Filed to story: Tangled in Moonlight Unshifted Novel by Lenaleia
Phoenix grimaces, running a hand through his tousled hair. “Mom and Dad are freaking out about what Sister Miriam said,” he explains, his grim tone ringing warning bells in my head.
My stomach twists, and I want to vomit all the food I’ve eaten from past to future. “Are they going to tell Alpha Renard?”
Phoenix shakes his head. “No, they won’t,” he assures me, but his tone is laced with uncertainty. “Look, Ava, while Mom and Dad are loyal to Alpha Renard, they never expected that you would truly be able to bear him any kids, considering that he hasn’t had any luck in so long. Even with you being an omega, Alpha
Renard is barren.”
Confusion has me frowning. “What do you mean? How do you know that?”
Phoenix sighs, his shoulders sagging with the weight of some unseen burden. “Dad and Mom said that his previous kids weren’t biologically his.”
That can’t be true. “How is that possible?”
Phoenix shifts his weight rolling his shoulders in discomfort. His gaze goes over my head, to my desk, then to the floor off to the side of him. “Mom was his wife’s best friend. She helped cover it up. She told Dad everything.”
The implications of his words sink in a little at a time. Alpha Renard, the powerful and feared leader of our pack, has been deceived all this time, his wife bearing children that were not truly his own. They’d been his pride and joy, even if they were weak for alphaheirs, all of them dying during what would be considered.
minor skirmishes with other shifters.
The revelation is almost too much to comprehend.
They died because they weren’t alpha heirs at all.
They were weak. Did she mate a delta?
“But why would they do that?” I ask, my voice trembling with a mixture of disbelief and fear.
Phoenix’s expression hardens. “Power, Ava. It’s always about power in a pack. She didn’t want to lose her position as Luna, even if it meant betraying her mate.”
I sink onto the edge of my bed, my mind reeling. How many other secrets are buried beneath the surface of our pack?
Mine doesn’t seem so bad in comparison. At least no one did anything to cause it. I was just an anomaly from birth.
“That’s why Mom and Dad are so worried,” he says, his voice a low snarl of frustration. “If Sister Miriam’s words are true, and you really do possess some kind of ancient power, they know Alpha Renard will stop at nothing to claim you as his own. No matter how many packs he has to war against to get you.”
“So, this?” I lift the burner phone. “I take it we’re accelerating the plan?”
He hesitates. “Yes.”
The hesitation has my gut clenching. There’s something wrong. Something he isn’t saying.
“Phoenix…”
“No more questions, Ava. Just be prepared. I can’t tell Mom or Dad anything, because we need them to be able to convince Alpha Renard that our family had nothing to do with your disappearance. Tomorrow night, you leave pack lands.”
Leave pack lands.
I notice that he doesn’t say anything about where I’m supposed to end up.
The paranoia I’ve been honing since I ran away the night of the Lunar Gala flares urgently in the back of my head. “What’s the phone for?”
“Oh,” he says, with a vague wave of his hand. “You’ll need to be able to call your alpha lover when you get there, won’t you?”
Right.
Because Phoenix has always been so kind and generous.
“Thanks,” I say, my mouth dry with the knowledge that I’m not supposed to make it to Washington alive. “I appreciate you, big brother.”
LUCAS
“You’re positive?”
My stillsmoldering cigarette is crushed into oblivion within the crystal ash tray, along with twenty of its kin. Smoke is an intrusive guest within the cramped room, swirling around the heads of both deltas standing before me.
Cheap motel rooms aren’t meant to house three large wolf shifter males, but it is what it is.
“Positive,” Ryder reports, cool as a fucking cucumber despite how much is riding on tonight.
The decision to invade Blackwood wasn’t made lightly. Most of the pack fought against the decision, until two more scouts were found dead at the border.
And, most importantly, a witness.
That one was alive, though.
“Council won’t move until we bring the official petition,” Ryder continues, flipping through the notes in front of him. “Even so, Silvermoon forces near the border are confirmed and ready if we call for aid.”
