The Sun and The Moon

Chapter 9

Lucien

Oni watches me closely picking up on my fluctuating mood. He leans back and taps my knee with a gentle hand. I start to calm the minute his soothing aura washes over me. Most gamma’s were empaths to some degree and Oni was one of the best. He could pick emotions off the wind and soothe a raging beast. I know because he and Cedrick have to deal with my darker instincts and soothe my beast. They’ve had to chain me, sedate me, and imprison me since my mate’s eighteenth year. I wasn’t feral all the time, but I was beginning to lose more time to the savage mindlessness. My father didn’t know and it was the only thing I had ever kept from him.

I ride along quietly for the next two hours, my heart a swirl of fighting emotions. I wanted her to like me, no I wanted her to love me as I did her. Worry consumed me as I thought about what my father said. Her mother couldn’t turn her away from me, her Moon, could she?

Goddess, please don’t let that be the dread crawling up my spine. Please just let her accept me! I pray with the reverence of a saint to the goddess. My biggest fear has always been that she would reject me because of her mother’s sufferings. She had to know I would never hurt her or anyone she cared for. I and my Lycan, both loved our mate not because she was our mate but because she was our Sun. We had fallen head over heels with our mate almost sight unseen just through her sweet charming words. I needed her to help keep me sane but my arms just ached to hold her. I would do anything for her even if it meant putting myself through two years of torturous hell. Hadn’t I already been living that nightmare for her?

When I see the first small signs of pack life I sit up interested to see where she’s from. It’s a fairly large independent pack judging from the huge territory it resides on. Rolling hills and lush forest welcomes us as we drive down the paved two lane road. This would have been a nice place to grow up but I couldn’t wait to take her to my manor and show her the mountains around my home. I had lied and told her I was from a cult-like pack so I wouldn’t be tempted into asking to talk to her or exchange pictures. The problem was I couldn’t tell her who I was or where I lived so I described it for her in vivid written detail, just as she had described this place for me. It did not disappoint and I smiled softly at the thought of getting to meet her very soon.

Cedrick grinned at me and looked damn near as nervous as I felt. Oni just patted my knee force feeding me his soothing aura as I tried looking for her behind every tree we passed. Cedrick must have noticed my rapidly searching eyes because he started to point at random trees humming to himself. I glared at him and he grinned devilishly at me.

“If I see her first does that mean she’s mine?”

I growl dangerously at him and he just shrugs and goes right back to pointing at trees. Oni begins pointing at trees a few minutes later, claiming he sees her and both of them can just f**k off. Even my father laughs and starts looking at the damn trees.

“Mine if I see her first!” Oni chuckles and I begin to wonder what the large bear shifter might look like as a throw rug. Cedrick I’d mount head first on my kitchen counter and use his fangs as a can opener. Or maybe a potato peeler.

We spot the pack house in the distance and all noise dies off in the back of the limo. I swear it even seems like the pack themselves are holding their breath as we drive through what looks to be Main Street and nothing moves.

“OK that’s f*****g weird.” Cedrick says as we eye the completely empty streets in the noon day sun. None of the shops that line the picturesque road look to be even open.

“Something’s wrong.” Oni says with a low growl as we pull up in front and what had to be the pack house. The ambience around the place is one of great fear and a hint of sorrow. Two men step out of the pack house with another twenty or so at their backs.

“That one’s the alpha.” My father whispers to me. The man was tall, blonde and plain. He had a bulbous nose and a self important attitude I already didn’t like. My father pointed to the other man. “Beta and Sun’s adopted father.” The burly man looked more bear shifter than wolf as he stepped down the stairs of the pack house. He moved like a man going to his death as his shoulders slumped and his steps became unsteady as he moved closer to us.

“My daughter.” He says softly in a heart wrenching sob. The beta clears his throat as the dread sinks firmly into my spine now. It has been tormenting me ever since we started this trip and now here it finally is.

“My daughter was killed by rogues early this morning.” The beta sobs and I lose my f*****g mind standing right there. Silver fur that matches the hair on my head started sprouting all over my body. The two men took quick frightened steps away from me as Oni and Cedrick grabbed me. Long white claws erupted from my fingertips and the shift took me under. My Lycan howled in devastating sorrow.

“Mate!” We growled at them as one. They had her and we f*****g wanted her now!

“All we have is her clothes.” The alpha squealed as my father wrapped one shifted claw around his throat.

“Your only f*****g job was to keep her safe!” He roared and I lunged at that f*****g alpha. I wanted to kill him with my teeth and claws. I needed this man’s blood! Oni and Cedrick wrestled with me to keep me from killing the alpha.

“Get the clothes!” My father roared and some of the warriors from the back started running back in the pack house. I felt a sharp pinch in my ass and knew Oni had given me a heavy dose of wolfsbane to dull my senses and keep me sane through this. I f****d hated the feeling but I needed it if I wanted answers. The beta looks like he’s about to hit his knees when the warriors return with a woman’s shirt and jeans covered in blood. I snatch it from them bringing it to my nose but there’s no scent. A loud whine rips through my throat as I shift back to my human form and hug her clothes to my chest. I can’t f*****g smell her, not even her blood! I whine again as my father reaches for me. This is my mate I had waited a f*****g decade for? She was reduced to two pieces of bloody clothing?

“Where’s her mother?” Cedrick demands and we all look at him.

“Mourning.” The alpha says with a hoarse pinched voice. My father still hasn’t let him go.

“Bull s**t!” Oni roars and for the first time my peaceful gamma is losing his own temper. “I smell fear here and a bit of sorrow! Cedrick’s right! Where’s the girl's mother?” Oni demands and it finally dawns on me what they are saying. Something falls to the ground as I relax my tight grip on her clothes.

“Oh shit.” Cedrick mumbles as he bends down to pick it up. I realize what it is when he flips it over in his hand, my letter to her. My letter telling her her Moon was coming today. I took it from him and noticed it was unopened. Growls rumble my chest like a large motor.

“Her mother! Now!” Oni commands and the alpha almost squawks in his fear.

“In the cells. She threatened to kill you all when you showed up,”

Threatened to kill us but not the rogues that killed her child. Oni rumbles at Cedrick and I and I snarl in agreement.

“If you're hiding my mate from me I’ll kill you all!” I roar and the alpha pales and drops to his knees dragging his prone throat over my fathers open claws. He’s quaking before me because he knows anything between a Lycan and his mate is dead!

“I think Decora did something.” He mutters out something, and suspiciously smells like fresh piss. Cedrick snickers as he catches the scent but Oni firmly stays stuck in pissed the f**k of mode with me. “I swear I don’t know what though. Harold commanded her to stay silent but Decora is a very strong willed she wolf.”

The alpha’s all but slobbering as he whines now and it pisses me off. Did they really think they could hide her from me? She was mine and had been mine for the last decade! I growl thunderously at him and he places his forehead flat to the ground and whimpers.