The Rising Moon Pack

Chapter 21

Jake POV

“Take the Luna to Room 2.” Dr Jenkins ordered.

Two of the warriors who had been helping with our search party carried Luna Kate on a stretcher. Ben smiled to Maria reassuringly, and followed them into the room.

After she passed out, Ben linked the teams to call off the search, and requested a stretcher for Kate. After that, he sat on the woodland floor quietly, with his head in his hands.

“How could she do this to us.” He mumbled over and over, pain radiating from his body in waves. We all felt it, even Noah and I who weren’t pack members could feel it.

We took a seat in the waiting area, Noah to my left and Maria curled up in my lap. Her head rested on my shoulder, her eyes closed. I knew she was awake, as I watched her twirl the end of a loose curl around her finger repeatedly. Wind up, wind down, repeat. Her breathing was steady, but her heart told a different story. She was calm, but her heart was preparing for battle.

Maria POV

We waited for my mother to awaken, and I rested in Jake’s lap, fidgeting. The scent of sandalwood and mint rose every time he took a breath, and I bathed in it, allowing it to wash over me from head to toe. It calmed me just enough to stop me from running into Room Two and ripping her limb from limb, but inside I felt a rage I’d never known. We were 6 days from the pack handover, 6 days until the full moon. My revenge would have to wait until after then. The pain she would feel would be nothing compared to the pain she had inflicted upon our pack, on Bella, on Harry. She had dishonoured Lacey’s memory, and broken my father’s heart.

I decided to link Jase, he had no idea what was going on and had been stuck in meetings all morning with the neighbouring packs. Whilst we couldn’t risk this getting out just yet, as the future Alpha he had the right to know. He was just as fond of Bella as I was, and he needed to know the truth of how she died.

I shot up in Jake’s lap so quickly he grabbed my tightly, instinctively.

“s**t, sorry!” He apologised quickly, letting me go.

“No it’s ok, it’s my fault.” I smiled at him. “I’ll give you more warning next time!”

He chuckled wearily and rubbed his hands over his face.

“It’s been a long day.” He answered.

I kissed him on the forehead gently, and smiled as I felt the sparks pass between us. With a sudden burst of energy, he reached up and pulled me into a passionate kiss, his fingers tangling in my hair, his free arm snaking around my waist. It was deep, passionate, and everything I needed in that moment to keep me going.

Noah coughed awkwardly, and we broke contact.

“Guys, you’re making me miss Mae.” He told us, sadly.

I tossed him my cell phone.

“Go wild,” I said. “But no naked pics! I don’t wanna see that shit.” I laughed.

He caught my phone mid air, and smiled gleefully. He was like a little kid at the mention of speaking to Mae, and he’d only been gone from her for around 12 hours.

“What happened to your cellphone?” Jake asked him, laughing.

“I accidentally crushed it when I shifted to protect Maria earlier.” He admitted, embarrassed. “Jett is amazing, but he’s not good with super delicate tiny smartphones.”

I laughed, and he smiled at the sound.

“So that was Jett?” I asked him. “I never knew your wolfs name before. I like it, it suits him!”

“ My mom said the only other name she could have imagined him as is Cole,” he grinned at me. “ But I think Jett is pretty cool, cos he’s jet black, not coal black!”

I smiled at him and waved him off, signalling he should call Mae. When he turned the corner of the corridor, I turned to Jake.

“We need to get Jase down here.” I said.

“What about the alpha meetings? We can’t have the attending packs being left to fend for themselves by their hosts.” He answered me.

“That’s just it.” I answered. “ Neither you or Noah are there right now, you’re missing out on important information too. Maybe you should go back for a while and catch up what you’ve missed.”

He frowned, deep in thought.

“Maybe it’s worth getting Charlie down here.” He said.

“And leave Sapphire Moon unattended? “ I asked him. “ Don’t do that, what happens if your pack is attacked whilst you’re here?”

“The warriors can take care of it. Besides, Mae and Lottie are more than capable of handling a few days with us gone.”

“Are you sure?” I asked him. “ I don’t want to do anything that leaves our pack at risk.”

Jake smiled broadly at me.

