chapter 5

Chapter Five

Alpha Roman stared at the picture he held in his hand. He knew he’d seen that face before. He couldn’t smell it because she smelled entirely of his son but it was her, it was Cole White’s first child. And what was more, she was his son’s mate. How could he tell? He dug around a bit. He was able to trace their trail using their scent and he found that they’d been in the forest, right on the route of the warriors’ morning run. A little questioning here and there revealed that the warriors did indeed run into them in the forest. What’s more, Louis behaved oddly. She was dressed in clothes that weren’t hers and, the most peculiar, when the captain transformed, he shoved her behind him, presumably so she wouldn’t see him naked. Why would he do that? She was a wolf, she would see other men naked. The only reason would be because he felt possessive of her. And wolves only got that possessive over their mate. The Captain of the pack warriors confirmed his theory by saying he could smell the mate bond.

So, this was how destiny chose to repay him, by putting the daughter of the man he hated on his throne? No. Not if he could help it at least. He wouldn’t let that girl have his pack, never. He would have to find a way to make sure that their mate bond was never completed. He couldn’t just go tell Louis not to take her as a mate because the kid was rebellious and would do it just to go against his wishes. No, he would have to do this a lot more subtly.

He would find a way though, he was a master planner. He would find a way to ensure that Angela White never ruled his pack.

******************

I stared at the journal in front of me, contemplating. I had thought all last night about the journal and what I was going to do next, then this morning I’d phoned Melissa and asked her to come over. Then I sat contemplating whether I should tell her about it or not. She was my best friend and she was quite smart. But I wasn’t sure. I had progressed to a state where I was doubting everyone.

Who could have been involved in killing the Luna? Was there anyone I could trust?

The first thing I needed to do was clear though. I needed to find out if this really was the Luna’s journal. To do that, I would have to confirm if it was her handwriting. Which brought us again to Melissa. Her mother had been the Luna’s best friend and beta so she might have a sample of her handwriting somewhere in her house. But could I get Melissa to find it without telling her what I needed it for? I doubted.

Hold on, this was Melissa I was talking about. No matter what, I couldn’t doubt her. She was my best friend, she’d stood by me through the pack’s ridicule and hatred. If there was anyone I could trust, it was her.

Just as I’d made up my mind to tell her, my door swung open.

“Hey bestie! Your mom let me in. You would not believe the rumours that are going around about you. I almost broke someone’s nose on the way here” I frowned. What rumours?

“What rumours, Mel?” I asked.

She sat on my bed beside me and pulled me into a hug first.

“They’re all saying that you’re obsessed with the future Alpha. So much so that you traced his scent in the trees, got his clothes and put them on”

I groaned. Of course. That must have been Natasha.

“I can explain” I said and proceeded to do just that. I explained everything that had happened the previous day, including the part about the journal and what I found in it. By the end, Melissa was staring at me, dumbfounded.

“The Luna was killed? How? I thought she went rogue and had to be put down?”

“I thought so too but according to Luna Esther’s journal, there was foul play involved. That is if this is her journal”

“What do you mean?” She asked with a frown on her face.

“Well how do I know someone didn’t put it there just to mess with me or something?”

“Can I see?” I nodded and she took the book. She opened it and began leafing through.

“It’s hers. I recognize the handwriting. My mom keeps a  birthday card Luna Esther wrote her in the living room on the mantle. She looks at it every couple of days to remember her friend”

I wasn’t sure if I was relieved or worried.

“So this is the Luna’s journal. Now we need to find out who wished her harm”

“Aren’t you going to tell Louis?” She asked.

“Not until we have more proof. I could be locked up behind bars if he found out that I took something of his mother’s from his home. I need that to not be what he dwells on”

“But what’s more proof than his mother’s own words?” Melissa asked.

“Well for one, specific names and faces”

“You really think we can uncover the truth ourselves?” She asked.

“I hope we can. My next question is, how has it been in that house for so long and neither Louis nor his father have found it? The room isn’t so abandoned that I’d believe none of them went in there”

“Hold on, we only know that Alpha Roman doesn’t know about it. We don’t know about Louis yet”

I nodded. “True”

“Also, if this book has been in that drawer for seventeen years then it’d show more signs of wear than this. The leather should be worn out and peeling, the pages should be damp and smell of mould”

Shit, how didn’t I think of that? “That’s true. So, it hasn’t been here for a long time. Which means...”

“Someone placed it there for you to find” Melissa completed.

