The Lunas Second Chance Mate
(Book 2) Chapter 5

Alyson

Ryan is busy in a meeting all day and while he is there, I can't handle the thought of what we were told yesterday. My sister, the horrid traitor she is, has been speaking to an Alpha of rogues. I can't trust why she would be somewhere like that, but one thing is certain. She is getting ready to start trouble here.

The elders are coming into the pack palace tonight for dinner and even if Ryan had insisted, I refused to attend. I can't face the conversation if it involves her. She has done a lot to hurt me, but she is my family, and that tear between us will always stay there and I fear it will continue to wound me forever. The least I can do is choose not to hear about her anymore.

For now I pace the room Ryan and I stay in together. The large fireplace is lit and the table near the couch is full of assorted pastries and sweets. I eye them hungerly but I can't bring myself to reach for any of them. I've lost my appetite, I've lost my need for sleep, and I've given become consumed with the stress of what this might mean.

What if Jennifer was kidnapped by the rogues? What if she is joining this odd pack of misfit wolves, wanting to start over or worse, wanting to come back for revenge. It is a thought that I mull over for hours, pacing well into the sunset and then some, my wolf buzzing to be let loose. She has always played as a good distraction in the past and right now, that's what I need.

I leave the room, headed to the courtyard, a few warriors pacing behind me as to not disobey the orders of the Alpha once more. I will be followed for awhile but they will eventually forget again and I'll go back to my nightly walks alone.

In the courtyard, I stretch my body, my long hair dancing in the high winds.

"Luna, it's going to storm soon," a warriors hums. "You should return inside."

I inhale as he speaks, the scent of rain and minerals in the air so enticing. "It's the perfect weather for a run," I hum, my body already full of tingling chills.

At once I shift, trying to make it quick before someone talks me out of it, or tells Ryan and he comes after me himself. I will make it a short run, a distraction, and that's all. My wolf is large and light in color, stretching tall in height and more athletic than my other form could ever dream to be.

That's why it's so exhilarating to let loose and sprint out of the palace grounds and pour down into the flooded streets of our pack village. The warriors follow in their forms as well, a step or two behind me the whole way, until we reach the end of the pack boundaries and I slow my pace, strolling to the creek near the borderlines between our pack and the neutral grounds.

I approach the stream, seeing it flooded already, and letting my wolf take in a few laps of water before my hearing is triggered by a noise in the distance, and not towards the pack land behind me, but in the neutral ground before me.

The warriors insist on circling around me, my wolf ready for a fight as well, until it becomes obvious that a deer is the culprit, shooting leaps of jumps through the woods and landing on the dead brush on the ground, the noise like that of a wolf prowling nearby. I have half a mind to laugh, actually worried for a minute that something was watching us, or wanting to attack, but I wave that probability off to my new found anxiety that has plagued me since hearing about Jennifer.

One of the warriors nods for me to move along, and I abide, ready for my sprint back to the palace courtyard and another sleepless night, but the rain is coming down harder, thunder and lightning cracking through the sky so hard that I'm thrown to the ground, a heavy pressure weighted on my side keeping me pinned down.

The air is knocked from my lungs and I'm forced to shift back, my ribs cracked and blood leaking from puncture wounds already marked along my sides and back. Through the heavy white rain, I spot the thunder and lightning I had thought was nearby, instead seeing a large black wolf hover over me with teeth bore right against my cheek.

My breathe hitches at the sight of death so damn close to my face.

The warriors are being attacked too, the stench of wet rogues making me gag. It's a heavy scent but an even heavier feeling, the huge paws of the monster standing over me like a threat to rip me open and kill me any way they may please. I hold a hard hand to my side, my head falling back, the warmth of the blood covering my hands in seconds, even in this downpour.

Ryan, I breathe through the link, trying to force myself to see everything that is happening right now, every wolf involved and where we are located, but I don't comprehend much other than the searing pain in my side and back. Ryan, please! What happened, dammit!? Alyson, I'm coming, don't worry, darling, I'm coming for you!

I lay back into the mud, my body already trying to heal but by the sight of the fight around me slowing in speed, I don't think Ryan will make it here in time. I flip onto my stomach, gripping my sides to keep my bones in place as they try to realign. I crawl away from the massive wolf, from his deep black eyes, and beg that I'm let go after some odd misunderstanding here tonight.

The sounds of shifting erupt behind me, a stark-naked man who is easily seven feet tall and built purely out of thick, bulging muscle strolls in front of me, laughing wildly in the rain and lightning that surrounds us both.

"You must be the blood healer," he says, his voice husky in tone.

I shake my head, a lie. I try to crawl some more, even having to adjust when he repeatedly stands in my way, trying to stop me. "No... Not-not me."

He laughs again, but this time it's highly sarcastic. "Blood healer, you're not starting this meeting off on a good note. I don't like a Luna that lies to me. That's the type of Luna that gets hurt. You may heal quickly but you will suffer all the same before you can stitch yourself up."

I swallow hard, staring up at his daunting appearance from the ground. "What do you want?" I groan, my bones snapping into place but my cuts still healing. "I am a Luna of Alpha Ryan Alexander and he will execute anyone who hurts me. Let me go and you may have mercy."

"Mercy?" he cracks, the other wolves in his little clan of rogues all shifted as well and laughing alongside him. "I don't want mercy!"

I flinch. "What do you want?"

"I want the elders to know they have gone too far in killing my kind so in return, I'm going to use you to preserve me and my pack until the elders are slaughtered once and for all."

"I'm a healer, dammit," I sigh. "I'm not a fighter."

"Good. I don't need you to fight. I need you to be friends with the moon goddess."

I bow my head in fear, knowing this wasn't some random attack. This is a kidnapping.