Chapter 34 THE STOLEN ARTEFACT

Chapter 34 THE STOLEN ARTEFACT
Dalton's POV

The message carved into the tree would not stop replaying in my head. Return what you stole. But I had not stolen anything from Vane or the Hunters.

Dr Chen wrapped another bandage around my shoulder, and I barely felt it. My mind was racing through every event in the past two weeks.

"You need to rest," Dr Chen said. "That bullet tore through muscle. You are lucky it missed the bone."

I stood up, and I felt dizzy. Joyce caught my arm before I fell.

"Sit down before you pass out," she said.

"I can't sit. Not when Vane is threatening our pack." I looked at a warrior. "What did we take from the warehouse?"

Marcus pulled out his phone and scrolled through photos. "Weapons and some files about Hunter operations in the northwest region."

"What kind of files?"

"Intelligence reports." He stopped scrolling. "Wait. There was a locked case we brought back. We have not opened it yet."

Victoria stepped forward. "I know what is in that case."

Everyone turned to look at her. She glanced at me and then at Joyce before speaking.

"The Moonstone Collar. It is a werewolf artefact from centuries ago. Supposedly, it can sever mate bonds permanently."

The clearing went silent. 

"That is impossible," I said. "Mate bonds cannot be broken, not without killing one of the mates."

Victoria shook her head. "Most people think it is a myth. But the Hunters have been searching for it for decades, and they found it recently."

"How do you know this?" Joyce asked.

"Because my grandmother told me about it before she died. She said our pack protected it once. A long time ago, before the Hunters started hunting us."

I tried to process what she was saying. A collar that could break mate bonds. 

"Where is this case now?" I asked Marcus.

"Secure vault in the pack house basement. Triple locked."

"Get it, and bring it to my office." I turned to Victoria. "You are coming with us. I need to know everything your grandmother told you."

Joyce stayed close to my side. She had not said much since we found the message, but I could feel her worry.

When we reached the pack house, a guard went straight to the vault. Victoria, Joyce, and I headed to my office.

"Your father might know about the collar," Victoria said as we climbed the stairs. "He was alpha for thirty years. If anyone would know pack secrets, it would be him."

I pulled out my phone and called my father. It rang six times before he answered.

"I need to know about the Moonstone Collar."

He went silent for long enough that I thought he had hung up.

"Where did you hear that name?" he finally asked.

"Vane carved a message on pack land. He wants it back. Says we stole it from him."

My father cursed. "That artefact should have been destroyed decades ago. I told the council to burn it, but they refused."

"So it is real."

"Yes, it is real. And if the Hunters get it, every pack in North America is finished." He paused. "Do you have it?"

"Maybe. We found a locked case in a Hunter warehouse."

"Do not open or touch it. That collar is dangerous even for werewolves."

The line went dead. I stared at my phone and tried to ignore the fear spreading all over my body.

The guard knocked and entered carrying a metal case about the size of a shoebox. He set it on my desk. Three heavy locks gleamed in the lamplight.

"This is it," he said.

I reached for the first lock, and Victoria grabbed my wrist. "Your father is right. We should not open this."

"We need to know what we are dealing with."

"And if opening it triggers something? 

The guard cleared his throat. "I have something to say. Elias is missing."

Joyce turned to face him. "What do you mean by missing?"

"He was on the north line during the battle. After the Hunters retreated, no one saw him. We have searched everywhere."

"Did the Hunters take him?" Joyce asked.

"No signs of a struggle or blood trail. He just vanished."

"He betrayed us," I said.

Joyce shook her head. "You do not know that."

"What else could it be? He disappears right after a Hunter attack on our land?"

"Maybe he was taken."

"Or maybe everything he told us is all lies."

Joyce looked at me, and I saw the doubt in her eyes. She wanted to defend Elias, but she could not deny the facts.

A knock on the door interrupted us. One of the younger pack members, a kid named Danny, stood in the hallway holding a blood-stained envelope.

"This just arrived, Alpha. Someone left it on the front steps."

I took the envelope. It was addressed to Joyce in handwriting.

She opened it with shaking hands. A picture of Elias, tied to a chair, with blood streaming down his face, and his eyes swollen shut, dropped to the ground.

Joyce let out a sobbing scream.

I grabbed the note that came with the photo. The message was written in the same handwriting as the envelope.

"Trade the Collar for this traitor. Meet me at midnight. Come alone."