Chapter Forty-Nine #2
“What’s wrong?” I stepped up next to him. He held out the tiny strip of paper with two pink lines. I froze.
“Congratulations, Luna.” He coughed as he put the strip back down on the cart, and he bowed. “You’re pregnant.”
My hand flew to my stomach, and I felt the burn of tears. “Truly?”
He nodded. “This is the second test. The first was when you were out cold, and I wanted to make sure before I got your hopes up.” He smiled. “But I’m sure.”
I felt a new fear bubble up. “Tell no one.”
He stared at me for a few seconds. “Of course.” He bowed again.
I needed to tell Rowan myself, but something was tugging at me again. “So you said lightning.” I pushed the pup to the back of my mind; we would have a ton of time to talk about our son.
He nodded. “Like I said, I wasn’t there to see it, but everyone that I have treated who was, hasn’t shut up about it.”
I nodded once. I was stunned, but a new thought occurred to me. “What ceremony?”
The doctor smiled. “That I will leave up to your mother to explain.” He grabbed the cart and started out of the room. I said my goodbyes and finally followed the tug in my chest.
As soon as I stepped out of the pack hospital, I was swarmed by wolves. “Thank you, Queen Luna.” They all bowed, some even dropping to the ground.
“Please. Stand.” I hurried over to the first wolf I could and I helped them to their feet. “Please don’t bow.” I dusted off her clothes. “I don’t want it, nor do I need it.”
“You saved my son, and my husband.” She shook her head, tears springing to her eyes.
“And I am sure they saved many others too.” I wiped away a tear that fell. “We work together to support each other.” I smiled as I stepped back. “That’s what it means to be a wolf.”
She nodded once. But still she bowed again, and I heard her down the mind-link. “I, SeséLin, thank Queen Luna Amy for saving my family.” A cheer went out through the pack link.
I heard a howl from off behind the pack house and the sound of pounding feet. I had less than a minute to get to where I needed to be before I was tackled or worse. I started running.
“You can run, rabbit, but it won’t save you.
” Rowan’s voice was thick with something I couldn’t place.
I laughed as I sprinted to the front of the pack house and slid to a stop at the steps right as my mate grabbed me.
He pulled me into his arms, and I heard him breathing in my scent.
“You are not allowed to do that again.” He murmured against my head.
“You, my love, are not my boss.” He chuckled as he spun me around to look at my face.
“I am your king. Which is pretty much the biggest boss you can ever have.” He pulled me to his chest and just held me there. “You terrified me.” His voice was thick with worry, and love. “I thought I lost you.” I shook my head against his chest.
“You can’t get rid of me that easily.” I smiled and forced him back far enough that I could kiss him. “I’m sorry.”
His eyes were glimmering, but he just smiled. “I’m just happy you’re alive.” He stepped back when he heard a choking sound, and I had just enough time to brace myself before Cass flung herself into my arms.
“You bitch.” She started crying, and for the first time since she lost her pup, I saw a glimmer of my best friend again. “You are not allowed to die on me, remember? We are supposed to grow old with each other.” She hit my chest, and I laughed.
“I’m sorry.” I cupped her cheek and then nuzzled her. I pulled back, confused by her scent. “Are you okay?” She still smelled of her pup. “Your scent hasn’t changed back?”
She smiled at me. “No, I’m not okay.” She shook her head, and I felt my stomach drop.
“But I am getting better.” She wiped her hand over her face.
“Greyson said the same thing. The doctor said it can take a while for my body to go back to its original scent.” She shrugged.
“You’re okay though?” She pulled back to look me over, and I nodded.
“I am.” I smiled as I turned, and it froze on my face.
“You are dead!”
I braced myself for my parents as they ran over to me. My father got to me first, his battered body once again healed and fully clothed. “If you ever do that again, I swear to the Goddess Amy Maclean I will kill you myself.” His tight grip felt a little suffocating, but I was ripped from his arms.
My mother’s hands floated over every inch of my body, making sure I was intact. Her right hand was healed, her fingers still missing down at the first knuckle. I grabbed her hand and looked it over. “Will they grow back?” I looked at her face, and she just shrugged.
“I’ve never lost a finger before, so I don’t know.” She pulled her hand back and pointed at me. “What the hell were you thinking?”
“What spell was that?” My dad shook his head. “I’ve never seen lightning like that before.”
I shook my head. “It wasn’t a spell. Not that I know of…it kinda just happened.” I blew out a breath, and I felt another tug. “What happened after the lightning?” I looked around at everyone. “I don’t remember anything.”
My dad snorted. “How would you?” He waved a hand in the air. “You pulled down lightning. It struck everyone in the clearing.”
I frowned. “How did you all survive?”
He tapped his forehead. “Whoever had a moon, the lightning ran through us, like we were grounded, and then it moved on.”
Cass nodded. “I was watching from the window. It was freaking insane.” She grinned. “You have to tell me how you did it.” She tugged at my hand, and I laughed.
“If I knew, I would. But I am as lost as you are.” I turned back to my dad. “So the lightning killed the rest?”
He shook his head. “It dropped everyone, but the moons protected us and we got back up. The ones without were still alive, but they were fried. We were able to go through and finish them off.” He wiped at his face. “You scared us, Bug.”
“How long was I out?” I turned to Rowan.
“A day.” He pulled me into his arms. “Just a day.”
“We just finished sorting through everything.” My dad sighed.
