Chapter 51|Welcome Back, Luna.

.....

Leah and Sylvester Skorr presented the woman's bruised and battered body to Martin who ordered to have her immediately burned. They did so at the farthest end of the De Luca Pack territory from the South, the part was more forest than it was an environment for people to live in.

All this was done within the span of a few hours. Meanwhile, Leah was coming up with an idea of how exactly she could find Isabelle without anyone else reaching the target before her and getting rid of her leaving no trace. Her reason for being fast was because she did not want her absense to be noticed and be a cause for alarm.

Or Isabelle getting to them before her.

Knowing if that happened she was as good as dead was what propelled her into thinking fast.

"You'll get your reward little child but there's one more thing you should know, my granddaughter thinks there's something up on your sleeves, keep your eyes on her and guard her every move closely. You be sure to have her not being obvious in her suspicion in you, else our plan will go in shambles and I'll be recognized. I'll have your word on that. Appoint yourself as her watchdog if need be."

Leah felt honored and superior for having the man's trust much more than his own kin did. She responded to his request with a solid nod and moved away from the forest sparing no one a second glance. She felt lightheaded at the first accomplishment. Newfound determination coursed through her veins as she navigated her way to the Pack manor. She shed her cloak off, surreptitiously hiding it in the gardener's former cottage, she sniffed on raw chilly and got the result she was yielding for, red puffy eyes with a few tears streaming down them and an equally crimson tinted nose.

Satisfied, she grinned to herself.

Leah slouched her shoulders and slid into the large doors that demarcated the gardens to the Manor. With a dejected look marring her features she made her way to Old Bea's chamber to report to her failure in finding anything related to the missing girl.

The old woman's arms wrapped around the sobbing lady's, Francis found them in that very position and was only able to pry the latter off the former after assuring her that it was the Alpha's orders, not his.

Francis took her to the library, handed a few handkerchiefs to the shoulder shaking, puffy red-eyed girl. He consoled her until he felt his patience thinning at her inability to compose herself.

He got that she was distressed and still crestfallen from Isabelle's disappearance but he still had a job to carry out and the distinct smell of rogues on her person did not make him feel any more positively inclined towards believing in her innocence especially after going through the camera recordings. He wanted to have an elaborate understanding of what she reported to them the other day. A slight difference in her report to what was found on camera would automatically have her as a suspect.

From his observation, he could easily say he's never seen two people who got along without trouble. In fact, apart from him, Leah was the closest and dearest friend Isabelle had in the Pack.

But then again, that was from his perspective.

Francis willed himself for an outcome that might or might not be to the Pack's favor, "When last did you see her and where?" He asked at the first chance he got when her tears dried up. Or ceased falling more like.

"We came back together, she got to her room, she had a migraine." Leah chomped down the sob that ran through her like a shiver.

"Why didn't you tell anyone? Why was it that no one else saw her coming in nor was she seen leaving the territory. No record shows her entry or exit, care to explain why Mayleigh?" Francis using her first name accentuated the fact that he meant business not silly chit chats. He wasn't interrogating her as her brother's friend or hers too, he was questioning her like a Beta does his subordinates with no room for jest.

His thunderous expression squeezed out a quick sliver of fear in her, one she immediately doused a moment after it surfaced.

Leah stared at him, bewildered by his suspicion of her, "How could you think I might have a hand in her disappearance? Believe me Rossi, she was with me! There might have been a problem with the securities, the maid who took her medication to her has seen her too. I am as innocent in this as you are, as clueless to what is happening, how she is, where she is, if she might be hurt or not the same way you are. I am worried that the closest person I have to a friend is gone in a way that terrifies me most. I'm afraid of losing one of the most important persons in my life and I'm counted among the suspects of her disappearance!" Her face blazed with fury.

"What the fuck Rossi! I'm in pain too, just the way you are if not more." She burst into a fit of tears after her explosion. Without giving him time to recover from his shock she got to her feet and rushed out of the room in a mess.

