The Lunar Warriors: The Elemental Wolves Book 2 (Part 1) Read online

  Damn! No one move. Maybe they won’t see us.

  No such luck.

  One dude just so happens to look in our direction, and sees Luke. For some reason, the idiot didn’t think to hide behind the rest of us to hide the color of his coat like Cedric. No, he’s standing out to side in plain fucking view!

  Once he spots Luke, he cries out which makes the others turn to look, too. Without being prompted, four from my group sprint forward to quickly subdue the boys. I must say, I’m proud of their stealth. The boys were barely able to make a sound before their unconscious on the ground.

  At least, I hope they’re unconscious.

  I don’t have time to think of that now. I give my group members a nod, and continue on with my mission. I know that they’ll catch up later after they’ve hidden the bodies.

  Ugh, the fact that I can even think that statement so casually should land me in six months’ worth of therapy. Fuck it, it is what it is.

  We finally make it to the other end of the town, and I decide to wait for the others. Since we’re past the worst part, we should be clear enough to run together again. I don’t want to go ahead without my brothers, even though I view Jahla as being more important. I know that they feel the same way, but something tells me that they’d wait for me, too.

  We only have to wait for a couple of minutes before I hear movement in the bushes to my right. Out comes Den with his group, followed by Cash. Mav comes in from my left with James’s group, and we don’t hesitate before we’re off again.

  The urge to reach out to Jahla is so strong, especially with the thread of our bond basically dragging me to her right now. I’m going to spank her ass until it glows red after I’ve secured her somewhere safe. I’m going to make it my life’s mission that she’s never going to go through something like this ever again.

  This danger shit is for the birds.

  Chapter 15

  Krix

  The tug is pulling us deeper into the secluded part of the pack’s territory. I know it might seem a little heartless to not be worried about the team members that have been dispatched to deal with wolves we’ve come across, but Jahla needs us now.

  They’ll be fine… hopefully.

  Up ahead, I can just make out a clearing through the trees. Is this where the cabin is? She’d said that she was in a cabin somewhere in the woods, so it has to be here. The thread of her bond is practically vibrating in my chest.

  I think the cabin is in this clearing that’s coming up.

  Roger.

  We’re not in the freaking military, James. Sometimes, the man can be too much with that shit. We burst through trees, and… nothing.

  What the fuck?

  We all come to a halt, and my heart stalls in my chest. I feel the confusion from Mav at his question, and completely understand. The bond is saying that we’re practically on top of her, but there’s nothing here. Just an open field.

  What’s going on, guys?

  The hell if I know. None of us answer as we try to figure out what is happening. I center myself and focus on the link I have with Jahla, only to get more confused.

  She should be here. The damn cabin should be right here. I can practically smell her scent, but I freeze as soon as I realize that.

  I can smell her. Her scent is so strong, that’s almost like she’s right in front of me. I don’t understand.

  Fuck! It’s impossible!

  What? What is it?

  Mavrin’s anxiety is smothering me, but we’re all feeling the same way. What the hell is impossible? What is James talking about now?

  I don’t want to say unless I’m sure. Let’s break off into our teams, and check around the clearing. You boys need to focus on your bond, and see if it leads you anywhere else.

  Now, I’m getting frustrated. I’ve always been calm and levelheaded in times of stress, but I’ve never had to deal with a situation like this.

  My mate has been kidnapped but an overly obsessed piece of shit from her old pack who’s currently hurting her beyond belief, and James doesn’t want to tell me his suspicions? Yeah, I’m about to lose my fucking mind.

  I still do as I’m told, hoping that he’s right. Maybe I’m too anxious, and it’s messing with my senses. I focus in on the mate bond once more, and make my way around the clearing. For some reason, we’re all walking the perimeter. No one goes through the middle, and I don’t even think twice about it. I can only focus on so much right now, and I’m already overwhelmed with my need to get my mate back.

  On my round, nothing changes. Her scent doesn’t veer off in any other direction. No matter which way I turn, it brings me back towards the center of the clearing, but something keeps me from walking that way. The others are the same way.

  She has to be here, James. Her scent and the bond both lead us here to this clearing.

  This can’t be possible.

  You keep fucking saying that, but you’re not telling us anything!

  Denahi!

  No, Dad! My mate is here, and he knows something. What’s going on?

  It can be a blessing and a curse to have our fathers in such high positions in the pack. To be the alpha’s personal betas means power. They’re directly under James in rank, but it makes situations like this pretty tense. We don’t necessarily have rank in the pack, but our wolves dominate every member.

  Including the alpha and our fathers.

