The Rising Moon Pack

Chapter 18

Kate POV

I sat at my desk, quietly. My heart hurt, but I could only blame myself. I should have known better than to let Maria down this way. I should have told her sooner about her origin, about her powers. I knew that by holding back, I risked the bond of sisterhood, but I just couldn’t bring myself to change her life like this. Being an Emerald Wolf was hard, but being a direct line of an Emerald Wolf Priestess was even worse. I didn’t want Maria to ever feel as though she had to choose.

I felt the buzz of a mindlink come through, and I rejected it. For once, I couldn’t be bothered to deal with some petty kitchen staff squabble, and I didn’t want to answer to the garden staff about where to plant the new rose bush. I simply didn’t care; I just wanted to wallow in this pain for a little longer, uninterrupted. I opened the drawer in my desk, and pulled out a leather bound book. I turned the pages, glancing at the photos inside. Each page was sprinkled with lilac and aqua glitter, the photos framed lovingly with silver corners. I turned the pages, until I reached the last page of the book. I gazed down on the last photo, and began to weep.

It was the last photo of Bella we took. Her sleek silver hair had been brushed back, and she looked at the camera with the sweetest of smiles. I missed that smile more than I ever let on, her death had affected me deeply. She was the second daughter I never had, and a very important member of my family.

I decided to go for a walk. I didn’t need to tell Benny, he was busy in the meetings anyway. It was a walk I took often, usually alone. It was the only way I could organise my thoughts, keep my head and heart clear of the ache. I grabbed my jacket and left my office. I decided to leave out of the back stairwell, it was always quiet, and I didn’t really want to socialise with anyone.

Ben POV

“Damn, she’s blocking my link” I told Jake and Noah, shaking my head. “She must be really upset, she never normally does this.”

“Where could she be right now? “ Jake asked me. “ We need to organise a search party ASAP, before anything bad happens to Maria.”

“Her office, that’s where she goes when she needs peace and quiet. We can go and look?” I offered.

“It’s alright, send Noah and an Omega. We can start organising some warriors to search for Maria.” Jake responded.

I linked Helen, an omega who worked on the office floor. She came promptly, duster in hand.

“Yes, Alpha?” She asked me, politely.

“Hi Helen, would you mind escorting Beta Noah to the Luna’s office, please? It’s a matter of urgency.” I smiled to her.

“ Of course, Alpha.” She responded. “Beta Noah, would you mind following me please.”

“Report back to us at the front of the pack house, alright?” Jake asked Noah as he left.

“Got it, Boss.” He answered, saluting.

“Ben, who can you spare at the moment for a search party?” Jake asked me.

“ I’ve got it. Two seconds.” I answered, and began linking 10 of the best warriors we had.

When I was finished, I turned to Jake.

“They’ll be out front in 5 minutes. Let’s head over there now to meet them.”

Jake POV

I turned with Ben at my side and began to walk toward the pack house. I felt the buzz of Noah linking me, and let it through.

“Boss, she’s not here.” He told me.

“What do you mean, she’s not there? Where could she be?” I asked him.

“I don’t know,” he answered, “But she can’t have been gone long. I can smell her scent still.”

I turned to Ben. “The Luna isn’t in her office. Can you try linking her again?” I asked him.

“That’s odd.” He said, frowning. “I’ll try again.”

His eyes clouded over, and I could tell by his face he was unsuccessful.

“I’m going to link the pack, and ask if anyone has seen the Luna.” He told me.

5 minutes went by, and no one linked to say they had seen Luna Kate anywhere. The scent in Kate’s office had begun to fade, and Noah wasn’t able to trace it due to her scent being all over the pack house. She could literally be anywhere, but we didn’t have the time to waste. Maria could be in danger right now, and we had to act fast.

We met Noah and the search party warriors out front of the pack house, and Ben started delegating search areas to teams of 3. Ben, Noah and I would take the northern area of the campus and woods, Timmy, Brent and Toby would take the east. Sammy, Morgan and Chad would take the south and Jason, Jamie and David would take the west. Kobe would stay behind and search the center of the campus, starting at the packhouse and surrounding areas.

We broke off into our various teams, shifting into our wolf forms. Flynn was a beautiful ash grey, with deep amber eyes. He easily stood at over 8 feet tall, and had a broad, muscular back. I watched as Alpha Ben shifted and a proud red wolf stood beside me. The one thing that threw me off about Ben, was that his eyes didn’t remain green. They also changed, one becoming a deep sapphire blue, and one as grey as the moon. Noah had shifted beside us, a jet black wolf with electric blue eyes. His wolfs name was Jett, and he got along with Flynn tremendously.

Ben threw his head back and howled, and we followed suit. Paws hit the hard ground as we thundered through trees, passing the houses in a blur. Before we knew it we were in thick forest, surrounded by dark trunks filled with leafy green branches. We shifted back, and Ben reached into a marked tree with a basket attached. He tossed us some thick sweats and we pulled them on.

“I figured since I can’t link you guys, we might be best searching in human form.” He told us, and we nodded in agreement.

“Alpha, where is the northern border?” Noah asked him.

“It’s about a mile north from here. “ Ben answered. “We’ll run until we reach a clearing. That’s where the edge of the border begins. Let’s spread out to cover more ground. If either of you two find her, shift and howl loudly. I know I can’t link you, but my hearing is pretty good for my old age.” He joked, and we chuckled back to him.

“Got it. Noah, for this instance, Alpha Ben outranks me. This is his daughter, and his wife that we are searching for, not just our Luna. Are we clear?”

“Yes, boss.” He nodded to me.

“Alright,” I said, stretching my muscles briefly. “Let’s do this.”