Chapter 98

Chapter 22 – Missing

I felt bad for keeping Eudora trapped in the house. The last few days, we’ve had dozens of vampires visiting the pack for training with our warriors. We’ve also had weapons training with the newly arrived equipment. The training has been intense as we prepare for the next new moon and possible attack. The last thing I wanted was for my mate to witness the deadly side of vampires and red eyes. The weapons training could also lead to some gruesome accidents and gory sights, but wolves had enhanced healing, so it wasn’t a big deal to us. I wasn’t sure if my human mate would have the same reaction.

“You did see what our mate did to Vicky right?” Apollo sarcastically asked.

In the corner of my eye, I caught sight of Demeter holding a scorpion whip and whipping it around as she tore chunks out of a nearby tree. I walked over to her, and she quickly used her element to repair the tree and gave me an innocent smile.

“What are you doing?” I nearly barked.

“I want to train too!”

“You’re barely of age. It’s not happening.” I tried to dismiss her.

“I’m nineteen already. Stop using age as an excuse when some of the warriors are my age.” She crossed her arms.

“Demeter, you’re already on a special mission by making sure Thalia and my mate are safe and away from the vampires.” I tried to distract her.

“Thalia is sitting under that tree drooling over Poseidon training without a shirt. Your mate went back to the pack house to lay down or something.” She replied. I could see the pack house from the training field, Eudora must have moved quickly because I couldn’t see her anymore.

“Can you blame her with all these vampires around?” Apollo said.

“Come on Ares, I’m an Alpha too. Stop being sexist!”

“Sexist?” I let out a hearty laugh. “Look around Demeter, you see female warriors training right?” I asked and she nodded her head. “I can’t be sexist if I allow females in the ranks. You have one little problem that those other females don’t have.”

“What is it?” She demanded.

“You’re my only baby sister and no one touches you! Now get inside and go watch my mate before I call dad.” I smiled.

While she received regular training with the pack, she did not participate in warrior training. Demeter had my father, grandfather, and Pappoús wrapped around her little finger, but it came at a price. She was overly protected. Of all the grandchildren she’s the one who resembled Pappoús the most.

A large part of me believed they wanted to keep her shielded because of what happened to my Aunt Anabeth when she was younger. They didn’t want anyone to try and take her because she was elemental. There are some Alphas out there who would give up their mate at a chance to breed stronger offspring with an elemental wolf.

“Goddess help us if we ever have a little girl pup.” Apollo muttered in my head.

A few hours later, we finished training and I made my way to our chambers expecting to find my mate and pup. The room was empty. I took a quick shower, got dressed, and went downstairs to look for my mate. We were having a full family dinner tonight, so I proceeded to the dining room.

“Ah Ares, where’s my little Lukas?” Yia-yia asked.

“I thought Eudora may have been helping with the dinner.” I looked around the room, everyone was there, except my mate and pup.

“I may be getting old, but my sniffer is still sharp. Honey, I’m sure I didn’t scent her inside after she left with Demeter to watch the training.” Grandma Dori said.

I sent a mind link to Jarvis, our house manager, perhaps he would know where Eudora is. Maybe she’s in the theater or library or something, I thought to myself. When Jarvis replied he hadn’t seen her all day, I pulled my cellphone out and called her.

No answer.

“Paola, did she anything about going somewhere?” I asked.

“No, Alpha.” She shook her head.

“I’ll have the patrols run the property and look for her. Maybe she went out to her parent’s house and got lost. It’s a long way between here and the northern part of the territory” Zeus said as he sent a mind link to the patrols.

“She’s human, she would have needed to take a quad or something.” Demeter added.

“I’m sorry, I was at tea with her, but Conner had a breakthrough on the hunters and the lab in Florida. I stepped out to talk to him and Chris, when I returned, she was gone.” My mother told me.

Stryker stood up from the table and moved for the door. “Let’s get out there and look. Someone should be able to pick up her scent.”

A sickening feeling clenched in my gut as Apollo let out a worried whine. It wasn’t like Eudora to be gone for hours without a word. I moved to the door with the others and started our search.

