38. Kane
Kane
E ver since Luna was taken away to the Omega Center, I went back to my old sleeping habits.
Which essentially meant I barely slept until I was absolutely exhausted.
And when I was exhausted enough to sleep, I often found myself in Luna’s room. Her delicate peppermint scent still lingered on the pillows and comforters even through her absence.
I got used to not having any nightmares with Luna around, so sleeping surrounded by her scent was the only way to ease that new fear of them returning.
Last night though?
I slept like the dead.
When I finally do manage to open my eyes, Luna is nowhere to be found anywhere in the nest. It makes me sit up in panic.
Where did she go?
Did I imagine all of last night?
I take a deep breath, Luna’s peppermint perfume—sweet and thick from her heat spike last night—fills my lungs and I relax .
No, I didn’t imagine it.
The door to the nest creaks open and a huge wave of relief washes over me.
Luna comes in with a bright, blinding smile.
“Good morning, Kane!”
She’s wearing one of Chase’s T-shirts and a pair of sweatpants. Her hair is still a little wild, giving her this adorably rumpled look.
“Good morning, little one,” I say, returning her bright smile with a small one of my own.
“I have a surprise for you,” she says, sitting beside me.
“Oh? What do you have for me.” I reach out and brush some of her golden hair away from her face.
“Breakfast! French toast, eggs, and bacon. I made it all myself, too!”
“That sounds delicious.”
“I wanted to bring it up to surprise you in bed with it, but I didn’t know whether you were awake yet and wanted to make sure you got your rest.” She’s practically buzzing with excitement.
“For the record, you can wake me up anytime.”
Her nose wrinkles in the cutest way.
“I don’t know, I think you need your rest.”
“Sure, but you’re more important to me than sleep,” I say, throwing off the blanket and standing. “Now then, how about that breakfast?”
I glance down at her when she doesn’t say anything and see her gaping up at me, a furious blush appearing on her cheeks.
“You—you’re not wearing any clothes,” She stutters out, unable to tear her gaze from my body.
“It would appear so,” I chuckle under my breath.
“You—you’re?—”
“Hard?”
She nods, swallowing hard.
“Well, that’s to be expected, considering I woke up surrounded by your scent. ”
I extend my hand down to her, my lips tugging up into a bit of a smirk.
“My eyes are up here, sweetheart.”
Her eyes immediately find mine. I didn’t think it would be possible for the flush on her cheeks to grow even darker, but it does.
She takes my hand and stands, glancing everywhere else except me.
“I’ll stop by my room and get dressed before heading downstairs, are we eating together?”
“Y—yes, the others are setting things up in the dining room.”
“Perfect.”
We never use that dining room. Too many memories of my mother and her warm Sunday morning breakfasts. But Luna does seem to have this innate way of bringing warmth back into this home.
Luna’s expression brightens up when I head down the stairs to join her and the rest of the pack in the dining room.
“Oh looks like sleeping beauty is awake!” Chase teases as he passes by me, utensils for all of us in hand.
“Anything I can help with?” I ask, pulling out the chair Luna’s standing in front of so she can take a seat.
“No, I think the forks were all we needed!” She says, smiling up at me.
“Thank you for the food, Luna,” Archer says, taking her plate and piling it high with everything.
“Yeah, thank you, it smells delicious,” I say, taking a seat between Archer and Madden.
“Oh, it’s a simple recipe I learned in a cooking class, anyone can learn it,” she says, awkwardly shifting in her seat.
“Well, we’re still thankful you decided to make it for us, Moonlight,” Chase says, leaning over and planting a kiss on the top of her head. “Now if you excuse me, I’m going to dig in. ”
Everyone around the table breaks out into laughter as Chase practically shoves an entire slice of fresh toast into his mouth.
Food around a table together is a magical thing.
Like hell are we going to let this go.
Even Chase, who hates any form of cleaning, is eager to help clear the table once we’re done with the meal.
“Here, let me help you get that,” I say, taking the stack of plates Luna put together and carrying it to the kitchen.
“You don’t have to do that,” She giggles, following behind me. “My legs work now, you know.”
“Well, I want to. You cook, we clean,” I shrug, setting the plates down beside Madden.
“It’s really not that big of a deal, Angel,” Madden says. “I’ve just gotta rinse them, the dishwasher does all the hard work.”
My phone rings and I pull it out of my pocket. I don’t recognize the number, but that isn’t unusual, considering my position in the pack’s security company.
“Who’s it from?” Luna asks, peeking at my screen before perching herself on one of the barstools.
