His Missing Luna

CHAPTER 65

MALACHAI

PACK RUN 1

My eyes follow the young alpha throwing flirty looks at a brown-haired she-wolf he’s training with. He gazes wistfully at her, like he’s remembering someone he misses. Charming her with his smile as he compliments her, the girl blushes hard while trying not to get distracted.

Engor growls at this.

Firstly, this is training time. I only allowed the boy to join because I don’t believe in going a day without training. He is a stranger. Strangers rarely get allowed into our pack.

Secondly, something about him stirs an unknown anger inside me. I hate that his hands are touching the girl’s skin. Something about this feels wrong to me. I have a feeling those hands have done worse things. Also, I can’t stand his eyes and how they look at the girl. There’s a kind of obsessiveness that borders on madness in them. He looks like a wolf about to devour a bunny.

I feel the need to protect my pack member from him. I sense he just wants to sleep with her. They are not mates, clearly, for the girl is in her twenties and would have told me if he was her mate.

“Get that damn boy away from Sheila,” I link the warrior in charge of training today. “Now!” I snap, clenching my fists tightly. My shoulders tense as I watch him get close to her face and push her hair away.

“...just like her.”

His thoughts reach me, and I instantly stop my man from splitting them. His guard is down. This is what we have been waiting for to happen.

I use my powers to reach into his mind, poking for holes. Pockets of thoughts and memories are holed up in a vessel-like shape.

Strange.

Out of the vessel, strings of thoughts escape.

“...but no blue eyes. But she will do until I find my Jessica.”

“...we have to win them over.”

“...they must not know.”

“Why are you looking at him like that?” Rakiel's voice and scent lightly breaks my concentration. I raise a finger before pulling her to me. “I am listening to his thoughts.”

“Oh,” she gasps lowly and joins me.

“...I hope I don’t find my mate here. I don’t know what I will do if it happens.”

“...Jessica is mine and mine only!” he growls with that same abnormal possessiveness I saw in his eyes.

He blocks Sheila’s punch, standing his ground and delivering his own punch, which she easily parries. I smile proudly at her moves.

“Damn, she’s strong! No wonder father wants me to mate and mark Jessica.”

Rakiel and I jerk our heads back in surprise and shock. While exchanging glances, the alarm sounds, signifying the end of training and ending our mind reading.

“I forbid you to go anywhere with him. Go home and prepare for the pack run,” I link Sheila. She pauses her steps for a second and tells him something before hurrying away.

“...I will have her before we leave,” his eyes lust after her as she leaves. “Taste that sweet…” he stops when someone calls his name sharply.

It’s Kizziah, and he’s stomping furiously, tight-lipped towards Saul, who rolls his eyes in irritation. Reaching him, both stare silently at each other.

“They are mindlinking,” Rakiel notes.

“Yes,” I reply, hating that I can’t hear what they are saying.

After a while, both walk away from the place. Kizziah’s eyes dart about suspiciously. His tense shoulders and Saul’s drooped ones say a lot.

“Why is he so possessive of this Jessica person when she’s clearly not his mate? He doesn’t want to find his mate. Not what his father said. Those two are hiding something, and we need to find out fast before they can leave.”

I give a half chuckle. “That’s if they leave. With everything I just heard, I won’t let them. I am still the King.”

Hours Later…

We are a few minutes away from starting the pack run. The moon is almost up, shining down on our half-clad bodies. All shifted members, except the guards on duty at their posts, are assembled before me.

Tiny silver loincloths drape around the waists of all the men, exposing our muscled chests to the soft caresses of the wind. The women have on the same silver cloth fashioned into two-piece attire covering their breasts and waists.

A cocktail of scents fills the air, our wolves bristling under our skins. Ready to break out and run under the beauty of the moon.

Our faces are smeared with silver paint on the forehead and red paint on our cheeks. The silver represents our silver furs, and the red our blood. We may have silver fur, but our blood is as red as any other wolf’s.

Rakiel stands to my left, as regal as the queen she is. Her body, still slim and sexy as the day I first saw her under the moonlight. Her hair is pulled into a ponytail, showing her slim neck carrying my mark. Her green eyes sparkle under the moonlight, steadily looking over the crowd before us.

“You’re staring,” she links me.

I clear my throat and face the crowd. “I miss my queen in her royal attire.”

She gives me a look that shows the sadness at my words. “We agreed.”

“I know. But one can still hope for the past,” I nod as I prepare to say my usual speech, looking over the pack. “Tonight we…” I begin but stop when murmurs and movement in the crowd catch my attention.

“Hey!”

“Watch it!”

People murmur at someone.

“Will she ever stop doing this?” Midriel hisses. He’s to my right.

My eyes follow the person moving in the crowd and see it’s none other than Rissi. She’s pushing through people, making her way to the front.

Rakiel sighs wearily beside me. “Are you sure you two are not soul mates in another life?” she jokes.

“Yeah, I abandoned her in this life for you,” I joke back, yet glaring at my sister-in-law who just won’t stop causing a scene at every pack run.

“Sorry, I am late,” she apologizes when she reaches the front.

“We haven’t started yet, sister, as you can see,” Rakiel replies in an icy voice.

“Still doesn’t mean I should come late. What kind of impression will I be making if I come late?” she replies her sister, yet her eyes are on me, slowly raking me lustfully.

“As I was saying before the interruption,” I cast a brief glare at Rissi. “We are here once again to run as one big family under the moonlight.”

As my speech progresses, an unsettling feeling settles inside me. It has to do with Rissi’s late appearance. Yes, she always came late to this thing. A move to take the shine away from her sister, which I always put a dent on by giving Rakiel the power to call the run.

I manage to penetrate her mind while still speaking and catch a glimpse of her and Maya arguing about something. She slams her walls shut instantly.

Melanie isn’t here either. I don’t remember her asking for permission to be absent. She isn’t among the women watching over the pups.

Engor paces in my head, equally frustrated at this feeling. Something isn’t right here. I feel like I am being played all over again. Just like before Amerie disappeared.

Engor starts growling inside my head as my eyes hold Rissi’s. Is there something I need to know about her?

I finish my speech and give the floor to Rakiel. As she strolls to the front, Rissi’s eyes narrow into slits, gritting her teeth and clenching her fists.

Rissi can never change. Not even having a mate and me having two children has changed her. I think it’s high time I address this issue. I have given up a lot to enjoy years of peace.

She either changes or I banish her.

“Silvercrest wolves!” Rakiel roars at her members, and they answer her with the same intensity.

Our wolves are restless.

Rakiel raises her hands, and lightning strikes. “I hereby call this pack for a run!”

That’s my cue to step forward and howl straight into the air. Their replies hit my ears, and together as one pack, we all break out of our clothing, shifting into our wolves.