Lunar Revenge

Back To Where It Happened

Cooper POV

Cassius found the area no problem. Our mate’s scent was a bit tricky. Without her wolf, she is automatically harder to scent. Humans have scents sure, but they aren't nearly as strong as a wolf's.

Sniffing the area for a few minutes, we start to get an idea of what happened here. We are able to scent out two females where our mate came from. They all must have been hiding out. What were they doing? Where did they go? So many questions. The two unknown scents seem strong, they must be ranked wolves. Those scents head away from where our encounter was, towards the mountain pass. We follow Emerald’s scent to the open area where we first saw her. Cass is proud he was able to pick up her scent at all. We were able to pick up on a scent masking spray. The peppermint note gave it away. There we can scent ourselves, Cassidy and Jeremy.

We see our blood stains on the grass. I still can’t get over the fact we actually died for a little bit. Cassidy’s scent we follow to the edge of the cliff. Jeremy’s scent also leads there. Emerald on the other hand, we cannot scent her after the cliffs edge. Did she go over the edge? Did she jump or was she thrown? Our little investigation is turning up more questions than answers. This is not at all going as I had hoped.

'Don't worry Cooper. All part of Selene's plan.'

‘I trust you Cass. I just can’t help my nervous reaction. I’m sorry buddy.’

‘None taken. It is a normal response. Moon goddess said she is fine, so that means she is fine.’

I release the breath I didn’t know I was holding. I trust the moon goddess and her wisdom, but I’ll physically feel better once I see my second chance mate again.

‘Will she find us or do we need to find her Cass? Did the goddess mention anything like that?’ I try to sound cool and collected. I’m failing miserably. Bless Cass for not making fun of me. Under other circumstances he definitely would. I can’t thank the moon goddess enough for my wolf.

‘She is speaking to me now. Hold on.’

After what feels like an eternity of holding my breath, Cassius speaks up.

‘Moon goddess says to go to the Harvest Festival. All the packs will be there tonight, and we do not want to miss the show.’

‘By all means buddy, take us back to the car.’

In a flash we are back at the car and dressed. It would seem we were not missed. Everyone is still in the meeting.

'How long were we gone Cass?'

'20 minutes tops.'

'Damn. Sometimes I forget just how special of a wolf you really are.'

'Hey Cooper? Did you notice the scent of that one female? It was similar to Cassidy's and Emerald's scent.'

I pause. I was so caught up trying to figure out where everyone went, I completely missed that. 'Now that you mention it, you're right.'

'Of course I'm right. It makes me wonder. How bad are things at Silvermoon if the Gamma's wife is leaving with another ranked female?'

We had suspected things weren't quite right at that pack. Alpha Tate has always seemed fake when dealing with him. His kindness is more like an act than actual genuine interaction. Alpha Jonathan sure does not like him. He keeps it cordial in public, but rumor has it that he hates the guy. If Jonathan's sister is leaving her pack, things must be bad. Lunas abandoning there pack is virtually unheard of. Thinking about it, the last documented Luna abandonment happened over 100 years ago. Her Alpha was severely abusing her behind closed doors. After it came out what he was doing, the elder council has his pack absorbed by another. He was stripped of his tittle and they did a separation ceremony. His wolf was released back to the moon goddess and he was forced to live out his remaining days as a human.

A shiver runs down my spine. That is every wolf's fear, separation. Luckily, the ceremony can only be successful if the mood goddess herself allows it. She has safeguards in place so wolves cannot be unjustly separated. Her oldest wolves cannot be separated, but I don't believe there are any left. After some trial and error, she realized there may be situations that warranted stripping an unworthy wolf of their power. The whole process is intended to put a wolf in check. If the moon goddess decides a wolf has learned their lesson and is worthy, only she has the power to restore their wolf. The elder council can only remove a wolf after 3 instances with proof. They present it to the goddess herself for her to decide. IF there is enough to support the separation, she sends a sign. The ceremony itself takes several hours and all 6 of the elders must be there.

Shaking my head, I pull myself from my thoughts. I must not get too caught up in my own head. The meeting seems to have ended, the guys are coming back outside. Sam approaches, still committed to the act, and asks me to take the car back to our pack. He mentions they're going to go looking for Alpha Cooper and will run back. Cass snickers in the back of my mind, he's enjoying letting Sam boss me around. I give my yes sir and climb back into the car. I wait until I see them all head toward the tree line and start their shifting before I turn the car on. It is going to be a quiet ride back to the pack.

I feel a little guilty not letting Alpha Jonathan in on our plan, but I also want to give him plausible deniability. If Tate somehow manages to find out we are investigating more than me missing, I don't want to spook him. I want him to think he still has allies and that I am the only one going against him.