deeply she'd settled into his soul. The signs were there. The dart of his light when she touched his skin, the control she had over his rays. And now her imprint had settled as the last light to go out if he were to die.
"I'll go out too, if her flame fades," Kieran admitted finally, looking at Levi shakily. "It's too close to my heart. It lives in there. I do not think I could recover if she goes. She is my true mate, and this is the final sign."
"No," Levi's eyes trembled.
"Yes," Kieran whispered brokenly. "I am that tied to her. I did not know. Not until today." He squeezed his eyes shut, a shattered voice escaping his throat. "If I had known…You don't know the things I would have done differently—"
"It is the same for me," Levi interrupted. "My shadows follow her steps."
"Doesn't it always?"
Levi's hand tugged at Kieran's wrist, fingers tightening; an insanity thick in the liquid void of his eyes. "It doesn't listen. You don't understand, I simply cannot rest until she is found." Kieran's gaze flickered, darting over the exhaustion and agony that burned bone-deep in Levi's frame. He sagged into his shadows when Kieran rested a hand on his shoulder. A simple touch of shared devastation.
"You see everything."
"It fucking torments me," Levi snarled. "The amount of motherfucking mental torture my shadows put me through just to look."
"But you want to."
"I push myself harder," Levi admitted with a shrug, a hollowed laugh on his tongue. "And I suppose for the rest of them it is the same, seeing as they've all but lost their minds." Kieran nodded, a sigh stretching from his tongue. Mandated rest was crucial, their subjects would continue the sweep. The emperors were supposed to take a break, to sleep for a couple of hours. But none of them could.
"I did not know that she'd become so important," Kieran muttered. "If I had known…If I had known that she was my only weakness—"
"Our only weakness."
"Why would I have sent her into that hive?" Kieran hissed. "There was doubt in my mind, I thought, a mere Omega. Surely, surely, she's just a plaything. How could a lion love a fucking lamb? And now, I find her fire in my heart. I'm doomed. Now, if she asked me for anything, I would have given her my light a thousand times."
"You knew," Levi's answer was sharp. "You knew a long, long time ago."
"We knew," Kieran snapped back, and this time Levi could not look him in the eye.
"She's smart, strong, sometimes even stronger than us. She'll be fine."
But Levi's words were empty, repeated as if they were meant for himself. They had believed Rue to be strong enough. And yet with a new threat lingering in the dark, there was a new reason to keep her safe in the shadows. Their eyes met. There was no need for Levi to speak for Kieran to understand his implications.
Protection in the shadow world.
"You want to."
"I do."
"She'll hate you."
"She'll be safe, they will all agree to it." Levi's expression fell. "But she will not be happy."
"We have to protect our loved ones."
"I'm not going to be fucking stupid twice," Levi snapped back at him with a glare. There was madness in his eyes from the insomnia, darkness rimmed his pupils. "We'll do what we need to do, and Rue will understand if we do this properly. And this is only if—" There was an empty pause then, and Kieran swallowed as his mind worked to complete the sentence. If she's still alive.
"Properly?"
"You know what I mean," Levi drawled. "You know what Omegas want, what she wants. You know what we can't do according to the rest of the fucking universe. But fuck them," Levi's eyes glowed. Kieran's heart raced. Levi wanted them to mate with her, to claim her, to mark her as theirs. The thought burned in his head. He'd entertained it, allowed it to exist like a little kink. They'd even talked about it. But this time, Levi's tone was different. "Fuck. Them," Levi snarled.
"You want to mate with her properly."
"I want to make her mine in every way."
Kieran's eyes widened. "You want it official?" His mind swirled. An empress on planet two would shake the entire universe.
"My people will listen to me," Levi snorted. "They fucking have to. They'll take it in, call me fucking crazy. Some of them will call her a witch, but I don't care. I'm under all of her spells."
"Dante will never agree to it."
Levi scoffed. "Do I look like I care?"
"Archaic traditions and our initial plans," Kieran nodded in understanding, but a bite of bitterness surged in his throat. "But it could work."
"Is it capture?" Levi's eyes flashed then, "if she is willing to do it for her husband?"
Kieran turned his gaze towards Seraphim's door, changing the subject quickly. An odd flash of envy surging through his chest. "Seraphim's gone mad from the search."
