"That was really good, baby," Brandon praises Mary as he sits back in his chair and starts playing with the ends of her hair. I feel the corners of my lips twitch as I try to smile at them. It was really good. Despite my appetite being gone, I still managed to eat quite a lot. Brandon and Aiden, who both claimed they weren't hungry, had almost three plates of food each. I hadn't even realized Mary was cooking that much until they started piling food onto their plates. Sometimes I still manage to forget just how much wolves can eat. I push my empty plate forward and rest my elbows along the countertop.
"Thank you," she whispers before closing her eyes and leaning into his touch. I hear her soft sigh as he continues running his fingers through her hair and I can't help but smile at their actions. I sit there quietly as I focus on the movement in my belly. The three of them talk softly about random things until the sound of cars pulling up to the house silences everyone. I fur my eyebrows as Brandon and Aiden shoot up from their seats and move towards the window. I stand up and move around to stand beside Mary. Her body is tense as she stares at Brandon's back but she doesn't say anything.
"Those are some of our cars," Aiden whispers as he studies the people outside. As soon as the words leave his lips, I push away from Mary and take off towards the door.
Our cars.
That means Mason is back! I feel Brandon and Aiden close behind me, both reaching for me but I pull away. I quickly fling the door open and step outside on the porch, but I'm immediately surrounded by my guards. I look around like they're crazy. These are our cars, which means it's our people.
"What's going on?" Aiden asks from my left side. I glance over at him and try again to push my way through the group of guards but they don't budge. Brandon retreats back into the house, no doubt to check on Mary and get her somewhere safe before coming back out.
"There's another scent in one of the cars. I don't smell the Alpha's scent anywhere and I can't recognize the other," one of the guards states with a hard glare on his face. I lift my nose and try to smell Mason, but he's right… his scent isn't there. My heart sinks at the thought of someone else being here instead of my mate and I shrink back towards the house. I can feel Mason, so why wouldn't he be here?
"It's another Alpha's scent in the car," another guard speaks up just as the car doors start opening.
A tall man unfolds from the car and turns towards the house. The guards take another step closer to me, but I manage to move just enough to see through them. This guy can be no older than twenty-four. His brown eyes travel over all my guards before settling on me. He moves his black hair out of his face as he makes his way toward me. I don't recognize his face, so I make no move to step out from behind my protective circle.
"That's far enough!" Aiden calls out as he pushes me behind him. I can't see anymore so I try to move around him again. He glares at me slightly but doesn't move to get back in front of me. I'm not going to do anything stupid, I just want to see.
"I'm here to talk to the Luna of this pack, not all of her guards," the man says, power leaking into his voice. An Alpha's power. I notice how all the others fight to keep from lowering their heads slightly, which just makes me glare in his direction. Alpha or not, these are not his pack members. He has no right to command anything here. "I wish her no absolutely no harm. I'm a good friend of Mason's and I have news that she needs to hear. I would rather she hear it from me than anyone else."
News? What news could he possibly have for me that is so important he would risk coming right up to my house?
"Who are you?" I ask as I continue to study him. He's a very attractive guy. I'd even go so far as to say he was beautiful with his tall dark looks. He has a sense of mystery about him. He's smaller than Mason, but I have no doubt he's strong. His power radiates off him, I can feel it from where I'm standing. "What news do you have that I need to hear so badly you'd risk coming right up to my house without permission?" I move to step through the cluster of guards but they don't budge. "Let me through so I can talk to him," I say as I try to push them aside again.
"No, Luna. We don't know if he was sent here by Blue Bloods to attack and take you. It's not safe to move outside our protection. The Alpha will have our heads if you get hurt because we let you through."
I growl lowly as they refuse to move. They think the Alpha will have their head, but what they don't realize is I'm going to have their head if they don't move. Clearly, I have no intention of going far - or anywhere near him for that instance - but if he has information about Mason, I need to hear it.
