Chapter 54

Clemencia POV

The ride home back to the pack was… interesting? While Kylon was driving, hands clutched on the wheel that was threatening to pop under the pressure, Sarabella was sitting, as stiff as a statue of steel we would’ve robbed from an art gallery. It felt like she didn’t belong there, as if we'd kidnapped her.

‘In her mind, we kind of did…’ Terra whined, anxious towards that unexpected reaction from our future Luna.

‘What have they done to her…’ I simply retorted, glancing over my shoulder to look at her one more time. She was still looking out the window, avoiding my eyes, but I could see the glint of a single tear forming in the corner of her eye, that rolled down her pinky cheek before crashing on her jointed hands on her thighs.

I’ve given up trying to make her talk, and I’ve given up trying to calm down Kylon. For now, all I could do was sit on my seat, with my own thoughts, and Terra’ speculations. We were in for a long drive and with my mind racing to find solutions, I couldn’t close an eye to sleep.

We made several stops. I suspected my mate to buy time, delaying our return to the pack ground based on his hope to have a call from our Alpha that stayed behind. A call that never came. I used these breaks on the road to try and bound with Sarabella, which I already did once, back on the Hunting grounds. But it was as if she was a complete other person.

‘It is worse than we thought. How are we going to bring her back? Did we really bring her?’ Terra whimpered again, failing to stay positive as she would have been usually. Huge red flag about the seriousness of our situation.

After a few tries that resulted in me going to fetch food for everyone, to see it not being eaten, left to rot as if I would poisoned them, which made my blood boil a little, I decided to send Kylon to do the errands so he could try and cool his head off. That would work, but I traded the angry and helpless man for a dejected and whiny wolf. I was in for a treat back home.

Or so I thought. Being back at Eclipse Pack, he put up his grown Beta wolf pants, and began to work. I sighed after his rushed kiss as I watched him run off to drown in some paperwork or to carry every burden anyone would throw at him. The real treat was Miss Lobo, our future Luna.

She locked herself in the room I showed her. The Alpha’s room. But a few minutes after, I was not yet down the hall to get her something to eat, and you know, maintaining her alive, I heard piercing screeches, and as I rushed back to where I left her, I found her frail body laying in the threshold of the door that wasn’t holding on to its screws anymore.

‘I thought it would help her. You know, memory is sensitive to scent when the eyes and mind are deceived…’ I confided in Terra, as I scrunched down to help Sarabella on her feet.

‘I don’t think it was a bad idea. But it might have been too soon. We must proceed step by step.’ She was pacing in my mind frantically, as if she figured something.

‘What?’ I asked, pressuring her to spill the tea, as I dragged a half conscious blonde to another room, one level down, on the Beta floor. She would be up the corridor, and if she tried to leave the packhouse normally, not by jumping out the window, she would have to pass by both our office, to my mate and I, and our room. And I barely sleep at night so… no escaping for our Luna.

‘Now is not the time. Make her eat and put her to sleep. Then, we would have to go to the library.’

This was easier said than done.

Malia POV

The fog dissipated after a few hours of sleep. I woke up sore again, but in much better condition. The fire shrunk down, and I could move my body again. I tried to talk to the guardian wolf that stayed by my side, but at the hoarse sound of my voice, he snapped at me, warning me. I complied, as if I was scolded by my dad, locking myself in a stubborn silence, tail tucked between my legs.

The glowing wolf came by a few times to check on me after I woke up, but was off as soon as she laid an eye on me, assessing I was alright, if not alive at most. After another few hours meditating, regaining some strength, I gestured my desires to go around to my guardian, and he reluctantly obliged when I just got off.

With him trotting by my side as we made our way towards the woods, their healing set up was in a well hidden clearing, wide enough to set up many little stations to provide care to the wounded, but small enough to not bring up attention or stumble upon it. Acknowledging that information made it even more strange that the bears were able to take Alpha Samael.

‘They must’ve followed the trail. A bunch of wounded wolves and two bleeding werewolves were not ideal to facilitate erasing a trail.’ It was my first time hearing Shila since I woke up. I literally leaped of joy at the sound of her voice, so out of the blue, my guardian barked out of surprise.

‘Shila! Are you okay?’

‘Yes… it felt weird, not having access to you. I was still here, but with you in that state, I kind of disconnected from our link? It was the worst feeling ever…’ She weeped, half joking, half serious.

I agreed silently, overwhelmed by the feeling of relief and pure delight of having my wolf back. As I was looking around, trying to discern something between the huge and wide trunks of trees, I had the weird feeling of circling around. When I came to that conclusion, I felt a small nudge on my wrist, calling for my attention. My guardian stopped and I did as well, following his lead. With his eyes, he led mine towards a path we didn’t travel on, covered by darkness, as thick as ink. I raised my eyebrows, wondering why we would have to enter such an unsure lair. As a response, he pushed me, straight behind my knee, forcing a step forward. I grunted, mumbling under my breath, stepping more and more forward. At some point, I looked behind my shoulder, and all I could see was two golden orbs, floating close to me. I could still feel the ruggedness of its fur, assuring me it was my guardian.

‘Even so… doesn’t this feel more like a trap to you?’

‘Ye…’

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH” A loud scream coming from my throat as I stumbled and rumbled down a steep slope cut off our conversation.

As I crashed at the bottom, the air felt less heavy, the shadow less gloomy. I stood up, not without some pain and difficulties, brushing off my clothes from the muddy dust sticking to the fabric and my skin. I felt a swift breeze brushing my arm before I was met by the two yellow eyes again. It seemed to be laughing, a wolfy grin squinting them a little.

‘Welcome in Wonderland, Alice’

From a corner I didn’t notice yet, the glowing wolf appeared, walking as gracefully as she would’ve done entering a ballroom. But we were far from the glamorous event, as we were facing each other, me, covered in mud, after I fell down the rabbit hole. Wait, would that mean we were underground?

‘Yes, we are indeed underground.’

‘Would you please stop reading my mind?’ I complained, getting slightly bothered.

‘No can’t do. At least, for now.’ Again, another riddle, or incomplete answer. ‘Follow me.’

She then turned around and I had to jog to catch up and be sure not to let her disappear from my sight.

‘Why are we here?’

‘Here is where we’ve been living.’ She sighed, keeping her pace, progressing into the maze of tunnels unfolding in front of us. ‘We had to, even if it meant living like badgers. They left us no choice.’ To my silent question about who she meant by ‘they’, she simply nodded.

‘The same that sent these bears, and the same you were going to break in.’

‘How…’

‘We’ve been following you for a while. The path you took left out nothing to imagination and you were with the man that I helped escaped a long time ago. We might not be half-human but please, we are far from being dumb.’

‘I apologize if I offended you…’

‘Belinay. The name is Belinay.’ She sped up her pace, as we heard some muffled sounds. ‘We left you two out there so you can heal faster. It was definitely a mistake. They took him. And I heard some very bad news about the progression of their plans. It is not going well at all. We will need to move faster. And we need you.’

‘Me? Why me?’

‘Because you are her other half. You need to help her come back. To me.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘Your sister, your twin sister should I emphasize, Sarabella. She is my human part. I am her wolf part. She is the Moon Goddess heiress. She and I are.’