The Luna Gypsy

Chapter 8

Hayden POV

“She said she is with her mother!”

Mason growled, repeating what I had just told him.

“Who the fück is pretending to be my daughter's mother?”

He managed to growl out. His fist balled by his side, and his jaw clenched and unclenched.

“I don’t know. Let’s get home and figure this out. Maybe there’s something we’re missing.”

Katalina opened the portal and everyone stepped through.

“Thank you Alpha Daniel, for your hospitality, especially at such short notice.”

“Don’t mention it, Alpha Hayden. Like I told you before you come from here, you are always welcome.”

He bowed his head to me as I lowered mine and stepped back through the portal and back into my office. Mason was pacing back and forth in front of the whiteboard. I can feel his anger pulsing outward, filling the room. It felt suffocating.

*Dad, why don’t you take Mason to blow off some steam?*

*I'm on it.*

I watched as my dad and Alex both walked towards Mason and all three left the office.

“So, someone is holding her captive?” Zak asked, his eyes flashing between blue and black.

“It seems that way, someone she calls mother.”

Zak’s growl echoed throughout the house. I don’t blame him. From what I can remember, Sam was an amazing person, and some fücked up person was out there pretending to be her. Making Amelia call her mother. At least we know she’s been kept by a woman. It doesn’t matter to me, she’s a dead woman walking.

“Right, let's go over everything we know.”

I announced to the room. Logan stepped toward me, a look of determination set on his face. Since we found out Amelia wasn’t dead, he’s not stopped looking for her. He’s taken teams out every day, scouring everywhere we can think of to find her.

“Logan, go and get some rest. You look tired.”

“With all due respect Alpha, no. I’m not stopping until we find the Luna and bring her home.”

