Moon Blessed Luna

Chapter 7 - Brianna

"What do you mean you lost the trail?" my Alpha aura slips out as I glare at the team of top trackers in front of me. They cower and bare their necks ever so slightly in response and I take a deep breath to calm down. They had been searching all night and most of today for the missing rogue girl. I pinch the bridge of my nose and close my eyes for a second before speaking again.

"I'm sorry, that was unnecessary. I'm sure you all did your best. Please go get something to eat in the kitchen and then we will map out where you lost the scent and make a new plan to find her." They bow and retreat from my office. As soon as they leave I sit down heavily in my chair and rub my temples. I had a pounding headache ever since talking to the parents and the leader of the makeshift pack of rogues. Keena had been pacing in my mind as well, feeling agitated about something she couldn't quite put a name too.

Keena! Can you stop it? I already have a massive headache due to this kidnapping situation and your pacing is not helping!

I can't help it, Bree! Something's gonna happen soon! I just know it!

What's gonna happen? Something bad?

I don't know. She sounds sad and agitated, I'll have to let her run off some energy later.

Yes! We should go outside!

Later. Now shut up. Keena retreated to the back of my mind and continued her pacing. I rolled my eyes and poured a large glass of whiskey, downing it quickly before pouring a second glass which I sipped more slowly while looking out the window to the training field. Logan was leading a training session for the younger kids, it really was more of a play time then training, but it helped them learn how to move their bodies. I smiled when I saw the two rogue children joining the fun.

They were accepted quickly by the pack, and while the men were regarded with a little more mistrust, the women and the twins were already participating in the daily activities. Something inside me was considering asking them to become official members, though that wasn't fully my decision alone. The pack was like one big family, and while I was technically in charge and could tell people to just accept my decisions like my father did, I wasn't him. I would want to at least discuss it at a pack meeting and see if there were any strong objections. Adding people to it could disrupt the balance within my pack, something I had been working hard to restore.

A soft knock on my door pulls me from my thoughts and Sue walks in just as I turn my chair around. She looks very professional today with tight black pants and a soft blue blouse, and her expression tells me she isn't here for pleasure.

"I just finished talking to Amanda," she states, closing the door behind her. Amanda was the crying lady who begged me to help find her daughter, something my trackers were unable to do for me.

"Did you learn anything interesting?" She takes a seat in one of the chairs on the other side of my desk.

"Not really anything useful. She and her sister Louise were survivors of a pack war much further north, fleeing as far away as they could, fearing someone would wanna hurt them to finish the job. They joined a pack for a few years when Amanda found her mate, but the three of them left when Louise was banished for her mate being a rogue. They formed a makeshift pack with Louise's mate's brother and sister and her family who led them to a small piece of no man's land, shortly after Eloise was born. There was a brutal attack about 12 years ago which killed the sister, her mate and their daughter. She didn't want to talk about that though so I didn't pry any further."

"How is Amanda holding up? It must be so hard to have your child ripped away like that and not getting any help from a pack."

"She's doing as well as can be expected. She helped Mrs. Gillian in the kitchen for lunch but went back to bed shortly after." Sue sighs deeply and leans back in the chair.

"Did the trackers have any luck finding her?" she asks after a short silence.

"Do you think I'd be sitting here alone drinking whiskey if they did?" her expression turns to one of worry when she looks at the nearly empty bottle on my desk. She scans my face and body and I get the feeling she's reading my mind. I've often had that feeling with her, ofcourse I know it's just her enhanced senses helping her psychologist brain figure stuff out she really shouldn't know.

"What's really going ons, Bree? You haven't slept at all, have you? What's troubling you, aside from the missing girls?"

I sigh deeply and run my hands over my face and through my curly hair. My fingers get tangled in them and I pull them free with an irritated grunt. Sue smiles and walks over to my side of the desk, hugging my head against her breasts. I inhale deeply and feel myself calm slightly by her familiar scent.

