Healed by the Alpha (Hunted Book Two)

Chapter Twenty Three

Logan

The evening sky was unforgivingly dark. I'd managed to get out of the pack house before anyone noticed and made my way towards the woods. I'd decided against a jacket, it was still chilly but I didn't expect to be out for long. If all went to plan, I'd have my mother back and answers before the birds started to wake. I told myself I was doing the right thing, whoever had written didn't want me to bring anyone and I was strong enough to handle at least three people by myself.

Hopefully it wouldn't come to that.

I had so many questions racing through my mind as I made my way deeper into the forest, why did my father have communication with the witches if they were the ones that cursed our land? What had he meant by 'war'? And how exactly was I meant to rally together all of the packs? This seemed a little too far over my head. I'd only been the alpha of the Midnight Moon pack for 4 months and I highly doubted that any other alpha would listen to me. I was a rookie compared to everyone else.

I was so focused on my own thoughts and worries that I didn't even notice when my face smashed against the flatter side of a large tree. The oak tree. Whoever had written the note in my father's journal had said the rock would be around here somewhere. What they failed to take into consideration was the fact that it would be pitch black and the middle of the night when I'd be looking for it. Really? Whoever this was couldn't have arranged a better time? Maybe midday? lunch?

I kicked at the rotting leaves around the base of the tree, it was impossible. Maybe all this time I had been led on a wild goose chase and someone was heading to my pack instead. All the signs were there, I was just thankful that I'd left Misty in charge. My second in command would do whatever it took to protect the pack and she had the best omega by her side.

Just as I was starting to give up hope and deciding whether to head back to my pack, my foot connected with something hard and I fell forward. I managed to put my hands out to stop my face from hitting the ground, instead I crashed into a pile of leaves and smashed my head off of a hard object. I rolled over onto my back and wiped my head, I winced as my fingers traced around the sticky surface.

Great.

Now I was bleeding, what else would go wrong tonight?

I looked towards the object that had caused this unnecessary damage and noticed that one side seemed darker than the other. At closer inspection, it looked almost furry. I felt around the surface and sure enough it was a wet but rough texture. Moss. So I hadn't been tricked after all. I knew by now that my time was running out, I'd left the pack house with an hour to find my mother's kidnapper and the time must've been more than halved by now.

I got up onto my knees, panicking that I was wasting time and felt the stone again. North. The rock was facing north. My head was pounding from the impact, but I had no other choice. I lifted my legs up one by one until I was leaning against the tree. I didn't have time to waste and now with my vision considerably blurred and my head damaged, my odds of winning in a fight were getting reduced by the second.

I pushed forward knowing that the longer I waited, the closer my mother's life would be to ending. I took a step forward and managed to balance pretty well on my own two feet. The next step was wobbly, but I was making progress. Before I knew it, I was wandering around without a problem. The trees were getting thicker in this part of the forest and soon enough I was lost. I knew I'd have to shift to get the scent of my pack on the way back, that's how fucked I was right now.

Why the hell had I agreed to come alone, this was clearly a suicide mission. Then, out of nowhere I started to hear a buzzing noise. It sounded like static, with an almost electrical ring wound around it tightly. "Alpha, so glad to see you made it." A voice chimed out of nowhere. I looked around myself in circles but I couldn't see anyone. "Show yourself!" I ordered the voice, "I didn't come here to play games." The voice sounded disapproving, "now now now alpha, is that any way to talk to your superior?" Superior? What was this person talking about?

"I am the alpha of the Midnight Moon pack, you have no idea who you are talking to." I spat back to the empty air. It was silent for a while before I heard a woman's gentle sobbing. That wasn't just any woman. That was my mother. "Where the hell is she!" I shouted, my voice booming through the trees. A tap on my shoulder instinctively caused my body to duck, my leg kicked out and I swept my foot under the contender's legs. They jumped back before I could spin back around.

"Alpha, this is ridiculous. You need to listen to us." They tried to distract me with words but I wouldn't listen. They had my mother, they still held everything I wanted. A small voice sounded from behind me, "please Logan, honey, you need to listen to them. They have some information." Mother? My mother was on their side? "What have they done to you?" I shouted out in the general direction I'd heard her voice.

"Logan, there are things you do not yet know and you need to understand." This did not sound good. "They've held you as a prisoner! How can you defend them?" Her next few words stopped me dead in my tracks. "Your father would've trusted them. He did trust them." So that meant that just because the old alpha wanted to be a fool I had to play the part too? That was not how this worked.

The voice beside me started to speak again, "Alpha Choal was a fine alpha, but Alpha Logan you can be so much more. There are far worse things in this world than a coven of witches wronged." I was right then, these were the dark witches. These were the women that wanted to kill my mate, and yet my mother and father had trusted them? What the hell was I meant to do now?