Bound to the Alpha

26. Between Worlds

"What's going on?" Angelina demanded.

She felt the unease and shock ripple in the room. She shifted in discomfort, seeking Mason's attention.

"If there were any lingering doubts in any one of us that you are the Luna of this Pack, this has erased it, completely." Irene informed her. That expression of intrigue still remained on her fine boned face, verging on contemplative. "Only the Luna of the Silver Dawn Pack can see the Spirits of those who have gone beyond."

"Spirits?" Angelina tried to make sense of Irene's words. None of it made sense. Spirits? Like dead people? That couldn't be possible. She wasn't some necromancer that could communicate with the dead. That had never happened before in her whole life. Irene was spouting out nonsense or at least, she wasn't exactly convinced of what she was saying.

Casper spoke this time, interrupting her flow of thoughts as his voice rose from the tense silence in the room, utterly tortured and hopelessly bereft as he gazed off to a point over her shoulder. "May's dead."

"Casper." Dani whispered, holding his arm firmly.

"There's still hope Cas-" Drake began.

Casper shot to his feet; his fists squeezed tight at his sides. "I appreciate the support and all but we all knew she was dead the moment we searched for her for weeks after she went missing. It's been years! Fucking years! We haven't found her body but this just confirms everything Drake! May is dead. Gone. No longer here." His voice suddenly lost tension like ice breaking into fine mist as he swayed hopelessly back into his seat, utterly defeated, and sucked out of life.

But his words still rang clear in the room.

Angelina pictured May's young face and her cheeky smile. Not too long ago she felt her little arms offer her comfort.

May couldn't be... just gone.

"Mason." She whispered, seeking his eyes. "This doesn't make sense. I saw her not too long ago. We spoke together. She hugged me. I felt her. She's not dead."

Mason's expression made her feel sick.

"She's not dead." She repeated.

"Angelina." He whispered.

"She hugged me! She's flesh and bone. I felt her little heart against me. Beating. Like butterfly wings. Her heart fluttered like butterfly wings against me."

"That's impossible. Lunas can only see Spirits, not touch them." Irene announced.

"I'm not making this up. I would never." Angelina shook her head in disbelief.

"She's been missing for five years." Casper's words carried nothing but ghosts. "We're not sure how she was able to leave Pack boundaries but she did. We searched for her for days, weeks, months, and years but nothing came up. There were some clues that indicated she was still alive but you know how things get, the longer she was gone, the less confident we were in finding her alive."

"Babe, you don't need to say anything. You don't owe any of us an explanation-" Dani began.

"No, what's the point of caging all this shit in anyway Dani?" Casper sighed, "There's no point to any of this. I've been denying the truth for a fucking long time. A truth I should've accepted years ago when the trail went stale."

"Casper."

"And she just said she'd seen May, Dani. Isn't that proof enough? There's no hope left. Nothing."