Francis pressed a hand to his forehead feeling the infamous turbulence that came with a headache. He moved out of the manor for fresh air and found a quick movement from within the high trees with his eyes. Ever the alert one, he followed the movement with all of his senses on full alert. His eyes caught on the sudden movement and he dove into the woods in a run.

After a short while he caught up with a bloodied looking Isabelle whose looks countered with her stance. There was dried blood on her body and dress but her physique and obvious strength was impeccable. Her head was held high as he caged it into his hands.

Multiple emotions wheezed through him, his heart thudded hard in his chest he thought it might drop from the weight of the hits.

"Where the hell have you been? What happened to you?" A string of questions slipped past his mouth as he appraised her appearance with his eyes. His gaze narrowed as the stench of her blood filled his nose.

Whatever the fuck was going on? Francis thought to himself as rage overcame him.


**Isabelle's P O V.

With ease, I assured Francis I was fine. I took his hands off my face, repeated the action to him and stared deep into his eyes. I let him see all he couldn't when there used to be a barrier between our connection.

My memories returning did a tremendous amount of good for me. In fact, I owe Leah one for forcing that potion past my lips even though she did it for other reasons, negative, selfish and purely evil ones.

Francis and I share a similarity that goes way back, I let him see all I've been through for the past few days through my gaze. He saw the events fast paced but nonethless clear for it to dawn on him.

His face showcased a slideshow of emotions as the weight of the predicament I was in and the betrayal behind it settled over his mind.

His jaw worked furiously and a vein at the top of his head visibky throbbed.

"We have no time to spare, I need you to take me to the Bane Pack, it's where I belong to." I rasped, drawing his attention back to me from the distance it has fled to.

"But the Alpha.." He argued, shaking his head and taking my hands in his, trying to reason with me and probably shake some sense into me.

I maintained eye contact with him and spoke carefully, "The Alpha can wait, my leaving cannot. If I stay there'll be too much left unsaid and I have the only proof to rid us of our condition, we need it now more than anything, I deliberately sought your attention. I don't want to be delayed Francis." The command in my tone left Francis staring at me with a slackened jaw.

"There's so much going on. Alexander is going sick with worry over your disappearance as it is. He needs to know you're safe, Isa, he needs it more than he needs his next breath. Believe me." He explained, his hand wrapped itself around my wrist in a gesture that yelled in volumes how he wasn't letting go of me for anything.

"That's why I need to be returned to my Pack. You can inform him that I've been found but only after we get there, I have limited time to get there or all sacrifices made will be for nothing and our efforts in shambles." I knew I was speaking in riddles but I had no time to elaborate further.

There would always be time for everything else later. Too much time even, as long as we were able to get to my Pack's seer in time.

Before my departure to the Forest of Eyre, Old Ynes explained to me on the relevance of finding her the moment my memories returned to their rightful place. At that time I did not understand what she meant by that because I had no idea I was loosing my memories immediately after her speech but now I do. Delaying my return would lead to my inability to secure the betrothal deed given to me prior to my leaving for the Forest of Eyre.

In the books of magic and worldliness that only Faes understand, if one goes into the forest he loses his memories, the moment the memories return all memories of the forest perishes except a very few.

At the moment I could feel my own memories of the forest blurring and it inspired my haste to return to Old Ynes, the Bane Pack seer because the betrothal vellum was still at the forest.

Another page also says, "To return to the Forest of Eyre, one must have a solid reason unless if thy need to stay there till eternity."

The only person that could take me back and ensure my immediate return was Old Ynes and I was counting on her to do just that so that everything could be put in place in time.

Francis relented and took me out of the De Luca Pack's territory. He teleported us to the Bane Pack territory and I rushed to the seer's cottage. I found the old woman with a smile on her face and a thick vellum in her hand. A very familiar one.

"Welcome back, Luna." She bowed.