Melissa and I could pretty much guess why someone would place Esther’s journal for me to find. Someone knew the truth and wanted everyone else to know too. But why wouldn’t that person come forward? Lack of proof? Fear? Lack of allies? That we couldn’t exactly narrow down so we left it alone. Finding out that it was placed there gave more merit to the theory that Louis didn’t know about it. Perhaps the person had placed it there for him to find and I’d found it by accident instead. Either way, it was now in my hands to find who had killed the Luna.

I went downstairs to have breakfast with my parents and left Melissa up in my room to keep reading through the journal. She’d already had breakfast, and frankly, meals with my family were tedious, I wouldn’t want to subject her to that.

I ran into Lincoln in the hall and pulled him into a hug. He squirmed like little brothers often did but he didn’t move away.

“How’d you sleep?” I asked as we continued to the dining room together.

“I slept well. Had a weird dream though. I was an alien and you were a demon”

I laughed in surprise. “Well that makes us a unique pair of siblings. So which one was Mom? A demon or an alien?”

He laughed. “I would have to say alien honestly” he replied. I laughed with him as we turned into the dining room.

“What’s so funny?” Mom asked with that crazy glint in her eyes we were used to by now. My mom had been a very social person before my father’s falling out with the alpha and she couldn’t handle the fact that all of her friends had neglected her and she wasn’t the center of the socialization scene anymore. So, she retreated into herself and tried to pretend none of this was happening and more often than not, that none of us even exist. I understood my mom, although that didn’t mean I wasn’t allowed to hate her. She didn’t want to realize that her kids were going through this as much as she was and be with us, try to help us cope, to protect us. Instead she chose herself. My father wasn’t any better. He caused all this and his stubborn male pride stopped him from simply apologizing to Alpha Roman. Instead, he holed himself up in the house, never leaving, waiting for Alpha Roman to apologize to him.

We ignored our mother because we knew it would rile her up and we were a little petty. Then we each took our seats around the table. She glared at us for a second before her gaze spaced out again and she retreated into herself once more.

For once, breakfast was a mostly silent affair with my father only chiming in once or twice to express how Alpha Roman was wrong and would realize it soon.

As soon as we were done, Lincoln and I left the table and made our way toward our rooms before our dad could really get started.

When we stopped in front of his door we both signed in relief.

“Well, one meal down, two more to go” we both laughed dry, weary laughs.

“See you later kiddo” I said. He nodded and waved at me before he walked into his room and shut the door.

I smiled. When I looked at him I could remember why I tried as much as I did, why I didn’t just retreat into myself like my mom or dive head first into delusion like my dad. It was all for him.

I met Melissa lying front down on my bed reading the journal.

“Glad you survived,” she said as I pulled the door open.

“Me too” I sighed out. I joined her on the bed and she made room for me.

“She really loved her son and Alpha Roman. But it seems like Alpha Roman was going through something at some point. He started pulling away from her and seeming more depressed and angry”

I nodded. “Yeah I read that part. She never found out why though. Do you think it ties in any way? Could he have somehow guessed that something was going to happen to his mate soon? Just like she did?”

“But then why wouldn’t he stop it?” Melissa asked.

“Maybe he couldn’t. Is losing control of your wolf even something that can be prevented?”

“I don’t know. It might not be. Maybe he was depressed about it and pulling away from her because he was preparing for her to die.”

“But then how do the people that Esther mentioned tie into all this?” I asked thoughtfully.

“Maybe he knew about her turning rogue but not about the fact that it was caused by someone or some people” Melissa proposed.

“That’s possible. I think-“ I heard a sound outside my window that made me stop. It sounded like a footstep. Like a very angry footstep.

I looked at Melissa to see if she’d heard it and she was alert. She had too, I wasn’t hallucinating.

The person continued to march toward my house, never diverting. Oh shit, they were coming for my house.

“What do we-“ and then I stopped when I heard my window opening. Melissa and I jumped up preparing to attack if need be. A head poked into the window before the rest of the body followed and we were staring at Louis. A very angry looking Louis.

I quickly and subtly covered the journal still laying on my bed.

“What are you doing in my house, Louis?”

“Why were you in my mother’s room?” He asked with a false calm that belied the anger simmering just beneath the surface.

“That’s my cue to exit” Melissa said. She leaned close to my ear and whispered, “Just yell if you need me to rough him up for you”

And then after my nod, she exited.

And Louis rushed toward me and wrapped his hand around my neck.