His Blind Mate

Chapter 13 At A Loss

Kyhan

My wolf was the happiest he’d been for years. There was no assurance of a future where we were together, but this was a start. She’d been treated as an outcast for years. I knew but I overlooked just how much it affected her. She wanted to die that day. I’d be forever grateful that the Circle found her instead of rogues. Now that we could start over, I’d do everything I could think of to make her stay with me as my Luna instead of my guest, and be the Luna of the Moonstone Pack.

I pulled over to the side, letting the engine sit for a few minutes as I went over the things I wanted to do for her. She had been silent the entire time, but at least she wasn’t hostile towards me.

“We’re here,” I said as I turned it off.

Luan nodded. “I have to meet my sisters.”

“They arrived earlier than us,” I said as I pressed the button to raise all the windows up. Her scent was too heady for me to think clearly; letting the windows down to clear the air helped.

I got out of the car and she followed after.

“My bow,” she reminded me, and I had to get it back for her.

“Thanks.” She smiled as I handed it to her. Kai yipped in excitement. Her smile, albeit a shy one, made my heart skip.

I motioned for the gammas with us to head towards the packhouse. I’d already linked the omegas to prepare the quarters for the sisters. The pack members displayed their surprise as soon as they saw her. Luan pressed her lips in a straight line, ignoring their uncomfortable stares. I had to send a message to the mind link to keep all of them from even daring to approach her. They all shared their fair share of regret for what they’d done. It was as if they woke up from some sort of trance when she was gone and only then did they realize their horrendous deed.

“They won’t do anything without my permission,” I assured her.

“Did you use an Alpha Order?”

Is she concerned about me? Using an Order on the entire pack would exhaust me. I’d be lucky if it lasted ten minutes. Placing an Order meant mentally putting down their wolves too. If I used it on all members of the pack who were involved then, I’d most likely be out of commission for three days minimum.

I smirked at the thought. “Your soft side is showing, cupcake.”

She made a face that made me laugh.

“Cute,” Kai remarked. I couldn’t agree more.

It seemed like it was only yesterday when I first brought her to the packhouse. I still remember how scared she was, hiding behind me because she trusted that I’d protect her. I’d regretted failing to keep her trust with me.

As we reached the bottom of the stairs, I looked around to make sure there was nobody in plain sight. Even though I wanted to make it clear to the pack that she was under my protection, I could only guess the full extent of her boundaries.

After hesitating for a moment, I held her hand and dragged her up the stairs before she could protest. Silence loomed between us. The pleasant tingles that crept under my skin were my source of comfort.

She let me intertwine our fingers together. A faint pink colored her cheeks. I smiled, hopeful that we could somehow work this out. Only … like before, as much as it pained me, I had pack duties to prioritize.

“Your brothers will be joining this meeting.”

She stiffened for a second then recomposed herself. Her grip tightened on the bow. “I’m ready,” she said. “I’m not who I once was, Kyhan.”

She called me Kyhan. “Of course not,” I lied. Nothing about her has really changed, but I wasn’t about to dampen her courage.

I kissed the back of her hand before letting it go. We agreed to work on us behind their backs. It was a way to give her space and for me to carry on with my duties. The safety of the pack came first. For her to understand that … no one could really be my Luna but her.

“Ready?” I asked and she nodded.

I pushed the doors open and led her in. Luan joined her sisters right away. My high ranks bowed as a greeting. Samuel and Siel had their eyes on her. It was evident that they wanted to speak to her, unable to hide the uncomfortable look on their faces.

Raphael stood silently on the side, his sight fixed on one of the sisters. She kept her gaze on her feet like she was avoiding him. There was something going on between the two of them, but Raph obviously wanted to keep it under wraps. He would’ve already told me if he wanted it out in the open. I knew he’d been waiting for his mate, even though he appeared to be married to his work.

Reire had the sisters behind her. She pulled Luan to her side, gave me a wary glance, then frowned before returning to glaring at the brothers.

It didn’t take a genius to recognize that the room was divided. I held back a sigh. “We can stand here all day making each other uncomfortable or get down to business. Which do you prefer?”

“Business,” Reire replied without skipping a beat.

I walked over to the table in the center where a map of the territory was on display. Two small circles in red were drawn over separate areas, both near the borders. “A week ago, we lost our patrollers near the pack borders. When we found their bodies -” I paused, glanced at Luan as I considered my next words, “- at least we had all the pieces.”

“Rogues leave marks on their victim’s bodies - claw marks, bites - and the bodies are often intact. What happened then was … unlike them.”

“So you suspected it was vampires?” Reire questioned.

