Chapter 8: Luna

As soon as the assembly ended, Alaric spoke to Max right away and told him about his unexpected discovery. Max is visibly happy for his best friend and Alpha. Being mated to the Gamma of their pack, Max is all too familiar with the bliss of being with your fated mate. Max also knew the repercussions fully well if Alaric were to succumb to the darkness and madness of the unmated.

"Did you get a good look at her?" Max asked, ready to start the search immediately.

Alaric shook his head and said, "No, damn it." He said it; frustration is evident in his voice. "I only caught her scent faintly when someone opened one of the exit doors when I was about to give my speech at the podium."

Max turned to look at where he pointed and said, "Well, that sucks. The door is completely blocked by that wall." He sighed. "There's no way you could have seen your mate on this side of the room."

"I know." Alaric began to pace, as Leif was also growing impatient.

"I do know one thing or two about your mate that will likely help us find her, our Luna," Max said with a smile.

"And what is that?" Alaric's head snapped, his body language obviously almost going over the edge.

His Luna. That sounded foreign to his ears, but somehow it felt right and made his blood heat up most deliciously and positively.

Max had his hands up to enumerate the facts he had gathered. "One, she works for this company, which you now own. She works in this building, which means there should be somewhere in at least one of the cameras who caught her coming out of the assembly room," Max said, pointing to the surveillance cameras inside the room's corners.

Alaric nodded and asked, "How soon can you pull the footage?"

"I'm already working on it. I already mind-linked Gaius, and he's on it." Max said, mentioning Gaius, their Gamma, and also, fortunately, his very own mate.

"Thank you, Max," Alaric said sincerely. "What would I do without you?"

Max smiled and teased, "So, you finally found your mate."

Alaric nodded, and Leif wanted to howl to the moon joyfully, although it was still late afternoon.

"I think I'll go for a run."

"You better get in shape for your mate." Max smiled and winked, knowing how intense the first few months or years of the mating haze could get once you found your mate. Gaius and his mating haze lasted for years, and even now, they still get the electrifying sparks even when they look at each other from across the room.

"I'm sorry, Clara," Helen said, tears almost visible in her eyes. "Your name came up on the list, and I could do nothing about it. You know how this works. The company is letting you go."

I'm fired. Just like that, I'm fired, unemployed, and pregnant.

It was a little over two weeks after the acquisition. As everybody feared, the realignment and restructuring of positions within the company have led to the company letting go of people, even with Clara's tenure and skills. Nothing is surprising there. With the budget cuts, they'd instead get someone with basic skills and a low salary grade than someone with Clara's exceptional skillset and high caliber that also comes with a higher pay grade.

The timing just absolutely stinks.

A few hours ago, she was just over the moon after her follow-up appointment at the fertility clinic, and they confirmed that she was more or less two weeks into her pregnancy.

Her mind was already considering all the possibilities while she tuned out the rest of what Helen was saying.

She did have some money in her savings account that would last her a few months, but that won't last long enough, especially now that she was not just going to think about herself but also her baby. Without thought, Clara touched her stomach, where her baby should steadily grow but is currently as big as a penny.

Could the timing of all these unfortunate events happening to her get even better?

"It's just goddamn security footage, Max. Why the fuck is it taking so long?" Alaric demanded, his patience already as thin as ice. It's not helping that Leif is also seething inside, almost ready to rip someone's heart out if he doesn't get a sniff of that sweet green apple caramel cinnamon scent of their mate.

"Sorry you had to wait for too long, Alpha." Max bowed in submission. "We ran into some issues with the footage; it turns out not one of the cameras outside the hall was working, so we have to look at the other cameras around the area."

With his head down, Gaius continued, "We also had to dissect the entire footage that day, and that took longer than expected because most of the functioning cameras had blind spots."

Alaric clenched his jaw so hard that Max was sure he heard his bones crack and heal in just a few seconds. "And how long do you plan to make me wait, Max? Gaius?" he said, booming with all the authority of a powerful Lycan Alpha.

Both Max and Gaius whimpered; they could not help but tremble at the power that Alaric released. All the other Lycans and the werewolves in the room instinctively bowed their heads, making themselves look small or at least attempting to look insignificant or physically stepping back, even though some already had their backs to the wall.

"We actually have a photo, Alpha. It was taken from one of the functioning surveillance cameras in the corner of the hall, just before the exit doors. It took time to extract it, but it's the best photo we got." Max said, slowly taking the photo from their back pocket and handing it to Alaric. This is one of the instances, Max thought, where no one can ever deny that Alaric is one of North America's most potent Lycan Alphas in their supernatural world.

"It's also the best resolution that we can get. The place seriously needs an upgrade on its security camera." Gaius mumbled.

But Alaric's ears were already deaf from what they were saying. His eyes were focused on the piece of paper given to him.

"She's beautiful." Leif almost jumped for satisfaction upon seeing the image in front of him. Alaric's eyes turned bright amber gold with brilliant green specks in the middle, and the rims were silver as Leif shared his vision.

Alaric looked at the slightly blurry photo of what he made out as a woman who was talking on her phone; her body slightly turned away, but her face upturned towards the camera, and even then, he found her to be so beautiful like no other.

"Name? Mate. Her name?" Leif demanded.

"Did you at least get her name?" Alaric asked, somewhat calmer.

"We did, Alpha," Gaius answered. "Her name is Clara Beaufort."

"Clara," Leif said, almost in a whisper, but the flash of electricity from saying her name was undeniable; it almost felt like white-hot lava slowly going through his veins and leading to his groin.

Max gulped as he looked up at Alaric. "Alpha, I do have to mention this, and you will not like it." Before even saying the next word, he knew that Alaric would not like the following information:

"What now?" Alaric asked, almost instantly not liking the interruption of looking at a picture of his mate. Nothing is on his mind now except touching and seeing his mate in the flesh, but given the circumstances, he will need to settle for a mere photo of her.

"The Luna is no longer working for the company we acquired recently. She got fired just this week." Gaius said, completely expecting his Alpha's wrath.

Alaric closed his eyes in frustration; his growing impatience was visible, and Leif's disappointment was palpable. Obviously, both Alaric and Leif are on the edge of their awful temper tantrum, hanging by a mere thread before their beast takes over and murders the entire room. In hindsight, their human sensibility prevailed, and they both knew that murdering everyone in the room would do them no good.

"Find your Luna," Alaric said while trying hard to control his Lycan beast, "or I will release my Lycan beast upon us all." He threatened.

Everyone knew it was not an empty threat. Nobody messes with a werewolf in pursuit of his mate, let alone a powerful Lycan Alpha such as Alaric Moonblood. Almost immediately, everyone in the room left, scurrying in search of their elusive Luna.