A Luna for Alpha Kieran

Chapter 323: Grandmother two

( ...continued at Calareth)The wind off the coast was sharp enough to sting skin raw.

Autumn walked ahead of everyone, boots sinking into wet sand, dress torn at the hem, one sleeve half-burnt from whatever hell had unfolded a few moments before. Salt clung to her hair. Blood—hers or someone else’s—had dried in thin, ugly lines along her jaw.

She did not slow down.

Behind her, the all brand new grown-up version of her son followed like he was out for a lazy evening stroll instead of a temporal catastrophe. Hands shoved into his pockets. Shoulders loose. That ridiculous, unbothered swagger in his step—like he owned the shoreline, this world he stepped back in, the entire time line. That cocky bastard.

Jasper even whistled.

Autumn shot him a look over her shoulder.

He grinned wider.

On the far stretch of the beach, a cluster of the Blackmoon and Skartheim soldiers stood near the half-wrecked shores of Calareth. Dented at a lot of places. Faces smeared with soot. Some of them were still binding wounds with strips of cloth torn from their own cloaks.

Jasper’s eyes wandered here and there when he finally saw him.

His eyes rested on Dax.His entire face lit up as if someone had set fire to it from within.

"Ohhh ho," Jasper muttered to himself, straightening his shoulders, running a hand through his hair like he was about to attend a family reunion instead of alter the course of fate.(*Technically both were the same)

Autumn saw that expression and sighed.

"Jas?" She warned under her breath because she was more confused than ever. She didn’t know how Dax might react to Jasper’s sudden over enthusiasm.

Too late.

Jasper marched forward with exaggerated enthusiasm, sand kicking up behind him. He extended his hand with a sheepish, almost boyish smile.

"Uncle Dax! You were not shitting! You really were handsome!Whoah! These muscles." He went ahead and squeezed Dad’s arms.

There was a pause.

A long one.

Dax blinked.

Then blinked again.

His gaze moved from Jasper’s extended hand... to Jasper’s face... to Autumn... and then back to Jasper like he was trying to figure out if this was some elaborate hallucination brought on by blood loss.

"Huh?" he said finally, intelligent as ever.

Autumn reached them, brushing hair from her face like this was the most normal conversation she had ever walked into.

"This is Jasper," she said casually.

Dax’s eyes widened.

No. Not widened.

They expanded.

They looked seconds away from physically detaching from his skull.

Autumn continued in the same tone one would use to explain a delayed shipment of grain. "From the future. Your Alpha’s son. Says we are all dead in his timeline, so he broke a couple dozen sacred laws and time rules to come fix things."

Dax’s jaw opened.

Closed.

Opened again.

"What the..."

"Nope!" Jasper raised one hand cheerfully, like he was answering in class. "Correction. Uncle Dax isn’t dead."

Dax froze mid–mental collapse.

"He is old," Jasper added helpfully. "And fragile. Because he gave up his wol—"

He bit his lip.

Hard.

The color drained from Dax’s face.

Autumn slowly turned her head towards Jasper.

Very slowly.

Jasper cleared his throat.

"Never mind. You are not dead in the future. Okay?" He patted Dax’s shoulder as though consoling him. "But you might want to redo a couple of life choices. I can help with that."

Dax pressed his fingers to his temples.

He inhaled.

Exhaled.

Shook his head.

"What in the Moon is this shit..."

His voice cracked on the last word.

Behind them, several Skartheim soldiers approached from the other end of the shore. Their wide and proud chest bore the crest of their pack, scratched but intact. They stopped a few feet away.

And stared.

One of them whispered first.

"Our Alpha’s heir..."

Another echoed it.

"Our Alpha’s heir."

The words rippled through them like a sacred chant.

Then, in near-perfect unison, they bowed.

Deeply.

Jasper blinked.

He looked back at Autumn.

Autumn folded her arms.

"Don’t you dare," she murmured.

Too late again.

Jasper hurriedly bowed back at them, almost knocking foreheads with one of the soldiers in the process.

"Whoa— no, no, no," he laughed, reaching forward and lifting them by their shoulders. "None of that. We are all mates here."

He tapped one soldier’s helmet affectionately.

Then another’s shoulder.

Then he gently tilted one man’s bowed head upright like he was correcting posture.

"Yeah mates," he said, suddenly slipping into a mock-serious tone. "Time we go save Grandfather."

