A/N: hey lovelies. I'm so sorry for my tardiness! This week is so stressful and it's only Tuesday! Here's a new chapter !
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Kisses,
--J
Penny POV
It had been 3 hours and Estrella had still not returned. The worry ate away at me causing me to feel physically sick.
I jumped up when Julius and Tony came back into the house. But their expressions instantly gave them away.
"She's been taken. Her phone was left on the ground in the clearing. And surprisingly Ada is gone too. Her entire room is empty." Tony explained, immediately coming over to hold me as my tears fell violently for the second time.
I was about to stand up when I felt something. My worry increased tenfold.
"She's sleeping." I uttered.
The group turned to look at me.
"I can tell she's sleeping. Because she's having a nightmare right now. I can always feel it when she does."
Fresh tears began to fall. Wherever she had been taken, she was already fast asleep, probably from being sedated.
"Look guys. We can't fall apart. It's 1am. We should all get some sleep and wait for the trackers to get back to us in the morning." Xavier reasoned.
Tired from all the crying and pacing, I have in and went upstairs to my room, followed by Damian and a crying Alina.
Julius was the only one who hadn't moved at all. His face was completely blank, void of any emotion. Xavier stayed downstairs to try and get through to him.
Once I got into my room, I slumped on my bed on the verge of crying again.
"Here." Tony said handing me my pyjamas.
"Go into the bathroom and change. I will be right here when you get back.
I did as he said and went into the bathroom. Sure enough, when I emerged, Tony was sitting on my bed in only sweatpants, waiting patiently.
He ushered me to bed before tucking me in like a baby. I blushed at the special treatment.
"Your sister is a strong woman. She will make it through this and we will bring her back." He said before kissing my forehead and turning to leave.
"Tony wait." I called
"Will you stay with me? Please?"
He looked torn for a moment but nodded, getting into bed beside me. Instinctively I laid my head on his chest, and he followed suit wrapping his arm around me.
Other than kissing, this is the most intimate we had ever been. Just having him around comforted me.
I closed my eyes and let myself drift off into a dreamless sleep.
"Happy Birthday babydoll ." Tony whispered into my hair. I sighed playing with our entwined fingers. My birthday was bittersweet. With my sister gone I sure didn't feel up to having a celebration.
I got dressed for the day as I usually would. I didn't bother with makeup, as I didn't plan on taking any pictures or even leaving the house.
Downstairs, I was met with sympathetic stares. Alina gave me a small smile but it didn't reach her eyes, which were bloodshot and puffy.
Breakfast was uneventful and gloomy. Though, my heart swelled at the fact that the guys had made an effort to make my first few hours as a 17 year old special. The one person I hadn't seen at all was Julius.
"He's been trapped in his study since last night. He's refusing to talk to anyone right now." Alina sighed.
Immediately, I picked up a plate and loaded it with food for him. I wasn't going to let him beat himself up and sulk like I really wanted to. It's not what Estrella would want.
I sauntered up the stairs and knocked on the study door.
No answer
I knocked again
Still no answer
I could hear shuffling coming from inside.
Running out of patience, I opened the door and let myself in.
"Julius. You need to eat. You won't be able to find her if you don't have any energy."
Julius turned in his study chair to face me, holding a small red velvet box. It was opened in his lap revealing a diamond pendant. Dark circles were evident under his tired eyes.
Julius Stone was usually very proud and put together. I was surprised by his disheveled state to say the least.
"I bought this a few weeks ago. I planned to give it to her last night. 12 carats of Musgravite. Valuable and perfectly irreplaceable just like her." He laughed bitterly.
"You love her don't you?"I asked placing the food on the desk.
"I do. I love her. hell, I'm in love with her. And I never got to tell her."
"You will. When we get her back. This isn't the end. Now eat so we can put operation find the Luna into action."
He smiled slightly at my attempt to cheer him up. If we were gonna find my sister, we were going to need a strong Alpha.
Returning downstairs and leaving Julius to his own devices, I went to look for my mate. I found him in the living room fiddling with his phone. He abruptly shoved the phone into his pocket when I entered the room.
"Hey.." I greeted, eyebrow raised.
"Hey babydoll what's up?" He asked smiling.
