Chapter Sixty Eigh

Liam

I was sitting in my office when Jacob knocked on the door announcing his entrance. “What’s up?” I asked him. He had been a little distant since he met Azalea.

“The messenger you sent to White Moon is back with their reply and a guest,” he said. My eyes shot up in surprise.

“Okay, send the messenger in first,” I said.

“I already linked Beta Damien,” he said before exiting.

A few minutes later, the messenger was walking into my office followed by Damien. He stood in front of my desk ready to report.

“What is the current state of White Moon?” I asked.

“Not good, Alpha. It seems that many of their buildings and homes were torched when they were attacked. Their current state is also attracting rogues to the area, complicating things further.”

“And their leadership?” Damien asked.

“Their Alpha and Beta were killed when they were attacked. The Gamma was hurt. Right now, the Gamma, Delta and Madame Eirlys are trying to run the pack as they look for a replacement for Alpha.”

“Do you know anything about their decision concerning our offer?” I asked.

“It seems they may be open to it. It is my understanding that they have sent the Delta back with me to negotiate terms of a merger. But they did not allow me much information as they talked over their decision,” he finished.

I nodded to him. “Great, we want a full report by the end of day tomorrow. You are released until then,” Damien said. He turned to me. “I guess let’s see what they have to say,” he said. I nodded. He left the room, coming back with the White Moon Delta. I stood to greet him.

“Welcome. I am Liam Blackfur, Alpha of Blood Eclipse,” I said. He nodded to me.

“I am Gerald Smith, Delta of White Moon. Thank you for meeting with me,” he said. He was a tall and lean guy that looked to be in his late 20s. He had brown hair and a pale complexion.

“No problem. I assume this is about my Luna’s offer to your pack?”

“Yes. Where is your Luna?”

I looked to Damien who gave me a curious look back. “She is otherwise occupied. Why do you ask?”

The Delta shifted uncomfortably. “No reason,” he said. “The other members of our leadership have discussed your offer at length.”

“And the decision?”

“If Blood Eclipse can provide adequate living arrangements and jobs for the White Moon members, we will merge with your pack,” he said. I could sense he was nervous.

I looked at Damien and he nodded. “Something is off here,” I linked him. Turning to Gerald, I said, “That should be no problem. How about we continue this discussion over dinner later? I imagine you are tired from travelling and we can arrange a room for you to clean up and rest.”

His eyes got wide, but he continued his facade. “That is nice of you Alpha. I appreciate your hospitality,” he said.

“Damien, would you get the Delta or Gamma to help our friend here?” I said standing up. I needed to check on Azalea now. Something told me that this was all fake. “Azalea and Lily are working on wedding plans together, correct?”

“Yes. They should be up in my office. Lily has turned it into wedding headquarters since we have not given them an office. Felix was with them.”

“Good. Get him to a room and have someone keep an eye on his movements. We also need to check for any signs of trespassing even before his arrival.”

“I’m on it. You should get with Felix and go check on the girls. If someone is after Azalea, they may try to harm Lily because they are together.”

Damien led Gerald out of my office and I immediately followed. Austin was already in the hall getting directions from Damien. I walked right past them, moving quickly but keeping my body language relaxed. Before I even turned the corner, Jacob was crashing into me.

“Alpha!” he yelled.

“What is it?” I asked.

“Lily and Azalea have been taken!”

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN TAKEN?” I roared.

I could hear the growl emanating from Damien behind me and I turned to see him slamming the White Moon Delta against the wall. I was instantly by his side, my claws growing from my fingertips. Austin stood on his other side, equally enraged.

“Where are they?” Damien growled. Gerald clawed at Damien’s fist around his neck, gasping for air. Damien let go, letting him slide down the wall.

“I’m s-sorry…” he panted. “I was against this…”

“You have 10 seconds to explain and tell us where our mates are!” I screamed. I felt a presence behind me. I looked over my shoulder at an angry Felix holding a small plunger.

