Luna's Salvation

Three

Rowan

Five years. Five goddamn years and we finally found those bastards.

For the past 13 years packs have been attacked seemingly at random every five to six months. The assholes have always shifted just outside the pack's borders so they wouldn't be able to sense anything until it was too late. Five or six families would be completely wiped out and then the pack would leave. They never attacked the same pack twice.

The only reason they have gotten away with it for as long as they have is because of how slippery they are. But even the slippery ones fuck up.

The title of Alpha was passed down to me five years ago when my parents were caught in the crossfire of one of the attacks. Mom had wanted to visit her family, and since I was practically Alpha already Dad went with her. No one had suspected the attack but my parents still fought their hardest. It wasn't enough though. Mom came from a relatively weak pack, so they didn't have many warriors.

I knew Dad was dead when I was woken up by the feeling of the power transferring to me. Once morning came we got word from the survivors of the attack and confirmation of my parent's deaths. That was mistake number one because I made it my mission to track this pack down and end them.

Their second mistake was made last month. Ever since my parent's deaths I have been heading to each attack site to help investigate. Lo and behold one of their warrior's (probably a rookie) was feeling a bit peckish, because we found a napkin with the name of a bar on it around the area where they shifted. After researching the bar we found out that only our pack and one other were close to it. Obviously we were able to rule out ours.

The Deadcrest Pack was about to pay for what they did.

We took three weeks to plan our attack. Mostly because we knew their customs. Which meant that on the second night of the full moon they would all be in their temple worshiping, and all of the children would be together and safe from harm.

They were so into their worship of the Goddess that they didn't even notice we had crossed into their land until we started banging down the doors to draw them out. The look on their faces was priceless as we attacked. Their warriors weren't prepared for us and we cut through them with such ease it was almost laughable.

As fighting pairs surrounded us I saw the Alpha emerge from the temple. Everyone in the pack knew that he was mine and mine alone to engage, just as I was his. The oddest thing happened though as I was getting ready to engage him. The sweetest combination of vanilla, lavender, and apples wafted down to me. In that moment my urge to rip the Alpha's head off was abandoned as I followed that smell.

The stronger the smell got, the farther away from the action it was. Imagine my surprise when the smell led me to the pack house. Wasn't everyone supposed to be in the temple? Still I went inside and followed that smell. Up one floor and past another. All until I got to a hidden staircase that led up into an attic.

To call it an attic was being generous. In reality the room was no bigger than a standard college dorm room. There were no lights and just a singular window letting in the moonlight. Even with the limited light I could make out that the only things in this room were a small desk, a wardrobe, and a mat right under the window.

Who in their right mind would let someone live like this?

I would have left had I not heard the heartbeat coming from the wardrobe. Ever so slowly I walked towards it. Whoever was in there was frightened as hell. I was ready to fight whoever was in there should they decide to attack, but I wasn't prepared for what I saw when I opened the doors.

Hidden in that wardrobe was a girl who was obviously preparing herself to be hit. Arms blocking her face and protecting her vital organs, almost as if this position was a natural one for her to be in. Even in the limited light I could make out her long brown hair. I wanted to offer her my hand and tell her that I wasn't going to hurt her.

When her eyes met mine though I could feel my heart stop for a moment. They were this beautiful amber color, and even though that was all I could see I knew she was beautiful. Seeing those eyes broke something in me. I wanted to protect her. Almost as if she were

"Mine"

As soon as that growl left my lips she passed out. Without a second thought I lifted her out of that wardrobe and into my arms. She was mine, and she was coming with me. All thoughts of revenge left and my only instinct was to get her out of here.

"Retreat all of you and head home." I could hear the flood of confusion as the pack followed my orders. Of course they wouldn't bring it up to me in person, but they knew I had a good reason to. I never deviated from my plans.

Carefully I carried my mate out of that pack house and through the carnage that was left behind. Everyone was tending to their wounds and the few dead, so someone carrying an unconscious girl didn't exactly go noticed. Once I cleared the pack I broke into a run to meet my Beta at the rendezvous point just outside of Deadcrest territory.

"What the hell man? We were so close!" Jason yelled as I got to the car. Only he would have the balls to talk to me like that. Well him and my blood brother. That's when he saw the girl in my arms. "Really? Five years of seeking revenge and you throw it all away because of one she-wolf?!"

One growl from me shut him up as I laid the girl down in the back of the car. It was like he knew what that growl ment, because once we got in the car and started driving he asked, "No way! There is only one reason you would throw this victory away. She's your mate isn't she?"

"Yes. Which means we are going in through the back. I don't want to be bombarded with questions that I don't know the answers to." Part of me also wanted to keep her to myself for the time being. Me looking like I was going to kill her probably wasn't a good introduction.

I think Jason understood because he kept quiet the rest of the ride home. Tomorrow morning would be the time for reports from everyone. Tonight was about rest.

As I pulled into our pack's territory I took the backroads to the house so no one would see my car. Jason took care of parking it as I lifted my mate out and carried her in. She must have been exhausted because she hadn't moved an inch on the way here, or even acknowledged that she had been lifted out of the car.

It took all of my strength to just lay her down on my bed and not wake her up so I could ask her everything I wanted to. But now that I could actually see her I knew I was right when I said she was beautiful. Judging by her size she couldn't be taller than 5 foot 5 inches. She might have been sleeping stiff as a board at the moment but I could tell she had these small heart shaped lips. But the hair I thought was just brown, was this beautiful chestnut brown that complemented her suntanned skin very well. I already knew her eyes were amber, but I wanted to see them in the light.

"Aurora. Her name is Aurora."

Aurora, what a fitting name for my mate. "Oh there you are Azeran. I was wondering where you went." He may have only been a wolf but I could tell he was flipping me off.

"Where do you think I was dumbass? One of us had to do some digging about our mate. Even if her name was the only thing we found."

That was okay, because I would have the entire day tomorrow to ask her everything. A lock of hair had fallen across her face and as I brushed it back I placed a light kiss on her forehead.

"Get some rest Aurora. I'll be here when you wake up."