The Lunas Second Chance Mate
(Book 2) Chapter 9

Ryan

I replay the words in my head through all hours of the night and the day. I hear my voice telling my mate, my beautiful, strong mate, that I would protect her. I should have carried through with that but I couldn't have anticipated anyone wanted to bring her harm. Jessica was banished and far to weak and pathetic to carry out this attack on my mate. I killed Jacob, knowing he wouldn't be trusted alive. I thought I did everything I was supposed to. I thought she was safe.

I thought wrong.

My Luna is missing now, somewhere taken against her will, while my warriors were killed or wounded in the process. It's a terrible tragedy, a horrid outcome that frustrates me to no end. I should have had her by my side that night to meet with the elders, or had forbid her to leave the palace, but she is headstrong, and I let her roam when I should have kept her within arms reach.

The elders are kind enough to watch the palace, protect my pack if necessary, but I pride my warriors on their strength and determination, most of them trading off between watching the pack lands and hunting the Luna through the cold nights and long days. Everything wounds me in my mind now. I hear her soft, precious voice in my head, the simple and sad murmurs of her pleading for the nightmares to end. I wanted to hold her then, desperately, but now I want her in my arms more than ever before. Should I replace her with a single hair out of place, I will kill anyone in sight who may be responsible for this act.

One of my warriors sprints up to my wolf, his scrawny, shaggy fur dirty with mud and dusty sand. He growls, nodding for me to follow, and I tilt my path off to the side to follow his pace and we head for the woods, out of the valley where I was searching for even a taint of her scent. I've only come up empty, though.

My warrior skids to a stop around a pile of my wolves, all bowing their heads as I walk to the point of interest, a small, simple vial of caramel liquid still tracing the glass bottle. I lean down, catching scents of herbs and poison, wolfsbane tainting the glass. I hate to even associate it to my mate, but her scent is faintly on the rim of the glass, some imprint of her lips sealing the outside of the clear bottle.

A million thoughts rush through my mind at once, my body hot and fuming as time crawls on. I need to run, to work this aggression out, but I don't even have the time to do that because every minute she is out of my arms, is a minute she could be in pain or in serious danger. I have to replace her first, above all else, and I need her to return to my side.

We continue the hunt through the day, until the sun starts to set and the night fills with rain. I've got warriors who are exhausted, depleted with every fiber of their beings and unable to push further, and replaceing themselves sliding in the puddles of mud. After the second slip, a wolf twisting his leg out of place and popping a muscle, I call the run, and force everyone to retreat.

The palace is full of panting wolves, wet and shivering, the delirium of my pack so exhausted they can't function for the rest of the night, in desperate need of rest and recouping.

"Alpha Ryan," elder Fritz hums, pacing down the stairs to the foyer where I stand in awe of my tired pack. "Any sign of your Luna yet?"

In defeat, I hang my head, the notion an answer in itself.

He groans in a heft sigh. "It won't be long before she is returned, Alpha. No one is stupid enough to take a Luna and not expect a pack in response."

"I know you are frustrated Alpha, but-"

Both of us are distracted as a lowly pack member of my kingdom rushes inside the foyer of the palace, dripping wet and wide-eyed. She is shivering and exhausted but meets me with a bow to her knees, only holding up a single, damp scroll she had tucked under her cloak.

"I-I was given this-Alpha," she huffs. I take the rolled script. "A rogue stopped me, told me to deliver this to my Alpha or he would come back and kill my pups."

I manage to thank the woman and nod her along, unwilling to wait as I rip open the scroll and dare to read the bold ink that sits before my eyes. My heart is racing, my eyes in a haze, as manage to make out some of the words and ponder in confusion to the rest. Whoever wrote this has my mate, I can tell by the smear of blood on the edge of the paper, either on purpose and to entice me, or in accident, after wounding her. I grow angrier by the second until I glare up over the letter and meet Fritz's eyes. "She was taken because of the board of elders," I growl.

He seems perplexed and takes the scroll, reading through it rapidly. "I don't understand, Ryan, I really don't. He is naming off rogues that we've sent out to be killed and..."

We meet each other's glares in utter frustration and painful realization.

"She was taken by rogues?!" I scream.

Fritz waves me off, trying to subdue my anger but it only makes my throat hotter in rage. "You can't jump to any conclusions, we know nothing for sure, Ryan, but we will have to settle for the fact that we may have a ransom to pay here."

I take back the scroll, Fritz pointing to the bottom where I must have missed the last line, too angry in the moment to catch the words.

She will be returned when the day comes where rogues are treated as equals, not as monsters made to be maimed by elders and Alphas.

"Why would he take, her, though," I breathe, shaking my head. "She is my Luna; she is harmless and has never stepped foot near a rogue. Why would one of them take her as collateral to a disagreement against the elders, Fritz?"

He looks sideways for a long pause and I have the feeling he isn't giving me the whole truth. I couldn't dare to ask him what he is holding back though. In a lot of ways he is my superior. I can't force him to tell me anything but I do know if she isn't returned or found soon, I will run down everyone who stands in my way to having her back, including the Elders.

I will have my mate again.