The Lunas Second Chance Mate
(Book 2) Chapter 17

Alyson

I thrash myself away from the Alpha, my tongue buzzing nonstop with nothing but anxiety boiling in the depths of my stomach. I meet his wide, calm eyes, my entire body shivering in place, in this bed, seeing this Alpha loom so close it's as if he will intend to kiss me again. I can't let that happen, nor can I understand why he's done it in the first place.

I cover my lips with my fingertips, still rattling with a buzz.

His eyes shift to the floor, something cold moving through him. "That was a mistake."

"Why-Why did you do it?"

"It wasn't intentional, dammit," he sighs, his fists knuckling into the sheets nearby, his frustration obvious. "I just-I don't know, I felt like I saw-like you were-"

The moment of silence between us screams volumes.

"I can't do this anymore. Taking you was a mistake."

He grabs for me, pulling me to a wobbly stand but I fail once, then twice, feeling Olivera hike me over his shoulder like a sack of dirty laundry. I watch the hallway move behind me, the room where I woke up getting further and further away. I try to fight him, hitting his solid back, but he does little to even react to my tantrum.

I picture him leaning in again, colliding our lips together in a strange, unexpected manner. It aches me to think of what Ryan would say, or do, if he heard of such atrocity. If he knew what the healer was going to do to me, that would only make it worse.

I try to forget this entire experience, seeing the hallway of the packhouse vanish and become replaced with the woods I had been led through when I was first taken.

"Here you go," Olivera breathes, setting me on the ground. He adjusts the buttons on my shirt, the only thing I wear, and I can tell by the large size it belongs to him. He pulls for my hand and I cringe, watching him pluck a small twig off a root nearby and press the thorn-like tip to my palm. "Easy, sweetheart," he groans.

I shudder as blood pools slowly in my hand and runs off my wrist.

When Olivera pulls away, he shifts, his black wolf standing over me as I lay back in shock and in panic, his size so large and daring that I can see him killing me in one easy bite. Just as he turns away to leave, I reach out for him, my bloody hand grazing his hind leg. His wolf hesitates to run off, instead turning to face me with glowing cyan eyes.

"Please, Olivera," I beg. "Let me help make this right. I can help. Ryan can help. Just-"

The wind carries past me so hard, so fast, that I tumble over, seeing a mix of brown and black tumble into the woods nearby. My breath hitches, seeing Ryan's wolf topple Olivera's, both of them grappling for the upper ground on top of each other while biting at their throats.

My heart shatters at the sounds of their growls, seeing my palm and the wind mix into the perfect storm. Ryan must have caught the hint of my scent, even muted with the poison still in my veins, and once he saw Olivera standing over me with his large wolf, it was perfect timing for him to see an opportunity to attack.

"No, Ryan!" I bark, watching as he gains control and straddles Olivera. I run to his side; his wolf's eyes wide in horror as I try to pry myself between these two savages. "Please, Stop it, Ryan, he won't hurt me! Back up! Please!"

My mate's wolf eyes me suspiciously but fortunately he backs away.

I turn to Olivera, watching him consider running off but I grab at his wolf, his black hair crushed into my bloody palm, his glare snapping back around to me my own. For a moment, I fear this rogue Alpha, but I know he doesn't want to hurt me. he wouldn't have brought me out here if that was the case. He would have killed me and left it alone at that. He wanted Ryan to replace me, to take me home, and that proves this Alpha isn't as bad as I initially thought. "Olivera, please, tell him," I beg.

He looks to my mate, both of them unwilling to shift first.

Ryan is first to shift back, kneeling behind me, his arms wrapped around my shoulders kindly, his lips pecking my cheek so gently that I can tell he begs for more. Instead he leaves it simple and sits up to stare at me, his brown lashes flickering upward to Olivera who's wolf is still growling in a low, throaty noise.

"Please, Olivera, he can help you, just talk to him," I plead.

Ryan's lips brush my ear. "If this is a trick, I don't understand it, Alyson."

"It's not," I beg to them both, hoping they believe me. Looking Olivera, I know he will be the hardest to convince. "Please, just hear him out. I won't let anything happen to you."

His wolf huffs a frustrated sigh.

Ryan clenches my shoulder, pulling me back to lean on his chest, willing to pounce over me at any second, I can tell. He holds an arm over my stomach, something about that notion unsettling, I don't know why, though. I grumble, watching Olivera finally shift, kneeling in the grass just an arms reach away from me and my mate.

"Happy, sweetheart?" Olivera sneers.

Ryan tenses at the nickname, not replaceing it endearing a single bit.

Alright, I think, here goes nothing.

"Ryan," I say, looking to mate, seeing him watch the rogue Alpha carefully, "This is Olivera James. He is the one who took me," I sigh heavily. Ryan shows his teeth, his wolf threatening to break out any second now. "Please, Ryan, listen to me."

I brush my hand over his chiseled jaw, seeing him relax slightly to my fingertips.

"Hurry it up, I can't hold back forever," Ryan grumbles under his heavy exhale. "He isn't after us, he is after the elders."

"Yeah, I read the note with Fritz."

"Ah, Fritz is at the Crowalt palace," Olivera says, his eyes tamed on his mission.

"Olivera's mate was killed by the elder's warriors, along with a lot of other rogues, Ryan. He says they were tortured, tested with wolfsbane and then killed needlessly," I hum, trying to talk quickly in hope of appeasing this tension sooner. "He wanted to use me to barter a deal with them for the killings to stop," I gasp.

"Needless ignorance sweetheart," Olivera sighs, narrowing a look onto me.

I swallow hard, looking aside. "Well, to start a war-not a deal."

"Then why have you released her so early?" Ryan says, practically taunting. "I haven't heard any reports of a war starting so why did you let Alyson go as your f*****g ransom?"

My heart aches at the anger that rises between the two of them.

Olivera raises a threatening brow, curling with a sinister smile.

I can tell they will fight soon. It's inevitable.

"I could no longer see her as my hostage," Olivera claims. "Not when I wanted to do so much more to her when she was tied up. That's why I kissed her."

I wince. The war may be on after all.