I nodded my head at Logan, but I didn’t reply. I was speechless. Not because he told me no, but because he refuses to stop looking for Amelia. She means so much to everyone here.

~~~

The office is empty. It’s late and everyone has been sent away to get some rest. We can’t find Amelia if everyone is exhausted. I stand looking at the board, scanning it for anything we might have missed.

“I’ve not seen her for six days now and I’m worried something is wrong.”

“What did she say the last time you saw her? Did she give you any clue as to where she is?” Nina asked.

I ran through the conversation I had with Amelia on the beach in the UK.

“She said she can’t tell me where she is because it’s a secret.”

Nina’s ears twitched hearing this.

“What?” I asked, walking towards her.

Milo stood up and put his hand up to stop me from getting closer to her and I realized I was probably coming off as aggressive and that was the last thing I wanted, not with Nina anyway. Amelia would hate me if I scared her best friend.

“When we were younger, we used to go into the woods. We found an abandoned building, and we called it our secret place. We went every weekend and we would sneak out at night and meet there if we needed to talk to each other.”

“We have searched the woods, babe,” Milo said.

“No. Not these woods. It’s in the woods on the opposite side of town. It’s an hour from here. They're protected by magic. Lyn was worried Silas would find Amelia there. Maybe since Lyn's passing, the spell has dropped and Amelia found her way there. I’ll drive.”

She ran out of my office, which was Amelia central at the moment, and the sound of the car engine starting buzzed faintly in my ears.

“Well, come on,” Milo shouted, pushing me out the door.

The drive there was intense, everyone’s hopes high. I don’t know why I allow my hopes to build now. I won’t let them. Not until I have Amelia back in my arms. The real Amelia, not the astral projection Amelia but the actual living and breathing Amelia.

“It’s just over here,” Nina muttered as she jumped out of the car, stumbling towards the forest.

It’s not a thick forest. The trees are well spaced and you can see around clearly. The floor was hard dirt with rocks and patches of grass scattered around and the air was still, eerily still. I followed behind her and Milo when the stench of rogues filled the air.

*Rogues*

Milo shouts just as growls come from the trees in front of us. Three pairs of eyes look out at us. I shift and leap forward, almost knocking Nina down onto the ground.

*Milo stay with Nina. I‘ll take care of these dícks*

The first one is weak and easy to kill. He is far too eager and tries to lunge for my throat. I swipe my paw, knocking him to the side like a ball of wool. He tries to get up, but I swipe my paw at him, knocking him back down and making him roll onto his back, leaving his underbelly open for me. I bite down hard into his stomach, ripping his guts out as I pull my head back, killing him instantly.

The foul smell of his gut fills the air.

The other two rogues snarl with the bigger of the two lunging toward me. I swipe my large black paw knocking him into a tree. He whimpers as he crashes against it, but stands back up, his snout pulled back revealing his sharp but dirty canines.

The first rogue's blood drips from my muzzle onto the ground as I growl back at the rogue. I can feel his blood coating the fur on my throat. The smaller one bites me whilst I’m distracted. His teeth clamp down on my back. That pain is nothing compared to what Randall put me through. I shake him off and pounce on top of him.

Ripping his throat out, his blood sprays out in a mist-like form covering Nina and Milo.

Nina gasped, her eyes squeezed together as she stepped back, her hands shaking as she tried to wipe the blood off. Milo grabbed her, pulling her toward him as he ran his hands down her face, wiping it off.

“Fück Hayden.” He grunted.

*Sorry*

The rogue drops down dead close to his friend. The last one shifts back into his human form. If he didn’t smell like a rogue, I wouldn’t have known. These rogues were being taken care of. That's one thing I do know.

“Please, I’m sorry. I didn’t want to attack you. They made me.”

He shakes in fear as I slowly stalk closer to him, baring my sharp teeth as I snarl in warning. My eyes trained on the veins sticking out on his neck, ready for the kill.

“P..p…please” he whimpers.

I push my face into his as a throaty snarl vibrates from my throat, making him wince and look away. The hot air blows from my nostrils, hitting the cold air and making it look like steam and surrounding the fücker. My drool mixes with the blood I’m coated in and dribbles from my mouth, dropping onto his foot..

“Hayden don’t,” Nina shouts, stepping in front of the wolf and making me step back.

“Nina,” Milo screams.

*I won’t kill him only because of Nina*

I see Milo’s face relax as he tells Nina what I said. The rogue takes off running whilst I follow Nina in my wolf form now.

“Zak is going to see if they can catch up with the rogue,”

Milo informs me. I doubt we would get anything from him, even if they did find him. This Alpha is smart. He always seems to be one step ahead.

“It’s just over here,” Nina says, pointing towards some overgrown bushes.

Nina pushes her way through, so I follow. A sheet of flat metal is leaning against a chain-link fence. She slides the sheet of metal to the side, revealing a dark and dank sewer tunnel. That had a metal grate over the opening to stop people from going through there and a huge padlock attached, making my hope dwindle. If Amelia was here, why would it have a locked cover?

Milo stepped toward the grate and pulled, snapping the lock. The cover made a loud creak as Milo pulled it open for Nina to walk through. I looked at Nina, who still had some hope shining in her eyes as she held her nose and stepped through.

I followed behind her. The sound of her footsteps echoed around us, until we came out near what looked like an old warehouse.

The building is old and dilapidated, some of the walls have fallen down showing the inside of the building, green moss grows up the sides. Any windows that would have stopped the elements have all been smashed, leaving rusty window frames. Bricks and large clumps of concrete litter the floor. The grass around it is overgrown and full of weeds. Graffiti covers the lower parts of the walls, killing any hope I had that Amelia will be inside.

I walk in anyway. I want to be certain when it comes to Amelia.

The building smells of rot and píss but I search the whole place. I can hear Nina and Milo shouting her name, hearing them calling for her hurts. They love her just as much as I do, and it kills me. I couldn’t stop this from happening.

This is the reason I don’t let hope in anymore.

When you have hope, there is only disappointment to follow if I stop hoping I won’t be disappointed.

Amelia is nowhere to be found. Her scent doesn’t even linger here, meaning she hasn’t been here recently. This wasn’t the secret place she was talking about.

“I’m sorry Hayden,” Nina says as she rubs her hand over my head.

Since Amelia left, Nina has become very dear to me. She was like a sister to Amelia and that’s how I see her, she’s family.

*Tell her it’s ok. She’s trying, and that’s all I can ask.*

“He said don’t be sorry. He appreciates that you're helping.”

She smiles at me, ruffling the fur on my head.

*I'm going to run home. I need to let this frustration out.*

Milo nods his head and I dart off into the forest, heading back home to my empty room.

~~~

“These rogue attacks are getting more frequent. Do you think it has something to do with the Alpha helping Randall?” Preston asked.

Zak and Devon are here as well, going over the latest from the last attack on the pack territory.

“Yes, the last one we caught practically confirmed it. How are they getting in?” I ask.

“We don’t know. They just appear. We have checked the perimeter of the territory and all the walls are intact. We can’t find any damage that would allow anyone to slip in.” Preston answers.

That means the witch that’s helping the Alpha is helping him get in as well.

“We need to find the son of a bítch.” I growl.

Finding him is more important now more than ever. I don’t feel like Amelia will be safe with him still out there.

“We are training more warriors. Since the battle with Randall, more pack members want to help out.” Zak stated, making me feel pride once again with my pack.

