Mother of the Moon - Chapter 149 - Twists and Turns
Lunaya.
I slowly started to run in the direction of the pack house. Pain shot through my body with each impact of my paw to the ground, but I kept on. Alyse didn’t say anything further, she just ran at my side, watching me closely the whole way. As soon as we reached the edge of the village, she took off. I hadn’t realised how slowly I was actually running. I made it about four paces past the tree line when I collapsed. I had no energy left and my body radiated pain. Without warning, I shifted back and let out a loud scream. Changing when injured is always ten times more painful. Once the fur was gone, I could see the full extent of the wound to my shoulder. It sat at the joining point between the base of my neck and my collarbone. Because of its placement I could only see part of it, but the part I could see wasn’t pretty. A piece of flesh had been ripped away, leaving behind a large and bloody gaping hole. Blood coated my entire arm and chest. How the Feral had missed my jugular is a complete mystery.
I lay in the dirt on my back, butt naked. I pressed my hand to the wound, hoping to curve the blood flow. But with my thick fur gone, I could feel the blood trickling through my fingers and down my bare skin. I had my eyes closed and my breathing was becoming harsh.
“Lunaya, Lunaya can you hear me?” Romeá’s voice called to me. I felt her hands on my skin but everything else was slowly becoming hazy.
“Get her up and someone get Artemis” Romeá demanded. I felt myself being lifted from the ground, but after that, there was nothing.
-
My eyes fluttered open and I flew upright on the bed. I’m in a bedroom, not the tent, and I’m alone. I grabbed my neck but the wound was gone, completely healed over. Meaning I have been here for at least a few hours. I have been dressed in a large black t-shirt and a pair of grey sweatpants. I stood up and walked out of the bedroom door, I headed down a hallway and to a large staircase. At the bottom of the staircase was the foyer, the only part of this huge house that I recognised. I focused my hearing and heard a scurry of voices coming from a door on the left, Alyse’s voice was one of them. I pushed the door open, and all eyes turned to me. Beta Cole, Alyse, Elaine, Phoebe, Romeá, her Mate Lupus, the she-wolf Faylene and a warrior whose name I hadn’t learnt yet, all stood looking at me.
“Hello” I said awkwardly,
“Nae, you’re alright?” Alyse asked as she stepped forward and placed her small hands on my cheeks. I put my hands over hers and smiled,
“Good as new” I said with a smile before looking up to the others,
“What’s going on? Did you find the Feral and the other Weres?” I asked, directing my question to Cole.
“No. They were gone by the time we got there, and they covered their tracks and disguised their scent” Cole answered me.
“They weren’t from Tri-Moon then?” I asked him,
“Absolutely not”
“So what? They’re just gone? No clue as to where or why they took the Feral?”
“Correct” he answered again,
“Lunaya, darling, we were just discussing the possibility that the other wolves were Ferals as well” Romeá said to me.
“No, they weren’t. They didn’t have the scent and they were too calm… too in control” I told them,
“I told you that already” Alyse grumbled.
“None of this makes sense” Lupus growled and slammed his fists onto the table,
“How the fuck did they get past the boarder?” he snarled over at the warrior.
“I don’t know, the patrols were meant to be there like they always are” the warrior answered in a calm and collected voice.
“Who is in charge of those patrols?” Elaine asked, stepping forward.
“Why does that matter?” Cole asked her,
“Have you considered the fact that perhaps they had help getting onto your land?” Elaine said like it was the most obvious thing.
“Are you accusing my warriors of betraying their Alpha?” Cole snapped,
“No Beta, simply offering a possibility” she replied smugly.
“Felix, who was running patrol in that section of the forest?” Cole asked the warrior, whose name I now know is Felix.
“Jackson” he answered without hesitation. A growl rumbled in Lupus’s chest, but he didn’t let it out. Cole huffed and averted his eyes. Okay, so there is something up with this Jackson guy, something that has the others on edge.
“Bring him in. Now!” Cole barked his order. Felix bowed his head and he and Faylene left the room.
“Cole, what are you thinking?” Romeá asked him, gently placing her hand on his forearm.
“I think Beta Elaine is right, it was too easy for them to get onto the pack grounds, and then get out again without anyone raising the alarm. Our security is tight, our patrols are constant and thorough. The likelihood that they just slipped in and slipped out again is near zero”.
“Traitors” Lupus growled. His anger stunk up the room and his powerful aura was suffocating. I would have liked to meet him in his younger years. I have no doubt he would have been a spectacular Alpha. Speaking of Alphas,
“Where is Gunner and Zelena?” I asked. Lupus snapped his angry gaze to me and huffed. Romeá placed her hand on his chest and murmured something into his ear. He calmed down and his pinched face relaxed, somewhat.
“They’re at the beach. We haven’t told them yet, we wanted to let them have a break, Goddess knows they need it” Romeá answered.
