Chapter 49

*Good morning *

Once again the bed was cold but this time not quite so desolate. When he’d left early in the morning he kissed me goodbye after holding me in his arms against his chest. I did all I could to soak up his warmth before he had to go.

I had duties to do, ledgers to look at, warriors to train, and walls to defend. He left me in charge so I got up and took stock of the harvests, then I trained with the warriors. I communicated with the nearby alphas as to their defenses and the timing of the trade. And I did this all while missing him so so much.

He was somewhere in the wilderness possibly fighting a losing battle and I was waiting for him in the lovely safest home he’d built.

When he got back I was going to have to help start canning and preserving the food we were growing. I also needed to check out the progress on the root cellar.

Every family grew their own garden and preserved their own food. This means I had to preserve food for the breakfasts and lunches Grayson and I would eat until next summer. The size of my mate meant my days were going to be filled with canning for days and days to come.

*I miss you…*

It took a full night's sleep to give me the extra hand to talk to him in the morning. I doubt he had enough energy to talk back besides nothing would stop that man from returning.

Every time I tried to talk to him throughout the day it never made the distance. Still, he knew I was safe and if he knew that he could focus on the bear and come home.

Look at me, pretending not to worry. Everything I do today I do to keep myself from trying over and over to see if he’s alright.

Nothing would stop him from returning.

I have a whole pack trying to kill us and I’m worried about a bear Grayson could tear in two no problem. I suppose it’s stupid but I am his wife, and I truly have started to fall for him.

The second he was gone I realized, that he now owned part of my heart with his gruff voice, his small secret smiles, his laugh that sent chills up my body. I was falling in love with him with no return and I was not intending to stop the ride.

“Luna, the archers on the east wall tower have given the all-clear,” Aarron told me.

I checked them off the list for the noon call. No sign of attack right now, though I would think they would have more intelligence than to attack midday. Still, they are attacking one of the largest alphas in the country they didn’t seem to be all there in the first place.

“West tower says all clear,”

“That’s all of them then, tell the east tower I will see them at 2 for guard duty,” I nodded to aarron.

As I left to go and see the new warriors my shadows came along with me. Elizabeth and Matt now were two little flies buzzing about me all day long. I would be annoyed or upset if I didn’t know that it was a duty they took with honor and pride.

The new warriors were actually coming along a lot better than I had anticipated, their speed and stamina were impressive and rivalled that of the seasoned veterans still they had one final lesson to learn.

Grayson had a more brutal but effective training for his warriors, learning how to take a hit. They would fight one another in real fights aiming to wound and strike with force. If they were able to absorb blows and keep their senses, the actual battle wouldn’t be quite so hard. I know it’s barbaric but it made sense and right now I wanted everyone prepared.

Along with this, they were facing off against Elizabeth, Brian, Aarron, Leon, and normally Grayson, and me. Though my mate would rather I never have to see a moment of strife, the world never worked that way, he knew I was a good fighter and I had the strength to defend myself against men much larger than me.

Which is how he agreed to let me help train the new recruits. It was good practice to fight every day and every day I switched partners and that kept me on my feet.

Then again I might be pregnant soon. Even I wasn’t blind enough to think I should fight while pregnant.

But they might attack before then so I still wanted to be prepared.

All we could do was prepare for anything, everything. We didn’t know what they were planning, only that they wanted to hurt Grayson. They could come here and try and burn this whole place down, they could try and kill me, they could try and kill Amaria.
So everyone needed to do what they could to be ready. If Elizabeth wasn’t with me she was with Amaria, if Matt wasn’t taking a turn defending the walls he was standing in my eyesight. Amaria decided to save the guards the trouble and spend most of her time near me so they didn’t have to check with each other all the time.

If he was able to get a signal I am positive Grayson would be radioed every five minutes with my whereabouts. If he was able to get a signal I’d make him tell me he was okay every five minutes.

I changed and got set to spar with a young female who was fast but her reflexes weren’t quite up to par. I wanted her to be able to stop anything coming her way.

“Arms up,” I commanded and she set herself for a beating.

She swung at me when she could, her strength was there for sure and I’m sure she could leave a mark but she was wide with her swings.

