Unbelievable Faith

by Jess Bryant

  “He only wanted one thing. Power. He didn’t care how he got it. I was nothing but a means to an end.”

  “Oh, no. No, no no.” Sasha came around the end of the couch, pointing a clawed finger in Luna’s face, “You were so much more than that. He wanted you. From the moment he saw you he wanted it to be you. You!” She practically spat the word, “The submissive little DeLuca princess. Nobody else would ever have been good enough or him. He only wanted you.”

  “Well I didn’t want him!”

  “Because you’re an idiot!” Sasha hissed. “He was amazing. Strong and powerful. Brave. He would have made an incredible pack Alpha but you ruined him just like you ruin everything.”

  “He wasn’t my mate!” Luna couldn’t keep from snapping despite the danger she sensed radiating off the other woman.

  “I know that you insipid little girl.” Sasha slapped her, hard, right across the cheek and while Luna was still reeling from that she hit her again, “He was my mate! Mine! He was mine and you took him from me!”

  Luna pressed her cut cheek against her shoulder, trying to curl into herself and avoid another lash-out. But it was the words that spun through her head and cut her wide open. Because it all made so much more sense now.

  Sasha’s hatred of her, the way she’d stood by Maddox no matter how insane he became. And most of all it explained why Sasha wasn’t healing properly. Beneath the shirt she wore, Luna could see the bandages on her side were soaking through with blood. It was the bond. Clearly, despite everything Maddox had wanted from Luna, he’d still sealed the bond with his true mate. He and Sasha had mated and now that he was dead, she wasn’t healing and would follow not far behind him now.

  Luna felt a rush of pity for this woman that she’d never even liked. She was vindictive and mean. Harsh and unnecessarily cruel. But she’d been fated to a male that had wanted more than she could give him and he’d used her to get it and then gotten himself killed. He’d sentenced her to a short and painful existence and Sasha seemed hell-bent on punishing everyone that had played a part in his death because of it.

  She was already dying. That much was obvious. Which meant she didn’t have anything left to lose. Which made her dangerous. Far more dangerous than Luna had realized.

  “I… I’m sorry.” She tried but Sasha only sneered at her.

  “I don’t want your platitudes you little bitch. I want you to suffer the way I’ve suffered. I want you to watch as everyone you love is taken away from you and then I want you to wither away with heartbreak.”

  Luna felt her bottom lip tremble, “Not Michael. Please. You can hurt me. Just, leave Michael out of it. Please.”

  Sasha tilted her head, as if she was considering it for a moment and then the sneer returned, “He’ll die once I kill you. Your bond is too strong for him to survive without you. We’ll see which of you I let live to deal with the pain of knowing their true mate is dead. In the meantime, I want the one that ripped Mad’s head off.”

  Luna sucked in a surprised gulp of air and barely kept the name from leaving her lips. Darius. Michael had told her the story. He’d told her how Maddox had fought them all before Darius moved in behind him. It had been Darius that ripped the crazed werewolf apart and knowing what she knew now she thought that maybe Darius hadn’t done it so much for her, or out of an obligation to his Alpha, as he had done it for Leo. Just like she knew there was no way in hell that Leo would let his Enforcer put himself in danger now.

  “Yeah, you know who it was, don’t you?” Sasha’s sneer turned feral, “So you’re going to call them. Call them and tell them to send him out to the river to meet me. Tonight, during the full moon. I may not be at one hundred percent but the moon will make me stronger. I’ll take him out as soon as he steps into view and then, then I’ll deal with you.”

  The full moon was tonight? It took Luna a moment to realize she’d been unconscious far longer than she realized. Almost an entire day. Which meant if nobody had found them yet, odds were good that they wouldn’t. Not unless Sasha wanted them to be found.

  “No.”

  A clawed hand gripped her hair and pulled until her neck was wrenched back, “You’ll call or I’ll kill everyone you’ve ever loved.”

