The Lunar Queen Chapter 14

Mason POV

Every minute that goes by without us finding her pulls me deeper into my spiral, like I’m losing control piece by piece and there’s nothing stopping it.

There was so much blood.

How can someone so small have that much blood?

It doesn’t make sense. It shouldn’t be possible.

We’ve been searching for hours, and the blood keeps leading us to dead ends.

Every trail cutting off like she just… disappeared again.

“What if it’s already too late?” I hear a warrior say.

I’m on him instantly, hand around his throat.

“What the fuck did you just say?” I growl in his face.

My grip tightens without me even thinking about it.

“I didn’t say anything, alpha,” he says, bowing his head in submission.

“SAY IT!” I snarl.

“I said what if it is already too late,” he repeats in a stutter.

“If my mate is dead when we find her, I will cut your tongue out of your mouth and feed it to you,” I growl menacingly, the words coming out darker than I intended—but I don’t take them back.

“Alpha Lane,” the king says firmly, bringing me out of my rage,

“try not to threaten the pack members, helping you look for your mate,” he adds before walking away.

The fact that he has to say that… tells me I’m already slipping.

Over the link, different warriors think they’ve found her and then come up empty.

Hope—then nothing. Over and over again.

This is all my fault.

Every second of it.

I never thought my love for her all these years would lead to her suffering.

Staying away from her all this time has been the hardest thing to do.

I pushed my feelings so far down she thought I didn’t know she existed.

And now I’m realizing what that cost her.

She could never be invisible.

She brightens a room even when she isn’t trying.

People stare every time she enters a room.

She doesn’t even realize how beautiful she is.

And I let everyone else overlook her… like I did.

My whole body goes rigid when I hear the link,

“I found her, King Cole,” which links everyone.

Everything inside me goes still.

I run toward the direction I saw him go last,

faster than I’ve ever moved, like if I don’t get there now, I’ll be too late.

Cole POV

I separated from everyone else to search for her alone.

I stood still, closed my eyes, and took a deep breath.

Blocking everything else out—every other scent, every other distraction.

Suddenly, my eyes shot open.

Blood.

Fresh blood.

Not faint. Not old. Fresh.

I followed the scent, it smelled muted but still unmistakably there.

As I got closer to the stronger smell, my heart sank.

Each step heavier than the last.

I saw this small wolf covered in dirt and surrounded by trees, unmoving.

Too still.

I could hear her faint pulse.

Barely there—but there.

I linked everyone, letting them know I found her.

I walked closer and dropped to my knees beside her.

She was cold and pale.

Too cold. Too pale.

Her back was carved.

Who would do something so vicious to another wolf?

This was cruelty on a whole new level.

This wasn’t just an attack—this was intentional.

When everyone approached, the beta let out a gut-wrenching howl that we all felt.

We each howled in sorrow for him.

The sound echoing through the trees like something breaking.

When I bent down to pick her up, I heard her softly say,

“I tried to stay away,”

her voice barely more than a breath, like it took everything she had left to say it.

before she passed out.

“We need to get her to the pack hospital now, her pulse is weak,” I said.

Too weak.

Her father shifted into his wolf form, and her brother climbed onto his back.

I carefully handed her to him.

Zeus howled in my mind for his mate.

Loud. Unrelenting.

I turned to Mason, who was frozen, staring at the spot where she had been.

Not moving. Not breathing. Just… stuck.

He dropped to his knees.

“My little sunflower, I’m so sorry, I should have seen this sooner,” he said through sobs.

His voice breaking in a way I’ve never heard from an alpha before.

“I will stay with him. Everyone else, head back,” Alpha Liam said.

When we arrived at the hospital, the doctor was just stepping outside.

“Dr. Grant, my pup, how is she?” Beta Donovan asked.

His voice already shaking before she even answers.

“Honestly, Beta, it’s not good. We’re doing blood transfusions to remove the silver from her blood, and giving her a blood transplant because she lost so much of it.”

“Since she doesn’t have her wolf and her body was already healing from a silver injury, it’s an uphill battle.”

“The wounds on her back—” she paused, gathering herself,

like even saying it out loud is hard—

“—are filled with dirt and debris from the forest, so we’re trying to rinse those out, too,” she added, fighting back tears.

“These next few days will tell us a lot. Right now, all we can do is wait and pray that the goddess blesses her,” she finished before turning and walking back inside Lyric’s room.

And as the door closes behind her…

no one moves.

Because for the first time since we found her…

it’s not about finding Lyric anymore.

It’s about whether she’s going to survive what was done to her.