“I don’t know, I guess we’ll see in a second,” I say before answering the call.
I put the phone to my ear.
“Hello, is this Kane from the Ward Pack?”
“Yes. Who is this?”
“I’m Officer Ainsley at the Northside Police Department. This is unusual, but Officer Stone insisted anyone on the case reach out to your pack with any updates on your case.”
My knuckles go white around my phone.
Updates are never good with this sort of thing.
“What updates do you have for me, Officer?”
“We had Roger and Carol Collins in custody, suspected of trafficking their adoptive omega daughter.”
“Yes, I know that.”
“They posted bail late last night. ”
“What!?”
Everyone’s gazes jerk towards me at my outburst. I grit my teeth and try and focus on the conversation.
“Wasn’t the bail set to one million each since they were considered flight risks?” I ask, running my hands through my hair.
Archer moves around the table and gestures for me to put the phone on speaker.
I put my phone on the island countertop after doing so and wait for the officer’s response.
“Yes.” The officer pauses as if he needs to take a breath. “The bond was made through a bail bondsman who was paid anonymously, but that’s not the thing I wanted to speak with you about.”
My gaze darts to my packmates. We’re all thinking the same thing.
“There’s not an easy way to say this, but they were both found dead in a ditch on the outskirts of the Southside. Cause of death was a bullet to the head, shot execution style.”
Luna’s eyes go wide and she covers her mouth with her hands to stifle her gasp.
Madden is beside her in an instant, wrapping his large, tattooed arms around her and holding her tightly to him.
She buries her face into his arms, her shoulders shaking with what look to be silent sobs.
They were horrible fucking parents to her, but they were the only parents she knew. I can only imagine how hard it is to hear that gruesome of a death.
I clear my throat.
“Thank you for letting us know, Officer.”
“You’re welcome. Goodbye.”
The silence that follows the officer ending the call is almost deafening.
“Shot execution style?” Chase huffs, leaning his elbows on the countertop and gripping his head in his hands. “That’s insane, right? I’m not the only one that thinks that’s batshit crazy.”
“They were a loose end,” Archer adds softly. “They knew who the alpha who abused Luna was and he didn’t want that.”
“Guys, shut the fuck up,” Madden growls, glaring at us as he pets Luna’s hair in his attempt to soothe her. “You’re freaking Luna out even more.”
“Oh fuck, I’m so sorry, Moonlight,” Chase says, walking over to Luna’s barstool and crouching down in front of her.
Her eyes are teary and wide with fear. “He—he killed them.”
She’s clinging to Madden’s arm desperately, as if that’s the only thing keeping her from falling apart.
None of us can fight the urge to go to her and soon, we’re all huddled around her.
“He did,” I nod, solemnly.
“They—they’re dead.”
“They are, little one.”
Her gaze is distant, as if she’s starting to go into shock.
“I—I’ve never dealt with death before.”
The ghosts of my parents seem to crawl their way back up my throat, making it difficult to breathe.
“Death is a fucked up thing,” Chase adds. “You’re allowed to feel however you’re feeling right now, Moonlight.”
“Even though—even though they… abused me?” She whispers, her voice so quiet if we weren’t all right next to her, it would be difficult to hear.
“Yes,” Madden says, leaning down to brush his lips against the top of her head. “It’s all you knew for so long, Angel.”
She takes a deep shuddering breath in before blinking up at the four of us.
“O—okay, I—I don’t want this to ruin our day. It had such a great start.”
“Then let’s have a great day,” I say, extending my hand out to her. “I got a new delivery of some books, why don’t we work on organizing your own shelf?”
She wipes away the last of her remaining tears and smiles up at me.
“Okay!”
The rest of the day is wonderful. She read with me while I got some work done during the day and even cooked us dinner.
I’ve even managed to convince her to spend the night in my bed instead of with any of the others, even though I got to rest with her last night too.
Things were too good. I don’t know why I didn’t expect them to go to shit.
I’m woken up by the pack house’s alarm system a split second before the glass of my bedroom windows shatters.
Two large alphas, clothed in black tactical gear jump into my bedroom. I see the flash of gun barrels reflecting the moon’s light.
If it weren’t for my years of training, I would’ve frozen. I grab Luna, rolling us over and onto the floor, the bed giving us a bit of cover. My mind races.
How in the world did these fuckers get in? How many are there?
“What—” Luna yelps as she startles awake.
“Stay here,” I grunt, launching myself towards the closest alpha. I manage to surprise him, knocking his gun away and wrestling him to the floor.
The guy is obviously trained because the advantage of surprise slips away pretty quickly.