“They hit me with wolfsbane, Alpha. I am sorry. It was like a ghost. There was no one. It wasn’t strong enough to put me out completely, but they got our Luna and Lily,” he said in a flat tone. His eyes stared murderously at the wolf in front of us. I nodded my head at him.

“How can someone be invisible to our security? Speak!” I said. Gavin was shaking in rage inside of me, begging to come out and kill the wolf.

“It is his gift! He can camouflage himself, making him practically invisible! Madame Eirlys wants your Luna and sent him to get her. I was to distract you with a fake acceptance of your offer!” he said quickly. “I swear I was against it! I told them we should accept and merge with you! I told them we should accept your Luna’s kindness! They have my mate and pup!”

“Where did he take them?” Damien growled.

“There is a group waiting outside your border to help take them back to White Moon. If you hurry, you can catch them. He won’t be able to move quickly carrying two she-wolves,” he said.

Damien and Austin immediately took off for the front door. I turned to Felix. “Lock him up. We will deal with him later,” I said. “Then come meet us and the patrols to find the girls.”

I looked back at the pathetic wolf on the ground. “If anyone has laid a hair on my mate’s head, I will burn the rest of your pack to the ground,” I threatened him.

“We have picked up their scent towards the Northwest,” came Damien’s voice.

“On my way,” I said without sparing a glance at Felix or Gerald. I ran as fast as I could out of the pack house and towards the border. I shifted midair, not even bothering to remove my clothes. No one was going to take Azalea away from me again.

Azalea

Lily and I were playing with table arrangements in Damien's office. Apparently, she had been bugging Damien about giving us an office to share. He had not yet so she had taken over his office with all her wedding stuff. Mrs. Hale was supposed to be coming by later to help us make all the centerpieces, but Lily was still undecided on what she wanted.

“What if we do a single flower vase and then these candles around it,” she said, moving things around again. Damien’s small worktable was covered in a table cloth and we had various options all around us for her table designs.

“You have 3 colors of flowers. Will we use one or alternate between all of them? And you just said that you like these plates with those candles,” I said pointing at things on the table.

“Arghhh!” she said frustrated. She walked over to a chair and plopped herself down. “Who knew getting married was so much work!”

I giggled at her. “I think you are just being a little too anal about all this,” I said waving my hand at the table and sitting down in the chair next to her.

“You aren’t getting married; you don’t understand! It will be worse for you as the Alpha’s mate. But there is still pressure as the Beta’s! We have to have most of the pack there and everyone will judge how this all goes.”

I smiled at her. “I think that none of this matters as long as you and Damien are happy,” I told her.

She smiled at me. “Why are you so wise, almost-Luna?” We both laughed at that. “I need snacks. My brain cannot work like this. Think your hired goon will run down to the kitchen for us?” she said with a devious smile.

“Probably not but you can try! He has not left me alone unless I was with Liam since he got the job. Even so, the other day I walked out of Liam’s office straight into Felix’s back. I thought he had left after I went into Liam’s office and told him I would be there for a while,” I laughed.

She walked over to the door to talk to Felix who was earlier threatened by one serious bridezilla to wait patiently outside the office.

I walked over to our practice table and started playing with the various dinnerware and napkin options we had. I looked up after a minute realizing Lily had not come back. I walked over to the door that stood ajar. I opened it to see Felix laying on the ground unconscious but before I knew what was happening, I felt a prick in my neck, and everything started to fade away.

-

“Azalea,” I heard my name being called. It felt like someone was nudging me. “Azalea, wake up, we don’t have a lot of time,” someone said. I tried to move my body only to realize my hands were bound behind me as well as my feet. I was laying on my side and my head hurt really bad. I realized it was Lily’s voice calling me. I tried to open my eyes, but the room seemed to be spinning.

“Azalea, they are gone. We have to move, now,” she was trying to cajole me. I groaned trying to catch my bearings and figure out what happened.

“What happened?” I whispered.

“We were drugged and taken. I do not think we are far from the pack though. I can feel Damien even with the effects of the wolfsbane,” she said quickly.

“Can you help me sit up?” I said.

