"I've found her," I said, my voice barely above a whisper. "My fated mate." A collective gasp filled the room, followed by a flurry of congratulations and back-slapping. The Curse that plagued our pack could finally be broken, but only if I bonded with my mate.
“Congratulations, man.” Gregg got up and came over and patted me on the back. “Can’t wait to meet her. Where is she from?” I grimaced slightly.
“Erm, I met her in the city,” I said, and they all looked confused.
“But you went to pick up Damon,” Gregg said. “When did you have time to go shopping for your mate? And by the way, where is that son of mine?”
At that moment, the door swung open, and Damon limped into the room, his face bruised and swollen from our earlier encounter. My heart ached at the sight of him, guilt gnawing away at me like a ravenous beast. He glared at me, pain and betrayal etched in his dark eyes.
"Jesus, what the hell happened to you?" Gregg demanded, rushing to his son's side. His eyes flicked between Damon and me, piecing together the truth.
"Ask your future Alpha," Damon spat, his voice thick with hurt and anger.
"I... I lost control," I confessed, my voice barely audible. "When I saw them together, my wolf took over. I didn't mean to hurt him." But even as I said it, I knew there was no excuse for what I'd done. "My mate was with Damon?"
“Wait! Erica? She’s your mate?” Jacob blurted out. “Aw man, you’re fucked.” He started laughing.My father walked over to Damon and handed him a glass.
“I made it a double,” he said as Damon took it from him and settled back into the chair next to me. I looked at Jacob, who was still chuckling to himself.
“What do you mean by fucked?” Both Damon and Jacob grinned.
“Erica is erm..” Damon started.
“That girl is feisty. She’s gonna chew you up and spit you out,” Jacob said, and started laughing again, clearly enjoying my predicament. "She won't be easy to handle."
"Jacob!" Declan warned, giving him a stern look.
"Sorry, Alpha," he replied, only half-heartedly.
“She squares up against Heidi all the time in the bar,” Damon said. “They hate each other.”
“And I have seen her kick guys twice her size out without batting an eyelash,” Jacob said.
I sat and listened with pride as they told tales about my mate. She was certainly amazing Luna material.
“Well, where is the girl?” Gideon asked, “When do we get to meet her?” and I looked down.
“I don’t know,” I said and Damon laughed.
“She kicked him in the balls and ran off,” he said, and Jacob burst out laughing again. I glared at Damon, and he shrugged. I guess I deserved that. I turned to my dad, and he nodded.
"Don't fret, son. We will do everything in our power to find your mate. But first, we must attend to the situation at hand."
"Right," I muttered, forcing myself to focus on the present.
Alright, everyone," my father announced, commanding the attention of the room. “Before we can focus on finding our new Luna, there's another situation we must deal with.” My heart ached at the thought of delaying the search for my fated mate, but I knew better than to question my father's judgement. I clenched my fists, struggling to keep my frustration in check.
"Gregg and I went to help an old friend who was being hunted by his enemies," my father continued, his voice heavy with sorrow. "Unfortunately, we arrived too late. We found him dead, brutally tortured for several hours before he finally succumbed to his injuries." Shock and anger rippled through the room like a tidal wave. The air thickened with tension as our pack's leadership absorbed the horrific news. My own grief and rage boiled beneath my skin, threatening to unleash the beast within me.
"His pack is now in danger from the same monsters who killed him," my father said, his eyes blazing with determination. "We must find them before the enemy does."
"Who are they?" Gideon asked, his face etched with concern.
"Remnants of the Moon Key pack," my father replied, the words heavy with significance.
We all knew about the Moon Key pack. They had been a thriving pack one day and then wiped out in a cruel attack the next. It had been almost twenty years since it happen and my father had taken the news really badly. We had been working with the pack to protect them and my father felt like their demise was his failure. But as far as anyone knew, the entire pack had been wiped out. By the sounds of the way my father was talking that wasn’t entirely true.
"Gregg and I have been helping them stay hidden for the past decade or so." I glanced around the room, taking in the expressions of shock that mirrored my own. How could a pack, thought long extinct, still exist? Who were these survivors, and why had my father kept their existence a secret?