  Sasha handed her a phone and after only a moment of hesitation, thinking of her sisters and all they’d been through already, Luna took it. She dialed the number to Michael’s office. It was the one he’d made her memorize weeks ago just in case she ever needed it. She’d argued that she wouldn’t but he’d been right.

  He usually was, as he liked to say.

  “Luna?” He picked up on the first ring and his voice, the desperation she heard there made tears form in her eyes and clog her throat. “Luna, baby, is that you? I’m coming for you. Hold on. Just hold on and I’ll find you I swear.”

  God she loved him. Loved him so much. Loved him for his strength and his softness. His intelligent and his wit. His sense of humor and the way he always, always seemed to know exactly what she needed and gave it to her. She just, loved him, and she realized in that moment that she’d never told him. Not really, she’d told him that she was falling for him but she’d never said the words and just in case this was the last time they spoke, she had to say it now, before she lost her chance.

  “I love you, Michael.” Her voice was hoarse with emotion, “I love you. Don’t ever forget that. No matter what happens, don’t you do what she says. She’s going to kill…”

  “Give me that.” Sasha slapped her again as she jerked the phone away from Luna and put it to her ear, “I take it I’m speaking to the Moirae Pack Alpha?”

  Michael’s growl was loud even through the phone line, “You are and if you’ve hurt my mate in any way you’re going to pay for it.”

  “I’m the one making threats now.” Sasha hissed back at him, “I’m going to kill your mate slowly and painfully unless you send me the wolf that murdered Maddox. I want him.”

  There was a moment of silence on the other end of the line and Luna could imagine Michael looking from Darius to Leo and back again. They wouldn’t do it. There was no way. She didn’t want them to. She’d rather her brother be happy and her family be safe than them trade away a good man like Darius for her.

  “You’ll let Luna go if I do?” Michael asked and Luna cried out.

  “No! No! Don’t do it Michael!”

  “Shut. Up.” Sasha raised a threatening hand again, making Luna cower and then readjusted the phone, “Maybe I’ll let her live. Once I’m done ruining her, I might send her back to you as long as you don’t try anything tonight. Just send the wolf responsible for murdering my mate to the boundary line at the river once the full moon rises. Alone. If I sense more than one wolf, I’ll gut her and send her back to you in pieces.”

  Sasha hung up the phone before Luna could cry out again. She wanted to warn Michael that there was no way this crazy woman was going to let her go. Not now. Not ever. She wanted Luna dead even more than she wanted Darius for killing Maddox. Luna wasn’t going to make it out of this situation alive, not unless she figured out a way to break free and use Sasha’s injuries against her before the full moon was high in the sky.

  Chapter 22

  Michael slammed the phone down on his desk and tried to take a couple of deep breaths to steady himself. He was shaky and unsteady on his feet. His mate was missing and in danger. She’d been gone for nearly a full day and no matter how many scouts and raiding parties he sent out they’d all come back empty handed. He could still feel her through the bond, feel her fear and her pain, so he knew she was alive, but that was a small comfort when he had no way of finding her and the definitive knowledge that she was being held by a psychopath.

  The person he’d talked to on the other end of that phone had zero intention of giving Luna back to him alive. She was crazed and bloodthirsty. Nova had been right. She wanted them all dead. She was on some kind of revenge plot but it hadn’t made any sense until she said those two little words, most likely by accide
nt.

  My mate.

  Maddox had been mated to the female holding Luna hostage. The sick bastard had claimed his fated female and then hidden their bond so he could use Luna to take control of the Crescent pack. He’d intended to perform the mating ceremony with Luna knowing full well the female that bore his bite would go crazy with the knowledge he was bedding another. If she hadn’t been mad to begin with, that psycho had surely driven her to it with his selfish actions.

  Michael wished, not for the first time, that he could revive the son of a bitch just to kill him all over again.

  He’d known that the female they called Sasha wanted something. When hours passed and he didn’t feel the link to Luna break, he’d known she was still alive and he’d known there must be a reason for that. So he’d waited and he’d paced, he’d planned and he’d plotted. He’d sent out his Enforcers to scour the woods, hoping they would find some trace of Luna so that he could get her back, but he hadn’t left his office just in case and finally, finally, the call he’d known was coming had rang.