“Okay, that’s fine, we can do this ourselves. Where are you at with it?” I asked turning back to Cole.
“Felix and his patrol went to the area and found nothing. Whoever these Weres are, they’re smart. Not just smart, they’re crafty” he answered me,
“And are you sure this Felix can be trusted?” Elaine interjected. Cole stood tall and growled at her a warning,
“Felix is our highest-ranking Commander. He is loyal beyond compare, yes I trust him” Cole snarled. Lupus pulled Cole back by his shoulder, which Cole shrugged off.
“Calm down, she had to ask, you would have done the same in her place” Lupus said to him quietly.
“This is the second time we’ve come across a Feral on your land in the short time we’ve been here” I began but was interrupted by Cole,
“What! Why is this the first time I'm hearing of it?” Cole shouted,
“Because the first time we thought it was random, and it disappeared as quickly as it arrived” I answered him with a roll of my eyes.
“I still should have been notified. If I'm going to stick my neck out for you, I expect a little respect in return”. Damnit. He's right, unfortunately. We should have told them. But in our defence, we still weren’t sure who we could trust at that point.
“I’m sorry Beta Cole, we should have told you”
“Yeh you should have, clearly this is not random”
“Obviously” Elaine grunted.
“Alright, alright, everyone calm down. We're not going to accomplish anything by snapping at each other” Romeá called out and waved her hands above her head.
“Sorry love” Lupus said as he wrapped his arm around her hip and pulled her back to his chest. Romeá smiled shyly and sunk into his hold.
“So what’s our next move?” Alyse asked,
“I think the first step is alerting the Alpha and Luna of what is going on. This is no small matter and they need to be here” I said firmly. Elaine and Phoebe had been unusually quite during this entire conversation. I looked to Elaine and she was watching me. I pulled a face, trying to ask her ‘what’s up’. She raised a brow but said nothing in return.
“I think she’s right Roe. They’ve had a couple of hours, that will have to do” Cole said, looking down at Romeá. She mumbled quietly to herself before giving in and nodding her head.
“Are we going to wait for Felix to get back with Jackson? So we at least have something to tell them” Lupus asked no one in particular, but his eyes were on Cole.
“I don’t think…” Cole began to answer but was cut off by the door flying open. I turned to the doorway, as did everyone else, standing there was an enraged Felix.
“Felix, what the fuck?” Cole growled and stepped forward. My stomach dropped, I already knew this was bad. All you had to do was look at his face to know it.
“He’s gone” Felix growled,
“Who’s gone?” Cole demanded.
“Fucking Jackson” Felix answered, spitting the name Jackson like it burned his tongue.
“How did that happen!?” roared Lupus. The tension in the room skyrocketed. Anger was flowing out of everyone.
“He ripped out one of his warrior’s throats and slashed apart another”. With the news from Felix, screaming erupted from the Tri-Moon members, along with deathly growls from Elaine and Phoebe.
“Fuck!”
“WHAT!”
“Oh no! No, no, no”
“How? When?” Cole demanded,
“The bodies are still warm and his scent is fresh, couldn’t have been more than half an hour”.
“Call Gunner. Call him right fucking now” Lupus roared again. Elaine and Phoebe were whispering behind me and Alyse was clung to my arm, but my focus was on Cole and his flash with Gunner. He had his eyes closed but an uncomfortable look on his face.
“What is it?” I asked,
“I can’t reach him” Cole answered. He kept his eyes closed, still trying to get the connection. After a second his eyes flew open and he stared at me wide eyed. Just like he did on the road the night we arrived. He pushed passed Felix and rushed out the door. We all followed after him as he continued through the front door.
“Cole, where the fuck are you going?” Lupus screamed at him, but Cole didn’t answer. We followed him around the side of the house to a driveway. A large black SUV was parked to the side with its doors open. The redhead Were was reaching into the backseat when Cole ran up to his side. Together they worked to pull something out of the car, then they turned around. Draped in between them, with one arm over each shoulder was an unconscious Gunner.
“My boy!” Romeá cried and rushed over to him, she grabbed his face in her hands an began inspecting every inch of her son’s face and body.
“What happened?” she demanded of the redhead. He hesitated, not wanting to answer. His cheeks were flushed and his hair was still wet. His eyes were wide and full of fear or worry, maybe dread. Whatever this look is, it’s bad.
“Smith! Answer me!” Romeá growled at the young Were,
“It was Zelena” he said meekly. I stood tall and stepped toward them, my full attention now on the redhead called Smith.
“What do you mean it was Zelena?” Romeá hissed.
“She uh, she did something to him, I don’t know what” he mumbled,
“Why would Zelena hurt her Mate?” I interjected. The Were looked at me and hesitated once again. The uncertainty was written all over his face.
“Speak boy!” I yelled at him,
“Because he attacked her” he answered.
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