Chapter 17 Light of the Moon
2124 Words
Chapter 17
Light of the Moon
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Louise
Before we could move, I smelt the ocean breeze closing in on me again and froze. My heart thundered in my chest, echoing in my ears so loudly I could swear Jo and Raine could hear it. No ... no...!
“Stay,” Joseph demanded in his Alpha tone, making Jo and Raine freeze on the spot. He faced them, attempting to control them with his Alpha aura. “You two can return to your seats. I will stay and help Louise.”
“No!” I hissed at him. I stood between my friends and Joseph, holding his silver eyes on mine. “I need them with me… You can’t order them away!”
“I can…” He challenged. “I am the Alpha.”
“You’re not Alpha yet!” I warned him with a sneer.
After a short standoff that I refused to lose, he dropped his shoulders and shook off his Alpha mode. “Fine, they can help, but we won’t need them… I will be able to sniff it out...”
Not this again. I sucked in a wounded breath.
He eyed me, waiting for me to bite back, hoping I would. Suddenly, my desire to argue faltered, driven away by the warmth spreading through my body. Besides, finding my medication was more crucial than this war with Joseph.
“Fine,” I waved my hand at him. “We’ll follow you...”
“Are you sure?” Jo hesitated. She took my hand and squeezed it. “After everything you said... is this wise?”
Chewing my bottom lip, I nodded. “I’m going to need my medication soon, or …” I trailed off.
“It’s okay, I understand,” Raine said, grasping my shoulder. “We’re here for you…”
“We’ll get it back in time,” Jo agreed.
Joseph sniffed the air. He turned to his left and scrunched up his nose. “It’s this way...”
My heart dropped at the thought that my awful scent was the one he was following. Hot tears threatened my eyes. This is not the time! Pull yourself together! I willed them away with all my strength.
On the outside of the marquee, down the long side of the wall, Joseph froze. He turned back to us. My heart faulted. The hanging lights shone through the marquee, casting his handsome face in a dreamy glow. For a brief second, he was not the jerk who had insulted or infuriated me… But a handsome stranger that made my breath falter.
“It has to be here somewhere...” he sniffed around. “I can smell it…”
“Let’s look,” Raine insisted. Holding the skirt of her dress down, she knelt on the ground and patted the grass. “It’s a black bag. It shouldn’t be hard to see it against the grass.”
“Let me help…” Jo shimmied the legs of her bodysuit up and then knelt beside me. “I can’t wait to get my wolf… Searching in the dark would be so much easier.”
We were far from the marquee entrance and all the guests. From the side of the marquee walls where we stood, out to the open woods, was a vast, empty green field.
Odd… I scratched my head. “How would my bag find its way out here? I never walked this far.”
“Wait,” Raine stood back up, adjusting her dress so it sat above her knee. “If you never went this way… How exactly did it get out here?”
“I was wondering the same thing.” Jo agreed. She stood beside me, dusting grass from the knees of her bodysuit. “This entire thing is mighty suspicious… If you ask me.”
“I found it...” Joseph exclaimed as he reached down and scooped my bag up from the ground. “It was tucked under the marquee…”
That is suspicious! I shared an uneasy glance with my friends. “You have a point. Something is very off…”
Massaging his forehead, Joseph gestured a thumb at the marquee wall. “I think it was Snowflake... I can smell her scent on it.”
“Snowflake?” The three of us asked in unison.
“Josie-Anne,” he brushed his hair from his eyes. “I think she set us up...”
“But why would she do that?” I asked, snatching my bag from his open palm and holding it against me.
“So, we could talk... She’s been trying to get us to talk since you arrived.”
Great! “In that case,” shaking my head, I turned on my heels. “I’m going back inside… I’m not in the mood to listen to your insults again...”
“Wait!” Joseph grabbed my hand, spun me around and gently brought me to stand before him. It was slow and almost hypnotic, not the fast and painful way he had gripped me last time. “Insulting you on purpose is not what I keep trying to do!”
“But you still manage to do it!” I huffed.
“Umm…” Raine scratched her head in puzzlement. She turned to Jo. “What’s happening here?”
“I don’t know…” Jo replied, her eyes wide.
“Every time you get near me, you drive me insane,” I said, pulling my hand free from his. I pressed a hand against his chest to push him back when the hum of his heart caught me off guard. “J-just because I’m an Omega… and I’m sick… That doesn’t mean you can pick on me!”
“Will you let me speak?” He pleaded softly.
I met his gaze and saw a hint of something different there, speckled among the silver. Was it sincerity? “Fine,” I sighed, dropping my hand, “go ahead and speak.”
“That’s all I ask…” He turned to my friends. “You two can return to the tables. I’ll ensure Louise is back in one piece once we’re finished.”
Rain shook her head in confusion, snapping her mouth shut. “Umm, but… Is that what you want, Louise?”
“Are you sure?” Jo added.