"Your hair is a mess, Alpha. Let's go fix that. It'll make you feel better." She takes my hands and leads me away from my office, up the stairs to the fourth floor of the pack house. It's the top floor and reserved for the Alpha and their family. This floor is a lot smaller than the other floors and was a later addition when the pack grew larger, so it's a lot more modern. Where the first three floors were a beautiful red brick with which the house was originally built many generations ago, the top floor addition was much slicker, with whites and grays and large windows that were eventually also added to the original building to modernize it and tie the different building styles together.

Most of the penthouse was still decorated how my mother had once done it, I had only needed to remove a few touches of my father since he spent most of his time in his office anyway. There was a lot of light and everything felt very summery and beachy with light wood colors and touches of soft blue and yellow. I loved the feeling of home it gave me, but I hated how empty it was. It would most likely stay empty though, because I wasn't going to accept my mate, so there would never be children unless I chose to adopt.

Keena whimpered again and started pacing even more nervously in my mind, but the headache subsided quickly when Sue started the long process of carefully braiding my hair. Her nimble fingers on my scalp as she made braid after braid, parting my hair evenly and moisturizing each section before adding the extra hair and braiding down to my waist, were soothing to both me and Keena. I started to relax more with every braid.

"I'm thinking of asking Amanda and her family to join our pack." Sue keeps braiding while she thinks of a response.

"I'm sure they would appreciate that. They've been through a lot. And the twins are just delightful and have already made friends with the other kids."

"Yeah I saw them join the training session from my office. I'd need to hold a pack meeting to discuss it though. I don't want to just add them if anyone has any strong objections."

"It would be exciting to add new members though, aside from a few mates from different packs, we really haven't had any newcomers join for years." Sue continues to braid my hair, not prying me to elaborate or asking me annoying questions about what else is keeping me up and drinking so much. I appreciate that, and when she is about halfway done I start sharing.

"I don't know what's going on, Sue. Keena has been extremely nervous since the rogues arrived. It's nothing like her to pace around this much and give me these massive headaches."

"Have you asked her what's wrong?"

"Yes! She doesn't know either! Though she got really excited when I mentioned letting her go for a run."

"It is a full moon tonight. So it's a good idea to go running when we finish with your hair." I had been completely oblivious to the fact that tonight was a full moon. Our Wolves loved the moon, seeing how the moon goddess was the one who originally created the first werewolf, and it was her who chose our fated mates. Allowing our Wolves freedom to be themselves under the full moon allowed for a better partnership between human and wolf, avoiding the power battle that often ensued between the two halves when the wolf was kept under the strict control of the human.

Yes! We need to be with the moon tonight! She needs to show us something! I can feel it now!

What do you mean? I don't feel anything different besides your pacing!

She needs us to go somewhere! I can see the trail I need to follow!

You can run as soon as my hair is done, oke? I promise!

It took another 90 minutes or so before Sue was done, in which we talked about simple things to keep Keena from going crazy. As soon as she was done I jumped off the chair, giving Sue a quick kiss on her full lips before running down the stairs 3 at a time. My braids bounced against my back as I ran out the door and was instantly mesmerized by a beautiful full moon. Keena howled in my mind and I allowed her to take over, not minding the ripping sound of my clothes when her large, black furred wolf replaced my human body.

At top speed she started running along our regular path away from the village before quickly swerving off it to go straight north. I was getting curious where Keena was taking us but I let her follow her invisible trail. We ran for hours, and while the moon was still up the sky started to get lighter when we barged into a clearing.

Keena was breathing heavily as she stopped running, looking around in confusion when her invisible trail stopped.

Is this where we needed to go?

I think so, Keena sounds insecure. But I don't know what to do now.

Maybe we need to wait? We've never really been this far north before, there are no packs north of us.

As I'm saying it Keena starts sniffing the air almost aggressively, and a wonderful smell enters my mind as well. It smelled sweet, like my mom's sugar cookies, and like something I could only describe as the smell of the full moon. Before I could fully comprehend what this wonderful smell meant, Keena turns around to watch a pure white wolf run into the clearing and look around just as confused as Keena had been moments earlier. The moonlight reflects on their snow like fur and when our eyes meet Keena practically screams in my mind.

MATE!

Then we watch in confusion as the white wolf collapses on the ground, and shifts back to a small woman with a mess of black hair covering most of her body.