“The doctor said something about that. Sorting.” I turned in confusion. “What were you sorting?”
Cass turned green. “Bodies.” She gagged. “They were sorting bodies.”
My dad kicked at the dark ground. “We pulled all moon-marked wolves to be buried, and we started a fire at the far side of the field.” He pointed towards the Dead Caves. There was a small fire that wolves were feeding, and a giant pile of…something I didn’t want to look too closely at.
“I’m hoping for rain before tomorrow night.” My mom looked up at the cloud-covered sky.
“Why?” I looked up and sniffed to see if I could smell rain coming.
“She wants to wash the blood away before the ceremony tomorrow night.” My dad pulled her into his arms. “But I’ve already explained that we have it set up in the backyard, so the front yard isn’t going to matter.”
I looked up at Rowan. “What ceremony?”
His ears turned pink, and Cass giggled. “It’s um, your mom’s idea, really.”
Cass cackled. “Your mom wants to perform a waning moon ceremony to release the spirits of those lost, and move on to the next phase in life. And she thought it would be a perfect night to have your mating ceremony.”
I whipped around to stare at her, and she grinned.
“Lycan’s mate at different phases of the moon, and a waning gibbous is a good time to let go of the past.” She looked at me with a raised eyebrow.
“Moving on to a new phase seems like a fantastic idea after these past few days, does it not?” She watched me for a minute.
“I have nothing prepared.” I murmured, looking down at the ground, and feeling the tug in my chest again.
She jumped up and clapped. “I have everything figured out. Don’t worry about a thing.”
I opened my mouth to say something else, but my father’s phone rang. He pulled it out of his pocket and answered. “Hey.” He staggered and pulled his phone away. Clicking the speaker button.
“Yeah, I don’t know what to tell you, Gav. I saw them with my own eyes. You’re the only one up on that mountain.” The voice sounded familiar.
I mouthed the words ‘Who is that’ to my dad, but he waved me off. “Are you sure?”
“Yes, Gav, I am. I watched human war movies too. You have a full-on convoy headed your way. One truck had a machine gun on it.” The words hit like a slap. The tugging in my chest jerked harder. “You’ve got about thirty minutes before they get to your lands.”
“Okay, thanks.” My dad hung up, and I felt a spell bubble from my soul again. “What do we do?” He paled. Humans were on their way to kill us, or worse, and we had nowhere to go. The caves were gone.
“Get me a map.” My mind was whirling.
“A map? Of what?” My dad stepped towards the house.
“I need a map of all the packs on this continent.” He ran inside while my chest was pounding. The power coursed through me.
“Why?” Rowan turned me to face him again.
My words were low but certain. “Do you think our pack is the only pack the council sold out to the humans?”
Everyone stared at me for a few seconds, like they were processing what I was saying, and then everyone started talking over each other. “What are you talking about?” Cass waved her hands.
“I hadn’t thought that far, to be honest.” Ronnie walked up. He looked around our small group and his eyes fell on Cass. “Greyson is looking for you.”
Cass stared for a minute. “Why?”
Ronnie sighed. “Some guards are acting up. The trackers in particular. He needs you to go handle your squad while he deals with his.” He waved off behind the house towards the training rings.
“He said he tried to mind-link you about it, but you hadn’t been answering.
” He lifted an eyebrow, and Cass blushed.
“I was just excited to see Amy up again.” She looked around at the rest of us. “I can help after.”
I waved her off. “It’s okay. What I have to do, no one can help with. You can go help your mate.”
My dad jogged back out. “Hey Cass, Greyson just mind-linked me looking for you. Says he needs your help at the rings.” He walked over to me. “I know you have been off duty since everything, but he said he really needs your help. I’d appreciate if you could go help him.”
She sighed. “Yeah Alpha. I’ll head over now.” She waved and headed off. I saw her look back once, and she pointed at me as she mouthed, ‘You better catch me up.’ I laughed and nodded.
Once Cass had walked away, he threw up a sound barrier. I frowned. “What’s wrong?”
Ronnie stepped closer. “We still haven’t found the spy, so we are being extra cautious.”
“Spy?” I looked around. “That’s Cass we are talking about.”
Everyone stared at me for a second before laughing. “Not her, you fool.” My mom bumped my shoulder.
Ronnie shook his head as he looked around the field. “We don’t know who is lurking around. Obviously, we don’t think it’s Cass.” He pointed to the map. “What’s up with that?” I dropped to the ground and opened the map. My chest tugged again, and I knew what I had to do.
“Van called from the airport.” My dad looked towards the road. “A human convoy, fully armed, is headed up here.”
Ronnie spun to look at the road and then back at us. “What are we going to do?”
“We are doing this.” My father pointed to the map. “Well…she is.”
Ronnie dropped into a crouch. “Why did you need a map?” He pointed to the map. “How is this going to save us? Are you planning an escape route? We could run, but there is nothing but forest and the Agora.” He looked up. “We can’t leave the Agora to the humans, can we?”
I stared down at the map in my hand. There were about twenty packs in North America. Almost half of them were in Canada. Could my power reach that far?
My grandmother crouched beside me. “You are of the earth, sea, and sky.” Everyone has stopped talking.
Her finger traced the outline of the pack lands we were currently on.
“This map not only shows you where our people are located, but where their lands stop.” She traced our land again.
She grabbed my hand and placed it on the ground. “Dig.” She nodded toward the ground.