Luna’s Mate Bond

Chapter 4

~Michael’s POV~

“Alpha, it’s just been confirmed that this year’s South Eastern Mate Ball will be held at that Skyridge Pack that’s been on our radar for a while now.” My beta Austin informs me as I enter the pack house, retuning from a run scouting our northern border.

“Wow, that’s unexpected but it will give us a good opportunity to scope out their pack and potentially investigate the rumours surrounding their Luna’s departure. Call Alpha Blake and try to arrange for us to arrive a day early under the pretence of a meeting to discuss possible treaties and other pack business. If he’s open to hosting the mate ball maybe he will agree to a meeting.”

Before handing the Alpha position down to me, my father Jake tried to investigate Skyridge after their Luna suddenly left 7 years ago, but all attempts at organising a meeting and visiting Skyridge had been shut down over the years by their Alpha. No one knows where Luna Liandria currently is or what caused her to abandon her Luna duties, leaving her pack, mate and child behind. Foul play was suspected but Liandria was seen elsewhere not long after leaving, and rumour has it that she left a letter for Blake explaining her departure. No one has ever been able to confirm what was said in the letter though.

Skyridge is very secluded far up in the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee. I’ve never been there because they are a small, reclusive pack. Dad thinks they’re hiding something and I’m inclined to agree. No one ever leaves their pack territory aside from a few high ranking members occasionally. The exception being their few unmated wolves going to the mate ball every year. I’ve tried talking to some of those young wolves but they all stick together under the watchful eye of their young, arrogant Alpha and refuse to talk to anyone who isn’t their mate.

Since their Luna disappeared, Skyridge has refused to accept new members unless they’re fated mates, and even their members who find their mates don’t seem to leave to join other packs, unless they’re allies. They don’t even have many visitors aside from a few closely allied packs. Most of whom are also on our radar as they’re suspected of illegal activities, such as slavery and human/werewolf trafficking. Due to his choice of allies we also suspect Blake of being involved in illegal activities.

“Already on it, I’m waiting for his secretary to call me back” Austin replies, he’s a great beta. “She sounded hot!” He exclaims excitedly, wiggling his eyebrows at me making shake my head.

“She could be 50 for all you know, i***t!” I respond, shoving him playfully.

“Ay, but some women age like fine wine” he replies returning my shove. I roll my eyes, we’ve been best friends since childhood but I still don’t understand him sometimes, especially his man-whorish ways!

I’ve been waiting for my mate since I turned 18 and realised my girlfriend Krissy wasn’t the one. Her mother was my father’s Gamma so we also grew up together, childhood friends turned high school sweethearts who thought we were going to be mates, but the moon goddess had other plans. Krissy’s mate turned out to be the son of a warrior from another pack. His family joined Hidden Eclipse a few years ago after his former pack was decimated by rogue attacks and his father killed. Krissy is my Gamma, like her mother before her, and as one of my top warriors George is now a Delta.

“You’re gross and incorrigible!” I laugh “Ask my parents and the others to meet us in my office in half an hour will you? We need to discuss this rogue situation and our trip to Tennessee.”

“Will do, did you find anything?” He queries, turning serious again as we reach the stairs and make our way towards the upper levels of the pack house.

“Daniel tracked the rogues to the northern border but we lost their scent in the National Park” Daniel is George’s younger brother, also a Delta and our best tracker, if he loses a trail you know it’s definitely gone cold.

“Dang, I wish we could locate where they’re coming from, there have been too many incidents now for them to be isolated cases” Austin says as he splits off towards our offices on the second floor. I continue up to my living quarters on the top floor to quickly shower and change, thinking over what we need to discuss in this meeting.

As I walk into my office 20 minutes later Austin informs me that Alpha Blake agreed to our meeting ahead of the mate ball, asking us to arrive at 2pm the day before.

“Did I hear correctly just now? You’ve managed to arrange a meeting with Alpha Blake from Skyridge?!” My father asks in shock as he enters the room.

“Yep, they’re holding this years mate ball in a couple weeks. I figured this would be a good opportunity to be able to suss out their pack finally!”