  When our dads try to command us, it doesn’t do anything. We usually obey out of respect, but right now? That shit is null and void. No one comes between a wolf and their mate.

  James is still silent, and I can tell that the others are about to jump his ass. Not going to lie, I have half a mind to slice him with my claws, too. I refrain from doing so, just barely. Instead, I try to prompt him into giving us some semblance of an answer.

  James? Please, just tell us what it is you’re thinking.

  They’re supposed to be our enemies. They worship a god that is the complete opposite of our goddess. Our resentment of each other is natural. We were born to hate one another.

  Is he talking to himself?

  I think so, Cash. James, we don’t have time for this. What are you talking about?

  If you sense that Jahla is here, then she is.

  Then, where the hell is she? She said she was taken to a cabin, but it’s not here.

  She’s here, Mavrin. The cabin is here.

  I’m not dumb, James. None of us see a damn cabin!

  Den’s hackles are raised, and he’s not alone. Mav is currently giving a low, threatening growl. I know that Cash and I are no better, even though we’re not as threatening. He’s not making any sense, and I’m worried that we might have pushed him too hard in the last stretch of the run.

  He is getting on up there in years.

  It’s cloaked.

  That silences all sounds in the clearing. Only one race of supernaturals can hide shit from view. I’ve only learned about them from my studies because we try to stay far away from them. Like he said, we’re natural born enemies, and usually end up fighting on sight. To be this close to evidence of their presence has every strand of my fur standing on end.

  Maybe it’s something else, James.

  There’s real panic in Kevin’s eyes as he says this while looking at each of us.

  It’s the only explanation.

  He doesn’t even have to say it because we already know. If the cabin is cloaked, it can only mean one thing:

  The Lunar Mills Pack is working with witches.

  Mavrin

  Nope.

  Nuh uh.

  Fuck that!

  I can’t deal with this shit!

  We’ve only heard about witches at the academy, and from our tutors in the pack. They worship a male god of the moon who thrives on pain and darkness. Where the Moon Goddess gives light, He brings shadows. Where She brings life, He provides death. She is love, He is hate.

  He’s the Dark Lord of the Night.

  We do all that we
can to avoid his followers. If we come across them, we instantly recognize each other. At each encounter, one side doesn’t leave with their life.

  There has to be another reason, James. No wolf would forsake the Moon Goddess for him. It goes against everything that we are. Everything that we stand for.

  What else could it be, Mavrin? You sense your mate here, right?

  I know he’s not looking for an answer, so I stay quiet.

  Look, we have to come up with another plan. There’s no way we can break through a cloaking spell.

  What do you mean, come up with another plan? What other plan could here possibly be?

  Let’s go to another location so we can regroup. The others should be done with their missions. We’re going to need all hands on deck. I might have to call in a favor.

  We don’t have time-

  We don’t have a choice!

  I can’t help the vicious growl that leaves my throat, and I see him slightly lower his tail. My wolf is satisfied enough to allow me to take control, so I reign in my temper.

  I have a very short fuse lately.

  We follow James back into the forest. He leads us some thick foliage where there seems to be no disturbance to the undergrowth. Good, that means that the pack doesn’t come through here. We wait a while, and we’re soon joined by the rest of our members. A couple of them have a few spots of blood on them, but it doesn’t seem to be theirs. Hopefully, they hid the bodies of the wolves they took out. I pray to the Mother that they didn’t kill them. The last thing we need right now is to alert Henderson.

  Alphas can feel when a pack member dies.

  Alright, everyone. Listen up. We’re dealing with something here that I never anticipated. The cabin where Jahla is being held has been cloaked from view.

  What? I thought only witches could do that.

  Exactly, Simon.

  Are you serious?

  Unfortunately. We can’t break through the spell on our own. Their magic is not the same as ours. If the Lunar Mills Pack is working with them, this is going to be harder than we thought. They are definitely our enemies. There’s no wondering about it anymore.

  How are we going to get Jahla if we can’t see the cabin to get inside?

  We all look to James for the answer to my dad’s question. He seems to be thinking of several thinks all at once, so I try to put a cap on my impatience.

  Easier said than done.

  Every second that passes is more time that my sweetheart is spending in the hands of a vile, psychotic shifter. We already know that he’s torturing her, and here we are standing around having a kumbaya moment in the damn woods!

  Finally, he raises his wolfy heads, and speaks through the pack link.

  We have to fight fire with fire.

  What?

  I’m really getting tired of hearing and saying that word, but there doesn’t seem to be any other one that’s suitable.

  I’m going to have to call in a favor, and you all are just going to have to trust me.

