His Rogue Luna

Seventy Three

Laurent and my father were childhood friends before he moved south. He became the alpha of the pack after mating with the alpha's daughter.

I had sent him some gifts when his children had been born and my father had personally attended his mating ceremony.

"They tore them all apart. What they did to the children was sick," Dad spat.

This time, I comforted him as we hugged silently.

"We can't lose any of our warriors Kieran," He began, pulling away.

"We need everyone we can, here with us. I don't know what's changed, but war is coming. This is no longer a battle,"

"So what? I save the pack but lose my Luna? What's a pack without a Luna?" I asked.

"We either lose one person, or we lose everyone Kieran," My father sighed.

As much as his words hurt me, and hurt him too, I could understand his logic. As much as I wanted to go looking for my mate, I had to trust the other packs to help because I had too much to deal with right now.

"You're wrong Dad," I said, shaking my head. He opened his mouth, ready to continue arguing, but I spoke before he could. "We lose two people, not just one."

It was true.

My father gave me a sad look, and I couldn't help but feel awful.

My father had lost his mate, but for my sake and for my sister's sake, he had pushed through the pain. I could never be half the man that he was, because if Artemis died, I wouldn't hesitate to follow.

I suppose it's because my father had children.

I hoped I would have that one day with Artemis.

And that had been it. For the longest time, I felt like a sitting duck, waiting for her to be found. Two days later, there was still no trace of her and more packs were attacked. Everything was eerily still, as if everyone was holding their breaths, waiting for the inevitable.

And it happened.

"Alpha! Alpha!" Someone came running in, startling us all in the pack house.

"What is it?" Apollo asked the panting boy.

"The witches! They said the enemies are coming. Right now! They had a vision!" The young boy rushed, his eyes wide and frightening.

I ignored the dropping feeling in my gut and straightened up, quickly falling back into my authoritative role.

"Round up all the soldiers, get them weaponised right now," I ordered. "I want everyone else in the bunkers like we practiced."

I rushed out of the pack house, making sure everyone was following the procedure we had practiced. I would not allow those sick hunters to mutilate and murder my pack and made sure that anyone who was not fighting with us was hidden and secure from any threat.

Once I was confident with everyone, I ran my way to the training grounds where everyone had been gathered.

Seraphine was there, her mismatched eyes glazed over. After a second, she snapped out of it, looking towards me.

"They're coming from the southern border. They have less wolves this time, but more vampires and some witches,"

"We can take care of the wolves and vampires," I said, glancing at Viktor who also nodded.

"Good, we will handle the witches then. I will try and find the one that's behind this and stop her from possessing everyone," She confirmed.

"Beyond that, there's nothing else we can do except apply our training," She continued, her eyes glazing over once again as she tried searching for the future. She sighed, probably coming up blank and seeing what she had already seen.

While she focused on that, I made sure all my warriors were in place and that there was an even amount of guards left to protect the bunkers and secure the other borders.

I could feel the moment the barriers had been breached and they had stepped on our territory. Everything seemed to slow at that moment. I could hear the thundering footsteps of seemingly hundreds of enemies approaching fast. My heart and my breaths seemed to calm and my senses sharpened.

I inhaled deeply, holding it for a second, before letting out a loud roar.

"To war!"

I could hear shouting, yelling, howling and snarling as we headed to attack. Some had shifted, while some stayed in their human form.

As the first few monsters came out to attack us, I felt a hug in my chest.

Artemis.

She was getting close. The bond in my chest was slowly growing stronger, the pain lessening and giving way to hope.

I held my breath, shoving a spear into the head of a vampire running towards me. Pulling out my weapon from the dead creature, I narrowly avoided the claws of another, quickly killing it as well.

I hoped Artemis was okay and I prayed that we would be back together, unharmed and safe.

Of course, I had always been an unlucky bastard and things hadn't changed.