Marked By His Brother: A Luna's Revenge

Chapter 5: Everything About Her

Drew's POV

"... I want the eastern patrol doubled before sunrise, the border readering from last week weren't..."

"Alpha." Carter's voice cut across mine, which he never did. "We have a situation."

I looked up from the map. "Speak."

"The border patrol found a lady in the northern treeline, just past the ridge crossing." He paused. "She's unconscious now. She was on her knees when they reached her. She's bleeding, looks like something tore open, internal. She was carrying one bag, alone."

The room was quiet.

"Is she a rogue?" I asked.

"There's no pack scent but there's a bond scar, Alpha." He said. "It's still fresh. We're talking hours old."

I set my pen down. "Where is she?"

"In the main entrance." He replied. "They carried her in."

The pull hit me halfway down the corridor.

I didn't understand it, it hit me like a literal wall, not exactly a smell, more like something shifted in my chest without warning.

I stopped walking. My wolf went from quiet to completely electric and alert.

The three warriors were standing in the entrance hall with the woman between them, two carrying her while the other was holding her bag. She was unconscious, head dropped, dark thick hair falling across her face.

I couldn't see her face clearly, didn't need to, the pull was already there. It felt like a key turning in something I hadn't known was locked.

I stood very still for three seconds.

"Alpha." Jake, my head border warrior, stepped forward. "She'd crossed into our territory, it didn't seem deliberate. Her left side is bleeding, she'd been walking on it for awhile." He glanced back at her. "She could barely speak."

"How long was she out there?" I asked.

"Hard to say." He said. "It could be hours, by the look of it."

I looked at her, at the way she was held, limp completely spent. She was still in clothes from whatever she'd walked away from. No cold heavy enough for a midnight forest and just one bag.

My eyes went to her neck.

The bond scar sat raw against her skin. New enough that it was still raised. A broken mate bond left a mark, not everyone knew that, but I did.

Someone had broken this bond, on the same night she'd walked out of wherever she came from, alone and with one bag.

"Get Dr. Vale," I said. "Now, and put her in the east guest room, the one with the adjoining medical access."

"Yes, Alpha." They said.

"Nobody enters that room except Vale and whoever he needs." I looked at Jake directly. "She doesn't wake up alone. Post someone outside the door."

"Understood, Alpha." He said.

"Find out everything you can about where she came from." I looked at Carter. "Border packs, recent news, anything. Bring it to me directly."

They moved. I step aside to let them pass and watched them carry her down the corridor.

Dr. Vale came out of the guest room twenty minutes later, pulling the door behind him.

"How is she?" I asked.

"The bleeding was internal tearing," He said. "The tissue damage is consistent with a recent childbirth. We're talking about hours ago, Alpha."

I held his gaze. "You're sure?"

"Yes." He said. "Her body went through labor and then walked through a forest. It's a miracle she made it as far as she did."

"Make sure she has everything she needs." I said. "Whatever she needs, she gets it."

"She needs fluids, rest." He said. "No movement for at least two days. She's stable now but she needs to stay that way."

"Thank you." I said.

He nodded and moved down the corridor.

I stood there for a moment, then pushed the door open slightly and looked in.

She was lying still now, properly settled, the color in her face slightly better than when they'd carried her in. She was young, in her mid-twenties at most. Even unconscious there was something tight around her jaw and around her eyes.

I looked at her for a second more then I pulled the door closed.

I did not sleep.

I sat in the study next to the east wing and worked through the patrol reports, the border assessments, the three weeks of territory disputes that needed my signature and I did not think about the woman in the guest room or what it meant that my wolf had gone from barely interested in anything to absolutely fixed in the span of twenty seconds.

Carter returned at half past two.

He came theou the study door and stopped in front of my desk and I looked at his face and knew before he said a word that it was worse than I'd prepared for.

"What do you have?" I asked.

"Her name is Astrid." He said. "And she was in labor."

"What happened to the baby?" I asked.

"It was announced as a stillborn." He paused. "She was the Luna of Bloodfang Pack or she was until tonight."

I was quiet for a moment. "What happened?" I asked if even I already knew.

"The Alpha broke the bond while she in labor." Carter's jaw tightened. "He claimed someone else the same night and had her removed from the pack."

"Who is the Alpha of Bloodfang?" I asked, though something in my gut had already started answering the question before Carter opened his mouth.

"Kaiden Blackwood." He met my eyes. "Alpha Kaiden."

Everything in me went still and I sat back slowly.

"So she's Kaiden's former mate," I said quietly.

Carter held my gaze and said nothing.

"She's my brother's former mate."