  Is he serious right now? He’s basically asking us to trust him with Jahla’s life when we don’t even know the parameters of this request. Nah, man. You’re going to have to give us more than that.

  We need to know more before we do that, James. This is Jahla’s life we’re talking about here.

  Huh. Krix either heard me, or he’s reading my mind.

  James lets out a puff of air through his snout that I can only characterize as his wolf’s version of a sigh. He takes a few more seconds, seconds that we really can’t spare, and speaks again.

  I’m going to have to call in a favor to a witch.

  Well, ain’t that some shit?

  We’re not the only ones stunned. Our dads, his personal right-hand men, are pissed all the way off. They have a right to be, though. They’re the ones who keep him safe, so they have to know everything that goes on. They have to be aware of his every move. I used to feel sorry for him, thinking that he was being smothered, but I understood it once I matured a little.

  Alphas have a lot of enemies.

  They mad because this is definitely something that they should know, and they obviously didn’t. To have a witch owe you a favor is a powerful thing. They’re supposedly bound to oaths that they take with their own blood, and that’s only done when they owe someone a favor. That’s not what they’re so angry about, though.

  It’s what James had to do for one of our enemies that would make them grant him a favor.

  There are some witches who have turned their back on the Dark Lord, much the same as shifters who have forsaken the Moon Goddess.

  Okay, that’s new. How come we don’t know about this?

  I ran across a witch many years ago who’d escaped her coven. They were trying to kill her because of what she’d done. When I saw her, I didn’t have the urge to kill her. Quite the opposite.

  Wait, what do you mean?

  I’m starting to feel like a broken record.

  What I mean is that my wolf only wanted to protect her. We recognized her.

  He stops there, but I’ll be damned if that’s the only explanation he gives.

  Recognized her as what, James.

  As kin.

  What?!

  My wolf recognized the witch as kin. It means that she had devoted her life to the worship of the Moon Goddess. She didn’t even smell like a regular witch. I could smell her magic, but it was more like a minty scent instead of the rotting smell that we’re taught to watch out for.

  So, you… what? You saved her?

  Yes. I motioned for her to get on my back, and I got her to safety. It wasn’t until I knew she was safe that I realized why I had such a strong urge to protect. To keep her safe. It shouldn’t be possible, but it was. She was the only witch that I’ve ever come across, and this was the first time I’d heard of this situation happening, so I kept silent about it. I followed my wolf’s instincts, and I… turned her.

  How the hell did you turn her, Alpha? We can only produce shifters through birth. That biting shit is only in movies.

  Damn, I thought Den got his bluntness from Tia. Guess she rubs off on everyone after a while.

  I thought so, too. Turns out, the Moon Goddess works in mysterious ways. You all know who the… hybrid is.

  Wait, who is she?

  He hesitates as he looks at each of us, and there’s a nagging thought in the back of my mind. He has the same fiercely protective gleam in his eyes that I see in my brothers’. That can only mean one thing.

  Oh, shit!

  She’s your luna, my mate.

  Chapter 16

  Cashel

  Am I in the fucking Twilight Zone or something?

  First, we find out that the Lunar Mills Pack is in league with witches. Now, we find out that the luna of the Gallatin Pack, our pack, is a witch? How the hell did we not notice this? I’ve never seen a hint of magic anywhere! Sure, she smells a little different, but it’s not like I investigated that shit. She’s the freaking luna! You don’t just walk up to her, and ask why she smells funny.

  You know what? Fuck it. This is something we can unpack later. It was a nice little history lesson on our precious luna, but we need to get my baby girl back. Like, now!

  Okay, cool. The luna is a witch. Fine. You said she owes you a favor?

  Yeah, uh, yes. I don’t think I’ll have to call it in, though. She’s taken whole heartedly to the pack, so she’ll most likely do it out of loyalty. I was just hesitant because I know how some wolves are about witches, regardless of who they worship.

  Well, we don’t have time for that. How long will it take for her to get here? There’s no telling what he’s done to Jahla while we’ve been sitting here, and she won’t open the bond for us.

  Just the thought of her still being tortured has me up and pacing back and forth in an instant. The pain we felt before was just for a few minutes. Every now and then, I think I still feel something, but it’s nothing compared to how it was before.

  That
shit was horrible.

  To think of my girl going through that shit has my wolf about to separate from me completely! Like, he’s about to become a separate body all together, and take off towards the clearing.

  Can’t have that, though. I already have split personalities as it is!

  She can’t teleport, or anything like that. She’ll have to run just like the rest of us did.

  That’s going to take too long! He’s fucking slicing her open or something. We felt her pain, James! You can’t expect us to just sit here while he’s doing that.