Healed by the Alpha (Hunted Book Two)

Chapter Seventeen

Logan

I watched from the office window as she trained, physically she trained with our pack, MY pack. With her power, she would go back to the Rising Dawn pack and to the coven. Watching the way she stumbled around the attackers was terrifying. She was everywhere and nowhere at the same time. Misty tried her best to keep Whitt's footing stable, but she would slip up when she was being attacked from the side. This wouldn't do.

How could I ever have a Luna that didn't even know how to protect herself never mind the pack? We couldn't always rely on her powers and when she was here they weren't always the most reliable anyway. I thought of the letter I'd seen from my father, the one written to the dark witch. Maybe if I tried to talk to them, maybe if I tried to create the relationship they had with my father... maybe they'd take back the curse and my mate would always be able to live with me. She'd never have to leave.

She stopped and leaned against the weapons rack, she was exhausted. I pushed away from the window and turned to carry on with my work. There had to be a lead to find my mother somewhere. I'd taken all of the books from our library, everything containing witches, curses and manifestation. - turns out we really didn't have a big selection. I was quite proud of my find until I showed Whitt and she barked a laugh at me. She'd told me that the next time she was at the Rising Dawn pack, she'd ask Dominick about borrowing some of the coven's material.

Yeah, I could see exactly how that would go when she told him exactly who it was for. I was in a strange place with alpha Dominick, Whitt was his sister and not only that, he'd only just found her after 12 years. Losing someone that close to you after all that time to another alpha can't have been easy. Then there was Emily... any fool could see that she meant something to him. Even my few hours at his pack showed me enough about his resolve not to let his feelings show. He was just as drawn to her as I had been.

Had been... it still felt strange. I was more than happy to move forward with Whitt, after the other night we'd decided to take it slow. Putting pressure on such a delicate situation was the worst thing we could do right now. I loved Emily, I always would, but she wasn't my mate. It was hard admitting that to myself, it was hard knowing exactly what she was going through too.

I remember how devastated I was after Lyla, how my waking and sleeping moments were plagued with thoughts of what her mate was doing. Did she feel like that? She seemed at peace when we'd been at the Rising Dawn pack, maybe Dominick had managed to talk to her about the situation. He was a good alpha and if that's what she felt she needed right now, to be away from my pack, from the memories here, that's exactly what she should be given.

There was a sudden scratching sound on the door to the office, I walked over and twisted the handle. More desperate scratching sounded from the other side. "Alright, alright, I'm coming Storm." I laughed. I opened the door slightly and waited for his padding foot steps to bounce all over the office floor, it didn't happen. I pulled the door open as far as it would go, there was no sign of Storm.

What lay at my feet was a letter, it looked like an invite. I looked down the corridor to see if anyone had left it, there was no one around. I picked it up with apprehension, something didn't feel right about this. On the back of the yellowed paper was a wax symbol, and that is when I realised it didn't belong to any of the packs in the area. No, this invite was addressed to me, and me singularly. Where it usually read "To the Alpha of the Midnight Moon pack", was now one name.

Logan.

I broke the deep green wax seal, it crumbled like it wasn't made of wax at all, it had a powdery consistency. I scanned it again and again, shoving my head back through the door to check if anyone was still around. All I could see were the extra guards I'd had positioned at the ends of the corridors, they were patrolling. If anyone was to get in and out they would raise alarm with any of my guard.

The letter read:

~
Dear, Logan.

We are under the impression that you've read through your father's journal by now. If so, please continue to read. If not, please take extra note of page 81.
~

I flipped through the pages frantically and found page 81. I stopped, cold creeping through my neck and into my spine. There, sitting in the middle of that page was what appeared to be a hair pin. It took me a while to register the design and even longer to realise it belonged to my mother. I continued the letter.

~
You may be confused. Don't be. We have your mother and she is unharmed. I would like to arrange a meeting with you at the old oak tree in the middle of the forest behind the pack house, next to the river. There, you will find a rock with moss covering one side. The side that is blanketed in green will be the side that leads you to me. You have 4 hours from when the sun starts to set, I will only wait so long Alpha.

If you do not come, your mother's life will be a bargaining chip for our freedom. It's not in bad faith, it's just business.

Oh, and do make sure to come alone.
~

It wasn't sighed. How the hell had someone broken into my office and placed my mother's hair pin there. I knew that I'd never seen it in that journal before, I'd been through the whole thing by now. I would've thought it was one of the ones from her jewellery box, but I knew otherwise. I briefly remembered seeing her with her hair up the last time I'd visited her. I couldn't have been sure that it was this exact pin, but the dried red blood buried deep in the flowers on the pin assured me that this was hers, and she had been wearing it.

I balled my hand into a fist and threw the pin towards the door. It hit with maximum force, embedding itself into the wood. The shadow it cast told me I had 4 hours. The blood in the pin told me I didn't even have that.