She scooted closer to me and she managed to help push me up enough so I could sit on my butt. I opened my eyes trying to stop the spinning.

“Where do you think we are?” I asked looking around. We were in a room that was dirty and pretty bare.

“I don’t know. My guess? Between Blood Eclipse and wherever these people are taking us,” she said. “I think I can let my claws out. Try to cut your ropes on them so you can untie me.”

We both scooted ourselves so that we were back-to-back. She was able to bring her claws out just enough that after about a minute of sawing, she cut my hands free.

“They aren’t very smart if they left you here almost recovered,” I said rubbing my wrists. I went to work untying her hands so we could both get our feet undone.

“I pretended to be out when they were still here. I think they thought the dose they gave us was stronger. I can’t link Damien or anyone from the pack yet, but I can feel my senses coming back,” she said. “Do you have any idea who this could be?”

I thought for a few moments. Liam had not mentioned any threats to the pack recently. I shook my head. “No, Liam hasn’t mentioned anything. I just assumed Felix was because of everything that happened with Kol,” I told her. She stood up. She started looking around the room we were in. Her legs were shaky as she walked around keeping a hand on the wall.

“I think this is some abandoned house,” she said.

“What do we do? Do we wait for them? What if someone is outside that door?” I said. I was really scared now that reality was sinking in. I closed my eyes, focusing on Liam for a minute.

“Liam, where are you?” I tried. “We’re okay. Please hurry....” Nothing. If Lily could not link Damien or anyone else, I doubted I could link Liam. Lily collapsed on the other side of the room. I clambered over to her.

“Are you okay?” I asked worried.

“I don’t know,” she said, wincing. She held her side. I lifted her shirt to see a giant bruise on her side. It was pretty dark and covered at least 3/4 of her rib cage.

“Oh, Lily,” I said. I was not sure what to do. Lily was not going to be able to run from here and there was no way I could fight off anyone without her. Even if her healing were not affected by wolfsbane, this would take a couple hours at minimum to heal enough for her to be able to fight.

“We have to find a way out of here. We can’t let them come back and find that we got out of the ropes,” she said with a serious look.

I took a deep breath. What if I could heal her like I did Liam? But I was not even sure how I did it. I bit my lip looking around the room. There were 2 windows, but they were completely boarded up; there wasn’t even light coming through the boards. There was a singular light hanging from the ceiling above us and a singular door across the room. It seemed like a bedroom in cabin almost.

“Lily, do you remember Liam and Kol’s fight?” I said.

“Yea but what does that have to do with this?”

“He was stabbed with a knife covered in wolfsbane. I felt it too. I do not think it was just our bond. And it healed. We are not sure but… I think I might have healed Liam that day,” I said looking at her. “I might be able to heal you so we can get out of here.”

Her eyes grew wide. “Azalea… how…”

“I don’t exactly know how but I think I need to try,” I said. She nodded her head. I grabbed her hand in mine. “Just hold still, okay? I am not really sure how this works,” I told her. She gripped my hand and held still. I closed my eyes and focused on her. I focused my mind on her injury and wanting it to heal.

I felt warmth come over me like a wave. For a few minutes, this warm feeling lingered over me. As it receded, I opened my eyes and looked at Lily. Her eyes were wide. We both looked down at her ribcage and the bruise was almost completely gone.

“You did it! Oh my Goddess, Azalea! How is this even possible,” she exclaimed. My head felt lite and the room was spinning again. I gave her a small smile. “Azalea are you okay?” she said realizing that I wasn’t steady.

“Yea, I will be. Just give me a sec,” I said holding my head.

“Let me see if I can link the guys, okay? I think you healed more than just the bruise. I can feel my wolf again,” she said. Her voice sounded far away, and my head felt cloudy. “Azalea, just stay with me, okay? I know they are coming…”

I felt Lily’s arms come around me as I slumped over, losing control of my own body. “Azalea, they are close. Don’t go to sleep, stay with me. Liam is coming. They want us to stay put,” I could hear her talking to me. “Azalea, tell me you’re still with me!”

