Her eyebrow rose boldly at my thought, and she looked at me from under her lashes, her fingers never stopping over the keyboard.
Never mind.
“Any updates?”
Mom’s attention fully lifted to me as she hit send and closed the laptop. With a heavy sigh, she stood. “Good news or bad news?”
“Good news.”
“We have successfully located and raided twelve of the possible twenty-five RavenWolf hidden packs in the United States.”
“Including the three Alyce and I uncovered?”
She nodded, walking around the desk to my side.
“That’s great news, Mom. Gustav’s Knight Forceis really coming through for us, huh?”
“Allowing him to extend our army to the states was the best decision we ever made.” A small smile curved her lips, but it didn’t reach her aquamarine eyes. “Bad news is we still haven’t found any clues to where they could have taken Anastasia.”
“We’ll get there,” I offered, remaining hopeful even as my chest constricted with concern.
“I know…” Her hand cradled my cheek, her silent way of calling me down so she could kiss me.
I was too tall for everyone, something I inherited from my dad too. Giving her a heartfelt hug, I enjoyed her smooch for a moment, then straightened. “Any survivors?”
“Yes, many who will be brought here to face the King Eisen Ritter’s justice. The rest are being questioned as we speak. We are hoping to get any clues as to where to look next.”
Shit. I almost felt bad for them. Justice was the essence of an Iron Knight’s existence, the very reason the Moon Goddess had created them, and although my dad was a loving man—thanks tomy mom—the fierceness our goddess instilled in him still flowed through his veins.
When the Knight stepped forward, nothing would stop him from making them pay.
“All guilty?”
Mom smiled, placing a hand on my heart and stroking my chest. “Thankfully, no. Most of the shifters didn’t even know what their Alpha and hishunterswere doing. There are a lot of innocents, mostly women who have been pushed aside just to breed for them, and the children.”
“So fucking disgusting.”
“Don’t get me started.” Mom’s nostrils flared, eyes flashing blue as her hand dropped from my chest, fisting. Her crystalline grey claws protruded from her ire, forcing her to open her hand again or hurt herself.
Dad might be the Iron Knight, but Mom hadn’t earned the title of theQueen of War and Peacefor nothing.If any wrong was committed, she could be even fiercer than my father... Though, unlike him, she didn’t need a sword.
Mom was brilliant, deadly, and had plenty of knights willing to risk their lives to carry out her plans without her lifting a single finger. Everyone loved their Queen Luna, not just because she was the once-lost princess finally brought home, but because she was truly everything our Moon Goddess wanted us to be.
Most of all, she hated seeing she-wolves submitted to be nothing more than breeders. As she always said…
“Women were born to be Alphas,” she growled, the wolf showing herself in Mom’s voice and making me grin fully.
That was my mom, and she’d nurtured the perfect heaven here after taking the throne. Lucky for those innocent shifters, they, too, would be welcomed in our pack and offered the life they always should have had… becoming a Von Reinheit.
“Yes, they are,” I winked at her, making her smile.
“My boy.”
With her silent call, I leaned in once more, letting her hug me. She loved squeezing the life out of me, but I was a big boy, I could take it.
“No word from Dresden yet,” she added, stepping back. “But Bjørn is still searching. Please let Natalia know that. We are all searching.”
“I will.”