“What?” I asked, confused.

“You called it “our pack”.” He said, grinning.

“I guess I did,” I laughed. “ I suppose after learning about Bella this morning, it really taught me about what is means to be Luna.” I turned away, deep in thought.

“Baby?” Jake asked me, cupping my cheek in his palm.

“Yeah?” I replied.

“Don’t let this change your heart.” He told me, quietly. “ You can grow from this, and become an amazing Luna, an amazing wife, and amazing mother, or you can let the grief and bitterness consume you and change who you are. You have the potential to be someone so amazing, Maria. But you also have the potential to become a very dark, hateful and powerful person too.” He looked me straight in the eye as he spoke,and I knew he meant every word.

“This will not change me for the worst.” I told him firmly. “ She may have betrayed us all, but I will learn from her mistakes. I promise.”

Noah came back smiling so hard I thought his face may crack in two, and he handed me my phone.

“Thanks, Squeak!” He told me, a relaxed smile gracing his face.

“No problem.” I answered, smiling. It really warmed my heart to see him so happy, and I knew in that moment the path I had chosen.

I got up quietly and left Jake and Noah talking about pack treaties and housing conversion ideas. I walked to a quiet area of the hospital, and sat down as I prepared myself to link Jase. Telling him about all of this was going to be one of the hardest moments of my life.

“Jase?” I reached out to him over the link.

“What’s up, Maz? We’re just finishing up, ready for dinner.” He answered me.

“Could you get over to the hospital ASAP, please? Leave Matt and Alex to deal with the guests, and I’ll send Noah back over to help hosting too. Or better still, ask Uncle Harry to step in.” I asked him.

“Are you ok Maria?” He asked me, concerned.

“Yes. No. Well, it’s complicated. Can you just come to the hospital? We’re all here, mom, dad, Jake. I need to speak to you and I don’t wanna do it over mindlink.” I responded.

“Ok, cool. I’ll be right over, let me just brief Matt and Uncle Harry.”

“Thank you!” I closed the link, and sat quietly for a moment, head in my hands.

I felt myself relax, and I suddenly had an idea. I wanted to try something, and I was almost certain it had never been done before. But I was a blessed Emerald wolf, so what’s to say I couldn’t do it?

Jake POV

I was sat chatting to Noah about what I’d missed that morning in the pack meetings. We were in the middle of discussing Maria’s upcoming Luna ceremony when Noah suddenly stood from his seat, looking confused. His eyes glazed over as if someone was linking him, but I was the only other official member of our pack here, so who could possibly be linking Noah?

“Noah?” I stood up and touched his shoulder, looking for signs of distress. His face broke out into a smile, but I couldn’t relax.

“Noah!” I shouted, breaking his concentration. “What the f**k man?” I said as he blinked rapidly.

“Maria says you have a really nice ass.” He said, laughing hard.

I felt my face go red. “What?”

“Bro, your girl is amazing. She’s not even an official pack member, but she just managed to link me flawlessly.”

I looked around and realised that I had been so deep in discussion I hadn’t even noticed Maria had left. I began to panic, but calmed quickly once I inhaled and the scent of warm vanilla cookies enveloped me, and her tiny body came from behind, wrapping her arms around my waist and hugging me. I turned to face her, and she had an amused, yet proud look on her face.

“Don’t you ever just leave without telling me again!” I looked her in the eye and told her firmly.

“Baby, I’m ok. I didn’t go far, I just linked Jase.” She answered sweetly.

“And Noah!” I corrected her, proudly. “ How did you even do that?” I asked her.

She shrugged gently, before answering me.

“ I wanted to do it, so I tried it and it worked. By the way, Noah, my brother’s beta Matt could really use a hand entertaining the guests, if that’s ok!”

“Yes, Luna!” He saluted jokingly, before turning to me. “ I’ll save you both a place!”

“ Oh, that reminds me!” Maria exclaimed, and I watched as her eyes clouded over.

I waited till her vision cleared, then asked, “What did you forget?”

“ I just linked Mrs Davies.” She beamed. “She’s gunna save us our dinner, and more cake!”

I laughed. That girl really did love cake!