Page 15 of Bound By the Moon

“None taken. I couldn’t imagine dying mine blond.Thanks for the sacrifice.”

“Yeah, sure.” She shrugged in the most non-committalway possible.

“Let’s get this over with then.” Mikael and I ledthem to the office area we had built into the house. The house wasan open floor pan on the lower level, but the office was smack inthe middle of everything. I had asked for it to be like that onpurpose, that way no matter where I was in the house, if I neededto meet someone for business the office was accessible. All wewould have to do was close all the doors to block out any residualsunlight now.

It occurred to me, after we all piled into theoffice and shut the doors, that I had forgotten to ask theall-important question. “Where were you?”

The dark one just stared at me like I had grown twoheads, but I wasn’t speaking to him yet. I turned to look at Tessathen, to make sure everyone knew who I was speaking too. “Wherewere you when he tried to attack?”

“Oh. I was just on the outskirts of our pack lands.”She shrugged, knocking her newly darkened locks back behind hershoulder.

“Were you near the caves and tunnel that connect ourlands?”

“I wasn’t far from there. Why?”

“I figured with girls being snatched from both packsthat they had to be using a tunnel system or something for quicktravel.” I hedged a bit. I was actually thinking that maybe theportal Serena had mentioned was somewhere inside the cavernsthemselves. I turned back to the dark one, and commenced with myquestions for him. Not that he answered a single one of them. Itried. Mikael tried. Avery and Nicholi both took a good crack athim. I would give the dark ones this, they could handle pain likechamps.

Before long, Asriel was knocking on our door, readyto take my mate away for a hunting excursion of their own. Theywould hopefully track down all the escapees from the Locks so thatthe packs could rest easily knowing the worst of the worst of ourown kind were locked away again, or dead and not coming back toharm another soul.

Ashley had come with Asi, because we had alreadyagreed she would stay with me while the guys were gone. It was asmall comfort for the both of us. As Mikael went upstairs to getready I explained what was going on in the office to Asi andAshley.

“Jesus, when things go down around you, they reallygo down.” Ashley gave me a hug and tossed her coat on thecouch.

“I’m beginning to think that’s an understatement.”Asi insisted.

“Yeah, well, you just stay safe and bring Mikaelback, along with your fine ass, after you guys take care ofbusiness. For now, we’ll be just fine. There’s plenty of securityoutside, as you just saw for yourself.”

“Wait, you got stopped by security outside?”

“Yeah, they hammered us about why we were here untilyour dad spoke to them and okayed it.”

“Give me just a second…” I ran off to the officethen, and peaked my head in the door. “Hey, when you guys showed upat my door with that thing,” I pointed at the dark one they werestill trying to torture for information. “Was anyone out therequestioning you about being here or bringing him, for thatmatter?”

“No one stopped us, Jess.” Avery was wise enough toappear a bit concerned by that now that I had mentioned it. “Wherethe hell was your security detail?”

“I don’ know, but they’re here now, and I will letmy dad know to deal with it in a minute. Not a word to Mikael,okay? He has to go take care of the Locks situation. The last thingwe need is for him to stay behind, because he’s too worried to gotake care of things.”

“Understood,” was Avery’s response before I wentback in to Ashely and Asi.

Ashley and I said our goodbyes to our mates, and Ihad to work through a moment of panic when saying them. I wasn’tsure I could handle being away from Mikael right now witheverything that was going on, but I knew I had to kick my own assinto high gear now. I was supposed to be a leader. I couldn’tappear weak in front of my people. I had to show them all that Iwas still functioning, that Mikael was still doing his duties, andthat no matter what we’d been through in the past we were risingabove and carrying on with life. That was the way of our people.But damn if there wasn’t a part of me that wanted to just cling tohim, beg him to stay, and say to hell with the Locks escapees… letsomeone else catch them.

Before I knew it they were gone, and I was making aphone call to let my dad know about the guards who were missingfrom my door just before sunup. Once I finished giving him detailsso he could go ream the proper asses for failure to do their duty,I escorted Ashley up to the baby’s room so she could hang out withWillow while I finished up with the problem that was currentlybeing tortured in my meeting room downstairs.

“Sorry, Ash. My dad said he was going to head overhere in a bit to take over for me.”

“Hey, I know what your responsibilities are like.That’s why Willow and I are going to hang out while you kick somedark one ass downstairs and try to figure out why those bastardsare hunting girls that look like you.” She smiled down at Willowthen, and cooed to her. “Tell mommy, we will be fine. Auntie Ashleyis going to tell you all about the first time I took mommy to thebar, and how trashed she got.”

I side-eyed Ashley then, and swore I’d do bad thingsto her if I caught her telling any stories to my daughter. “Shealready has Mikael and I as parents, let’s spare her all the sordiddetails that lead up to that for as long as we possibly can.” Ismiled though, which was her plan all along.

“Oh shoosh, your stories are saintly compared tomine.” She looked down at Willow, “but we’re going to save thosefor when you get older and need to know about the birds and thebees.”

“Okay, I’m going back to work. Suddenly, I feel theneed to torture something.” Ashley laughed at that and I took offto go back down to my office.

“Has it bothered to say a single helpful word?” Iasked as I opened the door, letting the morning light fall fullyinto the room as I did. I watched as the dark one finally appearedunnerved. Everyone else in the room looked exhausted and beyondfrustrated, but that one slip from the dark one when he thought noone noticed was all I needed. An idea formed in my head, and a plantook root. Hopefully, it would lead to some answers that wedesperately needed in order to stop the abduction of all theinnocent girls in our two packs. Not to mention, stopping whatevernefarious plan was being hatched about the gateway to the dead.

“Avery, may I speak with you.” I gestured with myhead nodding out into the kitchen. He followed immediately. Onlyturning to give one quick warning to Nicholi that if he letanything happen to Tessa, even a broken nail, while he was gone, hewould feed the dark one a snack before sending him off to meet turnto ash.

“That was harsh. Nicholi can’t take his eyes offyour daughter, you know.”

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