The Forsaken Luna

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

Jason

It's already morning. The night has drifted away and I don't even remember when. I lost track of time when we ran and came back to the Polaris pack territory. I feel the buzzing numbness gripping the edges of my vision and it is hard to concentrate on anything at all. The room is moving too fast. Healers rushing in and out of the pack house, screaming and yelling, sharp commands. They all blend together, hardly penetrating the numbness I feel.

The Alphas and Luna are angry. They have been dealing with the damage of our attack to have enough time and yell at us, but I am sure that the second things settle down, we'll be yelled at.

A Healer is kneeling down in front of me and tending my wounds. I don't sense the way her delicate hands move against my bruised skin. It is hard to focus on anything else but the sharp metallic smell of blood.

We were too hotheaded. We should have done this better. We should have trapped one of them and forced him or her to tell us where Mackenzie and Elliot are, but we ran directly into their campsite and lost so many lives.

I lift my gaze up slightly, looking to the common area of the pack house. The people in here are moving so swiftly. I feel like my eyes can't comprehend all of the fast movements in my dazed state. I think I see Samantha moving around the room, her black locks flowing after her, but I'm not sure. I let my head hang down again, as the Healer finishes taking care of my wounds. From the corner of my eye, I see her standing up and walking away, but I don't lift my gaze up.

I have been trying to reach Mackenzie ever since we've come back to the pack house, but to no avail. The mind link doesn't want to go through and it makes a lump form in my throat. They are not dead, I keep telling myself. They couldn't be. Elliot wouldn't let anybody touch her. He would tear through anybody and everybody in order to protect her. They can't be dead.

But still, in the back of my mind there is this little voice that is telling me that they're gone. The hunters have them. They killed them in cold blood when they were trying to escape. That little voice is making my stomach twist and the numbness only triples.

I sense swift movement from the corner of my eye, but like before I don't lift my gaze up. My mistake. I should have. I should have looked up and forced myself to focus on the surroundings around me. If I would have, I wouldn't be in this situation in the moment.

My father appears from out of nowhere. I feel his strong hands grip at my throat, his harsh skin scraping against me. He lifts me from the chair I was sitting in and slams me into the wall behind me. I gasp when the air gets knocked out of my lungs. My back stings from the way he slammed me and the back of my head is throbbing from the hit. I feel how my father's hands tighten around my throat, preventing me from getting the oxygen I need back into my lungs.

"What the hell were you thinking?!" Dad shouts, his eyes shining a bright yellow color as he looks down on me. The anger and hatred I see in them makes me shrink. I don't reach up to try and pull his hands off of me or to try and push him away from myself. I can't. I feel so small under his gaze. "You think you can just put everyone in danger and fight the hunters? Huh?! You think you're so strong with your Sokudo transformation that you can do whatever you want!" He is shaking me against the wall now. My back keeps repeatedly hitting the wall behind me and the stinging pain keeps on building up in me.

"Stop it! Loki, stop it!" My mother's voice is distant as I stare in my dad's rage-filled eyes. I can't do anything against him. I'm too afraid to do anything to protect myself.

"You little runt... you think you can put everyone in danger for the hell of it!" He spits in my face, slamming me into the wall a little harsher now. I choke again. It hurts so much. The injuries I acquired in battle feel like they are on fire. This is too much pain.