“I might be your Luna but I have no intention of taking things easy on you, so you need to stop taking this easy on me. Fight.” Most of them had to overcome the idea of fighting the two people they owed all safety, affluence, property, and home.

The young women were especially nervous to spar with me, I was the woman who they modelled themselves after. I was the perfect person they wanted to become and they had to not only try to hurt me but get me to surrender.

Dessa, the girl I was sparring with, seemed to have a hard time even looking me in the eyes.

“Can I please spar with Elizabeth Luna,” She begged.

“You may have to fight someone who outranks you and if you can take a blow from an Alpha you’ll survive all their warriors,” I shook my head and took my fighting position. “Come on,”

I suppose I should be thankful that the young women respected me so much, and that they already had me as a leader in their minds. It didn’t deter me from my duties to them though, in fact, it pushed me to push them. If they looked up to me, I would protect them and teach them to protect themselves.

She jabbed at me with ten times the precision she had shown before. I smiled and goaded her into the corner, strategy also had to play a part in a fight. She came towards me but she was smarter than she let on and swivelled out of the way at the last second when I had planned to slam her into the corner.

I still managed to trip in the advanced movement she used to evade me. She growled in frustration and I did not attempt to hide my smile. “Come on you fast enough trust your instincts,”

She swallowed and huffed a heavy breath standing up. She faked left and jabbed at my ribs and I was impressed but it gave me a chance to knee her in the stomach as she backed off.

She had been overconfident in her move and didn’t think I had absorbed it. That was the whole point of these sparring sessions she still couldn’t take a full hit. She gasped a breath like it was a lifeline hauling it into herself to focus.

Grayson never pulled his punches so I couldn’t either. He was right, if they were able to take my punches they’d be able to take some little enemy’s punch.

She wasn’t able to get a breath back in and tapped out.

“When you see a blow clench and try to absorb it you have the instincts to do this you know it,” I coached her.

“Thank you, Luna,” she managed to get out.

“Your speed is as good as mine, you were meant to be a warrior,” I patted her shoulder.

“You're lucky your Luna respects you enough to not pull her punches, you will be invincible,” Amaria walked over with some water, handing it to her and fixing my hair.

I stood and walked away with my mother-in-law's arm and arm. She has been unflinching during all of this, never once seeming afraid. She had started giving Grayson council and support whenever he needed it and visiting with me to make sure I knew what to do as this was not something most new Lunas knew how to handle.

“You are doing well only I seem to be able to tell you are unravelling,” She whispered to me.

A soft gasp escaped me in shock at her sudden examination of me.

“I am happy that you two have finally come together, still I see you darling and you are scared for him,” She patted my hand.

“He’s off on his own fighting this beast, I ‘m worried he’ll be hurt by the bear, I’m worried this pack will find out where he is, and then I remember how strong he is and I calm down until another scenario enters my mind,” I confessed to her.

“That’s called caring for someone. I’m sure you’ve worried over your family members it’s just stronger when it’s romance,” She smirked to me.
“I just want to see him,” I wished out loud.

“You two haven't been able to send images yet?”

“No, I can barely get a thought to him. I tell him good morning after I’ve rested but during the day. I can feel the words fall on the distance between us,” I explained the complications we had been having.

“Hmm,” she stopped and turned to me. “I may have something that could help then,”

My heart leapt before the words reached my lips. “How?’ I wanted to see him. If there was a chance that I could know he’s alright I would jump at it.

Amaria spun around facing our four protectors. “The luna wishes to go to the moon pool to pray for the Alpha’s safety.

“No, that's in the woods,” Elizabeth denied me immediately, causing me to raise an eyebrow. “No disrespect Luna but we, we have strict instructions to stay in the main grounds and by your side,” she looked down.

“If the Luna can pray and ensure your Alpha’s return you have no right to refuse her,” Amaria flared her eyes in disapproval at the warriors set on us.

“Elder Am-”

Amaria held up a hand stopping Matt from finishing his sentence. “You shall get five more warriors to protect Luna and you will guard her as she prays,” she commanded.

