Chapter 6 - Danger

~ Moxie ~

I may be in the other side of the hospital to him, but that doesn’t stop me feeling his anger through the mate bond.

He does nothing to hide his displeasure in the way I refuse to obey his command, if anything he spends the rest of the day sending me what feels like sharply pointed waves of emotions through the bond.

I know he can cover it; he has covered his affair with Chloe for all this time…hidden his emotions through the mate bond, hidden the sensation of want and arousal for her…the betrayal feels even deeper now knowing that he has manipulated the mate bond for his gain.

Tainted something so pure…heavenly…so he can fuck my best friend.

I keep to myself, ignoring the looks of confusion as I remove large quantities of medical supplies and medication, such as suppressants, and place them in my office for safe keeping.

I need more, I need blood samples of those already infected, and I need to use those samples to find out why they aren’t responding to sedation.

There is so much to do, and I know I am against a ticking clock…

As a chill runs down my spine, I look up at the clock in my office, with every second that ticks I feel the foreboding weight of the future that awaits us all. Odd…I haven’t felt his anger at me through the mate bond for some time now, which means he has his block up…which means he is fucking Chloe.

I could catch them at it, catch them and record the entire thing….but I’m in this for the long time….or at least for the next three months. Catching them at it on purpose will only delay my research, by being tied up in their denials…in their apologies.

I continue to mix a sedative together, my supply of nettles and mother-die plant running out as I put together another concoction. I make my way out of the hospital and towards the border, the omega healers often travel into the woods on the other side of the border to pick these plants….I know for a fact there is copious supply.

I ignore the signs that warn me not to leave the borders, this was still half my pack, a pack I grew up in. I know these woods like the back of my hand…my father and I spent hours picking out plants to then return home and stare at under the microscope. Some of my happiest childhood memories are in these woods.

Nobody, not even Anton or Beta Randall, can tell me to not enter.

I find the plants quickly enough; over the last few years they’ve spread out deeper into the woods. I head to the usual spot, the large oak tree where Mum used to read to me on hot summer’s days still growing with momentum. It’s acting as a reminder that nature continues even when you lose the ones you love. Seasons still come and go…years still pass.

I place my hand out, touching the tree as my thoughts remain on my parents….on how they were stolen from me too soon. Knowing now that it was related to the disease striking down our own kind, a burst of anger hits me in my stomach that they couldn’t be spared. They were killed by the very thing that they were trying to cure.

I bend down, pulling my small knife out from my inner boot and cutting nettle leaves when I hear the snapping of twigs behind me.

My head turns, my entire body standing upright as I search the wooded area around me.

An unmistakeable ominous sensation washing over me as I feel eyes on, my blood suddenly running cold.

My eyes narrow as I become fixated on the thick woodlands surrounding me, my arms erupting with goosebumps.

“Randall?” I whisper through the mind-link to the pack’s beta.

“Luna?”

“Are patrol out in the woods?”

“They covered that area an hour ago, why…where are you?” I cut his link as the sound of another twig snapping echoes around me. The patrol has moved on, which means an outsider is eyeing me up as their prey.

My wolf sends warning signals through my senses, overwhelming me as she growls through the link with me. I can picture her, her entire body moving into an attack stance…she is readying for a fight.

For my wolf to even entertain a potential danger, I know instinctively that this is no mere wild animal…this is a true threat. I instinctively drop down, using the long grass as camouflage as I scan the landscape in front of me. Searching for my predator.

With my knife already out, I place it in front of me, preparing for the first level of defence.

Like a lioness I calmly search the area around me, my breathing slow and steady…. reminding myself that I am the Luna Wolf, I am the one in control…undefeatable in battle.

That’s when I hear it, the distinctive growl of an infected…the same growl that still haunts my thoughts. I feel it in the pit of my stomach my body tensing with fear….my heart beating at an erratic pace.

How has an infected got this close to the Moon River borders…how have the patrol missed this.

“Infected, out by the woodlands.” My eyes glaze over as I report through the pack bond to Anton and Randall. I do not have time to check whether my husband felt my message…he could still have his block up, but I know Randall will have.

All it takes is a split second to launch an attack and as I refocus my eyes from the mind-link, the infected wolf is already charging towards me. I assume it is male, but its fur is so matted and blooded, so scrawny that their ribcage is on display, that it could easily be a female.

They are too far gone to tell.

This could lead either way….with my death or theirs. I refuse to believe that the moon goddess would have brought me back just to perish in these woods. Which means I need to take down this infected…and quick.

I push off the ground, just as the infected wolf flies towards me….defying even gravity. Its jaws widen as they prepare to sink into my throat. I charge backwards, placing the knife out and slicing through flesh….a whimper following as the wolf lands beneath me.

Blood pours from the open wound across its flank, the whimpering turning into a howl. I take slow steps backwards, preparing for a second attack when my eyes flash to the side of me….another snapping of twigs. No, I can’t be outnumbered. There can’t be more than one of them.

The wolf follows my gaze, its white eyes focusing on the same spot before turning back to me…. narrowing its focus with determination…with hunger.

A lump forms in the back of my throat as the wolf stands back on all fours, its teeth snapping towards me…ignoring its fellow infected closing in. It wants to feast on me first…

I’ll take it down, then the one descending upon us….they are the reason my parents are dead…left to spread they will wipe out packs. Their true identity is long gone; they are now just a vessel for this harrowing disease.

I place the knife back out; it’s blood still dripping from the blade…a threatening growl escaping from me.

I watch it with perplexity as its concentration flickers between myself and to the side of us. It’s muscles shaking as the mind seems to fight against the body.

With no warning the second infected wolf launches out from the long grass, the one in front pouncing from its hind legs towards me. My wolf surges forward, crouching down and launching my body off the ground to intercept this predator mid-air. But just as my hands are about to reach it, the second wolf reaches it first….the impact knocking them both sideways.

I roll onto the ground, preparing for a second attack when I watch on in confusion as the wolves fight one another.

The second wolf is an infected, but the disease hasn’t mutated him to the point of depravity unlike the wolf now caught under his front paw. It pins the wolf down….its eyes shooting over to me as a gasp escapes me.

This must be the Alpha Wolf Randall reported to me.

White eyes stare back at me…but they seem different somehow.

My entire mind starts to shut down, my fingers no longer able to hold the knife in my hand…with a small thud the blade drops to the ground.

An overwhelming intoxicating scent invades my nostrils….

White eyes remain locked on mine as a growl emits from the wolf on the woodland ground. The wolf fights against its captor, somehow escaping from its hold as it charges towards me once more.

I’m frozen, my body unable to pick up the blade…unable to prepare for the attack that is descending upon me…all I can think about is that scent.

The wolf flies towards me….before stopping mid-air, as large hands grab around its neck and twist…the white in its eyes instantly turning grey.

The dead wolf crashes to the ground at my feet, and through my stunned silence a large naked male stands before me.

The source of the intoxicating scent….

….my mate.