*Theo*
“Watch out!” Jake shouted.
I cranked the steering wheel and the car let out a piercing squeak. We barely made the sharp curve on the road which was next to a cliff.
All the evidence and intel attributed Ciana’s abduction to the Ortiz pack.
I sped off again as massive raindrops pelted down on the windshield.
“If you continue to drive like this you’ll get us both killed before we even get there!” Jake tried to reason with .
“Shut up!” I roared.
Ciana was missing! How could I afford wasting even one second?
The rain started falling faster and my windshield wipers were on full blast. The roads were slick. I felt my tires slip a few tis and even with my high beams on, I could barely see 10 feet ahead of .
I swerved to miss a massive puddle and hit a muddy patch. Mud splattered the windshield and I slamd the brakes on. My car skidded to a halt. My knuckles were white around the steering wheel.
I glanced at Jake and saw him holding onto his “oh-shit” bar for dear life, his face pale.
“That was insane...”
“Road is blocked. We’ll get out and run from here,” I said as I shifted. Behind , Jake had shifted too.
Without any more delay, we ran through the rain. I knew my way to Ortiz pack and a little storm wouldn’t stop .
My paws squelched in the mud and cold rain pelted but it didn’t slow down.
Shit! Shit! Shit!
Why did I pull back the security details around her!? What the fuck was I thinking about!? Why the fuck did I think that it was good to let her enjoy life without bodyguards?!
I’d never forgive myself for that stupid decision.
‘Alpha! Slow down. We have to think about this,’ Jake warned through the mindlink.
‘If it was Brook, would you hesitate?’ I asked back in the mindlink.
Jake growled behind .
‘No, probably not. But this is Ortiz Pack. All of this feels like a trap. It was too easy to track them down.’
I shook my fur again and ignored his worries.
“It doesn’t matter. This is Ciana!”
If Ortiz Pack wanted a fight, they were going to get one. Their Alpha was dead and they had no Luna. Whoever was left in that mangy, run down pack had no strength to stand against and Alpha Soren Black.
Soren would et us at Ortiz Pack to save his daughter.
My heart raced in my chest with more than the exertion of running. Ciana was in trouble. She was vulnerable and helpless without her mories. If she couldn’t rember anything from her life at the palace, she definitely wouldn’t rember anything about Luther or Ortiz Pack.
What could they possibly want from her?
Most likely and hopefully their target was and Ciana was a lure for them. They knew I’d co as long as they had Ciana.
It was impossible to know what they were trying to do. I doubted that Alpha Soren had advertised that his daughter lost her mory. The ones that took her might not even know how vulnerable she was, which just put her in more danger.
I glanced up at the sky. Even through the thick storm clouds I could see a glimr of silver light pushing through.
The Moon Goddess was always there watching over us.
I needed her right now. Ciana needed her right now. Silently, I said a prayer to the Moon Goddess, begging her to keep Ciana safe.
My strength and speed rivaled Jake’s, so I pulled ahead of him as we neared Ortiz Pack.
‘Alpha!’ he called to through the mind link. ‘We should wait for backup.’
‘I’m not waiting,’ I insisted.
‘Then at least wait for Alpha Soren. He’s the one she rembers. We have other warriors coming. We don’t know what kind of force is waiting.”
I snorted, ignoring Jake’s pleas.
The reinforcents would arrive when they got there but I wasn’t slowing down. I couldn’t let Ciana be hurt or influenced by them.
I hated thinking of her in terms of soone that was vulnerable because she was one of the strongest people I knew. She’d overco everything that was thrown at her. But she was at a disadvantage without her mories and I knew my enemies would exploit that to all ends.
The Ortiz mansion lood in front of . Rain splattered against the driveway, the stone steps, and the marble walls. There were outside lights but they hardly cut through the pounding rain.
The front doors opened and soone stumbled out, their arms looped around their stomach.
Imdiately, I shifted back to human.
I’d planned ahead, strapping a pair of gloves and sweats to my leg before shifting. I threw them on quickly, but they were soaked almost imdiately.
The person stumbled again and her scent wafted to through the rain.
Ciana!
She staggered again and I rushed toward her, catching her just before she hit the ground.
“Ciana!” I held her against my chest tightly.
Based on her scent and how she felt in my arm, it was her. Thank the Goddess!
However, she didn’t respond to . I looked at her face and noticed that her eyes were distant and unfocused.
A chill ran down my spine.
I looked her over and she didn’t seem injured. What was wrong with her?
“Ciana, talk to . What did they do to you?” I asked, shaking her slightly.
Ciana gasped and her eyes locked on mine.
“Theo...”