Dad frowns, “It’s very odd that Blake is hosting the mate ball this year. He NEVER allows anyone from outside of his immediate circle into Skyridge territory, something must be going on…”

My mother Charlette looks at me, concern evident in her eyes. “Be very careful Michael, we’ve met Blake numerous times at official events and he’s not a nice person. From what I knew of Liandria, she was a lovely woman, kind and compassionate, but Blake was very controlling and wouldn’t let her out of his sight.”

“What exactly do you know about Luna Liandra leaving Skyridge?” I question my parents.

“What’s this about Skyridge?” George asks as he enters my office with the rest of my team. “That pack was an ally to my old pack until their Luna left. And a few years after that we were attacked. They never came to help us or anything, wouldn’t even take in survivors” Gabby takes his hand in hers, comforting her mate and we can all see the pain and betrayal in his eyes as they darken.

“I’m sorry man, I know this must be hard for you, but they’re holding this years mate ball Sunday week” I fill them in. George is just as shocked at this revelation as my parents were. We continue discussing Skyridge and Liandria’s disappearance, coming up with a game plan for the investigation.

“They had a daughter you know?” George informs us.

“We heard rumours about a daughter but no one has ever confirmed this, she’s never been seen in public” Dad says. “Blake brought Liandria to a few official events right after they met to show her off, but she rarely came to any after she had their son.”

My mum looks thoughtful… “She never talked about her children either, I only know about her son because she was noticeably pregnant at an Alpha summit not long after you were born Michael.” She says.

“That and Blake was crowing about having an heir once she gave birth!” Dad scoffs.

“I met the daughter once when we were kids, Alpha Blake and his family come to my pack for a meeting. The daughters name was Megan, sweet kid too, I hope she is ok, no one has heard anything about her for a long time now.”

“Mmmmm Megan, that’s a nice name” my wolf, Cody, practically purrs in my head.

“Dude, what’s up with you? You haven’t said a word this whole meeting and now you’re pretty much purring like a cat! And over a name of some girl who we’ve never met and no one has seen or heard from in years?!”

“What?! It’s a nice name?” He huffs, retreating to the back of my mind.

I mentally shake my head, returning to the discussion. “Okay so Austin and I will go to Skyridge a day early and meet with Alpha Blake, scope out the pack, etcetera. The rest of our unmated wolves will arrive the night of the ball.”

“Mum, Dad, can you guys please help Gabby and George keep the pack running smoothly while we’re away? We’ve been having more and more rogue attacks lately and I’m concerned about leaving us unprotected. It’s beginning to look like these attacks aren’t random or coincidental.”

“Of course we will help while you’re away! Don’t stress, even with all the unmated wolves away there will be enough warriors still here to keep us protected. But yes, these rogues are becoming troublesome, what did you find on your scouting trip today?”

I repeat what I told Austin earlier and everyone starts throwing around possibilities and ideas.

“It really seems as though these attacks are organised, which is highly unusual” Krissy says, thinking aloud. “Rogues don’t usually form packs or have a leader, and they usually aren’t smart enough to cover their tracks.”

“Yes I almost get the suspicion that they are looking for someone or something?” Austin replies. “The groups of rogues entering our territory appear to be scouting parties, and they aren’t openly attacking, just fighting back when we approach them. The group I came across were fighting us, then all retreated suddenly like they had received an order via mind link, but rogues shouldn’t be able to mind link?! Many of them can’t even shift to their human form anymore…”

“If they return I think we should hang back and follow them, just watch and see what they do?” Cody says to me. I relay that idea to everyone and can see them all analysing that plan, trying to pick out any flaws in it.

“That’s not a bad idea son, so far they haven’t openly attacked so by keeping an eye on them we can hopefully find out what they’re looking for, but we also can be ready to intervene if we need to.” Dad agrees. “I think we should try not to kill them, if we capture some we might be able to interrogate them.”

We discuss the plan a little more before dispersing to make preparations, Cody even interjecting with ideas and opinions a few more times. He’s been so quiet most of the time lately unless he’s trying to force his way to the surface in anger or more animalistic urges. It’s a surprise to hear him rationally talking, making me wonder what’s causing this. Actually I realise that I feel kinda weird after the meeting, lighter almost, a bit happier and hopeful even? Strange!