Healing His Broken Luna.... Chapter 96

#####Chapter 9 - Lost

Lukas POV

I pulled the river water up into a bubble and brace my fall using my element. I floated down the river and found calm being in the water regardless of how rough and fast the water is churning. When I was fourteen, I learned that I could control the water element. My father used to call me his 'little aqua-man.' Elemental wolfs are descendants of the Moon Goddess and have elemental gifts. 

Gifts are usually discovered when a wolf matures at the age of eighteen and can shift. However, I'm no ordinary wolf. I'm the son of Raven LaRue, who was the only wolf ever known to possess more than one element. She has the fire element from my grandmother Lucy and the water element from my grandfather Diesel. My father, Dimitri Theodorus, also has the elemental gift of earth and discovered his at an early age.

I'm the old child of five who actually has all three elements from both my parents. When I turned fourteen a crescent moon tattoo appeared on the back of my neck. All elemental wolves bear this mark. To my parents surprise we discovered my water element. When I turned sixteen, I discovered I possessed the earth element. And when I finally turned eighteen, I was able to control fire. No wolf has ever had three elements, but there is an old prophecy that claims someday a wolf will possess the power of four.

My two older brothers, Kyros and Damien only received the earth element, while my twin sisters Alice and Anabeth received the water element when they turned eighteen. Elements often skip generations or siblings. My Aunt Odessa is my father's sister, she does not have the earth element but still passed it on to all three of my male cousins. We often joke that between the LaRue, Theodorus and Kappas families, we are building an army of elemental wolves. Although, no matter how hard my grandparents have searched, no one has ever met a wolf with the elemental power to control air.

Everyone is convinced the prophecy is mine, but since elemental gifts can skip, there's no reason why my oldest brother Kyros, can't pass all three to his son. I don't believe the prophecy is even mine. Actually, I don't believe in any of that nonsense. It's about as reliable as the old ladies reading tea leaves or coffee grounds to predict your fortune.

I floated in the water, parting it, moving boulders and looking for her body. Luke was on high alert and wanted me to move faster down river. We floated to an open meadow area with cabins, it looked like a vacation resort. If she was still alive, she should have had common sense enough to climb out and seek help here. 

I used the water element to lift myself out of the water and stalked towards the cabins. I had no clothes and decided to shift into my wolf to stay warm. I sniffed the air and walked by in the shadows of each cabin. There's two dozen and they're all nearly occupied. After an hour of stalking around this human resort, I concluded she wasn't here. Luke was on high alert and wanted to keep looking.

She doesn't speak and she's been abused, maybe she wouldn't trust humans enough to seek help. I walked back to the river and ran along the riverbed scenting the woods. The temperature was dropping quickly, she wouldn't have lasted long in the water. I kept walking expecting to find her curled up under a bush for warmth, but I didn't find her.

Another hour later, I picked up the faint scent of a rogue in the area. This area smelled strong of humans, it was a recreation area for them. Wolves, even rogues typically stayed away from human areas. I stalked through the woods following my nose. I saw a campfire burning in the distance and turned to leave. I didn't want to alarm human campers.

I walked by a tree and a faint smell of sweat pea flowers floated in the wind. She had been here. I turned around and walked back towards the campfire. I shifted back to human form and smelled the stench of rogue.

A growl erupted out of me as I locked eyes with a green eyed rogue. He immediately jumped up and his eyes turned red. His wolf was on the surface ready to fight.

"WHERE IS SHE?" I demanded.

"Where is who?" He replied.

"Don't play stupid with me rogue. I can scent her here."

"I have no idea what you're talking about. This is human land. I've not scented any other wolves here."

No, of course he wouldn't be able to scent her. Her wolf was barely alive. His shifty eyes told me he was up to no good.

"Gray dress, long brown hair, hazel eyes, a tiny little thing." I said.

"I told you, I haven't seen any wolves!" He snapped back, his teeth getting longer, his heart pounding harder.

I pulled a ring of fire out from his campfire and circled it around him. I could see panic in his eyes and smell the fear.

"I don't have the fucking patience for your stupidity. I'm going to ask you one last time and then I'm going to close the ring of fire on you." I growled.

"She's gone! He took her. Saul took her to the shifters auction in Harlem. It's in two days. That's all I know."

"You're a disgrace to our kind." Those were the last words I spoke before I let the fire engulf him. When he let out a scream, I used my element to fill his mouth with a dirt clog to muffle his screams. I waited until he dropped and then opened up a hole in the ground beneath him and filled it back up with earth. 

I shifted into my wolf and ran back to Sapphire Moon pack. An hour later and I made it to the tree line by the pack house. Beta Keaton came out and handed me shorts. I shifted and slipped them on.

"Man, I thought you were dead after that jump." He said.

"I wanted to make sure they were both dead." I growled.

"Obviously the mating ceremony has been postponed. Since everyone is here already, they're preparing to bury Donnatella in the morning." He told me.

"I'll be leaving after. Please let the Alpha know I'm going to have a helicopter pick me up at noon from the open end of the training field."

