Vanishing Luna

Aidan

“Kiarra’s gone! For fuck’s sake!” I screamed at the top of my lungs.

I gave no other explanation as I stormed out of the office. Jack didn’t ask questions. He was on my tail before I could blink an eye.

We met a distraught Angela outside of the pack house. “Alpha! I don’t know where she is! She’s just disappeared!”

“Angela! You have a job to do! You should always have a line on your luna!” Jack bellowed. He didn’t take kindly to security fails.

In fact, he took them ~very~ personally.

“No one saw her? Is she on foot? What?” I pressed.

“No, Alpha! She’s just disappeared!” said Angela.

She knew she had fucked up and couldn’t make eye contact with me.

“Angela, no flesh-and-blood wolf just fucking disappeared! Pull your head out of your ass!” I yelled.

Her wolf whined.

“Get any available wolves. I want this place searched top to bottom!” I ordered. She turned and fled.

I would deal with her later. For now, I needed to find my mate.

~“Kiarra! Where the hell are you?”~

I mind-linked her. I waited. There was nothing~.

~“Kiarra, I’m not playing with you! Get your ass back here NOW!”~

I probably should’ve tried a more gentle approach, but I was tired of being nice.

I was tired of everyone running around my pack doing whatever they wanted.

I could have broken into her mind. Part of me considered that as a strong option, but I respected and loved Kiarra too much.

“Let’s check the perimeter,” Jack said.

“I got one better. Let’s check the guest house.”

“Alpha,” Jack hesitated, “Is that a good call?”

“If the Kendricks have pulled this off, and this is one of their bullshit maneuvers, I will slaughter them all, Jack. Without question!”

“I know, and I’ll be right by your side, but let’s hope she’s not there.”

Bounding toward the south of the territory, we ripped through the woods.

A million scenarios ran through my mind.

Why would she do this? Didn’t she love me?

I was so confused.

~“Do we knock?”~

~“This is my house, we don’t have to!”~ I replied before I pounded the door open.

I growled and bared my teeth as I scanned the room for my mate. I didn’t see her, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t there.

~“Stay in form, sweep the house. Take the sister wolf out if you need to.”~

~“All bets are off?”~ he asked, ensuring he knew what I was asking.

~“You got it!”~

I shifted into my human form and faced the shocked face of Rose, who, by the looks of it, had been about to settle into a hot cup of tea.

“Alpha Gold! What is the meaning of this!” She practically roared.

“Where is my mate!” I screamed in her face, “Where is Kiarra!”

“What? She left, she’s with you!”

James came barreling down the stairs in his wolf form. His back arched and teeth bared, he was prepared to war with me.

“You! Where the fuck is my mate!”

He shifted into human form, “Kiarra is not here! We haven’t seen her since the last time you blew the door down like a spoiled child!”

It took all my strength not to take his throat right there on the spot. Jack came up behind me.

“He’s not lying, Alpha. She’s not here. There’s no fresh scent,” he added.

I took a deep breath, “Fuck!”

“This is why you don’t jump to conclusions and start throwing accusations, Gold! That’s not what a leader does!”

“Who the hell do you think you’re talking to?” I screamed in his face. Once again, we were chest to chest. I didn’t care who was in the room; I was about to kill this asshole.

“Alpha!” I felt Jack’s hand on my shoulder.

“Get off me, Jack!”

“Not this way!” he yelled, not backing down. I turned to face him, “I said, get your fucking hands off me!” I growled deeply, and he obliged quickly.

I backed off just barely. I didn’t trust them. They lied for a living.

“If I fucking find out you, any of you!” I peered at Rose and Melody, who had recently joined the show, “had anything to do with this? YOU’RE DEAD! ALL OF YOU!”

“Oh, and you wonder why she took off?” Melody snapped from behind her mother, “Who doesn’t want to spend her life with a monster?”

“Melody!” James bellowed at his daughter, “For once in your life!”

“James!” Rose piped up, “It’s not her fault!”

I could tell I was about to endure some more family bullshit.

~“We’re wasting time, Alpha; she could be halfway to Vegas by now.”~

It wasn’t likely, but I got his point. As I was about to intervene in the Kendrick saga unfolding, Melody stopped me.

“Let’s take the car.”

“No, we don’t even know if she’s driving,” I replied quickly. I was eager to shut down the idea.

“Don’t be stupid!” Melody snapped, “You think she’s running on foot?” she laughed. A little too hard.

“You knew she was leaving?” I screamed, incensed.

“No, I’m just not an idiot, Aaaidann!”

I didn’t know what it was, but she reminded me so much of her sister. It broke my heart.

“You’re calling me an idiot now? What the fuck is wrong with you people? You're guests here!”

“Well, if you keep standing here, big shot, instead of getting in the fucking car to look for your mate, then yes, yes, you are a grade-A idiot!” she yelled.

The rest of the room was silent until Alpha James cleared his throat. “Okay.”

He caught me by surprise.

“If you’re in, so am I. We take the car.”

I considered this hard and looked at my Beta, who offered little else than a shrug, “It’s your call, Alpha.”

If I said no, I’d look like I couldn’t care less. If I said yes, I was stuck with the people I had fostered a solid hate for.

But, as I considered the big picture, I knew the situation was getting critical. The state of pack politics was shaky, and rogues were always breaching territories.

If one of them got Kiarra, I might never see her again. None of us would.

“Fine!” I agreed, “But I’ll drive.”

I left Jack at the guest house with Rose. I wanted eyes on that devious bitch until I knew what was happening.

The ride was long. The further we got from the pack territory, the more I worried.

How can Kiarra have disappeared like this? I hated to admit it, but Melody made the right call.

I was too blinded by my hate for them to see it then, but I was glad I agreed. It didn’t change how I felt about the Kendricks, though.

I was positive that even this ~seemingly~ innocent gesture of help benefited them somehow.

It’s just who they were.

“There!” Melody hollered from behind me, her arm shot to the front, pointing between the two seats.

There in front of me was my truck. Behind the wheel, my mate.

I breathed in the relief I had been silently begging for.

I floored the gas until we were nearly on her bumper.

~“Kiarra! Pull over!”~

~“No, Aidan! I’m leaving!”~

~“Please!”~

I kept honking the horn. I wasn’t going to stop. She would pull that truck over if I had to follow her all night.

~“Kiarra! Kitten, come on! Please!”~

~“Aidan, I’m more trouble than it’s worth. Please just go home!”~

Out of nowhere, I see a black SUV heading toward us.

It started to veer toward Kiarra, full of wolves, rogue wolves.

It wasn’t more than a split second, but it was like a slow-motion nightmare as I watched.