The chair creaks beneath my weight as I lean back, but surprisingly manages to stay together. “With this act of war, Council will have lost its authority, anyway.”
My deltas say nothing. There isn’t much to saythe fact that an alpha is willing to say as much is far beyond their pay grade. Silvermoon has allied with Westwood, and Aspen as well, though Clayton seems to be busy hunting down his own missing mate. It’s an epidemic, and I’m positive it’s all been orchestrated by the Blackwoods to weaken the packs. @
Swaying the chair from side to side, I glance at the ceiling, thinking in between rhythmic creaks. “Ryder, head to Silvermoon. I’ll contact you if we need the reinforcements. Vester, stay with us. You’ll head off any runners from the south. Our goal is to cut off Blackwood’s head today. I don’t want this war going on for years.”
“Understood.”
Lighting another cigarette, I inhale deeply, letting the harsh smoke fill my lungs before exhaling a plume into the stale air. My deltas are on edge, too, but they wait for my dismissal.
Their last report weighs on my mind. My elusive mate has been sighted at her family home, under guard at all times. Further, that idiot alpha brought in an
Unregistered into his territory.
An Unregistered… I’d have never believed one of our own could be that level of stupid. We know better than to consort with those unwilling to abide by the standards we’ve set forth in order to live in peace with humans.
And yet, Blackwood is truly that much of a dumbass. He has little connection with the humans in his territory. Consorting with an Unregistered is nothing to someone who doesn’t care about the humans in their lands.
Between that taboo and the witness saved after the last attack, we finally have evidence.
Now, we have a reason for war. Reasons that will allow the Council to be rebuilt in the aftermath, even as I ignore all convention to declare it without their approval.
I don’t have time for that shit. I can’t risk them hiding her from me.
In good news, it was ridiculously easy to slide under his radar, avoiding his scouts and settling all my wolves into a city near the heart of his pack lands. They have no presence in the human cities, and no humans here are loyal to the power of the pack controlling their territory. He’s done nothing to foster a relationship with them.
Even the rogues we’ve run into have been dominated with ease. No alpha worth their rank would have allowed so many to settle in these human towns, and yet Blackwood has done so, leaving threats within his border without a second thought.
Sheer arrogance.
It’ll be his downfall tonight.
I hadn’t expected it to be quite so easy to infiltrate. their lands, but I’m grateful for it. It’s kept her safe while I finally made my move.
My sweet mate. A tremor of anticipation courses through me, fueled by the thought of her being so tantalizingly close after all this time. Tonight, she will be free from her pack.
And hopefully, free to choose me… But I’m not stupid. I can’t force it. If I have to, I’ll bring her back to
Cedarwood when it’s safe and woo her there.
I lean back in the creaky chair, letting it groan beneath my weight again, pondering our next move. The invasion plans are sound, our scouts are in position, and allies await the call to arms. But a part of me bristles at the thought of storming Blackwood lands like some mindless barbarian. There has to be a better waya surgical strike to extract Ava without shedding unnecessary blood.
My fingers drum against the armrest, a steady rhythm matching the thump of my heart. Renard Blackwood is a sly old bastard, that much is certain. He wouldn’t keep Ava close without good reason. Is there a secret behind her? Something I have yet to learn? Why else bring an Unregistered to her home?
The thought of others knowing more about her than me, her mate…
A soft growl builds up in my chest, and my wolf snaps at the air in my mind. He’s on edge. Impatient.
He wants his mate safe.
The plans need to change.
“Vester,” I growl, stubbing out my cigarette with more force than necessary. My newest delta straightens his shoulders. “Prepare a small teamno more than five. We’re going in quiet, just you and me at the front. The rest will hang back as support. Once we have her safe, the plan will move forward.”
He hesitates. My deltas aren’t too scared to run their mouths, but they know I have a short fuse when it comes to my mate. “You want to go in alone? With all due respect, alpha, that’s a hell of a risk.”