“Bu-”

“I’m not going beyond the walls. I want to make sure he’s alright, and if you refuse one more time I will not take it as a caution I will take it as disrespect,” I asserted myself, normally I wouldn’t push but Amaria was right I was unravelling.

I tried to keep my steps calm but I was frantic to see if I could see him. I wanted any chance to know he was alright.

We made our way into the woods on our land, the pool was in the middle. I should be just fine. Still, this was risky in the pool. I would be focused on him and my senses on him. The extra wolves should be able to defend me if anything somehow happened.

“Turn around the luna must take off some layers before getting into the pool,” AMaria commanded and they followed. “Take off your dress and lay in the water in your shift,”

I took off the thin denim dress I had been wearing and slowly stepped into the water. It was warmer than the last time I had bathed here. I laid here before we were bound so it makes sense it would amplify my connection to him.

I laid myself down managed to float on the surface of the water and closed my eyes.

Nothing came to my eyes, I couldn’t see him. I kept wading through the darkness. I began thinking of him, the ice, the woods, his warmth, his arms.

Slowly fog appeared in front of me and I could smell him, then I heard him but it brought no calm to me. He was groaning and he was fumbling around. I started running for him as fast as my feet could carry me. I felt the pine needles on the ground and the mountain rocks.

I saw the bear charge at him, its size beyond even what I had imagined an armored vehicle of an animal raging toward my husband who was bleeding so heavily I could smell him.

Someone grabbed me and pulled me up.

*Grayson! *

I screamed for him trying to reach him and somehow I was running through the water of the moon pool Amaria clutching me close to her.

The scene before me was not the one I had left behind. Two stranger wolves were before my warriors growling and fighting with the warriors. When I called out Graysons name they looked for him and that was all my warriors needed.

Aaron took his knife and plunged it into the heart of one of the wolves that Elizabeth had pinned on its back, the other wolf was taken down by Matt who shot him with a tranquillizing laced arrow, and the wolf went down groggily.

“Take the una to her home,” Elizabeth commanded Brian.

He grabbed me and Amaria and rushed us towards my home.

“He’s not safe, the bear was rushing him, and he was bleeding,” I almost cried as Brian shuffled us forward.

“He was hurt,” Amaria turned pale.

The second we entered my home I ran to the kitchen and pulled my cell phone out of my pocket grabbed the sheet of paper Grayson had left for me and dialled.

One rang in and she picked up. “Darling? Your timing is-”

“Liliana, is he okay?” I didn’t let her finish my heart running at the speed of a racehorse, I paced in front of the island in the kitchen he’d built for his family for me.

“Annette, are you okay? He’d heard you demanded a helicopter. He'll be on his way. What happened?” She shot back rapid-fire questions to me.

“He heard me?…he’s okay?” I breathed calming down by repeating what she said.

“He’s okay?” Amaria ran over grabbing my arm.

“What. Happened.” She pressed.

“They got two wolves over the wall at some point they tried to attack while I was in the moon pool searching for him…when I called to him I must have said aloud because they turned to look. The warriors guarding me took care of them. One is in custody I think,” I gave the best of what I thought had happened.

“I will try and get word to him that you are alright, what in the name of the goddess convinced you to go to your moon pool?” She screamed at me, the normally charismatic woman seemed outraged.

“I had to know he was alright!” I shouted back furious she was confused as to why.

“He’s Grayson he lives off of stubbornness alone,” Liliana berated me but her tone was once again her soft musical voice. “Stay in your home until he gets there,” She told me.

Amaria took the phone from me. “We will, thank you Lilianna,” She hung up for me.

“Get twenty warriors here now, sweep the forest with silver arrows, get that wolf chained up, and prepare for the Alpha’s return,” Amaria told Brian who got on the phone and gave the orders.

After sitting on my couch wrapped in a blanket with Amaria on one side and Ella on the other for a couple of hours I heard the thundering whirring of a helicopter.

I stood and Ella had to hold me back from stepping outside. I watched as he ruined our front walk to get to me.

“Annette!” He called for me as he opened the door.

I jumped into his arms and my face became bloody from his wounds but he didn’t let me go.

*He came back. *

He brushed my hair out of my face and kissed my forehead before pulling me back into his chest.

“Bring me that wolf,” He growled.