Chapter 15

The next day, Lumae woke up quite early, the sun was barely up and the birds were not yet singing. She made Grandpa Will some pancakes with blueberries for when he woke up, and headed out, straight into the forest, with her gear in hand.

She quickly examined her map of the general area where she could possibly find the specific plant she needed to do research on, as she roamed through the forest. The sun was starting to make a slight appearance, lighting up the forest with a pleasant orange light. Lumae could hear how the entire forest finally came to life, with birds now singing in the distance, the leaves of trees, rattling in the light wind, shaking off their pollen all over the forest, and the beautiful greenery, stretching for as far as the eye could see.

As she wandered she noticed that the area where the plants were growing was quite close to Samantha's pack, so she decided that she'd go visit them after her research. She continued through the forest, and eventually heard the sound of a calm river, the ideal area for these plants to grow in. When Lumae finally reached the river, she was met with the most beautiful yellow flowers, with a strong floral scent.

Captivated by its beauty, Lumae first had to take it all in. She then placed a blanket next to the bunch of flowers and immediately sprung into work, getting out her notebook and all her different gadgets to see if she could find anything interesting about this plant.

She was so lost in her research that she didn't even notice anything going on around her. Just as she reached for her pen to scribble something down again, she couldn't seem to find it, tapping her hand beside her but not breaking her focus from the plant. As she felt around, she felt something hard under her hand, extending to something soft and fuzzy. When she looked up, she was met with an adorable little fawn, clearly curious of what Lumae was doing. Lumae couldn't help but smile at the little thing, but she knew it's mother would be close by, so she didn't dare to touch it.

She just sat there admiring it's beautiful, rusty coat, and it's blue-ish grey eyes, staring right at her. At that moment she felt calm and happy, until a cracking sound was heard from behind the bushes, causing the poor thing to run off. When she looked to see what or who it was, there was nothing. She quickly looked at the time, 2:37 pm. It was already starting to get late, so she packed up her things and started heading towards Samantha's pack. Not knowing what awaited her.

As soon as she arrived, she dropped down to her knees, at the sight of slaughter, most of the pack was clearly brutally killed. Lumae then quickly came to her senses and looked through all the bodies. There was no sign of the alpha or Ms. Shadmon and very few children were seen at the scene. She then tried to search for as many clues as possible as to what went down there. She started to think of what could've happened if she'd managed to get here in time, but she stopped herself and tried not to torture her thoughts like that.

She tried to find out where they could've possibly gone. Just then, someone placed their hand on her shoulder. "Lumae".

She jolted and turned around, only to find Ms. Shadmon standing behind her and instantly fell into her embrace, crying. "I'm so sorry Ms. Shadmon, if I'd known your pack was in trouble, I would've been here earlier."

Ms. Shadmon comforted Lumae in a very caring way. "It's alright dear, it wasn't your fault, you couldn't have known. Come now, help me scavenge some things, so we can bring them to the pack."

Lumae and Ms. Shadmon then went to the rest of the tribe, hands full of what they managed to scavenge. When Lumae saw the state of their tribe, she was heartbroken. There were very badly injured people. Children who were clearly traumatized and a bunch of betas as well as the alpha were sitting in a circle, discussing something very important. "W-What happened to the pack Ms. Shadmon?"

Ms. Shadmon let out a deep sigh, "We were attacked by rogues, being led by an alpha that abandoned his own pack. They were ruthless and strong, they had no mercy at all and the worst part is, their numbers are massive, and they are still growing."

Lumae was shocked by what she heard, rogues, forming their own pack? How could this be possible? Who is this alpha leading them? Lumae knew that she HAD to do something, no matter what.

"Ms. Shadmon, I will try to do anything I can. Just stay here for a while, I think I might be able to get you some temporary protection. I'll be right back."

Lumae then transformed into her wolf form and sprinted through the forest searching for Mr. Mortez, searching for her mate. The stronger his smell got, the faster she ran until, eventually, she came to a stop, right in front of him, making eye contact with him. She then transformed back into her human state. Instantly having a serious expression on her face.

"Mr. Mortez-", he cut her off.

"Please, don't call me that."

Lumae started to get frustrated with him, "Then what should I call you? Boss?", she took a step closer, "Alpha?", she took another step, "Mate?", she was now right in front of Mr. Mortez, but he took a step backwards.

"Dominic, Ms. Moonshaddow, just call me Dominic."

Lumae was a bit shocked at first, but quickly came back to her senses, "Fine, I'll call you Dominic if you'd do me a favor."

He sighed and just nodded his head to indicate that she should continue. "There was a wolf that taught me everything I know today, who passed away a few years ago and got acquainted with her pack, but they recently ran into some trouble with a rogue pack-", he cut her off once again.

"Sorry Ms. Moonshaddow, but I can not help you, the Noir pack's problems are their own. We can not interfere in any way."

"And why not?! Seriously, first you can't even stand the thought of me being your mate, then you keep cutting me off in the middle of my sentences, and now you won't even help me?! What can I truly do, to make you finally act like my MATE?!"

He sighed again and placed his fingers on the bridge of his nose. "Ms. Moonshaddow, I'm not like this because I want to hurt you, I'm like this because I want to protect you and besides, the reason why I can't help the Noir pack is because of what my father did 6 years ago."

Lumae was now confused, "What do you mean what your father did?"

He took a deep breath in and sighed, "Ms. Moons- Ah....*sigh * Lumae, please, don't make me tell you, just trust me on this."

"No, Dominic! I can't just trust you on this, they need my help, our help. What could your father have possibly done so wrong that-"

"HE KILLED HER, LUMAE! He killed that Samantha person whose grave you visited, and he took me there to show me what is done to people who DO NOT follow the rules. The Tenebris Lupus and the Noir pack will NEVER be on good standards EVER again, thanks to what my father did!"

Lumae looked at him for a while and started to feel sorry for him. She took a step closer to him and placed her hand on his shoulder. "Then YOU can make it right, show them that you are not your father. Help them, Dominic."

He looked up at her gorgeous blue eyes, almost being drawn to her soft lips, but Lumae broke the eye contact and took a step backwards again.

"Welp, if we're going to help them, we better act quickly then, come along Dominic." She then transformed and sprinted off into the forest, Dominic not being far behind.

When she got to the Noir pack, Ms. Shadmon was busy tending to some of the children's injuries. "Ms. Shadmon!"

Ms. Shadmon turned around, but was greeted with fear as soon as she saw Dominic. "Lumae, step away from him! He's dangerous!"

Lumae lifted up her arms in an assuring way, "No, no, Ms. Shadmon listen to me-"

"He and his family are the devil's themselves, bound to shed blood wherever they go!" She grabbed Lumae's hand and pulled Lumae behind her, but Lumae placed her hand on Ms. Shadmon's shoulder.

"Ms. Shadmon, he is my mate."