More members have asked to be trained in fighting and more women. Amelia would be so proud to see what she has done. She showed the pack that we are family, that we fight for one another.

I went ahead and extended the gym. It was going to be in her honor, but now it will be hers. I had it fitted with all new equipment. She will have a yoga studio as well as a boxing ring, just like she had at the gym she worked at. Now when I find her and bring her back, she can help train the women if that is what she still wants.

“Ok, I will ask Nolan to see if we can get the perimeter protected with a spell or something. Keep me updated. I’ve got to go to the office. I'll be back later.”

Zak and Preston both left whilst I grabbed my stuff to go to the office.

*Nolan, can you ask-*

The smell of jasmine and spearmint mixed with blood flooded my senses, stopping me in my tracks.

*Hayden*

I cut the link. I needed to make sure Amelia was ok. I turned around, relieved that I finally could see her, but worried why she stunk of blood.

“Amelia, what happened?”

Her clothes were filthy, like she had been crawling through the dirt. The smell of blood was overpowering the closer I went. She had dried up blood on her face and matted in her hair. As I ran my eyes over her body, I spotted more blood through the tear on the top of her dress.

I felt the pit in my stomach twist painfully seeing her like this. I was going to rip every fücker involved in Amelia’s kidnapping to pieces. I pulled her into my embrace, pushing all my love into the hug.

“It’s nothing. I need you to listen to me. I don’t have much time and I’m not sure if I will get to come back and see you again. My name is Amelia Nyx and I am from the Seraphic clan. If I make it, I will come and find you, but if I don’t I want you to know that the last four months have been unforgettable.”

Hearing her words made the anger that had been brewing inside of me spring to life. My wolf was infuriated. He was like a wild, rabid animal frothing at the mouth for the blood of the ones who had hurt our mate.

I felt her hands grabbing my face and her lips crashing into mine. She pushed her tongue into my mouth and my wolf hummed with pleasure. A growl rumbled deep from my throat and I pulled her close to me, wanting to taste more of her. Her hands pulled at my hair, making me smile from how greedy she was for more.

I fell forward into the empty space that was just once occupied by the love of my life.

*I know where she is!*

I send a huge mind link and hear the crashing of feet as a stampede makes its way to my office.

“She’s with the Seraphic clan.”

“How do you know?” Mason asks, pushing his way to the front.

“She just told me her name was Amelia Nyx, and she was from the Seraphic clan before she disappeared.”

“Kezia!” Nina gasped. “That’s who she was talking about last time. Kezia.”

“Exactly. She said she was at home and it is her ancestral home. Lyn was born and raised there.” I added, now it all made sense. Everything Amelia had told me all clicked into place.

“I‘ll get Katalina,” Mason shouted, running from the room.

“Wait!”

He stopped and turned to look at me. His eyebrows pulled together as his brow furrowed. I could feel the anger pulsing from him and I couldn’t blame him. He wanted his daughter back.

“She wasn’t in great shape. She was filthy and full of blood. I don’t think everything is as it seems there.”

“I got that feeling when we went. Everyone seemed scared to talk.” Nina added, confirming my suspicion.

The rage had now overflowed. It was like a volcanic eruption going off inside of me.

The fücking gypsies kept my mate away from me. Logan was shifting from foot to foot. He’s been pushing himself to find her just as much as I have. I think he’s also liked the distraction of keeping himself busy, with everything that happened to Ember and him being her second chance mate. He’s tried to give Ember the space she asked for as well as letting her know he wasn’t going anywhere. He was here to stay. I'm incredibly grateful to have someone like him on my side and, as my baby sister's mate, she deserves some happiness.

“Nina, what do you know about them?” Zak asked, his voice full of tenacity.

“Not much. My gran left to help Evelyn taking us along with her. The leader that took over was Florence. That’s all the knowledge I have of them.”

“If she’s been mistreated, we need to go now!” Mason snarled, making me growl back.

I didn’t mean to, but my wolf has been on edge since she left. Her words keep bouncing around in my head. If she didn’t make it, what the fück did that mean?

I was ready to burn the whole of Sohesis to the ground.

“I’m sorry.” He trailed off, looking down.

“No Mason, I’m sorry. Go get Katalina and let’s get a bag packed. The land is protected, so we won’t be able to open a portal into the clan lands. We will have to travel there on foot. Call Draven and get him to meet us. We will go peacefully but be prepared.”

Mason nodded and ran towards Katalina's room. She had been staying in the pack house whilst helping us, but I had offered her a place here in the pack. She seems to fit in and loves spending time with her family.

*Katalina can take us when we are ready to go* Mason announced to everyone.

“Ok, go pack a bag, everyone. We leave in 10 minutes.”