Luna

Chapter twenty-two

Raven burst through the massive double doors in a flurry of red chiffon and loads of bags. Her eyes were covered by cat eye sunglasses and her lips were tinted blood red. Cassidy yanked back her chair and stared at the flamboyant raven haired woman. Adrian merely sat at the new dining table, his gaze glued to papers in front of him.

He was morbid beyond belief. His husband, our husband, had been taken by our enemy and his pack had been the victim of several missing persons. We knew now why they had gone missing. Abney hadn't written a letter in over two weeks, leaving me reeling as to what fate had befallen her.

My heart longed for her presence once more, but she made it clear to Cassidy before she left that she did not desire to come back. And I won't ever make her come back.

Raven found us all still sitting at the dining table, hunched over papers. I presume she came looking for us when we didn't jump up in a hurry to receive her. My, how she must realise things have changed a lot whilst she was gone. "How was Paris?" I asked coolly, almost too cold. "It was wonderful, entertaining and loads of fun. It was fashion week you know." she smirked my way and I visibly cringed. "I can see that." I mused and stood up from my chair.

Raven looked toward the the table with her spouses around, her eyes only blinking twice when she saw Cassidy in a wheelchair. She didn't say a word about it. When even Abney responded with tears and sadness. My blood started boiling right there. "Hello family. I am home. You may now love me." she radiated, obviously Paris had put her in a lovely mood.

"We saw you come in, Princess." Cassidy bit out sarcastically, making Raven frown. "What's stuck up your butt?" Raven asked, playing inoccent. "Well last we checked you were supposed to go and gather information in France, not go on a fucking vacation!" Shaé hollered and jumped up. "I'm so sorry for trying to make the mood a bit lighter!" Raven roared back, flinging her purse to the ground. "Give me one piece of information that I can actually use and you'll be excused from this little incident." I answered, keeping my voice as flat as possible.

Raven produced a not-yet-opened envelope with my name written in neat letters on it. I instantly realised from who it was and took it gratefully. "Where did you get this?" I asked, baffled by her producing the item. "Your little messenger got killed and his ghost sought me out. He told me where to find the letter and now here I am." she waved her hands in a grand gesture and sat down next to Adrian.

He still didn't look up. Of all the people in this room, he loved Xavier more than anyone of us. Maybe even all of us combined. I sat down in my normal seat and flipped the envelope in my hand countless of times. For some strange reason it was heavier than the ones before.

My finger tips glided over her wax seal and I was pleased to see it wasn't broken. Yet. I broke the seal effortlessly and glided out maybe five pages. Strange. She usually sent just one.

Her scent was strong on the pages, making me miss her more than I already was. Hesitantly I started reading the first page and my heart sank within the first four words.

She was saying goodbye.

By the end of the letter, tears started dripping down my face and it took everything inside of me not to show how deeply hurt I was. The others looked to me for some inkling as to what the human girl who held three of our hearts had to say.

Finally I looked up at them and Cassidy's face was bathed in worry. "Is it Xavier?" her voice was a shrill. "N-n-no." I stuttered out. "Is it Abney?" Shaé enquired, pushing away the documents before her. I nodded with a stiff neck. "She said her goodbyes. She left the compound and asked we spare her father. The Black Guard will be there by tomorrow night. She says it will be our best chance at getting them all together." I answered, reigning in my hurt and anger.

Once again, I closed my emotions and focused on the task at hand. For now I wouldn't mourn. I would just guide my men into battle. "We need to get Xavier out of there." Adrian said, using his Alpha voice. The kind of voice that sends a chill down your spine. "I agree. And we need to do it tomorrow night. Two birds, one stone." Cassidy replied, an edge to her tone.

"Adrian, will you be able to pull our guard together and lay out a formation according to this map?" I asked and slided the map towards him. "Consider it done." he smiled and stood up, probably to go and deal with it. "You girls, can you go and memories these schedules of their security teams to see when the best time of attack might be?" I asked looking at Shaé. She bobbed her long blonde head and looked to Cassidy. "Let me know when the perfect time is to attack. I want us to go in and get out as fast as possible. I don't want news stations to get a smell of this." I continued and Cassidy stared at me with wide eyes. Then she spoke up. "What will you do?" I smiled my crooked smile and moved to her side. "I'm going to make sure all our body armour and weapons are ready." I then kissed her forehead and moved to Raven.

"Even if I didn't show it, I'm still glad you're back home with us." I said and kissed her lips tenderly. She felt like home and that was all I wanted to feel.

Just before I left, I turned a bit and added. "Oh and make sure to tell Adrian the head of the Guard is mine, along with Mr. Kamdar."

I want to taste their blood before dawn came the next day.