Lunar

Chapter 01

The wind blew vehemently, causing the loose strands that had been blown out of my ponytail to feel sharp as they hit across my face and leaving all the orphaned children of the pack to fight harder as they chased each other in their intense game of tag.

Sitting on my favorite giant rock in our small park gave me a great sense of pride. I was very humble, yes, but seeing everyone so happy and at peace gave me some sort of inexplicable emotion bubbling inside of me, begging to be let out. Looking at my best friends and co-leaders made those emotions grow a tenfold – something I didn't even know was possible.

We did this.

We brought our pack back from the shambles it was left in.

Us, three teenagers who didn't have a clue of what they were doing, restored our people.

We've been through a lot but it has never been in our nature to not come out on top. We have all continued to remain victorious, no matter what life has thrown at us. So, being surrounded by my pack – my favorite people – watching them smile and hearing them laugh just left me so happy. Simple, I know, but that's how I like it. Simple. Unproblematic. Tame.

And that's exactly how things seemed.

Because, in that very moment that I was basking in both the sun and the joy, Henry, my gamma and best friend, decided to come tell me news that was anything but simple, unproblematic, and tame.

"Shay," Henry started with a serious face – which he very seldom wore, "another pack teenager has been reported as missing."

"You have got to be kidding me," I answered, not wanting to believe the news, "who was it?"

"Samantha Raines, Kim and John Raines third child. She's 16 and has apparently been going through a 'very disobedient stage' according to her parents and older brother."

"Have you spoken to Lilly about this yet?"

"Well, I kind of figured I should go to our alpha before our beta, you know," Henry replied with that same sarcastic tone and knowing smirk I've always known.

"Right, of course. Okay, well, do you know if they've spoken to the other families from the previous victims?"

"No, not that I know of but I can find out."

"No, you go back and speak to the other two families, Lilly and I will speak to the Raines; meet us outside of their house at eight and we can go for a late dinner, sound good?"

"You got it, boss," he said, nodding his head and turning on his heel.

Before he could take one step, though, I grabbed him by his arm and pulled him back, lowering my tone just to make sure that only him and I could hear what I was about to say, "You and I both know that this is no coincidence, just because they're moody teenagers doesn't mean that they all decide to run away in the span of two weeks. They have to be connected."

"Yeah," he paused, taking in a deep breath that I know was just for dramatic effect, "I know."

****

"And Samantha never mentioned anything at all about wanting to leave? Does she have any really close friends that she may have gone to?" Lilly asked, passing Kim Raines a tissue.

"No, she never really went out much, she's always been sort of a homebody, you know?" Mr. Raines answered.

"And are you sure that she wasn't behaving out of the ordinary? No little clues that she might have been giving off?" Lilly followed up, once more?

"We're positive," Mrs. Raines continued, dabbing the corner of her teary eyes, "she's just been going through this phase, we just figured it was a normal teenage thing so we didn't think anything of it – oh, that sounds so horrible!"

"No, no, Mrs. Raines, don't say that," Lilly, once again, comforted her. She's always been more of the peace-keeper between the two of us. What traits I don't have, she makes up for, and vice versa – I guess that's what has made us the best of friends our entire life.

"Just one more question and we'll be out of your hair," I smiled, "Have you happened to have spoken to either the Brewer family or the Merlin family?"

"Other than to tell them how sorry we felt for them when they went through the same thing, no, we haven't. We never would have imagined what happened to them would have ever happened to us, we're so sorry we couldn't have been more help."

"That's quite alright, you two have been more help than you could have ever imagined, trust me," I said, Lilly and I standing at the same time and walking towards the door, "You two get some rest and have a good night – please don't feel obligated to carry out any of your usual pack duties these next few days or until you're ready, I have plenty of people that can take care of that for the both of you."

"You are too kind, ma'am" John said, leading both of them into a bow.

"Please, you don't have to call me 'ma'am' and you definitely don't have to bow to me, Mr. and Mrs. Raines – I appreciate it but I am not my father."

"Ah, Mrs. Shay, you may not be your father but I can promise you that you are just as good of an alpha as he was – maybe even better," Kim says, giving me a huge grin accompanied by John's lively nodding that I was afraid would give him whiplash.

Lilly and I both smiled and made our way down the porch and towards Henry who was waiting for us at the corner of the road. The three of us walked in silence not wanting to discuss our previous conversations until we were at least in the safety of the diner and out of earshot for most.

Henry's stomach let out a huge growl, causing Lilly and I to go into a fit of laughter as we neared the diner. We reached the doors just as another huge gust of wind swept through, bringing a new scent along with it.

The three of us stopped dead in our tracks with our noses in the air.

"Shay, do you smell that, too?" Henry asked, his face serious for the second time in one day – he must really be going for a new record.

I looked over at Lilly who wanted to ask the question we already knew the answer to but I decided to let her save her breath by answering the unspoken inquiry.

"It seems that we have a new pack close by."