His Missing Luna

CHAPTER 85

NATHAN

SCOURING THE EARTH FOR HER

“There’s nothing here, Nate,” Tyler’s voice comes through the link as I stand in the middle of Kizziah’s pack, watching smoke curl from the remains of his house. The scent of burnt wood mingles with the staleness of my own desperation.

“Are you sure?” My voice is a low growl, colder than it used to be—colder than I want it to be, but I won’t let it thaw until she’s back in my arms.

My men and I arrived here after days of waiting, hoping Jessica would return. Kizziah and his son are nowhere to be found. The warriors we encountered barely put up a fight; they crumbled under our assault, unable to resist the fury driving me. We took control of the pack in minutes.

I made it clear: I’m not leaving without answers. The women, children, and elderly remain untouched, but the rest have been rounded up on the training field, surrounded by my warriors.

I am ready to employ any means necessary to get information from them. Hence, the burning of their alpha’s building and the mild destruction we caused around the pack.

“Certain, Alpha.” Tyler uses my title, confirming the thoroughness of his search.

“Alex?” I link my Beta, stationed with the warriors of the Montana Pack. “Anything?”

“No one’s talking. They’re under Kizziah’s alpha command,” Alex replies.

My gaze sweeps the area, searching every hidden corner, every shadow, for a glimpse of her—those deep blue eyes, that infectious laugh. But all I find are empty spaces, mirroring the void inside me. Every day without her is another day of waking up to cold sheets, clutching at nothing but the memory of her scent.

“Jessica,” I whisper her name into the wind, hoping it carries my pain to her, wherever she is.

Each night, I curl into bed with her clothes fisted in my hands, inhaling the faint trace of her scent. It’s all I have left, the only thing that lulls me to sleep, where I dream of her whispering “My alpha” into my ear. But the mornings are cruel—another day of her absence, another day without the sparks she brings to my body and life.

Declan, is just as broken. He’s quieter now, his usual ferocity dulled by her absence. He prowls restlessly in my mind, snapping at anything, anyone and everything, but there’s no comfort for him either.

There’s no one to ride his back as he takes his usual runs through the forest, drawing joy from the presence of his mate. There was no Jessica to watch reading her books with him curled at her feet. His ears perked up listening to her tell him about the stories she is reading.

Her absence has also reduced his foray into the forest, hunting for animals. Why hunt when there’s no one to bring it to.

We’re both hollow without her, just as my pack is unraveling without their Luna. The children ask for her, eager for the party she promised them, and even my mother and sister’s attempts to fill her role fall short. Jessica has woven herself into the fabric of the Thunderstorm Pack, and without her, everything is fraying.

I won’t let go of her. She’s my mate. I’ll find her, even if it means tearing down this entire pack and claiming it as mine. I warned them I would.

“What do you want to do with them?” Alex asks through the link.

“Where’s his mate?” Fortunately, Kizziah left her behind. She’ll talk.

“She’s here.”

“Good. I’m on my way.” My eyes scan the area once more, as they do every day at home, searching for something I know isn’t there but can’t stop looking for.

When I reach the training field, Alex is moving through the line of warriors, exercising his authority as my Beta. Kizziah’s mate is on her knees among them, beside her is the pack’s beta.

“Get up, Luna.” I may be ruthless, but I’m not a brute. I won’t mistreat her just because she’s a captive right now. She’s still the Luna, for now.

She rises slowly, brushing the dirt from her knees and flipping her hair back with a defiant glare. Her eyes are hard, but I’ve seen harder.

“I want you to answer me honestly,” I say, my voice low and deadly, Declan tearing at the edge of our wall. “because I’m out of patience. Where are your mate and son?”

“I don’t have to tell you anything. The Council will hear of this,” she snaps.

“Where are they?” I ask again, giving her one last chance to cooperate.

“Why should I answer you?!” she spits. “You attacked my pack and demand answers from me?”

“Where are they?!” I roar, letting Declan’s fury bleed into my words, slamming my alpha command down on her like a hammer. She collapses under its weight, groaning as her warriors echo her suffering.

Behind me, my men stifle their own pained sounds. I link them, ordering them to hold on just a bit longer. I need the truth.

“Tell me.”

“I…he…they…” she gasps, struggling against the command, her body trembling.

“You’re killing yourself fighting my aura. I’m a strong alpha, and you’re a weak omega—one who never bothered to strengthen herself. Stop resisting and tell me the truth.”

Her heartbeat thunders in her chest. Finally, she breaks. “He went to the king…”

“What king?” I ask, my mind racing to place the reference.

“I don’t know. I just heard him discussing with Saul.”

“Has he contacted you since he left?” She shakes her head, and I press on. “Why did he go to this king?”

She bares her teeth, eyes blazing with hatred. “To get help…from you.”

That gives me pause. Kizziah wants help from me? I wonder who can save him from me. I push the thought aside, focusing on the most crucial question.

“How did my mate end up in your household?”

She bites her lip so hard it bleeds, her eyes bulging. “He found her in the forest. A woman was going to kill her, and he saved her…”

A person like Kizziah never does anything for free. He had to be offered something. “Saved her? Bullshit. He struck a deal, didn’t he? Tell me the truth.”

Her body shakes as she struggles to resist. “She agreed to give Jessica to him if he let her go without reporting her to the king.”

“Another king?”

She shakes her head again. “The same one he went to meet. Please…release me!”

What game is Kizziah playing? And who the hell is this king? The only king I’ve ever heard of in the werewolf kingdom is a legend, shrouded in mystery, never spoken of.

I release my aura, and my men visibly relax. I turn to Tyler. “Sorry about that. Can your contacts find out more?”

“Let me call them,” he says, stepping away to make the call.

“As of today, this pack is under the authority of the Thunderstorm Pack,” I declare to the gathered wolves. “You can stay or leave. But if you stay, you will obey our laws and me as your alpha.”

I turn and leave with Alex and Tyler, the weight of the pack's fate and Jessica’s absence heavy on my shoulders.

“They’ll get back to me tonight,” Tyler reports, falling into step beside me.

“Good.”