Stolen Soul

Chapter 7: Meet the family

Alpha Landon

It’s almost midnight when I get the mind link about a rogue crossing the boundaries of our territory. This day has already been exhausting, my beloved, Amara has been weeping since she woke this morning. It would be Rose’s eighteenth birthday, tonight she would have turned when the moon rose high in the sky. Amara had always looked forward to meeting our daughter’s wolf. It is such a special day for a parent to see their child grow up, but that was ripped from us the day she was taken.

She was only three, an already curious pup, who would run around the woods with reckless abandonment. My sister, Genesis, was in the woods with her and my nephews, playing near the stream, when she lost sight of her, she called to the boys to find their cousin, thinking Rose was playing hide and seek or had wandered up ahead on her own. They ran straight to the water knowing how much she loved to slip her feet in the just to the edge of the water’s surface, but she wasn’t there. When they could not find her after a few minutes the panic set in, and my sister mind linked Amara and I. The panic and fear were evident in her message, I immediately stopped training and rushed to the woods in search of my only child. We searched all evening but she was gone, no blood, no scent to follow, it was as if she was never there.

Amara still holds out hope that Rose is alive somewhere, and will return home after her first change. I am not as convinced, my pack is a very strong pack, one that once held strong alliances with the witches, Coven de Terre, and can still call to them in times of need in exchange for mutual protection. I called to them when my daughter was lost, but the seer could not tell me what had transpired, and they claimed no magic was present. The only such creature that holds no scent and has the speed which could have taken my daughter is the vampires. It is unknown why they would take my daughter, but the witches support my suspicions, and believe it may be related to the recent she-wolfs killings. I have never shared my thoughts with my Luna, for losing our daughter nearly destroyed her, it is the hope that she is still alive that keeps her going.

As I drag my exhausted body from bed it occurs to me that I haven’t had a rogue wolf cross my territory in years, especially when we moved the territory line back closer to the mountains. Matt hasn’t given me any details about the she-wolf I am going to interrogate, but it’s the middle of the night, and I have already had an exhausting week. We are no closer to understanding the random vampire attacks on the pack a few years back, and have not been able to uncover their whereabouts. The search has become exhaustive and the she wolfs in my pack still do not feel safe, even without any additional deaths. I know the location is tied to the deaths, since they all occurred in the same area, but the trail has come up completely cold. This she wolf was heading to our territory from that area, and the men that captured her while patrolling seem to believe she was being chased, although she has not indicated that was the case. This could be vital information we need to keep the she-wolfs in our pack safe.

Matt mind links me that they are five minutes away, so I let Luna Amara know I am headed to the conference room to interrogate the she-wolf. Amara sleepily waves me off as a gently kiss her cheek. I stop by the kitchen for a glass of water, when I entered the conference room, I am struck by the smell of my daughter. Her hair light brown hair waist length has the same waves as my wife, in a panic I shatter the glass in my hands, causing her to gasp and suddenly turn around. My heart feels like it is going to beat out of my chest as her eyes, my eyes grow concerned, dilating as the seconds tick on. As the silence in the room grows deafening; I whisper, barely audible, “Daughter.”

As if the movement of my lips has energized the room, Sam runs out of the room, yelling back “I am going to grab a first aid kit.”

I slowly approach the woman in front of me. She is the spitting image of my great aunt, she has my eyes and my mouth, her nose the same button nose as the toddler I lost so many years ago. Without warning she wraps her arms around me, and begins to gently sob into my shoulder. I quickly scoop her up the same way I did when she was little, and brush the hair out of her eyes. As I hold her tightly, I mind link her mother. Amara, the she wolf is not a Rogue, it’s Rose, you need to come now.

I hold her until she pushes off of me, and wipes away at her tears. Today is her eighteenth birthday, she would have had her first change, a sudden tinge of guilt hits me for all of the time I lost with her, and not being there to help her with her first shift.

Almost as if she could read my mind, she takes my hand and asks, “how did I end up being adopted?”

As a take in a big gulp of air, Amara rushes into the room. The minute she sees our daughter she bursts into tears, under her breath she barely whispers, “Thank you Moon Goddess, thank you Hanwi for bringing my baby back to me.”

Rose looks up at my beautiful Mate, and asks “Mom?”

Amara responds not with words but with a warm embrace. The two women hold each other sobbing, while my wife strokes her hair, and continues to thank the Moon Goddess for the safe return of our daughter.

When they finally separate, Rose looks at both of us again, and asks “was I taken?”

Amara nods towards me, and I begin to tell the story of the worst day of our lives.