“Yes, I’m here, okay? Did they hurt you?” I asked, looking her over again. I didn’t sll any blood on her. She looked a little pale but she wasn’t acting like she was injured or in pain. She was acting disoriented.
I looked into her eyes, wondering if soone had drugged her.
“King Theo?” she asked in a strained voice. Her body was shivering and her teeth were chattering.
“Yes, it is ... Dammit, I need to get you sowhere dry. Co this way!”
I wasn’t sure whether she was able to walk, so I planned to just carry her, but she pushed away and stared at .
“I’m... okay. I’m... this is where I... belong,” she said, her voice broken, her eyes confused.
“Goddess, I’m just glad you’re okay! Let’s get you dried off and ward up,” I insisted. The Ortiz mansion was the closest place we could go to get dry and warm. I knew that no one in there would be able to stop .
“Aren’t you curious about why I’m here? Why do I want you here?” Ciana asked.
I rubbed my gloved hand against her arms to keep her warm. Was she delirious because of the cold and rain?
“We can talk about that later. First, I need to get you sowhere safe and sowhere dry,” I insisted, looking around again.
“I’m here because I am the Luna of Ortiz Pack,” she muttered.
“What!?” I gasped, looking down at the woman half cradled in my arms. “What are you talking about?”
I frowned. Things may be way more complicated than I thought.
Her eyes were wide. Judging by her look, she really believed what she was saying.
That fucking Luther and his Shadow!!
I took a couple deep breaths and lowered my voice, so that I didn’t sound furious. If she wasn’t clear headed, the last thing I wanted to do was scare her.
“Ciana, you’re not the Luna of Ortiz Pack. You’re the daughter of Alpha Soren Black of Alvar Pack. Who told you that you were the Luna?”
“No one had to tell , I saw it! I rembered it!” she cried, pounding her palm to her chest.
“Rembered?” I asked, creasing my brow. “Ciana...”
What the hell was going on?
The first ti she was here, she was sent by Raymond as part of Luther’s plan. She’d stayed at the mansion for a brief ti while I was around, but she’d never had a romantic relationship with Luther.
In fact, she made it a point to show that because she’d had to pretend to get along with him to get close to him.
I ground my teeth together and clenched my fists at my sides. Whatever Ciana was going through, it didn’t matter. We could sort that out later. Right now, I just wanted to get her out of here before we put ourselves in more danger than we were already in.
“Ciana, I don’t know what witchcraft this is, but you don’t belong here. You never did and you never will.”
“That’s just what you want to think! You can’t trick . I’ve seen the truth in the crystal,” she insisted, tears brimming her eyes.
“If you don’t believe , you should at least believe your father,” I tried to reason with her. “He’s on his way.”
“Father... who is my father...?” Confusion flashed on her face and she seed to be trying to rember. Then she cried, “Ahhh! My head hurts! It hurts a lot!”
She wrapped her hands around her head and she started to shake her head vigorously. Soon after, her eyes were wild and bloodshot.
She jumped back and shook her head at . “Don’t touch ! You don’t get to touch ! Not after you killed my beloved!”
“Your beloved?” I asked. I pressed my palm to my forehead and shook my head. Her delusion was getting more and more convoluted.
I had to strain to hear Ciana’s voice in the crashing rain, and then the ear-splitting crack of thunder subsequently drowned out any sound around us.
Part of knew this had to be a horrible dream. There was no better explanation. Maybe I’d fallen into a ssed up Moonlit Crystal dream.
“You killed Luther!” Ciana cried, pointing accusingly at .
“Yes, I did, because he was a very, very bad man that tried to destroy the entire world,” I tried to explain. I had no idea what else to say except to agree with the things that were true.
“You killed my beloved, my mate and my Alpha...”
“Ciana, stop that! That’s not true! You’re no one’s Luna. You are Ciana Black!”
“King Theo...” she murmured a sentence but I couldn’t hear it properly.
“Fuck! What did they do to you? Wake up!”
The expression on her face told that she was in serious pain and I was heartbroken watching her suffer.
“King... Theo...” she continued to murmur.
“I’m here. Ciana, wake up!” I shook her slightly.
She stared at and said again. “King Theo... must...”
I leaned closer to hear her clearly.
A bright white lightning tore the sky and I saw a flash of silver fly across the front of .
In Ciana’s hand was a knife. The next mont I knew, it slamd into my chest.
White hot pain shot down my spine and my arm. Warm blood covered my chest and mixed with rain, getting runny and covering with crimson.
I stared at the knife, blinking.
The thunder of the earlier lightenig finally arrived but I was still able to hear the entire sentence that she had been saying.
“King Theo must die!”
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