  Only, what Sasha wanted, he hadn’t expected.

  From the silence filling the room, he knew that nobody here had. If she’d demanded Leo’s head on a platter they would have been more prepared. Even if she’d wanted to hurt Maya or Nova they’d have seen it coming and if she’d asked him to walk in front of a silver bullet just to cause Luna pain, he’d have been less surprised than he had been when she asked for the wolf that murdered Maddox.

  Murder was a stretch of course. Killed was the word they’d been using. But the terminology didn’t really matter.

  Sasha wanted Darius.

  Michael glanced up and easily found the big Enforcer standing across the room near the map. He was in the same position he’d been in before the phone rang. He hadn’t budged an inch. But as Michael looked at him, Darius crossed his big arms across his broad chest and gave a small nod of his chin.

  “I’ll go.” He said.

  “Like hell you will.” Leo was instantly there, storming across the room and going nose to nose with the man, “You’re not going to go out there to face certain death with no guarantee that bitch will give Luna back either way. Hell no! ”

  Darius frowned at the other man, “If it will save your sister…”

  “It won’t!” Leo shoved him in the chest but Darius barely swayed an inch, “Didn’t you hear her? She wants us all dead, D! You giving your life isn’t noble if nobody gets anything out of it.”

  “Leo…” He softened his tone but the younger man was having none of it.

  He shoved Darius again, this time using both hands, and getting all up in his space, “Don’t you dare, Leo me like that. You don’t allow me to put myself in danger. I’m not allowing you to put yourself in danger.”

  The muscle in his jaw twitched as Darius sighed, “I’m sorry Leo but you’re not my Alpha.”

  A growl ripped through the room and a moment later Darius was slammed back against the wall, Leo holding him there as he snarled at him, “I might not be your Alpha but whether you like it or not, I’m your mate and I’m not letting you go.”

  Darius sucked in quick intake of air, as if he was surprised Leo had said those words aloud. But if Leo was going for the shock factor, he was going all in. With a growl he slid his hands into the dark hair Darius kept long and jerked, hard, pulling the bigger man down and stamping their mouths together. There was a split-second of hesitation on Darius’ part and then a low groan of surrender filled the space and he was wrapping Leo in his arms.

  Michael forced himself to look away as the two men ravaged each others mouths. He’d known it was true since that first day here at the lodge. They were opposites in so many ways and alike in so many others. Darius had been holding back. Leo had been fighting it. But it was the full moon tonight and whatever distance they’d managed to maintain, between the hormones, their wolves and the danger at their front door, they’d finally reached their breaking point. Leo had been pushed too far, finally, and he’d pushed back. It must have been what Darius was waiting for because now the two were wrapped around each other as if even air between them would be too much distance.

  Rafe cleared his throat from his spot nearby and Michael shot his brother a look. The two men didn’t stop kissing or groping each other. Michael shrugged and Rafe chuckled. They were both clearly remembering the first time they’d gotten their mates into their arms and neither of them saw any harm letting these two have a moment. Trying to break them apart now would only be dangerous to the person that attempted to come between them.

  It was Nova’s soft, girly laughter that finally broke the moment. Michael glanced over to where she’d curled up on the couch and couldn’t help but smile at her. It was the first time the young girl had shown any sort of happy emotion since she’d come busting into his office yesterday and for reasons he couldn’t explain, it filled some deep pit of emptiness he hadn’t known existed inside of him.

  He’d lost so many people. His parents had been brutally murdered when he was still, by all rights, a kid himself. Gabe had died in that same attack. Rafe had survived but he’d been so scarred emotionally that his wolf had been feral and he’d been too lost to come back to the pack. He’d left and he’d stayed gone for years and Michael had been all alone.