“Uhhh…” I moaned softly. I felt really weak, but hope bloomed in my chest hearing that Liam was coming.

Liam

We were running as fast as we could, following the trace scent we could pick up. For some reason, Lily’s scent was slightly different than usual and stronger than Azalea’s scent.

I felt weird all of a sudden and I knew it had to be Azalea. “Damien, we need to hurry. Something is wrong with Azalea,” I told him.

“They are okay. Lily just linked me. Liam, can Azalea really heal people?”

I looked at him as we ran. “I don’t know,” I told him truthfully.

“I can feel her now. She said they are locked in a room and they don’t know what’s outside it,” he said. I could hear fear in his voice even inside the link. Damien was never this worried about Lily.

We picked up the pace even further, pushing ourselves to get to our mates. I let Damien lead us now that he could feel Lily clearly. My heart ached not being able to feel Azalea. We changed course slightly. Soon we were nearing a clearing and we could tell there were wolves here. We slowed down and approached carefully.

“3,” Damien said and I nodded.

“Be careful. We know one can camouflage himself,” I reminded him.

Someone approached us from behind and I turned to see Felix’s wolf with the identifying scar over his face. He nodded at me telling me he was ready to rescue the girls.

Azalea

Lily held me in her arms as I tried to keep myself conscious. I could tell Lily was nervous which was not normal for her.

“Lily, what’s wrong?” I whispered.

“Nothing. I just want to get you out of here…”

I wasn’t convinced. “No, it's something else.” I took a deep breath and realized her scent was different. “You smell different…”

She tensed up. I tried to sit up to look at her better. “Lily, are you…?” I started. Her eyes were rimmed with tears. She nodded slowly. And now I knew why she was scared. Wolfsbane could kill a pup. Her injury could have killed the pup. I may have fixed her side, but she had no idea if the pup she was carrying was okay.

“Lily, Goddess, I am so sorry,” I said.

“We need to get out of here…” she said quietly.

It was my turn to pull her close. I hugged her to me weakly. “Does Damien know?” I asked her quietly. She nodded her head. “He will move the moon and earth to get to you and your pup, Lily.”

I could only imagine what was going on in her and Damien’s head right now. Male wolves were especially protective of their pups and mates carrying them. There are some wolves who do not let their she-wolves out of their sight during the pregnancy. And now Lily was worried about losing the pup. I’m sure she could feel Damien through the bond, and he could feel her.

Out of nowhere, we heard loud banging and growls outside the room. Lily sat up abruptly, a mixture of hope and worry on her face. We both held our breaths as we listened to the commotion outside the room. A door banged open outside of the room.

“Lily!” “Azalea!” We heard our names at the same time and hoped bloomed in my chest. Lily stood up, running to the door. She tried the handle and of course it was locked. She began banging on the door, calling out to our mates. I slumped against the wall, relief now taking over my mind. Liam was here for me.

The door was pulled off its hinges and from the wall. My vision went blurry as I watched Lily leap into Damien’s arms. They were only in the doorway momentarily before he swept her away and he was replaced by 2 familiar faces. Liam and Felix now stood in the doorway.

“Liam…” I said. He was instantly over me; his warm hand cupped my cheek.

“Baby, are you okay? Are you hurt?” His voice was laced with worry.

“I’m okay,” I said softly. Liam pulled me to him, cradling me against his chest. I let my body mold to his, letting him surround me.

“Are you okay to run?” Liam said. I realized he was talking to Felix. I turned my head to look at Felix who was nursing a large gash in his arm. I head more voices around us, probably warriors entering the room.

“Let me help,” I said to Liam. It worked because he looked at me like I was delusional. I held out my hand. Felix looked at me with a disbelieving look as well. Liam and Felix locked eyes before he stepped towards us. He grabbed my hand with his uninjured one.

I closed my eyes and focused just like I had done with Lily. I focused on his arm and wanting the cut to heal. The warmth washed over me once again just like it had with Lily. I held onto Felix’s hand, until everything faded away. For a moment, I heard Liam calling my name.