I nodded slightly at Siel for him to continue. He stepped forward and cleared his throat. “I led a team of trackers. Their scent was almost lost with all the blood, but we found it, isolated it from the rest, and traced it to an abandoned coven.”

Reire’s brows furrowed as she pondered on the information. Yula and Penny had their eyes on Siel, waiting for him to continue. Only Luan had an unreadable expression. Regardless, we had their attention now.

“We lost the scent there. It wasn’t until earlier this morning when more of our gammas went missing that the scent turned up again,” he added.

“Which coven was it?” Penny asked with a thoughtful expression, her amber eyes sparkling with interest.

“Black Star Coven. Rumor has it they practiced dark magic, but witches keep to themselves; we don’t know much. The coven disappeared overnight, all of its members burned to dust,” I answered. “My guess is that the vampires put them out for good. However, if they’ve been corroborating for a long time, who’s to say what they have against werewolves now. As far as we’re concerned, witches practicing dark magic align themselves with the energies of their Creator.”

“The New Moon Goddess is a bedtime story.” Reire scoffed. “The Moon Goddess created all of us all but we get to decide what to do with our gifts. Instead of putting the blame on a deity that doesn’t exist, anyone who breaches the treaty should be held accountable.”

Reire spoke with utmost confidence, it was actually convincing. However …

“Let’s not jump to conclusions. As it stands, the results of the investigations are known only among everyone present here today and a few esteemed gammas. Until we have concrete evidence that the vampires were behind this, we must tread carefully.”

“If there are witches practicing dark magic out there, I don’t think any of us here know how to defend ourselves against them,” said Penny, her lips upturned. “We lack knowledge about them and what they’re capable of; we might as well be sitting ducks.”

She gave me a look as she added, “Not that I doubt you, Alpha, I mean you no offense, but we can’t take this too lightly. Whichever deity they worship, an enemy is an enemy. And an enemy we know little to nothing about is a threat that must be eliminated the soonest.”

“My brother and I will always be paired with a sister or two to ensure your safety in case something unexpected turns up,” said Samuel. All eyes shifted to him. He uncrossed his arms and continued, his voice on edge unlike his calm demeanor. “Like the Alpha said, the Black Star Coven is gone. Investigation has come to a halt. Instead of speculating about witches using dark magic, we need to prioritize getting our gammas home. We need a new plan and we need it now.”

“Ca - Can’t we ask the Vampire King for assistance?” asked Yula, her voice soft like a whisper.

Samuel frowned, a look of displeasure on his face at the mention of the vampire’s leader. Even Reire had a look of disapproval.

Asking help from the vampire’s king himself was beneath a werewolf’s pride. It was well known in the community that he had resigned his duties to his servants for years for some reason. I hadn’t met anyone who knew anything about him beyond that nor did we ever talk about vampires.

A centuries-old treaty stood between our kind and them, wherein neither side shall cause any kind of damage to each other nor interfere with each other’s way of life in any way. In other words, we live our lives while ignoring the other race. How generations that barely knew anything about each other could continue to turn a blind eye on the other race was beyond me, but their scent was repulsive to say the least. It was common knowledge but to smell it up close; for weeks it felt like it hung around me that I had to shower frequently. Also, the mere thought of them living off of blood made my insides quiver.

“He’s still out of it,” I answered, shifting the attention away from her. She seemed relieved that someone spoke immediately; it was apparent from her tomato-colored face that she disliked the attention from the hard-opinionated people in the room. “This matter is known only to a handful of people and we intend to keep it that way. Besides, we can’t be certain that whoever is behind is acting on behalf of their king. We don’t know their motive in the first place.”

“So what’s the plan?” asked Reire, her lip twitching slightly, obviously frustrated with how the meeting was going. We were wasting time and getting nowhere while my men were somewhere and their condition unknown. I knew they were alive because of the bond, but it had significantly weakened. Still, with no other leads to continue investigations, I had to bear the risk. The coven was a dead end. Regarding the recent incident, the trackers lost their scent in the woods - both the vampires’ and my gammas’.

I walked towards my desk, turning around again to face them as I leaned on the edge and crossed my arms. My high ranks and the sisters turned to me expectantly. Even Raph, who had been silently observing, was waiting for an answer. Luan still had a passive look on her face; crossing my fingers this wouldn’t affect our almost nonexistent relationship.

“Well?” Reire asked impatiently. She was probably the only gamma besides Raph who could speak crudely at me, although Raph was more respectful. Siel gave her a side eye, discreetly displeased at her tone.

I quickly answered before their frustrations got the better of them, bracing myself for their eventual outburst anyway.

“I don’t have one.”

XXX