There was a collective intake of breath.

Even Autumn stiffened at that.

But then—

Jasper hesitated.

He scratched the back of his neck.

"Buuuut..."

Every head turned towards him at once.

Dax dropped his hands from his temples slowly.

"But?" Autumn asked flatly.

Jasper rocked back on his heels.

"We first need to sort things out with Grandmother Two."

Silence.

The waves crashed.

A gull screeched overhead.

Dax blinked again. "Who the hell is Grandmother Two?"

Autumn’s brows knitted together. "Yes. Who the hell is Grandmother Two?"

Jasper stared at her.

He tilted his head.

Slowly.

With exaggerated disbelief.

"Your mother, Mamma."

Autumn did not move.

Jasper placed a hand on his chest in theatrical heartbreak.

"Your mother," he repeated gently. "You forgot why you came to this island in the first place already?"

Autumn’s lips parted.

Closed.

Her eyes narrowed.

The Skartheim soldiers looked between them like spectators at a very tense tennis match.

Jasper shook his head in mock disappointment, clicking his tongue.

"Unbelievable. We are trying to prevent mass extinction and you are already distracted.Bad example,Mamma! "

Autumn stepped closer to him.

Very close.

"So," she said quietly, her tone dangerously calm, "you are telling me... that before we go rescue my father... before we handle the rest of our mess... before we prevent whatever apocalyptic you claim is coming..."

Jasper nodded helpfully.

"We have to deal with Grandmother two, right?" She rolled her eyes.

Jasper gave her a thumbs up.

"Bingo."

Dax made a strangled sound in the back of his throat.

The soldiers exchanged uneasy glances.

Autumn stared at her grown son for a long moment.

Then she laughed.

Not loudly.

Not hysterically.

Just one sharp, disbelieving exhale.

"Fine," she said at last, pushing past him toward the inland path. "Lead the way, Time Disaster."

Jasper beamed.

"See? Teamwork."

He slung an arm casually around Dax’s shoulders.

Dax did not resist. Mostly because he looked like his brain was still buffering.

"Uncle Dax," Jasper whispered conspiratorially as they began walking, "you are going to love the part where you try to kill me in three days."

Dax stopped walking.

"What!!!"

Jasper laughed and tugged him forward.

"Kidding! Mostly."

Autumn did not turn around.

But the corner of her mouth twitched.

The tide continued to roll in behind them, swallowing their footprints as if the sea itself was unsure whether any of this should be allowed to exist.

Jasper led from the front and the rest of them followed. Quite effortlessly. A natural leader. Heir to the some of the mightiest Alphas of all times. Autumn fell back.

She paused. She simply stood there watching them walk. She kept staring as they walked silently after her son... a son she was so worried about losing, along with her daughters.

She was lucky, she thought.

Not all mothers get to see their children grow, that too into a strong young handsome and most importantly, just a charismatic man.

" You are right, Autumn. Not everyone gets this!" A tender whisper grazed her ears. Autumn almost jumped and squeak was about to leave her lips but she stopped herself.

Autumn smiled. "Mother!" She gasped. The more she got the opportunity to hear her mother’s voice, the more her longing increased. Her hunger for a hug, her greed for that long lost affection kept increasing. " How much I have missed you! "

" And you know I miss you too. But my time and my strengths are limited!" Came the stern response. An unexpectedly stern response to be honest.

" Mother, what’s wrong! I came like you asked me, but... "

" That is precisely what I am saying. There will be more such ’buts’. Now that your son is here, there will be plenty more ’buts’ to disrupt all your plans. We are seriously running out of time..."

" Mother! Relax!" On another occasion, Autumn would be gravely saddened and immediately jump to action at her mother’s direction, however this time, there was a cheerful glee... She was smiling. Almost relaxed.

" Jasper came back in time. The timeline is already twisted. Things in the past can change too... Time is no longer a currency here... We can make time work for us, Mother. We will just have to be cunning about it and do things right... "

A moment’s silence and then- "AUTUMN! HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND?!" Her mother’s voice rose several crescendos. "You of all people know what price Jasper might have to pay for his grave... "

But Autumn seemed too merry... either she was coping with denial or strategising something.

" I know what Jas did. And I know I will have to figure a way out to protect him. And once I am able to do that, I will be able to save you too mother... and probably Lyla too! " Her eyes literally twinkled.