The Lunar Queen Chapter 33

Mason POV

I didn’t hear from Lyric all day yesterday after I told her about Kasey’s camera, which is strange.

Not strange for anyone else—but not for her. Not when she always answers me, even when she’s upset. Even when she shouldn’t.

I linked her a few times and got no response, and now it’s the next day and still nothing.

And that silence is starting to feel wrong in a way I can’t explain—like something already happened and I just haven’t caught up to it yet.

I head to Winter’s room. “Hey rabbit, have you heard from Lyric today?” I ask.

“No, I actually haven’t spoken to her since yesterday afternoon,” she says. She stands up and heads down to the Beta floor, and I follow behind her. We go to Lyric’s room, and although it smells like her, her scent is faint, as if she hasn’t been here since yesterday.

Too clean. Too still. Like she left in a hurry—or didn’t leave on her own at all.

I link Hunter. “Hunter, have you seen Lyric today?” I ask.

“No, I honestly figured I’d just see her at the school for the ceremony since she’s valedictorian,” he says. “Why?” he links, but it gets cut off by a patrolman linking all the ranked members.

“We have a situation at the south border, Alpha. I think you should get here now,” the warrior says.

“What is it?” my father links back.

“I think you should just get here, Alpha. Hurry and bring the pack doctor with you,” the warrior says, cutting the link.

My chest tightens instantly. They don’t call for the doctor unless it’s bad—really bad—and my mind only goes to one person.

“Lyric,” I say.

It’s not a guess. Not a possibility. I already know before anyone says it.

“Lyric, what?” Winter asks. “What was the link about?” she asks.

“I don’t know, the warrior just said we need to get to the south border.” I tell her.

“No, it can’t be her. She didn’t do something to her again,” she cries out. “Please, goddess, not again. She’s suffered enough,” Winter cries.

“Rabbit, I have to go,” I say softly.

“Go,” she says.

I run downstairs and out the door, shifting mid-run. When I get there, I stumble at the sight and shift instantly. No. What did they do to her?

My vision tunnels, everything around me fading except her—broken, barely there—and something inside me snaps so hard it almost takes me down with it.

When I get close, she’s barely conscious.

“Josh,” she says softly.

Her voice is so weak it barely reaches me, but I catch it—cling to it—because it means she’s still here. Still fighting.

“Who is Josh?” I ask.

“We have a warrior named Josh,” Hunter says.

“Cabin, Josh,” she says. That makes everyone’s ears perk up.

“I need a team to go to the old hunting cabin by the north end of the border, near the river,” my father says over the link to all the warriors and ranked members.

My sunflower, what did they do to you?

“Oh my goddess, Lyric,” Dr. Grant screams when she sees her dropping down beside me. “She lost so much blood, she is barely breathing. I need to get her to the hospital now,” she says, crying.

The words don’t even process right. They just echo, bouncing around in my head like I don’t understand them—but I do. I understand exactly what they mean.

She turns to my father. “Alpha, this has to stop happening. You have to do something about her,” she pleads.

“We will, Sonia. We may have a lead that we are checking out now,” he responds.

“We need to move her now and cover her better than this. Be gentle; she has too many open wounds,” she instructs.

“I will carry her,” I say.

“NO,” Beta Donovan growls, “you will not touch her. I will carry my pup,” he insists, gently picking her up and heading back towards the pack as fast as he can.

And I don’t argue. I can’t. Because one look at her and I know—if I touch her right now, I might lose control completely.

“Dad, I didn’t know this would happen. She was so scared about the picture, but I never imagined this,” I say, tears falling.

We both get a link at the same time. “Alphas, we found something. You need to see this,” they say, cutting the link.

When we arrive at the cabin, it’s worse than the school scene—the amount of blood is overwhelming.

It hits me all at once—the smell, the sight, the reality of what happened here—and I have to lock my jaw to keep from losing it right then.

