“I love you too, baby.” I hugged her tight, breathing in her familiar scent, trying to memorize the feeling of her small body in my arms. Then I turned to Rowan. “Take care of your sister.”
He nodded solemnly, looking far too old for his age. “I will.”
I hugged him too, holding on for just a moment longer than necessary. Then I straightened up and looked at Jasmine.
“Thank you,” I said, and this time the words came out thick with emotion. “For everything.”
“Go find your family,” Jasmine said firmly. “We’ll be fine here.”
I turned to the guards stationed around the building. There were at least a dozen of them, their eyes alert, their postures ready for combat.
“I’m entrusting you with my children,” I said, making sure to meet each of their eyes. “Protect them with your lives.”
“Yes, Luna,” they responded in unison.
I walked back to the car on legs that felt increasingly unsteady. The adrenaline was starting to fade, leaving behind a bone-deep exhaustion that threatened to drag me under. But I couldn’t rest. Not yet. Not until Knox and Blake were safe.
Noah drove us to the pack building, neither of us speaking. There was nothing to say. We both knew how dire the situation was. We both knew what was at stake.
The meeting room was full when I arrived. Cole was standing by the window, his arms crossed, his expression dark. Ryder sat at the table, maps and documents spread out in front of him. Sawyer was by the door, his hand still resting on his hip. A few other high-ranking wolves were scattered around the room, all of them watching me as I entered.
I took my place at the head of the table, in the chair that was usually Knox’s. It felt wrong to sit there, like I was stealing something that didn’t belong to me. But there was no time for sentiment.
“Report,” I said, looking at Cole.
He cleared his throat and stepped forward, spreading a map across the table. His finger traced a path from Ravenshollow to a point several miles south.
“The Pine Valley trackers followed the scent trail for as long as they could,” he said. “They lost track of it here.” He tapped a spot on the map, deep in what looked like wilderness. “The forest gets dense in that area. Lots of streams and rocky terrain that can disrupt scent trails. They’re still searching, but as of twenty minutes ago, they hadn’t picked it up again.”
“South,” I murmured, staring at the map. “They went south.”
“Into rogue territory,” Ryder added grimly. “No pack jurisdiction. No allies. Just empty land and whoever has the strength to claim it.”
I absorbed that information, filing it away. Then I took a breath and began the retelling of what had happened.
I told them everything. Hunt’s phone call. The sound of Mira’s voice on the other end of the line, mocking and cruel. Racing to Marcus and Serena’s house with Noah. Finding the women unconscious on the floor, shopping bags scattered around them. Finding Marcus bleeding on the floor of his own bedroom, beaten nearly to death. Lucio standing in the center of the room with Blake in his arms, his claws pressed against her tiny throat.
I told them about the impossible choice Knox had made. How he had bargained with Lucio, had convinced him that taking the Alpha would cause more suffering than taking the Luna. How he had talked about my human weakness, how much more I would suffer watching helplessly while he was in danger.
By the time I finished, every face in the room was grim. Cole’s hands were shaking with barely suppressed rage. Ryder’s jaw was clenched so tight I could see the muscles jumping beneath his skin. Even Sawyer, who I had always seen as stoic and unflappable, looked shaken.
“We’ll find them,” Cole said, his voice rough. “We’ll find them and we’ll tear those bastards apart.”
“Any news from the trackers I sent after Knox and Blake’s scent?” I asked.
Heads shook around the room.
“Nothing yet,” Ryder said. “But they’ve only been gone for about forty minutes. Give them time.”
Time. The one thing we didn’t have.
I slumped back in my chair, exhaustion crashing over me in waves. My eyes drifted closed for just a moment, and when they opened again, Ryder was staring at me with an odd expression on his face.
“Knox gave you that?” he asked, pointing at something.
I followed his gaze and saw the necklace resting against my chest. The crescent moon pendant that Knox had given me just this morning, in the panic room, before everything went to hell.
“Yes,” I said, my hand coming up to touch it automatically. “He said you gave him the idea. He wears a matching one.”
