The Broken Luna

It was a cloudy night, alpha Ryan Luthford of the Red Thorn pack, sat at his desk in his gloomy office staring down at the large amount of paper work that lay before him, he would much rather be in his room with his Luna, Airis, and their newborn son Brayden. A loud sigh left his lips as he tilted his head back and ran his hands through his dark brown hair. The door slowly opened and he was greeted with a sweet smell, his lips curled into a smile as he heard his mates soft voice. " hello love, are you almost done?" Aris walked around her husband's desk and he gently pulled her into his lap, " just a few more things dear, is Bray asleep?" He asked softly as he nestled his nose into the crook of her neck, her sweet smell of lilies and almonds melting his stress away. " yes love fast asleep, just waiting for you to join me now." Her voice taking a seductive tone hinting at perhaps a lucky night for the two of them. He chuckled and held her closer as their lips met in a loving kiss. KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK! The two jumped at the sudden Interruption at the door. A deep angry growl left his throat "WHO IS IT!" " Alpha it's me and Claire, we have something important for you to see." It was his beta Andrew Reid and his mate, how odd for her to be with him if he's come to report something from his night patrol. Ryan and Aris jumped from the chair and he swung the door open with anger from the interruption "This better be a d**m emergency Andy to come up here and risk waking my child and interrupting my work with such a knock." Andrew lowered his head in respect. His ginger hair glistened wet and damp from the rain that had begun to fall, his voice was respectful yet urgent " Sorry alpha, but this is indeed an emergency." Andrew moved from in front of Claire and a shudder went through Ryan's body as he looked down at the infant in her arms. A gasp left Airis lips as she covered her mouth in awe and shock. The baby had smudges of dirt on her face and didn't look well, she was wrapped in a soft white towel clearly from the pack house. "I found her near the border close to the river laying on the bank, she has no scent almost as if it were completely wiped away so I have no idea where or what pack she could have possibly come from." Andrews voice became worried, Airis quickly stepped forward and took her friend Claire's arm. " quickly let's get her to the medical lodge. Ry just keep an ear out for Brayden in case he wakes up and if you need me call or link me." A mind link Is shared between all pack members, it often only works if you're in eye view of who you need to talk to, but with mates it works for a good distance away, she wasn't too sure if the medical lodge was too far away, but that's what phones are for. Airis and Claire immediately rushed off with the baby while Ryan and Andrew stayed in the hallway. The whole top floor of the large house was dedicated to the alphas living quarters. A large hallway connects many different rooms including the alpha and Luna's master bedroom, a large bathroom, two offices, and a few spare rooms. the next floor down was for the betas living quarters, set up similar but a bit smaller. " was there anything around that could have possibly given you a hint on who did this?" Ryan asked, a dark seriousness to his tone. " the only thing that lingered was a faint smell of ash in the area, but it wasn't strong at all, there's no telling how long she's been out there and to top that, the only thing she had was a filthy sheet wrapped around her. I'm just glad we found her before the rain got worse" Andrews' voice was woven with anger. A low growl left Ryan's throat, "I want you to get a small group of your most trusted warriors and have them investigate the closest packs and see if any may radiate a similar smell or come up with any related info. I'll make a few calls tomorrow and see if anything turns up." There was a moment of silence before Andrew asked with a sincere tone "if the baby survives can she stay?". Ryan c****d an eyebrow at his best friend with a curious look before he thought about it, all new pack members had to be approved by him no matter the age or situation. He was no monster though and would not turn away an infant. " She can stay, but you will need to find a family within the pack who can take her and truly care for her." A slight smile appeared on Andy's face, "actually I think Claire and I may take her In as our own.. I only pray to the moon goddess that she pulls through." Ryan smiled and placed a reassuring hand on Andy's shoulder, he knew him and Claire had struggled with having a pup of their own for years now and that they had begun to give up. "I believe you were meant to find that child Andy, and I have faith that she will pull through." Andrew smiled and they discussed their actions for tomorrow to get to the bottom of this. Ryan entered his bedroom quietly and walked to the door leading to the nursery where Brayden laid sound asleep in his. Crib. His lips curled into a gentle smile as he watched his young boy until he began to think, what monster could abandon such a young innocent baby who couldn't be more than a few months old next to a river on a stormy night, clearly someone was trying to get rid of the child for good, but why? Many thoughts raced through the alphas mind, there were technically no neighboring packs. All the territories were scattered a pretty good distance away so if she were from another pack someone went a d**n good distance to get rid of her. Was she a plain human? Was she a lycan? And the most important question, would she even survive..