The Runaway Orphan

Chapter 5

An Unexpected Ally

Lucas

After I discovered the little girl from Alpha Jett’s pack hidden in the back of my SUV, we drove ahead to a rest stop where there was a park and we were currently sitting at a picnic table waiting to hear what the little one had to say.

“Alpha, my name is Eloise Henry,” she said, reaching across the table to shake my hand. Myles and I exchanged looks, realizing we had never even asked the little girl her name.

“What are you doing here, Eloise? You can get in a lot of trouble running away from your pack. Plus, I’m sure your parents will be very worried about you” I said sternly.

She looked thoughtful before responding. As if she couldn't decide what to say or maybe how to say whatever was on her mind.

“That fool is not my alpha, my mother and I do not belong to a pack,” she said in a young voice, but the words she voiced seemed to be beyond her years.

The wind blew and I caught a faint scent of sunflowers and rain. As well as something else. But I couldn't quite place it. She didn't have a pack scent but wasn't a rogue either.

“I decided the right thing to do was to help you,” she said, looking at us, but her eyes looked far off like she was seeing something else.

“Help us with what,” Myles asked the girl.

“Finding Natalia, of course,” she said.

My heart began to race. What did Eloise know about Natalia besides what I had told her? Could Natalia be at Alpha Jett's compound? Did we somehow miss her? I was getting the feeling that Eloise was much more than met the eyes. But what?

“My mother met my father 8 years ago. I was born shortly after. He was her fated mate. My father belonged to Alpha Jett's pack. But as my mother was not a wolf she didn't technically join the pack”, she said while keeping eye contact with me the whole time.

“What is your mother if she's not a wolf,” I asked her gently.

She turned her eyes away from me, looking at Myles and I saw his eyes widen as she looked at him.

“Your friend is right,” she said, turning her head back.

“Her mother is a witch. Which would explain everything,” he said, giving her a knowing look.

Having a witch as a member of the pack isn't something you see in our community. Usually, witches stay in the company of other witches or in covens. Some were more solitary creatures.

The fact that Alpha Jett had a witch living among them meant that he was up to no good. That something was definitely going on. He would bet everything on this small fact that it had something to do with Natalia’s missing.

“What can we do? We don't know where they are” Myles said sadly, looking at me, waiting for me to decide what to do.

I looked down into Eloise’s brown eyes.

“It's not time yet, Alpha,” she said as her eyes clouded over, turning into a white color.

Lucas had only met a witch once, many years ago, and he remembered her eyes doing the same thing when she was seeing into the future.

“It's not time yet” Eloise's voice took on a whispery sound.

“When the seasons turn cool, the leaves will fall. Underneath the full moon, the key to everything will be revealed” she continued.

“What does that even mean,” I asked while repeating the words in my mind.

“It means Alpha, that it's not time yet. We could search the heavens and earth and never find them until the right time” little Eloise said, as her eyes returned to their normal brown color.

How long will it be? What would happen to Natalia in the meantime? Thoughts were racing through my head I walked towards a field of sunflowers. I leaned down and smelled one. It was divine. It reminded me of the smell I had smelt at Alpha Jett’s packhouse. Sunflowers and rain.

“She is your everything. In time you will be reunited with your best friend”, Eloise said, walking up to him.

Everything? Best Friend?

“Hurry up Lucas, our plane is ready for take-off” Myles hollered from next to the vehicle.

Nodding my head, Eloise and I walked back to the vehicle and got in without saying a word. Things had certainly changed a lot since meeting Eloise.

Natalia

They had been in a vehicle for over 12 hours. The driver had only stopped when he needed to get gas. He wouldn't let the girls out to use the bathroom or to even eat. The other girls sat in the van quietly. Natalia looked over to where Rena sat. She was staring off into space like she was in shock.

Natalia knew she could handle whatever they threw at her. But she wasn't so sure about her new friend Rena. Rena may have been born to this life but she had never actually lived this life.

Lucas will come for us. I know he will. We just have to survive till he gets here.

As she sat in the van traveling to an unknown location, she tried to formulate a plan of escape. She didn't want to escape for herself. But she wanted to help Rena escape too.

Unknown

They had been lucky that the witch had seen that Lucas and his entourage would be coming to the stone moon pack and they had been able to remove the girls quickly. He was sure that if they had been found with the girls they all would have been slaughtered by alpha Lucas.

They loaded the girl in the van and had been driving across the country waiting for word from Alpha Jett with instructions on what to do. They drove and avoided packs as much as possible.

*Ding*

The man looked over at his passenger. The witch.

“Well, this should be interesting” she mused as she looked at her phone that had just dinged, indicating she had received a text message.

“What,” the driver said harshly.

“We are heading to alpha Jett's cousin's pack, the nightshade pack,” she said, handing her phone to the driver to look at.

“Germany,” he said as he looked at her phone, then laughed to himself as he handed the phone back to her.

Good luck finding Natalia in Germany, Lucas.