“I’ll check the kissing cave and hot springs.” Stryker said as he shifted into his red wolf and took off running.

“We’ll check the northern woods.” My mother said as Cia and Maverick broke into a run.

“I’ll head east, you head west.” Poseidon told Zeus before they parted ways.

“Ares and I will go south.” Mateo called out. “Wylder, sniff out the perimeter of the pack house and buildings.”

“Xena, check the lake. Aunt Anabeth, check the dungeons to the rooftop for a scent. Grandpa, check with her parents. Demeter go see if a quad is missing. Pappoús and Yia-yia, stand guard out here and let us know if anything turns up.” I instructed and then shifted. Sounds of shifting wolves and howls filled the air as others joined in the search for their missing Luna. I thought about the spanking she would receive tonight for worrying me.

We sniffed around rocks and trees, trying to pick up her scent or Lukas’ scent. The wildflowers that bloom every spring were making it difficult. Their sweet scent was overpowering everything on the southern hills of the territory. Manolo stopped and sniffed a few tree trunks. A moment later a growl ripped from him.

“What is it?” I linked.

“I’m picking up a faint hint of hunter.” He continued sniffing and I quickly moved in to check. He was right. I scented them too.

I started to wonder how the hell hunters managed to get by our patrols. Then I remembered the ramped-up training schedule. The afternoon patrol schedule was light because we were trying to get as many warriors training with the vampires while they were here. Hunters wouldn’t stand a chance against werewolves while they could shift, so no one expected an attack.

I continued to sniff the area and noticed a patch on the hill where the wildflowers had been disturbed and broken. Apollo let out a snarl and Manolo followed me, sniffing around. The wildflowers were masking the scents well, the pollen was starting to irritate Apollo’s nose when something glistened at me.

I shifted back to human form and looked down at the object with a sharp pointed needle on the end. It was a tranquilizer dart. I reached my hand and slowly lifted it to my nose, scenting it. Eudora had touched it.

“FUCK!” I screamed out and Apollo howled with anger in my head. I should have let her stay and watch the damn training. I should have locked her in our chambers. I should have fucking tied her to the bed! How could I have been so stupid?

Manolo tilted his head back and let out a howl to signal all the wolves that we had something. He continued to sniff around, and it seems the hunters must have snuck into our territory from the southern border, through the wildflowers. I don’t know if they had been observing us training or doing some recon for an attack, but they were here and now my mate and pup are missing.

Flames burned in my eyes as rage consumed me. Fire shot from my eyes as I lit the hill up in flames. Manolo let out a low whine and backed away. A growl ripped from me, and the fire spread to the next hill and the next hill, burning bright. Manolo ran back, away from the flames. I stood in the middle of a burning inferno, shaking with rage. I didn’t want to see or smell another damn wildflower.

Every last bastard hunter is going to burn if they so much as harm a hair on her head.

Something moved through the fire behind me, and a hand was placed on my shoulder. It was Wylder, he’s the only one who could walk through my flames. “It’s going to be okay. We’ll find her. Conner found the lab and the training camps.”

A small bit of relief passed through me, and I took a few deep breaths.

“Come on, get your head on straight so we can find her and end these fuckers once and for all.” He said. “And you might want to put out the fire before the rest of the territory burns down too.”

My mother and Poseidon were already floating water to put out the fires. I looked to the sky and willed a heavy rainstorm. We made our way back to the house, shifted, and dressed.

“Conner has the locations of the training camps and lab?” I asked my mother.

“Yes, one of the camps is in South Florida and the other is in Puerto Rico.” She replied.

“And the lab?”

“At the Port of Miami.” She replied.

“Of course. Guillermo mentioned that the hunters were all over the place. The nightclubs, the everglades, and even the port. Let me guess, the lab is on some big research boat?”

“An old cruise ship actually!” She replied.

“Hidden in plain sight, under our damn nose!” Wylder growled.

“The port of Miami is the world’s largest cruise ship port. It would blend right in.” My father added.

“Did they find out who owns the ship or where it’s registered out of?” Mateo asked.

“Some shell company in Bermuda.” My mother replied.