"Oh nothing I was just looking for you. Were you doing anything important?"
He was about to come up with an answer when the doorbell rang. He shrugged and went to answer it.
"Good morning. We came to see the Alpha we have news about the Luna.
Julius was already making his way down the stairs when Tony ushered the pack warriors in.
"Good Morning Luke, John. What did you find?"
"Alpha. We checked the CCTV footage on the territory borders. Somehow the cameras were off from 9:40pm to 10:30pm. They somehow turned back on in time to catch footage of Ada and another person carrying the Luna and placing her in the back of an SUV. We tracked Ada and the Luna's scent up till an airport. The scent completely disappeared up to that point. After asking around, we came to a conclusion that she has been taken somewhere in the South of Europe."
We all sat quietly for a moment, digesting this new information.
"Alright that will be all. Thank you. You can leave now."
The guards bowed their head respectfully before leaving the house. Julius didn't say a word, instead went back to the confinement of his study.
I could feel the tears forming. But I refused to let them fall. I was going to conduct my own investigation.
"Tony I'm going to the packhouse will you come with me?"
"Ah. I can't babe. I have some things I need to deal with for the Alpha."
I sighed and shrugged, grabbing my purse and my phone before heading out.
My first stop was going to be Ada's room. She had to have left some sort of useful evidence.
I pushed the door open. The room was very clean and bare. I carefully looked around, checking under the bed and desk as well as in the wardrobe.
The bathroom was next. All the cabinets were empty as I had expected. There was however,a small black bag on the floor. Probably things she was meant to throw away. I pulled out the pair of gloves that I kept in my purse in case of emergency (and yes I have been in an emergency where I needed a pair of rubber gloves in the past- don't ask) and went through to contents of the bag.
Inside was some Calvin Klein and Zara packaging. I hated the girl at this moment but she always did have good taste.
Inside the packaging was a weird pink vintage perfume bottle of some sort. It was nearly empty and I set it aside. There was also some torn up plane tickets. One of them was for a flight here from France on the 23rd of June.
The day of the Initiation Ceremony.
So Ada had flown in the same day and hour as the ceremony ; meaning her plan to take Estrella had been meticulously planned from the start, even when she had not laid eyes on her!
The second ticket was a flight to France on the 22nd of June but the departure location had been ripped off. The flight was only 3 hours so she hadn't come from very far.
Lastly, there was a small ornament. It was a small lighthouse surrounded by mountains. For some odd reason, it looked so familiar. Like, I had been to the place depicted on it before.
Will all this new evidence I picked up, I exited the room and went searched around the house for a few girls I knew could probably help.
On my way to the other side of the packhouse, I couldn't help but overhear a conversation that was being had further down the corridor from a room, in which the door had been left open.
"You know you're the only one I come to with this problem Annabelle."
That voice. It could only belong to one guy.
"I know Tony. I was wondering when you'd pay me a visit. Does your mate know you're here?"
"No of course not."
"Good. Now come on let me show you what I've got! " the female giggled.
That lying little rat! He told me he had things to do for Julius. Ignoring the stabbing pain in my heart, I continued my quest for answers. I would deal with the boyfriend drama later.
I found exactly who I was looking for in one of the living rooms.
"Happy Birthday Penny!" They all chimed as I entered the room.
"Thanks." I whispered sheepishly. I had actually forgotten what day it was.
"Gosh how are you?"
"We heard about Estrella. The entire pack is devastated."
"How are you holding up?"
"Hey guys. I'm fine it's just so surreal but I'm trying to keep it together. I just came to ask a few questions about Ada. You know, the girl that was living here before."
The three girls looked at each other, showing an obvious distaste for said girl.
"Yeah I heard that it was that bitch that helped kidnap Estrella I knew there was something off about her." Aaliyah said rolling her eyes.
"Yeah. During the day, she always acted so secretive and sketchy. Then, late at night, you'd hear her having loud phone conversations with someone either in Greek or Spanish. " Simone added.
"Not to mention that she used to constantly spray herself with that weird mist, like she was covering up the stench of deceit." Aubrey scoffed.
"You girls didn't like her very much huh?"