I shrugged. “I mean... I can protect myself if I have to... but this time…” I hugged myself tightly, fighting back nausea. “I’m willing to hear him out...” I faced Joseph, and the outline of his chiselled jaw made my stomach clench. “I’m doing this for Josie-Anne…”
“Fine,” Jo huffed, squinting back at us. “This still seems suspicious to me. I don’t like it.”
“I think I’ll be fine…” I admitted.
A scowl shadowed her face. “If you’re not back in fifteen minutes, we’re coming back for you…”
Raine lifted her chin in a display of strength that I had never seen her do. “And that’s not a joke…”
“That’s fair...” Joseph agreed. “She’ll be safe with me…”
Why was he being so nice? I watched his face, hoping to read his intentions, but I failed.
“Let’s go, Lorraine,” Jo insisted, taking her arm. They flashed Joseph a serious scowl before walking away.
I had never seen them so protective of me before. Especially not in a way they would defy the orders of an Alpha, even an Alpha-to-be. What’s going on?
Once my friends were out of sight, I stepped away from Joseph, putting a decent space between us. I was happy to give him one last chance to explain himself... for his sister, but I was wary of him and the strange way he was making me feel…
Breathing in the night air, I turned away. “So, why would your sister go out of her way to do this?”
“My little sister is different…” Joseph stepped up beside me, his face half-shadowed. “She...”
“Has magic powers ...?” I peered over at him.
He smirked knowingly. “Something like that.”
A few minutes of silence hung between us before he walked around me and stopped before me. “She told me something,” he said softly. “You’re going in for surgery on Monday...”
“How did she...” I started, then trailed off. She’s a mind reader, that’s how! “Why would she tell you that? What does that have to do with you?”
He blinked at me in awkward silence. I caught a glimpse of his wolf staring back at me and gasped. He realised what was happening and then shook his wolf away.
“Look,” I stepped back from him, pushing away the flutter in my chest. “I don’t want to argue. Not here in front of the pack. And I don’t need them to know how sick I am either...”
He met my gaze straight on. I shivered. “You have put me in a terrible position...”
“Well, it’s not something I planned.” I huffed, rolling my eyes. “You’re the one who challenged me…”
“It’s not that,” his smirk sharpened the corner of his lips. “You look so beautiful tonight. It’s making me fight with Zodiac in a very… painful way.” He ran a hand through his hair. “It’s just that smell...”
My heart was in my stomach, and my head began to throb. “Stop!” I shouted, making him doubletake. I backed away another step. “Why are you doing this to me? Am I a joke between you and your friends…?”
“No!” He stepped closer. “It’s nothing like that. I have been trying to ignore my wolf… trying to tell you.” He trailed off.
“Tell me what?” I growled, turning away.
He was suddenly in front of me, holding my arms. Before I could pull away, he pressed his lips to mine. It was a brief moment when the world faded away, and it was just us. His lips move with mine as his hands caress my arms, creating a static shock through my entire body. But as his lips parted from mine, he screwed his face in disgust, and I crashed back to reality with a painful, heartbreaking thud.
“You had no right!” I sniffled, shoving him away. My emotions were finally losing their strength. Tears prickled in my eyes. “No!” I turned to run when pain rippled through my stomach and dropped me to my knees. “No…!”
“Louise!” Joseph tried to kneel beside me. Suddenly, he stepped back, his eyes a deep, unnerving red. “I... I...”
“Leave me alone!” I demanded, my words sounding more like a plea as fear and pain tensed every muscle.
A rush of hurried footsteps drew nearer.
I heard Mum cry. “Where is Louise?”
The rich metallic scent of blood hit my senses. I glanced down to see the bottom of my dress soaked in dark red blood. Whimpering, I peered up to see Joseph inches in front of me.
His eyes burned a violent red. Growling, he stumbled back, shaking his head.
“Back away, Joseph!” Doc Anderson demanded. He held a hand towards Joseph as he knelt beside me. “Louise, can you hear me...? What happened?”
Tears flooded my vision. I held my trembling hands in front of me. They were stained in blood. “I don’t know…”
Joseph let out a growl that made me tremble.
“Joseph!” Doc Anderson growled as he stood. He shoved him back with force. “You can’t be here right now... Leave!”
“Where’s Mum?” I looked for her with desperate eyes. “Mum?”
No answer.
Someone wrapped their warm arms around me and lifted me off the ground. They held me close, breathing a sweet breath against my skin.
“It’s okay, Louise,” a deep familiar voice soothed.
A loud crack followed a roar.
“He’s gone, but not for long,” Doc Anderson whispered. “Gamma Archie, don’t let this get out... No one can know! Go in and distract everyone, including the Alpha and Luna!”
“Yes, Levine,” He replied. “I’ll get Madeline to sing. She’s always ready to perform.”
“Great... Whoa, be careful with her, Tyrone. Let’s get her to the car. She’s losing too much blood.”
- Writer