“Paola was right.” I shook my head realizing how close we were when we were in Florida.

“About what?” Wylder asked.

“The devil's triangle!” I ran my fingers through my hair, frustrated as it was all making sense to me now. “Miami, Puerto Rico and Bermuda … It’s the Bermuda triangle. The research lab most likely moves between the three points, so no one suspects a thing. You can’t stay anchored at one port too long without drawing suspicion.”

“It’s a brilliant idea.” Pappoús added. “It makes it difficult to trace a moving object.”

“The jet will be ready in an hour. Who are you taking with you?”

“I can fly through the air and be there in a few hours.” I told them.

“Yes and let all the humans see you. Or you can take the jet and be there in the same amount of time with a team.” My mother said.

“I’m coming.” Zeus insisted.

“We’re coming too.” My mother said and my father nodded.

“No. It could be a ploy to lure us away from the Moon Realm. You two will need to stay here.” I told my parents. “Keep the bonfires burning all night in case there’s an attack so Mom will be ready to roast them. Zeus will come with Wylder and me, Poseidon get back to the eastern territory. Mateo and Xena will continue the trainings while we’re gone.”

“I’m coming with you.” Mateo said.

“I can’t take you away from your expecting mate.”

“Cassi will be here, Manolo will be okay if Paola stays with Cassi. I need to be there in case anyone needs healing.” He told me and the idea of my human mate needing any kind of healing was tearing me up inside. I nodded my head.

“I’ll let Chase know so he can inform the President, in the event things get explosive in Florida.” Grandpa Crow stated.

“I need to come with you.” Grandma Syble said. “I need to make sure little Lukas is okay.”

“I promise I’ll bring him home to you. I need you to stay and make sure Yia-yia is okay.” By this time, my great-grandmother Raven was sobbing into Pappoús chest uncontrollably at the loss of my son.

“Please hurry.” She uttered and we started preparing to leave.

An hour later, we were airborne and flying at top speed to Florida. Zeus was seated with Mateo and looking over maps of the everglades I considered bringing additional warriors with us but decided against it. I was a one-man army, and the hunters didn’t stand a chance against me. I also didn’t want to put anyone else at risk, so I insisted that Tymber stay behind.

We hadn’t figured out Wylder’s new mate yet and I wanted to make sure they were fully mated, marked, and bonded before I trusted her. She was holding back and a little unsure at times, I wasn’t sure why. Grandma Dori had taken a liking to her, so I knew Tymber wasn’t a real threat.

Wylder is fireproof and could breathe underwater, thanks to his love affairs with the Goddesses. He also has his mother’s Alpha blood from the Crow line, which makes him one of our best fighters. Though at this point, I wasn’t expecting combat fighting, I was expecting to burn each and every last one of them before they could register what happened! Zeus is elemental and has mastered his craft well. I allowed Zeus and Mateo to both join me in case my mate and pup needed extra help, or I needed to be kept on track.

My mind is racing, and the rage has become hard to control without my mate to calm me. I wonder if they’ve discovered that Lukas can shift. I worry they will hurt our unborn pup. The four of us remained quiet for most of the flight. Apollo was on edge, I could feel him pacing in my mind. He was ready to sink the whole State of Florida into the ocean.

“Ares, we’re about twenty minutes from touchdown, should I pull in a storm to help distract from our arrival or maybe a hurricane?” Zeus asked.

“No, ships will typically go out to sea to avoid storms and sail around them. It will be easier to find her if the ship is still at port.” I replied.

“How do we know if she’s on the ship or at the training compound?” Wylder asked. He had a good point, if we attacked the camp first, the ship might set sail. If we attacked the ship first, the hunters would be alerted and could move my mate.

The plane touched down and we taxied our way to the private jet hangar. Wylder moved to drop the door open in our cabin and slowly lowered it. We were met with the worried faces of Chris and Conner.

“What is it?” I asked.

“I’m sorry Alpha. We returned to the port two hours ago to try and get a tracking device on it, and the ship had set sail already.” Chris told me.

I looked down at my watch, it was just after midnight, I wouldn’t be able to find the ship in the darkness of night.