"Can you blame us? She declined all our attempts to include her. She even flirted with my mate. And now she's kidnapped my good friend and the Luna of my pack! " Simone huffed angrily.
I stayed and took part in some small talk before deciding that it was time to head back.
I embraced the feeling of the sun on my skin. It was only 5pm, so it was still very bright outside.
My thoughts changed and I found myself thinking about Estrella.
Where was she?
Was she ok?
I knew that she was a strong woman. But what I didn't know was the capacity for evil her kidnapper had. I just hoped we would find her in time.
Alina and Damian were canoodling in the living room when I got home.
"Hey Penny. Your dad called. He said he will come over at some point tonight." Alina informed me.
I nodded thanking her before going up to my room. I needed to let off some steam and I knew just the way to do it.
I opened my drawer, fishing out my sketchbook and my pencils. Art had always brought me comfort. I managed to combine my love for fashion and my creative skills into a hobby I enjoyed. My designs never left my sketchbook though, and I was ok with that.
After 2 hours of drawing, crying, weird snack choices, my phone rang. I looked at the caller ID and rolled my eyes.
"Hey babydoll."
I scoffed. "What do you want Anthony?"
He could practically hear him cringing at the sound of his full name. "Well aren't we feeling formal? What's the matter?"
"Just go away I don't want to talk to you."
"What, why not, what did I do?"
"Figure it out. Goodbye."
"No wait, I need you to meet me in the garden at the packhouse in half an hour. "
"And why would I do that?"
"Come on Penny, please? I have something important to show you."
"Ugh fine whatever." I reluctantly agreed and hung up.
Moments later, there was a knock on my door.
"Hey Alina what's up?"
"Hey. I'm just checking in on you. Any plans for tonight?" She asked smiling.
"No. Except I'm meeting Tony at the pack house in a little while."
"Oh well. I just thought I would give you your birthday present now."
She handed me a cute little gift bag. Inside was a LBD with long off shoulder sleeves. It wasn't overly fancy but it was definitely was eye catching.
"Awww Alina. It's so cute. I love it thank you!" I hugged her.
"You're very welcome. Now hurry up and go try it on, I want to see it on you!"
I went into the bathroom and quickly slipped the dress on.
"Yes ahhhh it fits like a glove!" She squealed.
"I love it." I said checking myself out in the mirror.
"Oh wait I need to go and meet Tony!" I remembered. I was about to remove the dress but she stopped me.
"No go in the dress. Go wow your mate!"
I scoffed laughing at her and quickly made my way out of the house and to the Packhouse Garden.
When I got there, Tony was standing there waiting for me as he said he would be.
"Ok what's this about?" I asked
"Come with me." He grinned leading me somewhere beyond the grassy field.
"Where are we going? You're going to need to come up with some decent answers Mister because I just don't get it! You didn't want to spend time with me all day and now you want to show me somethi..." I stopped mid rant, stunned by what was in front of me.
We were in a hidden section of the garden,
Which was decorated with candles and lanterns. In the middle was a beautifully set table.
"Surprise!Happy birthday babydoll."
"So this is what you were doing all day?" I cooed
"Yes of course. What did you think was going on?"
"Oh well umm..." I began sheepishly.
"Pennyyyy.." He prompted.
"Well you were acting strange this morning and I heard you at the packhouse today talking to Annabelle.."
"Yes I was talking to Annabelle. And her mate. About putting your present together. "
He led me to the table, pulling out the chair for me, before handing me a big white bag.
I gasped at the contents. Inside was two things. A new set of water colour brushes, the type artists used. And the other was black jewellery box beautifully embroidered with colourful flowers.
"Annabelle works for an art supplies company. I saw you looking at these brushes online the other day and I had to get them for you. Her mate Josh just so happens to work near an customisation shop. So I bought the box and had it embroidered and engraved. I would never cheat on you Penny. "
"Oh Tony. Gosh I don't know what to say.."
"Well say you'll be mine. I haven't officially asked you yet, and I know the timing isn't great but Penelope, will you be my girlfriend?"
"Yes yes yes!" I squealed.
This had to have been one of the best birthdays ever. There was a mix of emotions, considering Estrella wasn't here but I knew that we would find her and our family would be together once more.