Healed by the Alpha (Hunted Book Two)

Chapter Seventy Nine

Dominick

Where was she? Yarah, Elena and the crone had told me that I needed to act as if everything was normal, as if I didn't know anything. How exactly was I supposed to do that when no one had any idea where the moon goddess had disappeared to?

I was panicked, visions of Emily laying dead in my arms played over and over like they were on a loop in my mind. I needed to get her out of here and to get her away from the moon goddess. I pulled one of the suitcases out from under the bed, we hadn't traveled with them, but they had still been waiting for us when we'd been shown to the cabin. I assumed that some poor soul had been forced to go all the way back to the car and carry them here.

The deeper I looked into this place, into the kind of system the moon goddess was running, the more I was able to see the darkness lurking beneath. "Dom we can't just leave!" Emily was pleading with me. She had no idea what she was even pleading about, she just had this need to do the right thing all the time. I stopped packing and turned my head to face her. "It's a choice, it's my choice and this is the choice I am making. If she's not here by the time we need to leave then we'll have to leave without saying anything. We need to leave and it's about my pack anyway, her wolves" - I felt sick saying it. - "I'm sure looking after my pack would be considered a necessary need."

The door to the cabin knocked, we froze in place. Malik stood to attention and stiffly made his way to the door."Who is it? We're all indecent in here." Honestly? Trust Malik to make some stupid comment durning a situation like this. "It's Ferdinand, I'm here to check up on Emily..." he sounded awkward and unrehearsed enough that I took it as a genuine concern. I shoved the suitcase back and flipped the bed sheet over it.

I faced my mate, she was still confused, but she had made a friend here. I didn't trust him, after what I had seen in the other reality, how could I? But she did. "We can invite him in if you like, he sounds like he cares?" She nodded her head shyly, "I'd like to see him before we go." I nodded to Malik who nodded back before opening the door.

Ferdinand was standing outside, leaning his hand awkwardly against the doorframe. His head snapped up when he saw Emily and a smile quickly replaced the nervousness. "Hey you, how are you holding up?" She looked herself up and down, checking over her limbs. "I'm still in one piece so I suppose that's a good start right?" His smile grew, "yeah I only lost a few limbs to the slopes when I started, so it's good that you still have yours." I watched as she eased into conversation with him.

Her body relaxed and she didn't seem as tense when she was addressing him, how could she just trust him so openly? So blindly? I pulled Emily closer and his eyes found mine. They also found the warning that lay hidden beneath the surface. "We're actually planning on leaving soon, my sister isn't having the best time looking after my pack and it's probably in our best interest to head back."

I was watching for his reaction, whatever he did and said from now on, would show me everything I needed to know about Ferdinand. He blinked, looked around the room and back at Emily, "you're going with them?" Well that definitely wasn't what I was expecting him to come out with first. Emily looked up at me, "he's my mate. Why would I ever do anything without him?" Ferdinand's eyes followed her hand as it gripped mine. "Speaking if disappearing people..." Malik started to ask, "where's the moon goddess, I've been here all day and I haven't seen her."

Ferdinand's eyes scrunched you and he scratched his head, "what do you mean she isn't here? I thought she'd have come back from her date with Domick? She didn't leave the springs with you?" Springs? What on Earth was he talking about. I looked at him, my face now matching his in confusion. "She took me to the dream realm? I thought she'd told you that when she contacted you?" His face dropped, "she told me that she was at the celestial springs with you." I felt sorry for him. His whole family had probably served the moon goddess and yet he was finding out that he'd been lied to."

Anger flitted across his face for only a moment before his smile returned as it was as if we hadn't had the conversation at all. "Did you enjoy your day Emily?" She beamed up at him, "I had such a good time I know I will never want to ski again in my life!" The burst out laughing and Ferdinand sighed, "I guess you're going to need a way to get back then?" I was shocked that he would even make the suggestion, I hadn't even thought about that. How was I planning on getting us back?

Maybe I'd judged him too soon, maybe he really was just trying to do the right thing? He'd had so many chances to get Emily away from me already and he had taken none of them. I didn't want to trust him yet, I'd always had a bad feeling about him. He could very well be leading us into another of the moon goodness's traps. I opened my mouth to decline his offer but Emily had beat me to it, "we would love and really appreciate the help." I looked down at her and although she was smiling, I could see the words written in her eyes.

Don't. Be. An. Ass.

Malik looked between us all and shrugged his shoulders, "I don't care how we get home. But I miss my bed. So can we just... get home?" Emily groaned, "gosh do I miss having a good bed to sleep in." And just for a moment, as I looked at my mate and my best friend, everything seemed so normal. I wanted to capture this moment in time and keep it locked away. They had no idea of the struggles we were about to face.