The Blood Moon

Secrets in the night

Raine

It’s over.

Pierce has been imprisoned for what he did to me and the rest of our pack. I know I should feel relieved, but something isn’t sitting right. Something feels off.

I let myself cry in Jasper's arms. He just holds me and offers me comfort.

I never thought it would end. I thought Pierce would be let go with maybe a warning at best. I thought I’d be trapped with him forever. Or at the very least, running from him forever.

Jasper’s scent is starting to help me calm down. My sobs have lessened and I’m just starting to enjoy the warmth from his body.

I feel a sudden sting in my neck, like a bug bite. I wince and pull away from Jasper and rub my neck. Man that stings.

“Are you ok?” He’s looking at me with concern. I stop rubbing my neck as my eyes meet his.

“I’m great,” I whisper as I lean in to him and meet his lips with mine. He groans and deepens the kiss. Suddenly he picks me up and I wrap my legs around his waist. He pushes me up against the door of the house.

“Get a room you two!” I hear Talia yell as she giggles. But she sounds almost far away. I feel dizzy as he breaks away from me with a small smile before I see his eyes glaze over and he stiffens, lost in a mind link.

I yawn, a sudden sleepiness washing over me. I turn and walk back into the house towards my room.

I hear cursing outside and loud yell from Bryce. Talia and Jasper come running into the house.

“Pierce escaped,” Jasper yells as he pushes me to his room. “Stay here. Do NOT leave this house under any circumstances.” I nod at him but I’m just so tired I’m finding it hard to care.

“I love you Raine,” he kisses me deeply before he turns and leaves the room.

I stumble over to the bed. My mind is slowly falling into darkness.

Raine! Raine stay awake!

Sienna is so far away. I can barely hear her as my eyes close and my mind goes numb.

****

My body feels completely limp. I can’t move at all. I feel like I am hanging in the air but I’m definitely moving through the pitch black forest. I can hear the crunch of the forest floor below me as I’m moving. But I’m definitely not walking.

Sienna? I try inwardly, hoping to reach my wolf. But she doesn’t answer. My mind feels almost empty. I can barely feel her energy.

“Jasper?” I call out through the mind link, but he’s not there either. He’s too far away.

I try to move but I’m still too weak. Instead I let out a small groan. The movement stops and I feel myself falling to the ground below.I hit the floor hard and the air is knocked out of my lungs. That helped accelerate my awakening and my eyes fly open.

Alpha Pierce is standing above me, a horrific smirk on his face.

“Well, well. Look who is finally awake. I’ve been carrying you for hours, b***h. What has that Alpha been feeding you? You’re like two times heavier than you used to be,” he says with venom in his tone.

I try to sit up but he pushes me back down with his foot.

“Not so fast, Raine. You’re with me now. We are hours away from your precious mate. You would be lost in a minute if you tried to run,” he crouches down beside me, his smirk widening. “It’s awfully dark out here for a pretty thing like you to get lost.” I feel cold metal on my wrists and then awful burning. I look down and see he has placed silver cuffs on me!

“You piece of s**t!” I yell at him.

He looks at me like I’ve grown two heads but before he can open his mouth again I start kicking him.

“Was it not enough that you broke me from the inside out?!” I'm screaming now, I’ve completely lost it. “You took EVERYTHING from me! I finally found SOMETHING that resembles happiness. SOMEONE who actually cares about me. And you just couldn’t stand it could you?!” I’m thrashing and kicking at him.

He’s backed away from me. It's so dark in the forest that I can barely see him. I can only see the outline of his body. I gingerly get to my feet, its harder than I thought it would be with silver attached to my wrists. He walks closer to me and I Can see his face. His eyes are laced with anger and his mouth is in a tight line.

“I’m doing this to protect you, you worthless b***h!” He yells in my face. “I promised her to bring you to her, to make her life easier, and in exchange she isn’t going to kill you!”

Wait, what? Who? What is he talking about. I laugh coldly at him.

“You’ve officially lost your f*****g mind Pierce,” I glare up at him. His lips part and mild shock is plastered on his face.

“You don’t know? Jasper didn’t tell you?”

“TELL ME WHAT?!”

He shakes his head sadly. “We don’t have time. I need to get you to the ritual site,” he says softly. Before I can protest, he picks me up and throws me over his shoulder, and starts to walk again

Jasper

We searched the entire Snow Moon pack for Pierce. His cell was completely barren. There was nothing even suggesting he had been there. His scent was even gone from the room.

-”Alpha Regent, we have picked up his scent. Its heading back to Alpha Bryce’s home.”

Shit. Ajax roars in my head and forces the shift as we race back to Bryce’s house. It hits me suddenly that I didn’t leave anyone to guard the house. Just Talia and Raine. I left my mate and my best friend’s mate in danger. Stupid.

When we get back to the house I can feel she is gone. Ajax howls as I take back control and shift. I throw some shorts on and throw the door of the house open. Talia is lying on the floor in the living room completely unconscious. Bryce rushes to her and starts to try and wake her up.

I run back to Raine’s room. She’s gone. There’s no sign of a struggle. The window is open. I can smell his scent all over her room. He was here. I growl lowly.

How could you leave mate behind?! Ajax yells at me.

Listen here, wolf. I panicked! I ran to find Pierce. I didn’t think he’d be this far ahead of us!

Moon mother is not going to be happy with us Jasper. I can tell his tail is between his legs. He loves the attention he has been getting from the moon goddess.

I curse and walk back downstairs. Talia is awake.

“Jasper! I’m so sorry. I tried to stop him...”

“Slow down Talia, tell me what happened.”

She nods and takes a deep breath.

“Ok so after you and bryce took off, I went to Raine’s room to check on her because she was acting weird when you left. I found her on her bed totally asleep. I couldn’t wake her up! Then Pierce was climbing through her window. He was so excited to see me, we haven’t talked since all of this went down. Anyway he tells me he’s been working with someone called Nyx, apparently she’s a deity. And that she wants Raine for some reason. He tried to get me to come with him but I told him no and ran to get my phone to call Bryce because SOMEONE hasn’t marked me yet,” she glares at Bryce as he ducks his head into her neck. She rolls her eyes. “He had a gun with him. I thought he was going to shoot me but a bullet didn’t fire. It must've been a sedative because I started feeling sleepy and passed out before I could get to my phone.”

I try to reach out to Raine through the mind link but I can’t reach her. Just like the night she had her nightmare.

Ajax, can you reach Sienna?

He’s quiet for a few minutes.

No but I can feel her. She’s being suppressed. Either wolfsbane or silver.

Probably both buddy. She’s a powerful wolf. Nice work.

He wags his tail at me lightly but he still seems irritated with me.

“Well Ajax said Sienna is suppressed so it was probably wolfsbane and a sedative. Bryce I need a team with me to follow that bastard’s scent. He is not going to get away with my mate this easily!"

I summon all of my Regent aura and yell in a booming voice:

"Wolves! I call to you now as your Alpha Regent! Your Luna Regent has been taken and I have reason to believe her life is in danger! Come with me now and help me find her!"

I hear the howling of wolves as they hear my command and agree to take action. I turn towards the darkness in the woods. I try to reach out to Raine through the mind link again and even though there’s no one there I whisper to her.

-”I’m coming love. Hang on.”