Then we see Josh at the entrance of the back room, with his neck snapped.

“We found this tape recorder on him, Alpha,” a warrior says, handing it to him.

My father presses play.

Every instinct in me is screaming not to listen—but I don’t move. I force myself to hear it. All of it.

“You told me to stay away from him, and I did,” I hear Lyric say, then a slap.

“I saw the picture, Lyric. I know you kissed him,” Summer says.

“Please, just let me go,” Lyric pleads.

Her voice breaks through me in a way nothing else ever has—because I wasn’t there. Because she called for help and I didn’t hear it.

My dad fast-forwards, and we hear Josh: “We should stop, guys. She’s already hurt, and Summer’s gone. She won’t know.”

“Come on, Josh. We’re already here, and it’s free,” a voice says.

“That’s Nathaniel,” my dad states.

“Shut him up,” another voice orders.

“That sounds like Brad,” I say just before we hear the crack.

The rest of the tape records them assaulting her until they leave with her, then it falls silent until the tape cuts out.

I don’t hear everything. I can’t. My mind starts shutting parts of it out—but I hear enough. More than enough.

I flip over the recorder, and there’s a note.

“If you found this, they killed me. I tried to stop them and help her, but I was too weak. She was kind to me, and I didn’t help her. In my room at my house, are every conversation we had after Lyric’s first attack. Please tell my parents I’m sorry, Alpha,” the note reads.

It says so much.

More than any of us wanted to know. More than I can even process right now.

“You’re running point on this, son. She’s your mate. Think like an Alpha, not like a wolf seeking revenge,” my dad advises.

But right now, I don’t know how to be anything else.

I link our head warrior, Matthew. “I need you to send warriors to pick up Summer, Nathaniel, and Brad, and take them to the cells,” I say.

“Yes, Alpha, right on it,” he replies.

“I’m headed to the pack hospital,” I tell my dad.

We shift and run there. When we arrive, everyone is in the waiting room. Winter runs up to me.

“Please tell me you caught them,” she says, tears streaming.

Her voice is already breaking before I answer—and I hate that I’m the one who has to confirm it’s real.

“I have Matthew bringing all of them to the cells right now,” I reply.

Aunt Elizabeth’s head snaps up at that. “You put Summer in the cells, Mason,” she snaps.

“Yes, Auntie. She’s the mastermind,” I say.

“You don’t know that,” she yells.

But she already does. We all do. She just doesn’t want to say it out loud.

“Mom,” Hunter cuts in. “Yes, we do. Summer hates Lyric. She always has. She hated that everyone in the pack, except you and Dad, loved Lyric, even though she looks nothing like us,” Hunter insists.

“He’s right, Liz,” my dad agrees. “One of the warriors turned on her, and although he died as a result, he left us everything we need. We have her on tape, Lizzie,” he says softly.

“No, why would she do this? She’s her sister,” my aunt cries.

“She never saw her that way, Mom,” Jace chimes in.

“Liz, honey, come sit down,” Uncle Donovan suggests just as Dr. Grant steps out of the room. Her face shows everything before she even speaks.

Uncle Donovan is the first to ask, “How is she?”

“I’ll be brutally honest, Beta. I’m not hopeful. She lost way more blood than last time. She was beaten repeatedly with a silver whip, with long jagged silver cuts on both arms and legs, and she was assaulted multiple times,” the doctor reports.

The room goes dead quiet after that—like no one even knows how to breathe past it.

Kane forces the shift before I can process what she said.

Because I can’t hold it together anymore—and he won’t let me fall apart without a fight.

Hunter, Micah, Lucas, and my dad gather around me.

“Kane, I know you’re upset, but you need to give Mason control back,” my dad says.

“Kane, we will make Summer and the others pay. None of them will get away with this,” I tell him.

“Fine,” he huffs, relinquishing control.

I collapse on the floor when he forces the shift back.

My body just gives out. No strength. No control. Just… gone.

