Sold To The Alpha
The Cursed Luna Chapter 14

After a number of hours Lucian's vehicle indicated to the right, pulling off the highway they had been cruising down and cutting down a single lane road that lead to a small sleepy village a good forty miles from the mountains. Driving slowly between the quaint little houses he led the way to the centre of the village where they found a few shops and a small building with a light up sign in the front window that flickered with the words 'Rooms to rent'. Coming to a stop in front of the building, the occupants of the three vehicles piled out and stood looking around themselves.

Justin made his way in to the hotel as the rest of the group waited outside, watching the few villagers going about their business. It was only a few minutes before Justin reappeared, 'Alpha, I have paid for all the available rooms' he called over to Aaron, holding up a large collection of keys 'We will have to share i'm afraid as they only have six rooms'

Aaron nodded, pulling Charity into his grasp as Lucian motioned to his men to pair off, walking over to Justin, Lucian said 'Are you happy to share with me Beta? then Alpha Marcus can have a room to himself'

'Of course mate' replied Justin jovially 'Just don't snore ok, I once had to bunk with my Alpha for two whole weeks and he was like a frigging freight train, I swear reception came up because other guests complained'

Aaron growled at Justin, moving to jump on him while Charity rolled her eyes and grabbed his arm, 'Justin!' she shouted desperately trying to control the laughter that was gurgling in her throat.

'What?' shrugged Justin mischievously, 'You know i'm right' he grinned wickedly before he legged it for the hotel entrance, Aaron having shaken off his wife's hand, was hot on his heels.

'They are like a couple of children' growled Charity exasperatedly, while the Red moon pack chuckled to themselves as they followed the two friends inside the building and up the stairs to their rooms.

After a good nights sleep, the group quickly ate some breakfast before grabbing their bags and heading out of the hotel heading toward the surrounding forest, once out of view the werewolves stripped and shifted, Aaron remained in his human form, shielding Charity from the other members who had all turned their back on the couple, growling threateningly toward their backs as she removed her clothes, tied her bag to her waist and shifted into her beautiful white wolf form, her fur catching the light that streamed through the trees shining with a golden glow.

Stopping momentarily to run his fingers through his mates fur as she nuzzled her snout into his hand, he quickly disrobed, tied his bag to his torso and shifted into his jet black wolf which towered over every other wolf but Alpha Marcus. The other wolves encircled the black and white wolves, providing a protective field around the pair before Lucian and Darius who had taken their place at the head of the pack started forward toward the clear blue mountains that were carved into the bright blue sky ahead of them.

Running in formation, the lead wolves set a steady pace, one that would cover the remaining miles before nightfall but not too fast that the pack would tire and be at a disadvantage in the case of a Rogue attack. Aaron remained firmly at Charity's right side, Justin to her left both on edge as they thundered through the trees, their senses on high alert for any danger that could come their way.

As night was drawing in, the group could see the many lights of the small village at the base of the mountain, skirting round to the left, Lucian and Darius led the pack around the edge of the village keeping them out of sight of the villagers, and toward a small clearing within the tree line where they slowed to a stop, shifting into their human forms.

Charity moved behind a small outcrop that was covered with various bushes, Aaron standing beside her, where, hid from view, she shifted back into her human form and quickly donning her clothes, pulling them out of her back pack as the cool mountain air whipped around her naked torso, before stepping out to help the men set up a camp for the night.

Soon a small fire was burning in the centre of a makeshift stone hearth and various foods were pulled from their bags to make a meal. They sat and chatted quietly, laughing and joking over their meal before a shift pattern was organised for lookout and they settled down to sleep on the grass. Aaron pulled his mate into his chest possessively, one of his strong arms wrapped around her waist as he relaxed into sleep. Looking round her, she saw that the other wolves had all taken to sleeping in a circle around her and her husband. Smiling to herself at their obvious attempts to protect her she sighed quietly, she loved that they wanted to keep her safe but sometimes she wished that they would accept that she was a strong wolf in her own right, supposedly with powers to rival any Alpha. She curled herself into Aaron's chest, breathing deeply as her eyes closed and sleep overtook her body.

Hours later Charity found herself being shaken roughly awake, opening her eyes she gazed up into the worried eyes of her husband, around her she could see the empty clearing from the light that came from the moon that hung above their heads. 'Quick, move!' he whispered, pulling at her arm as she scrambled to get up. Hunching over she followed him as silently as she could into the dense overgrowth that surrounded thir camp. Crouching down she could see the rest of their group similarly hiding, looking round wildly Charity strained her eyes trying to make out what the threat was and why they were hiding from it like scared children.