"Of course. Anything else?" He asked me.

"I'd like to go out to the barn and have a look around." I said. It wasn't a request and he wasn't going to tell me no.

"The bodies have been removed already."

"Thanks." I said and walked past him towards the barn.

I pulled the door open and went inside. Everything had been cleaned and the horses had full bins of hay. She had been replaced so easily. I looked in the stall she slept in and pulled the door open. Domino eyed me nervously as I sniffed around her stall

I saw a piece of cloth sticking out from under her straw and pulled it out. It was a rag of a dress similar to the one she had on. I moved the straw around and found a towel with underwear rolled up in it. They were in the same sad shape of her dress. This was all she had in the world. Reduced to living in this barn like a wild animal.

I moved to the back of the barn where Donnatella had been killed. Where I had found her. A flood of emotions running through me.

Maybe Syble was unhinged. She must have seen Donnatella fighting with the other wolf and when she ripped out the throat of the other wolf, Syble stabbed her with the hay fork. Or maybe Syble couldn't tell which wolf was part of what pack and stabbed the wrong person. Something was obviously wrong with her mentally, she didn't even talk.

Yet there was something bothering me. Something that didn't make sense. How did she survive that fall? She was alive, though I'm not sure for how much longer. I doubt she will survive the shifters auction. Or maybe someone will buy her who feels sorry for her and treats her better than she was treated here.

Luke didn't like the idea of anyone else having her and I didn't like the idea of keeping her. How the hell did this happen? All of my siblings found their mates within a year of turning eighteen. Did the Moon Goddess honestly expect me to wait thirteen fucking years for a pup and be happy about it?

I went back to my room and checked my cell phone. I had a missed call from my Great Uncle Ranger. He had managed the U.S. branches and assets of LaRue Enterprises while my grandfather managed all the international branches and assets. My mother is now the CFO and my uncles mostly handled the business now, but Uncle Ranger was still very much involved. I dialed him back.

"How's my favorite nephew doing?" He greeted me. He always referred to each of us as his favorite.

Ranger had always been the uncle I could trust to confide in. The one person I knew who would not run back to my parents or grandparents and tell a secret. I told him what had transpired at the mating ceremony. I told him about Syble, her living conditions, and how she was treated at this pack. He let out an angry growl. I told him how Syble killed Donnatella. I told him how Luke sensed she was our mate, but she was just a pup. I professed my love for Donnatella and my confusion with Syble. I told him how I felt frustrated, angry and guilty.

He sat quietly for a moment. I could hear him breathing. Then he said the most shocking thing I have ever heard. Something no one else ever told me. Something I will never forget.

He told me about the time he was a young and foolish Alpha. How he found his mate who was the laundry slave. How she lived in a cold basement on an old dog bed, she was given nothing and had no friends. She was bullied and beaten by other pack members and he turned a blind eye because he was obsessed with wanting a strong Luna for the pack. He told me how a wolf will ALWAYS want the other half of its soul, its mate.

He said he was stupid enough to fight his wolf against it. He slept with his mate but refused to claim her. Then he selected another mate, a she wolf he thought was stronger. He went on to tell me his mate was pregnant with his pup and he foolishly threw her in the hole for something she didn't do.

He took a deep breath and said something that still sounded like it pained him after all these years just thinking about it.

"That's when I lost her forever. Our pup died in that hole and my wolf Rex also left me. I was a stupid selfish bastard. It's been over fifty years and there hasn't been a day that's passed that I haven't regretted rejecting the blessing of the Moon Goddess."

"Did your mate die?" I asked.

He took a deep breath and let out a soft chuckled. "No. She accepted my rejection and escaped. Rex cut me off and almost died. She was innocent, what happened to her wasn't her fault, so the Moon Goddess gave her a second chance mate. She lived happily ever after with a love that she deserved, became Luna of the largest and strongest pack in the world and had six beautiful pups. I thought she was a weak wolf, turns out she was the strongest wolf to ever walk this earth."

"Grandma?" I asked in complete shock.

"Grandma was your first mate?" I asked again.

"She was. I was the blind fool who never deserved her. She saved my life even after all the pain I caused her, and she even brought my wolf back. A chosen mate never really fits like your true mate. A piece of your heart will ALWAYS be missing." A twinge of pain in his voice.

"I don't know what to do. She's lost now." I rubbed my temple.

"I'm not telling you what to do, but if I had the chance to do it all over again. It would be different. It's a long and lonely life to live without your mate Lukas. Trust what this old fool is telling you. Don't make the same mistake I did."

"Thanks Uncle. I need to get to the city tomorrow." I said.

"And don't forget that business at the Manhattan Grand Hotel." He reminded me.

I disconnected the phone and dialed Angelo. He was in New York handling my business. We grew up together in Greece, if I ever decided to take a pack, he would be my Beta.

"Alpha." He answered.

"I need a helicopter here tomorrow at noon."

"Cutting the trip short?" He asked.

"Long story. There's something I've lost that must be found."