  Alone with his pack but alone nonetheless. He hadn’t had family surrounding him. He’d had Darius who was like a brother to him, but wasn’t blood. He’d had the Enforcers that did as he said but weren’t friends so much as soldiers. He’d had Zoey but their past was so complicated and convoluted that it was hard to name all the things she’d been to him over the years. He hadn’t had a family, not until Rafe came home.

  Rafe had come home and found his mate in Zoey. He’d gotten his brother back and he’d gained a new perspective on his friendship with Zoey. She’d become his sister. Then he’d found Luna and along with his own mate, he’d gained two young sisters and a powerful, Alpha brother as well. Now Leo and Darius would be mated and they would all be family. They were a big, diverse, complicated, powerful family of werewolf shifters that could overcome anything so long as they were together.

  He was sure of it.

  The newly accepting mates broke apart panting and Michael had to stifle a chuckle of his own when Darius glanced around the room and his cheeks tinted pink. Leo didn’t blush but he buried his face in Darius’ neck and gave a sigh of contentment that would have been recognizable to anyone that had found their true mate.

  The sound alone made Michael’s chest ache as he missed Luna and longed to have her back in his arms where she belonged.

  “This was what I saw.” Nova gave a proud smirk and glanced at Darius, “That day when you saved us from Maddox I told you that you were early. Then, for weeks, all you two have done is fight. I was starting to wonder if my vision had been wrong but it wasn’t. This was what I saw. I saw you finally giving in to what fate already knew. You two are stronger when you fight on the same side.”

  Darius harrumphed but ran a possessive hand up Leo’s back, “There’s no fighting fate.”

  “But you certainly tried.” Leo leaned back and nuzzled their lips together again. “We’re going to talk about that later, and about this whole I’m not your Alpha thing. But for now, we need a plan to get my sister back. One that doesn’t involve my mate getting himself killed.”

  Darius gave a sheepish nod.

  “Good.” Leo kissed him one more time before stepping to his side and facing Michael, “I’m not sending him out there to his death. We’ll have to find another way.”

  Michael smiled at the two of them standing side by side, arms still around each other, “I wasn’t going to send him out there even when he offered. I know what he means to you and what you mean to him. Luna wouldn’t want him in danger to save her even for a moment if it risked your happiness. I have another plan.”

  The door to the office opened and Maya stepped in, her intelligent gaze sweeping the room and her eyebrows rising dram
atically on her pretty face when she saw her brother in the arms of the big Enforcer, “A girl goes to the bathroom and misses a lot around here.” She dropped to the couch next to her sister and pulled a ten dollar bill from her pocket, “You win. They didn’t last until the full moon tonight.” Leo grumbled something under his breath and Maya smirked at her brother, “Never bet against a Seer. I know. I know.”

  They’d had to tell Maya about Luna once night fell the day before and her sister didn’t return to the lodge. She’d been angry at them all for keeping her in the dark but when she’d tried to stomp off into the woods to look for her sister Leo had ordered her back and then threatened to confine her to her room if she didn’t behave. After much argument and debate, the scarred teenager had finally relented and taken to sulking instead.

  Michael was glad to see that mood had passed and happy the girl could smile at all after what she’d been put through.

  He shook his head, exchanging another look with his own brother. Rafe was watching the DeLuca siblings with a small, sad smile on his face and Michael knew that his brother was missing his twin. It was times like these, when the easy camaraderie between the siblings was on full display that he and Rafe both wished that Gabe had survived that attack most. He’d been the one that wanted to be Pack Alpha and would have inherited the position saving Michael years of responsibility and Rafe years of guilt. But it was more than that. He’d always been quick to smile and laugh, a practical jokester. They would both miss him forever.

  “So what’s this plan?” Darius cleared his throat, clearly trying to steer the conversation away from him and Leo and back to the task at hand.

  Michael gifted his friend with a small smile and nodded, allowing the change because he needed to focus on getting Luna back home, to all of them. She deserved to be in the middle of this. Their whole family and the pack that had begun to embrace her. He wanted her here, standing at his side, her belly rounded with his pups as they all talked about the future. To get that, to get the future that Nova had seen for them all, he had to get Luna back first.