Slowly a young girl came into view, she looked around apprehensively before dropping a small scroll onto Charity's bag and fleeing back into the trees, around the back of the village and out of sight. Stepping out from where they were hidden, Aaron grabbed Charity's hand and walked carefully over to her bag, scooping up the scroll, and unrolling it.

'Go back or lose him' was scrawled on the note, Charity, peering over her husbands shoulder looked at him confused.

'Lose who?' she asked worriedly, the group stared around each other silently, 'Where's Jus?' asked Charity suddenly, worry creeping into her voice, 'Jus? JUSTIN!' she started to shout the panic rising in her voice as her eyes darted from side to side as if she thought he was going to jump out of the bushes laughing.

'shhh' whispered Aaron as Marcus stepped to her side, placing his hand over his grand daughters mouth.

'We don't want them to know what Justin means to you little one' murmured her grand father 'Don't let them see that they could have a good bargaining chip on their hands' whimpering Charity placed her head in her husbands neck, fighting back the sobs.

'I think we should retreat Alpha's' came Lucian's crisp voice, strangely calm as it carried across the clearing. Marcus and Aaron agreed, grabbing their things they quickly backed their way into the woods, keeping careful watch for enemies. They walked silently for an hour until Lucian held up his fist in a stop signal, turning to the group he said in a low voice, 'I think they have stopped following us, there is no unknown scent in the wind, but we must still be cautious in our talks.

As they settled down, huddled together Charity looked at her husband, tears filling her eyes 'How did they manage to take him?' she asked, her voice breaking slightly as she spoke.

Aaron hung his head, 'I don't know my love' he confessed 'I woke him up to take over watch, he was sat by the treeline when I fell asleep next to you. Darius woke me saying something wasn't right, he could sense something but he didn't know what as there was no scent, no sounds, just a feeling that something was amiss' he said carefully.

Looking toward Darius, Charity's eyes pleaded with him to tell her what was happening. Darius looked the Luna in the eye 'I am sorry Alpha, Luna, we failed to protect your man' he said sadly, obviously taking it as a personal failure that someone had not only managed to sneak up on them but over power and kidnap a Beta without making any sound. 'I woke up to a feeling of a breeze across my chest, there was nothing around me but my senses told me that something wasn't quite right. I woke the pack, told them what I had felt, Alpha Marcus said that we should disguise ourselves and see if that brought out whatever was making me feel anxious, so that is what we did. In the confusion I didn't notice that one of our number was missing' he confessed angrily looking at the floor. Charity could see in his eyes that he was internally beating himself up over Justin's kidnapping, reaching over to him she placed her hand on his drawing his eyes up to hers, 'It was not your fault Darius' she said kindly 'We all slept through what happened, but one thing I know is that whoever has taken my Beta is right now regretting it, if he hasn't mauled them to death by now he's making so many antagonistic comments they are wishing they picked someone else to take' she laughed lightly.

Darius smiled despite himself 'Yeah, I get that impression of him' he admitted, 'He's a tough one, your Beta, but I promise you Luna, I will not stop until I replace and return him to you' he growled, his eyes flashing with determination. Smiling back at him Charity whispered 'I know, thank you'

Aaron looked round the group, 'We need to try and figure out how we are going to do this' he growled 'I think we can safely assume that as an attack was carried out on our group, there is truth to the Wolf Man story, it also seems they are not eager to meet us and they have some powerful magic if they can silently and scentlessly move among us without waking us from slumber' he said.

Marcus looked up from where he had been idly drawing in the dirt with a stick he had found on the ground listening to everyone talking, clearing his throat he said 'One thing is for sure, these Wolf men know that we are not going to give up our search, us pulling back from the mountain edge will not have fooled them into thinking we are leaving, that's why they took Justin in the first place, he is collateral' shifting slightly to stretch out his muscles, he continued 'We will need to form a plan on how we are going to not only replace these Wolf men but also how we are going to get Justin back and obtain their help when they have made it very clear that they are not receptive to visitors'.

With these sombre words, the group settled back down to sleep a bit more, leaving two members of the group to guard together to stop any further attempts by these mysterious mountain men.

Cuddling into her husbands embrace, Charity's body shook slightly as she tried to hold her sobs in, internally terrified of what was happening to one of her closest friends as they lay there. Aaron tightened his hold around her, whispering in her ear 'We will get him back baby, Justin's a strong warrior, you know he'll give as good as he gets, now you must sleep because we are going to need to be sharp in the morning to plan how to get him back!

Nodding to herself, Charity closed her eyes, falling into a disturbed sleep of shadows surrounding her, snatching the people she loved away from her as she helplessly watched.