“I put her in a medically induced coma,” Dr. Grant says.

The words hit harder than anything else so far—because this means she’s not waking up. Not anytime soon.

“She kept coming to, saying the name Josh.”

“That is the warrior who sacrificed his life to get us the information we need. They snapped his neck, right before,” my dad says.

“Do we know how long?” Aunt Liz asks.

“No, beta, we do not. We are transfusing her blood as fast as we can, but she also needs a blood donation because she lost so much.”

“Take mine,” all three of her brothers say.

No hesitation. No questions. Just instinct—because losing her isn’t an option for any of us.

“And mine,” her father adds.

Nurses will take you all to the back to get you set up. Blood from a family member is always better. As I was saying, we are trying to flush all of the silver and wolfsbane out of her system first so we can close her wounds and focus on letting her body heal. But right now, it’s not clear. This is worse than the last time,” she says softly before heading back into her room.

The room falls silent.

And for the first time since I found her… I don’t know what comes next. Not as her mate. Not as an Alpha. Not as anything.

Winter runs off, and everyone else is frozen.

Winter POV

She always knows her twin.

Even when she doesn’t want to. Even when it hurts.

As much as Summer hates her, nobody knows her better than Lyric. She said Summer would find out about prom, but none of us believed her. Now we are all paying for that. So much for high school graduation.

I call Principal Jameson.

“Good morning, Principal Jameson,” I say.

“Good morning, Winter. The ceremony is set to start soon, and none of the high-ranking families are here,” he replies.

“I know, sir. There was another incident involving Lyric, and well…” I pause, gathering myself. “We won’t be attending the ceremony today. If it’s okay, I will pick up their diplomas and awards,” I say, voice cracking.

“Is everything okay with Lyric?” he asks, concern in his voice.

“No, sir, and we’re not sure if it will be. We’re just praying for a miracle,” I respond.

And I hate how real that sounds coming out of my mouth—like hope is already slipping through my fingers.

“I understand. Thank you for letting me know, Winter. She is in my prayers,” he says before ending the call.

Then I make my next call.

“Hello,” he answers, and the moment I hear his voice, I break down.

There’s no holding it together anymore—not when saying it out loud makes it real.

“Dom, they… they hurt her so badly. We don’t even know if she’s going to make it. How could they keep doing this to her?” I cry into the phone.

“Wait, baby, slow down. What happened?” he asks, trying to soothe me.

“Lyric went missing again yesterday, and this morning, Mason and I went to look for her because today is their graduation, but she wasn’t in her room. It was 7am, and she hates mornings. Then a warrior linked all the ranked members to come to the south border, and she was there—naked, beaten, cut up, and sexually assaulted. They violated her over and over. They humiliated her and then dumped her like she was nothing,” I scream into the phone, agony gripping my chest like a vice.

Like I can feel a piece of her breaking—and I’m not there to stop it.

Vega whimpers loudly in my mind, her pain blending with mine.

“Oh my mate, I’m so sorry, I am not there to hold you, I will be there as soon as I can okay,” he says softly.

“Okay, please hurry. I need you,” I cry.

“I know, baby. I’m on my way, I promise,” he replies, hanging up.

I sit in my room, looking at all the pictures of me and Lyric and some of us and Mason together. How could Summer be so cruel to her own sister? Lyric would have loved her being jealous of your sister, who was just being herself—it’s so evil. How did she get so evil?

“She hurt our sister,” Vega says.

“She has to survive this. She can’t let her win,” I tell her.

“She will. Our sister is strong—stronger than even she knows,” Vega responds confidently.

I make my way back to the hospital because just like before, I will be at her bedside every day until she wakes up, no matter how long it takes, because she is my true soulmate and I can’t do this without her.

The pain and fear crush me as I walk back toward the hospital.

Because this time… it doesn’t feel like we’re waiting for her to wake up.

It feels like we’re waiting to see if she even can.