Chapter 5

‘Why would anyone break her flute? Up until now, and not even an hour ago, had I known where it had come from? Let alone her late father and Alpha. But then she rarely spoke about anything unless she was begging me to look at the camera footage.’

-Which means someone knew what it meant to Aretha, what it meant to the Moon’s River pack, and most of all, the effect it had on us when she played it.- Midnight rumble in Dante’s mind as he paced under the skin.

“Thank the Goddess you're both alright and you found her,” Came a voice in the darkness, just a bit farther along the dark of night towards that packhouse, maybe about a minute's walk from where he sat, Aretha cradled in his arms.

“Show yourself,” Dante growled, his voice more wolf than man.

Now, nothing and no one was going to come between him and his mate, who was still unconscious in his arms.

Oscar came out of the shadows with his hands raised into the air to show Dante that he had no intentions to harm either of them.

“Easy, man, I was worried about both of you and terrified that you wouldn’t find her. Is she okay? Where was she?”

Dante’s protective stance eases slightly at the sight of his best friend. “Aretha is alive, safe and unharmed from what I can tell, however…” his words trailed off, gesturing to her unconscious form, “…she’s not tried to stir once, and to where I found her, you wouldn’t believe me, I barely believe what I saw,” he swallowed hard before finishing, “I…I found her at the old border stone between the old pack lines of Moon’s River and Blue Moon, but she wasn’t there for the marker; there was another reason she'd gone. Her father’s grave is also there. That’s where I found her lying over his grave.”

Oscar went deadly still, his face paling at Dante’s words. He choked out, “Her father’s grave?” He went quiet for a moment, his mind reeling, “Man, I would have thought he would have been laid to rest under the packhouse as other Alphas did.”

“Ok something neither of us knew then,” Dante said relaxing further, “I asked father about it through mindlink on the way back he said it was ‘It isn’t uncommon for the last Alpha to be laid to rest near an old border stone when packs become one; it marks the end of one and the beginning of a new era.’”

Dante watched Oscar’s face carefully. He seemed to be processing Dante’s words, “I read about that in the packhouse’s library, but I thought that was just a legend, not a fact. Besides, I’ve never really asked about her father, to be honest. Then again, daughters born to Alphas are rare, so I guess it only happens so rarely that it’s been lost to time.” Oscar said carefully that he could still feel Dante’s Alpha

power still leaking out of his powerful frame.

“Only ones that would really know that it’s true would be Elders, those who were packleaders of Moon’s River, both of your parents, and current packleaders, beyond your mate here. Someone must have known she would run there tonight. I mean, it made sense to me that you both were mates, but you don’t think someone else knew and made sure that she would run there one if you were her mate. You have been an ass and two if they broke something her father gave to her, and being the last time that was to make sure that it happened.”

“What are you saying?”

“Someone planned this long before tonight. Fawn would have done whatever she was told to do if she believed that she had a chance to make you reject the woman you loved.”

“Who?”

“I don’t know, but then I’ve been trying to find out for years why, no matter what evidence that was in front of you, you only believed what you were told, so someone knew just how to make you trust whatever you heard rather than your own eyes. Have to admit I nearly fainted when Isaac dropped that footage. He had a thing for Fawn for years, but she just sees him as a lap dog, so maybe he had a big awakening tonight as well, no matter what she told him, you were what she was after.” Oscar paused, finally noticing the fatigue that was now setting in on Dante, “Man, I’m not going to take your mate from you, but would you like me to help you get her inside the packhouse before you drop her tonight has taken its toll on you as well.”

After a second, Dante nodded tonight, the truth coming out that Aretha was his fated mate, the contract, Fawn and what she really wanted, the title of Luna, which only he could provide her if he refused to one person in this world made for him. The irony was hard to bear.

“Yeah, help me get her to the packhouse doors. The healers are waiting for us to arrive.”

“Anything for my Alpha and his Luna,” Oscar said, clapping a hand on Dante’s shoulder. “Whatever is happening, your father isn’t going to leave a stone unturned now that he knows something was off, maybe he always did, but Aretha just said she was fine in front of him. Unlike us, but I had no proof, and then after years of her begging someone to check the cameras, someone did, but it was the birthday of a member of the Alphas household, it’s just standard that someone would check them. Fawn should have known that.”

“She told him what?” Dante asked as he looked down at her, still in his arms and still unconscious.

“She used to tell your father that she was fine, considering that after begging you and you calling her a drama queen, she just gave up trying to seek help.”