Page 113 of Forever My Siren Luna

Several miles from the castle, the mind links started coming in. The pack mind was frantic. There were so many orders being given by Cherum and Percy, and so many warriors and pack members responding that it was impossible for me to understand what was going on.

Killian snarled ferociously through the link, “WHERE IS SHE?!”

The link went silent, just a rabid energy pulsing through.

Then, Cherum made my teeth grind together at his words. “She’s gone.” The pain in the pack mind link is suffocating. My pain was tearing my soul apart. “We are searching for her now.”

“What do you mean she is gone?! Gone where?!”

“She was taken, Alpha.” The answer came from Kent. “She was taken by Alpha Wayne.”

Killian snarled so loudly, it felt as if the ground was shaking. It caused the horses behind us to whine loudly. I felt everyone's fear mixed with despair in the mind link. My mate was taken, and the very earth can feel my sorrow and anger.

This can’t be. None of this makes sense. That never happened in the first timeline. It never happened before the war. She was safe in the castle the entire time I was fighting in the war. Nothing ever got close to the packhouse. No invasions crept this far south.

But then, this battle looming over us is nothing like the battle we faced back then. Demons don’t do well in the south. It was the other clans from the north that attacked, but never the demons.

Then, I start playing through all the changes we have made in this life, and how that could have affected everything else. We changed a lot. Lira changed a lot.

Then I think of her time spent at sea. All the massacres she conducted of Alpha Wayne's men.

He’s desperate. Wayne must be desperate because of his depleted men. His desperation is what changed in this timeline. The pirates and Lira were weakening his forces. Greatly. His power and influence must be depleted. We knew he was working with the northern clans, but to form ties with the demons? What did that man offer the demons in exchange for all this destruction and mayhem?

And why kidnap my mate? How will that benefit him in any way?

As Killian pushed forward towards the castle, my head was trying to make sense of this through all my sorrow and fury. Cherum called for me to meet him on the beach near the cliffs that led to the stream that moved inland. It was the place Lira told me she had to escape to do her own laundry and even wash herself when she couldn’t use the omega bathhouse.

Cherum and a handful of guards were gathered there. Kent was there with the two orphan boys, both of them crying and looking haggard. Westley’s tearfilled eyes looked furious. He was not just sad. He was pissed. His anger matched that of the warriors present.

Killian gave me control as we approached. “What happened?” I demanded.

I had tried to make sense of how she was taken by listening to all the conversations in the mindlink, but still didn’t fully comprehend how she could have been taken in the first place. There was no way Wayne and his men could have snuck into the packhouse to take her and she is never alone. She should never be alone. Even now that she is a warrior, I don’t let her walk about unprotected.

Someone fucked up, and my men are looking around at each other fearfully, scared to be the one to suffer my wrath. I was about to lunge at Cherum, since he looked the most guilty, but then Westley spoke up.

“It’s my fault,” little Westley said. “She was protecting us. It’s my fault,” his bottom lip trembled, his eyes still furious and full of tears. “I snuck away when the teachers took the others back to the orphanage. Riley was hiding with me near the stream when they found us.”

I looked at Kent and he had an exhausted expression on his face. “Mimi died in the earliest hours of the morning. Everyone was still grieving and I didn’t realize they were missing until Luna called for help. I thought he had gone home to go to bed as I was doing rounds of the castle grounds, and even told the teachers that Westley could stay with us at home for the day when they couldn't find him and said he was last seen with Riley. I didn't know they had actually snuck off.”

“It’s my fault,” Westley gritted his teeth, furiously wiping tears on the back of his hand.

“No,” Cherum shook his head. “I never should have left her,” Cherum growled, staring at the ground and clenching his fists at his side. “I never should have left her on the beach.”

No, he shouldn't have. I wanted to tear into him, but Cherum looked like he was tortured already. His pained guilt was the only reason Killian hadn't lunged at him yet.

“You were doing important things for Luna, Delta,” Kent rested his hand on Cherum’s shoulder. “There were others around when you and Percy left with Mimi’s body,” Kent said. “Someone should have thought about staying with her. Everyone started heading their own way to grieve, and I didn’t even think about checking on her. I was doing rounds. I should have checked on her.”

King Brennus dismounted, his large body striding into the mix of warriors. His face was fierce. “You can place blame and take it all day, but that doesn’t find my daughter,” his deep voice boomed. “What happened?!”

I was on the cusp of giving into Killian’s urge to take someone’s head, then rip through the forest to find answers myself. If King Brennus hadn’t spoken up, resting a steadying hand on my shoulder, I just might have.

Cherum recounted the events that Westley and Riley said happened, from the time they were taken in the forest along the stream until Lira willingly left with her Uncle to save the boys’ lives.

Westley’s angry tears flowed by the end of the recollection, and I could see he truly blamed himself. Everyone was trying to take blame, but this little boy was drowning in his. Cherum was too.

And so was I.

“We believe the heavy metal necklace Westley described is a collar that is made to cut a lycan off from its person. She was talking to me, telling me to hurry, and then the link went cold. Even my Delta bond to her was cut off.”