"She doesn't exist in the water, and that should mean death," Levi replied. "His powers break him."
"He's never been able to see her," Kieran sighed. "And I believe it to be the monster's doing."
"Heras," Levi told him. "Dante mentioned Heras. They called her their virgin queen bee. What do you make of it?" Kieran's expression was grim, lips pressed tight. The knowledge darted through his mind. Heras, they were the females of a mad clan of aliens erased from their history. But the secrets were in their royal archives, and all emperors knew the creation of their rule began from the death of those monsters.
"Mad, poisonous beasts," Kieran hissed. "Blasphemy. They use that name to spread lies and fear."
Levi nodded. "The body's in the labs, an arm that Halcyon did not try to resuscitate and grow. We'll get the results soon."
A dart of concern flooded Kieran's heart. "And what if she's truly Hera?"
There was a flicker in Levi's eyes. "They'll use her." Kieran's lips grew pinched. But what would the empire do? It was then that there was a twitch in Levi's brow. A whirl in his shadows. Levi's body shivered, and the darkness stretched. Kieran barked out a question, "what is it?"
Levi's eyes were wide open then, fluttering to stretch into genuine surprise. "It's Rue."
"Levi—"
"Don't worry about it." His mate's eyes were soft, cupping his cheek. "I'll bring her home."
He vanished, disappearing into the shadows.
The waiting was painful. Kieran could do nothing but pace the room with her on his mind. He heard the rustle first, the swirl of the shadows. Kieran did not dare to believe it immediately, attributing it to grief. But then the scent slammed into him first, devastatingly soft, like sunlight in a storm, like sugar warmed in a glass, like Omega.
It rolled through the home like thunder until they were all freezing. The world narrowing into the tiniest pinprick of pain and desire. His body was locking up, clenching, as his eyes searched her face that emerged from the depths of darkness.
"Rue," he whimpered.
Alive, healthy, thriving.
Levi seemed to have experienced the worst of it, with his hands around her, cradling her body, and his veins hissing from a recent purification. But his smile was bright. For a moment, the world seemed to blur, the grief, the rampage, the Rut. It crashed into an endless white.
"Rue," Kieran repeated, voice cracking with grief. His eyes searched her gorgeous face, the sweetness of her return had him gasping. "You're home."
The footsteps thundered, bodies colliding against walls, and the Alphas poured into the entryway. Halcyon was the first to move without hesitation, crashing in like a starving man with her name on his tongue. His breath hitched in disbelief. And when he saw her, he dropped to his knees, almost as if in worship, hands on her ankles, trembling like a storm as he wailed. "Rue. Oh Gods, Rue."
The rest followed. Seraphim sobbing, Altair falling to his knees. Valentino was whimpering. "You're safe," he rasped, voice breaking like glass. "F-fuck—You're safe." His eyes were blown wide, trembling on his knees before her. The madness grew as Seraphim surged forward with a growl, a pant on his tongue.
Seraphim's voice rose to a dangerous peak. "N-not a scratch?" His water reached forward. "I'll heal her. I'll—"
Levi's snarl was violent, trembling, "you're all going to fucking hurt her." Their fingers froze, hesitant, but their lips pulled into smiles. Their bond seemed to flicker back to life as she tried to smile. There was confusion in her eyes as she swept her gaze over them, noting down the destruction she'd left behind. Rue's brows knitted into a furrow, then smoothed, feigning understanding.
"Hey," she said, a sexy rasp on her tongue. Golden eyes squinted curiously at them, and she pursed her lips thoughtfully. Kieran felt as if her presence made the air sway; a strange glow illuminating her skin, kissing the arch of her face, drowning in the sweetness of her eyes. "What were you crazy bastards doing when I was gone?"
And Kieran barked out a teary laugh as he began to think of a way to keep her in his arms.
A/N-Thank you so much for waiting! TLDR, I found out I've got awful health +a ton of deficiencies from a regular check-up, was hospitalised and am currently slowly recovering. But things are looking good. I am healing and back.Thank you as always for the love, and I'm blessing everyone with health, wealth and happiness. Please go get yourself checked out every once in a while if you can (I totally thought I was young and strong, but I'm not).
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