Page 47 of Unbelievable Faith
Darius was still frowning but he pushed out an unsteady breath and nodded, “We all are. That’s why we’re here. To figure out what happened and find a way to get herback.”
He nodded, thankful for the easy acceptance of his apology. He and Darius were more like family than friends, and their relationship hadn’t been as simple as Alpha and Enforcer… ever. He knew that once this situation was handled he would have to do a better job of apologizing. He’d have to explain to Darius that despite whatever reservations the big man had about his own fate, that Michael fully supported him. But for right now, he was too worried about Luna to get distracted by anything, or anyone,else.
He supposed he should just be thankful that Darius and Leo had even been here. They’d been in meetings all day but they’d broken up earlier in the day. Leo had gone to visit his sisters. Rafe and Darius had continued their plotting. And after the run in with Luna, Michael had gone back to his office to join them. If this had happened even another hour later, let alone the following day, on the full moon, they’d have been separated, each of them at their own homes and with their own packs. They were stronger together so he thanked whatever was left of fate being on his side and focused on what they could do as ateam.
“Darius, take a team and head into the woods.” He spoke to his Head Enforcer first, “Luna was headed to the lake to visit Zoey and she chose to shift and run. She’ll be along the path that snakes down next tothe…”
“She’s not in thewoods.”
Every head in the room turned to the young girl that still stood just inside the doorway. Nova’s eyes were red rimmed from her tears and full of the kind of pain and knowledge nobody her age should ever have to understand. She looked so damn small and so damn scared that Michael wanted to go to her and pull her into his arms, to hug her and tell her that he would save her sister, again, but since she was the Seer and she’d said no such thing he didn’t dare make promises he wasn’t sure he could keep. Nova sniffled but stood a little straighter when all of the big, Alpha men looked herway.
“What?” Michaelfrowned.
“She’s not in the woods. Or, if she is, she isn’t where I can see her. I don’t think she’s on Moirae land anymore, or Crescent land for thatmatter.”
“Well, where is shethen?”
“I… I don’t know.” Nova’s bottom lip trembled slightly and Michael scrubbed a hand over hisface.
“Well, what do youknow?”
“Easy.” Leo narrowed his gaze but before he could reprimand Michael for his tone again, Nova spokeup.
“Someone took her. I think…” The girl shot a look at her brother and when he inclined his chin she sighed, “I think it’s the same person that’s been attacking your scouts, the same person I’ve felt was a danger to Luna from the beginning. She hates her. She alwayshas.”
Michael’s eyebrows winged up, “She?”
“Sasha Devlin.” Leo’s lips were tight as he shook his head, “We grew up with her. I dated her for all of five minutes when we were kids. Didn’t take long for me to figure out what she was angling for. She wanted the status that went with being on the arm of a DeLuca wolf and when I cut her loose, she blamed Luna for coming between us. She’s been out to get her ever since. She was one of the first that took up with Maddox and I can only assume she’s decided to blame Luna for his death aswell.”
“He’s dead because he was a psychopath. Why would she still be loyal to a dead wolf?” Michael searched Leo’s face and then Nova’s before frowning, “And where is Maya? Why isn’t she here to tell me all of this? The rest of you are here but she’s the true wildcard so please tell me she hasn’t gone off half-cocked on herown.”
“She’s still in the yard training.” Leo winced slightly when Michael gave him a disbelieving look, “When Nova received the vision, I was with her. We came straight here to you. Wethought…”
When her big brother trailed off Nova reached for his hand and squeezed, “We thought it would be best to have some sort of plan before we took the news to Maya that Luna was in danger again. Like you said. She’s awildcard.”
Something about those haunted brown eyes in the young girl’s face broke Michael’s heart. She’d seen too much. Far too much. He had a feeling she’d seen things that she’d tried to stop and that she would bear forever the weight of the knowledge that knowing didn’t necessarily change things. Sometimes knowing only made it worse. She dropped her eyes to the ground, as if she was afraid he would see something there she didn’t want him to and he couldn’t help but wonder if she’d seen Maya doing something stupid if she’d told her sister first rather than him. Whatever it was Nova had seen Maya doing, he wouldn’t let it happen. He wouldn’t let anyone hurt his family and that included these strong, brave, resilientgirls.
“Nova?” He spoke softly and was rewarded with her raising her chin to look at him again. “Can you tell me what yousaw?”
The girl glanced to her brother again but when Leo nodded she sighed. He expected her voice to waver but it didn’t. She was so damn strong and all he wanted was to hug her as she told him of the horrors that happened inside of herhead.
“Luna’s been shot. She took an arrow to the thigh in her wolf form. I didn’t see who shot it but I saw a figure knocking Luna unconscious. It was Sasha. I’m… ninety percent sure, it was Sasha. She was taking Luna somewhere but she was smart. She made turns and doubled back until…” Nova shook her head, “I couldn’t see where she took Luna. I’m sosorry.”
“It’s okay.” Leo reassured his sister with a big hand on hershoulder.
Darius surprised him again when he leaned down on one knee and tipped the girl’s chin back up, “Listen to your brother, little one. It’s going to be okay. Luna is Michael’s mate. He loves her. He’s not going to let anything or anyone take her away from him or from you ever again.Understand?”
A dark head bobbed and Darius smiled softly before pushing back up to his feet. Leo bit his lip and looked away, clearly unwilling to let the rest of them see what he was thinking in that moment. Michael didn’t blame him. He was a little choked up himself seeing the big man soothing the smallgirl.
He cleared his throat, “Nova, can you tell me what it is this Sasha person wants? Is it money? Is Luna being held for ransom? Does she want us to stop hunting her and let her go? Pardon her for her part in the Maddox uprising? What does shewant?”
Nova shook her head, tears welling in her eyes again, “That’s the thing… I know what she wants. I could feel it. I could feel how much she hates all of us but mostly Luna. She blames her for what happened toMaddox.”
“What does shewant?”
“She wants us dead. Every single DeLuca, she wants to kill us all. She’s going to kill Luna first and then she’s going to come for the rest ofus.”
Michael felt his wolf surge for the surface and barely held his skin. He couldn’t contain the snarl that tore out of his throat. The others in the room bristled and the Moirae pack wolves whined at the power of histone.
His teeth had elongated with anger but he managed to speak nonetheless and he kept a steady gaze on Nova, hoping his words would reassure her that he was serious, “Luna isn’t dying. Not today. Not tomorrow. Not for another sixty years at least. She’s mine and nobody is going to take her away from me. Nobody. I’ve lost too many people I love already. I’m not losing Luna too. Ipromise.”
