My Own Destiny

My Daughter is gone

Lucielle (Aurora’s mother)

Waiting in our suite awaiting Nathanial’s return, I knew something bad was happening but I had no idea what. I loved our pack, our territory, but at moments like this, I wondered if it was all worth it.

It would be so much easier to live amongst the pack as ordinary pack members, but I guess with our heritage we were doomed.

The moon Goddess, sometimes I despise her for all her ways. This life is both a blessing and a curse.

We have it all, our pack was surrounded by forest.

We could run for miles in our wolf form without even leaving our territory. There was a pond and a lake that we could use at our leisure.

Our packhouse was more than large enough, giving us, our children and our Beta, Gamma and their families each our own suites. We had quarters within the packhouse for our main guards and servants.

We had some homes scattered across our territory, a small store, a couple small restaurants. We could truly live on our own with little interaction with the human world if we so choose.

I loved our pack. They were like family, all of them, some more of a distant relative than others, but still family all the same. We came to this territory after becoming part of an alliance the DePont’s help lead.

We had a small pack with our Beta and Gamma but Midnight Moon was without strong wolves to lead them, so we merged our packs when Nate and Aurora were small children.

It wasn’t easy at first, not all of Midnight Moon were welcoming. They expected us to come in and run the pack like many in the Alliance with Crimson Moon.

Crimson Moon had a strict structure, everyone had a place and you did not step out of your place. Servants were that, just servants.

Here they were like family. They did not mind cooking and cleaning because we took care of them and gave them the respect they deserved.

That was one of my main concerns. Moving to Crimson Moon would be very different for Aurora, but she understood.

I had no doubt she would be making small changes to better the pack once she went.

I jumped a little, hearing footsteps in the hallway leading to our quarters before I heard the key in the lock.

I knew it must be Nathanial returning.

He would not even mind link me to inform me what was going on.

I jumped up, rushing to the door before it was even open.

I saw Nathanial’s glum face and knew something was indeed wrong.

“What is it?”

Nathanial walked in, taking my hand and led me to the small love seat in our main living space.

“Sit, my love.”

I sat, I knew my eyes were wide in fear, watching his every move, trying to decipher what the fear on his face was from.

“Aurora left.” He said softly, looking at my hand in his.

“What? What do you mean? Did Jullian take her?” My heart was beating fast, I was having trouble breathing. Jacques promised they would not take her so soon.

“No.” Nathanial said, looking up into my eyes. I could see the sadness in his crystal blue eyes.

“She ran away.”

I let out a shaky breath, almost relieved. It was sad that her running away was not my biggest fear, maybe my second or third on the list, but certainly not the first.

Nathaniel narrowed his eyes at me. “You look relieved.”

I frowned, “Only a little. I cannot help but wonder if we have made a big mistake promising Aurora to Jullian,” I said softly.

“It does not matter, what is done is done. Jaques is a powerful Alpha, you know it needed to be done.”

I sighed, “Yes you thought it best, in order to protect my daughter.”

Nathanial’s grasp on my hand tightened slightly to get my attention. “Our daughter, don’t you ever imply that again,” He said firmly.

I let my shoulder relax and offered my mate a small smile, “I am sorry, you are right, you have always looked out for Aurora’s best interest. I just worry Jullian is the wrong decision.”

My mate stayed quiet. I know deep down he is having doubts as well, but he doesn’t know how to fix any of this.

“Have you alerted Jaques yet?” I asked, worried about how he and Jullian would react.

“Not yet, no reason to get them involved just yet.”

I shook my head, “What can we do?”

“I cannot even alert other packs yet because word could get back to Jaques. I will have our people check the kids' phones and laptops, I will check her credit cards and bank.” He put his hands on my shoulders, “I will do what we can to find her and bring her back safely.”

I could not hold my tears back any longer and let them roll down my face.

Nathanial pulled me into a tight hug.

“It will be OK.”