Chapter Fifty-six: The Lunas friend

I look at Lukas, not understanding what he means.

“I can feel your overwhelming sadness, and it seems so can the rest of the pack.”

I look at Doctor Lowe whose eyes are watering. I wipe away my tears and straighten my back, not fully understanding what’s happened, or what he means. I can feel sadness coming from everyone in the room but I don’t fully understand how. I realise that I’ve been able to feel emotions from Lukas which I had believed was through the mate bond we had together but I can see it, like an aura, around Doctor Lowe also. But even if that was right, I don’t understand how they can tell I am also extremely sad at this moment. I decide to push it to the back of my mind for now and I stand up, looking down to Elijah.

“I’m going to head to bed now Elijah. Doctor Lowe will look after you. Please try and get some rest and we can catch up tomorrow. If you need anything, please let Doctor Lowe know. If you need me, she will reach out.” I say, offering a small smile.

“Goodnight Aliana. Thank you for coming to see me.” He says, seemingly not wanting to offend Lukas, he doesn’t say anything more to me, and turns his eyes to Lukas. “Thank you Lukas, for taking me in and not turning me away.”

Lukas nods his head at Elijah, and turns and exits through the door. I take one last look at Elijah and turn to leave with Lukas.

We don’t say much at all as we head out of the hospital and head back towards the pack house. Lukas keeps me close and occasionally kisses my forehead as we walk, but says nothing, and neither do I. On our walk back, I go through the events that Elijah told us about and I still can’t get my head around it. I don’t understand why the whole community was wiped out, why everyone was killed….there were a lot of good people there, a lot of innocent people. Why were they targeted and if in fact, it was the dark elf that did it.

I stop, realising something terrible. Did the Druida community get wiped out because of me? I feel the horror stretch across my face and I instantly feel sick to my stomach. Lukas instantly wraps his arms around me, sensing my pain, as if he can tell what I’m thinking.

“It’s not your fault little one. Let’s go to sleep and we can talk it over tomorrow. I can see your exhausted.”

I don’t even respond as I feel my eyes watering and I feel like I’ve had too many outbursts lately, so I snuggle into Lukas more and nod my head. We continue to walk and head up to our room in silence. I find myself taking off the coat Lukas gave to me and placing it on a chair, then collapsing onto the bed without even changing into my pj’s. My body shuts down for sleep almost instantly.

When I wake, Lukas is gone, most likely has went down to train with the pack as I can see the Sun starting to filter along the horizon as I look out the window. I sit up in the bed rubbing my eyes gently, not wanting to make them more red and puffy than what they already are. I realise that Athena hasn’t said anything since finding Elijah.

As if right on cue, she speaks up. “Sorry Aliana. I am here, don’t worry. I was not there when you spent all that time with Elijah even though I have seen all your memories with him. I thought it best if you process everything that’s happened without me interrupting your thoughts. I’m here if you need me though.”

I love Athena for this, she’s the other half of me I need. “Thanks Athena. But just remember that you are me and I am you. We’re in this together.”

She says nothing else and I decide to get up for the day, wanting to dive right into my new found Luna duties.

Over the course of the next few days, I go to visit Elijah in the hospital for an hour or so at a time. After the second time I visited, Lukas decided that Elijah was not a threat and I could tell secretly that he was happy enough that we were just friends.

I tell Elijah nearly everything that’s happened to me since leaving the Druida community, mainly my journey here and Athena coming to me, plus being able to shift and finding my mate. I leave out the information about my parents though, not wanting to strain his stay here in the hospital. I decide to tell him another time, one that’s more convenient for us both.

We had another couple of meetings with the Elders and the ranked members of the pack and detailed all of the events that Elijah made us aware of on the night he came to us. A lot of ideas were passed about here and there but Elder Wyatt seemed to keep to himself more at the following meetings more than at the first. I didn’t push as I guess he was in deep thoughts about what to do next. We all decided that we’d increase the patrols and send out a few scouts to the surrounding areas within the forest, and looked into setting up both safe houses and bunkers if they were needed for the safety of those who are too old, ill or young to fight.

“What about the convoy we sent out?” Nina broaches the subject at one of the meetings a bit timidly, but I can tell she’s worried about what’s happened to Lance. Lukas looks to Nina and then to Albion and I can see Nina’s face fall instantly.

“Unfortunately we’re unable to send anyone out Nina. We need to keep all of our warriors here and it will be too far for the scouts. We’ll ask Elijah if they received or saw a convoy but from what I understand their community was camouflaged and would not accept any visitors….” He hesitates for a few moments before continuing. “They could still be out there and may have missed the issues the elven community encountered. We’ll revisit this when we can.”

He says it firmly, and I can see Nina upset, but she nods her head out of respect for her Alphas decision. I feel her sadness but I can see she’s determined to not give up on her brother. I know I’m partly to blame here as I pushed for the convoy to be sent, but I also know that Lance felt strongly about the convoy as well.

When the meeting was over I left the room with Estelle and Nina. The guys were going to discuss patrols and I’ve decided I’d be better spending my time with Elijah.

“I’m really sorry Nina. I know how much Lance means to you. At the very least, he’s on a mission which he feels really strongly about. That and the fact that no news is good news.” I say, offering her a small smile.

She smiles back, still looking upset but she looks a bit more upbeat. “I know. I hope he’s ok. I know he’s strong, I just hope we hear something back soon.” She looks towards the stairs. “I think I’m going to go and chill in my room for a while. Don’t wait up on me!”

I nod my head at her and let her know she can find me if she needs to talk. I know she’ll silently mourn for her brother but she has us if she needs to reach out.

I start heading towards the door. Estelle lets me know she’s going to go and speak to Jorge to help sort out the Omegas shifts for the next few weeks as there will be a few changes due to the steps being made in the meetings we’ve been having. I let her know I’m here if needed and she nods to leave.

I go towards the door and as I go to leave I hear my name being called.

“Aliana!”

I turn to see Loretta chase after me and nearly stumbling towards me.

I chuckle and wait a few seconds so she can catch her breath. “Are you ok Loretta?”

“Yes, sorry….yes, I’m fine. I’m just wondering if I can…come with you?” I see her blush slightly which I can’t help but smile to.

“I’m going to see Elijah….do you want to come with me to meet him?” I ask her, not finding the request strange at all. Both Estelle and Nina came to meet Elijah, intrigued by our visitor, the outsider who is the first to come in, that was not a werewolf. However I smile knowing that there’s something else going on in her mind.

I see her perk up at the suggestion.

“Yes please!”

I smile widely, a small feeling bubbling in my chest. I smile at her and nod, and we turn to head towards the pack hospital.

Before I know it, we’re heading up the hospital stairs to the third floor where Elijah has been the last few days. I smile knowing he’s going to be discharged today and after talks with Lukas he’ll be allowed to stay in one of the cottages close to the pack border. Elijah has always been a ranger so he will also be allowed to train with the pack. He’s been talking about trying to get his strength back and I’m full of glee internally that I’ll be telling him today when he’s let go from Doctor Lowes care.

We get to the door of the room and I can sense Loretta feels excited. I open the door and my initial hunch is immediately confirmed when I hear Loretta whisper the word.

“Mate.”