The Lost Luna’s second chance

9: A DISCOVERY.

EX-ALPHA CHARLES ADAMS.

Robert and I had been following the scent for a while. He was still in wolf form while I stayed in human form alongside him. We were deep in the forest when he suddenly stopped. I turned to look into Bruno’s golden-brown eyes. There was something about the way he looked at me that made my stomach drop. I sniffed the air, and even in my human form, the smell of blood hit me. Dread began to creep through me as I heard myself silently pleading that it wasn’t my daughter’s blood. Robert shifted, and we moved together through the trees toward the smell. My mind was working overtime, imagining all of the terrible things that I might find. I wasn’t prepared for the sight that greeted me, though.

I saw that open grave, and my heart stopped for a moment. I ran towards it and dropped to my knees. I reached down to scrabble in the earth. It was cold and wet. I noticed the red on my fingers and sniffed them. This was Violet’s blood; I could smell her. The ground was practically soaked in it. My heart broke for my little girl. Who had done this? Who had buried her in the woods as though she was nothing? Robert placed a hand on my shoulder. “She’s dead! Violet is dead! How the hell am I going to tell Rose?” I whimpered, sobbing loudly. Robert knelt beside me, checking the ground for himself. “We don’t know that she’s dead,” he said. I looked at him as though he had three heads. “There is so much blood. How could she not be?” I asked, hoping he had a logical reason for his statement. “There’s a grave and blood, but no body. Charles, if you had gone to the effort of digging a grave, then surely you would leave the body in it. The very fact that she’s not here has to mean that she’s alive,” he said. I stopped crying and wiped my face with a handkerchief from my pocket. That made sense.

At that moment, John and Nick finally caught up with us. John seemed shocked and instantly offered me words of support, but Nick took out his phone and rang Lucas. After filling him in on what he was seeing, he hung up and looked at us. “What? The Alpha should be informed of this. It is his wife after all,” he reasoned. I wanted to argue, but he was right. If it were Rose who was missing, it would make me furious if I weren’t told of something like this right away. I nodded to show him I agreed, then turned back to Robert. “Can you smell which direction she went in?” I asked, looking around for any signs. Rober shifted again and sniffed around. Bruno looked confused. “What is it?” I asked. “Yes, I’d like to know that too?” Lucas’s voice announced his arrival.

Robert took on his human form again and looked at us. His brow was furrowed, and he looked serious. “I don’t really understand what I’m smelling. If Violet had dragged herself out of that hole and gone looking for help, then surely she would have left a trail. She was clearly bleeding heavily, yet there is nothing leading away from here in any direction. I did smell something else, but I have no idea what it is. I feel as though I’ve smelt it before, or at least it reminds me of something, but I can’t work out what,” he told us. I asked him to show where he smelt it most, and I sniffed for it myself. I knew what he meant. I couldn’t place it either, but there was definitely something animalistic about it.

Lucas started suggesting that maybe Violet had gone for an early morning run and been attacked by some animal that had dragged her off into the trees. “That is absurd!” I cut him off. He bristled, looking annoyed at my response. “Charles, I know this isn’t what you want to hear, but it’s hardly absurd. You said yourself that the unknown smell is animalistic. Violet is capable enough, but if it took her by surprise, then...” he began defending his suggestion before I cut him off again. “Of course it’s absurd. How many animals do you know who would have dug a perfect grave for their victim, then dug her up again just to take her somewhere else? All without leaving any tracks or a blood trail, too,” I said impatiently. Lucas closed his mouth, looking irritated. “I guess you're right,” he muttered like a petulant child. His behaviour seemed off to me. Shouldn’t he be moving heaven and earth to find Violet, not trying to reason that some animal had sneak-attacked her?

My phone began to ring, stopping me from saying anything that would likely just cause more problems. I looked at the screen and smiled a little when I saw my wife’s name. She wasn’t even here, and she was still keeping me out of trouble. I answered, thinking she was just looking for an update and unsure what to tell her. “Hello, my love…” I began, but she began speaking, stopping me in my tracks. “Charles, I just received a phone call. It was from someone who said that they have Violet,” She told me. “What do you mean, they have Violet? Is she okay?” I asked. Lucas looked at me, clearly wanting to know what was being said. I put the call on speakerphone so he could hear. “I don’t know. He hung up before I could find anything out. But he said that he would call back later. Charles, I think that our daughter has been kidnapped!” she said. The fear in her voice made my heart ache from here. I glanced over at the empty grave and decided not to tell her about it, at least not just yet. She was already afraid enough for our daughter right now. Knowing about that could only make things worse for her.