"Move" I command in my Alpha tone. They look at me with wide eyes before lowering their gazes and stepping aside. I make my way down the stairs but move no closer as I stare at him. I'm close enough for the guys to interject if need be, but close enough to show I am not afraid of this guy. The smirk plastered on his face just irritates me further. Shouldn't he know it's not smart to piss off a pregnant woman? Let alone one with access to numerous guys sworn to protect her. "What are you smirking at?
"Mason said you were a feisty one," he comments as he chuckles. I open my mouth to respond but Brandon comes back out of the house and speaks before I can get a sound out.
"Alpha Ace? What are you doing here?" he asks as he makes his way past me and towards him. He bows his head in respect as he comes to a stop in front of him.
Ace? Isn't he the one who was helping us in the fight? If he's back from the battle, then why isn't Mason with him? Has something happened?
"You were the one helping us out with this war," I state as I move forward towards Brandon. Aiden quickly moves to my other side and I can feel the guards move closer but the tension eases slightly. Ace nods his head sadly. "Where is Mason? If you're here, that means the battle is over. So where is my mate?" I ask as I search the area for him again. Maybe I'm just so overwhelmed that my senses are weak right now and that's why I can't smell him. My senses have been off since I got that sharp pain earlier, so it could be the cause. My chest constricts as I don't see him anywhere.
"What's what I've come to tell you, Alaina," he whispers as he takes a step closer to me. "We lost Mason." His words cut through me like a thousand knives all at once. My knees buckle as his words echo through my skull. I feel myself start to fall, but everything is in slow motion. I also feel Brandon's arms wrap around me as he hauls my weight against him. I clutch onto my best friend as I try to wake myself up from this nightmare… but it's not a nightmare. I'm awake.
"You have no idea how much it hurts me to tell you this, but you needed to know and I wasn't about to let something like this become known because he didn't come home and you heard other people gossiping. You deserved to hear what happened without having to try to piece it together without all the facts."
"Where is he?" is all I can manage to get out before a sob erupts from my chest.
"He killed Robert first, and then he went after Dylan. Everything stopped when they got close to each other. I heard them saying they were going to end this and stop all the bloodshed. Dylan was taunting Mason, something to do with you but I couldn't make out what he was saying. I don't know what we walked into there, but the second we walked into that battle, it was like our senses were dulled somehow. We still managed to win and stop Blue Bloods, but not without casualties.
"Dylan attacked first, lunging for Mason. I'd never seen Mason move so slowly before. Dylan had the upper hand but suddenly Mason turned the tables and had complete control over the fight. I saw him hit Dylan and when Dylan hit the ground Mason was right there on top of him. The determination in his eyes was undeniable. He snapped Dylan's neck, twisted it so far it detached from his shoulders." I grimace at the image now planted in my head of Dylan's lifeless body lying there without a head. I wanted this over, and I knew that would have to end in Dylan's death, but even with the asshole that he was, I can't help but wish there could have been another way.
"Everything got so still after that. Mason stood up and was looking around. The fight was over, we had won, and then all of sudden they started attacking again. They were fighting like they didn't even have a choice. Where our senses were dulled, it was like theirs had become more advanced. I saw her jump out of nowhere and stab Mason in the best with a knife and he went down. She wasn't in the battle, she had no dirt or blood on her at all. She must have been hiding in the woods, I don't know." I watch him shake his head in confusion before running his hand through his hair. "Her scent is what was even odder. She wasn't a wolf."
"What do you mean she wasn't a wolf?" I ask as I fight for every breath.
"Her scent was something… old. Something I have never smelt before in my lifetime. I don't know what she was, but she smelt of death."
"Oh, God."
"By the time I got to Mason, he wasn't moving at all. I couldn't even tell if he was breathing and I couldn't find a heartbeat." No. "I had to fight the wolves off him. When he went down, she vanished and wolves moved in. We killed the rest of the wolves and when I was sure that was taken care of and the second wave was finished I went back to find Mason… but he was gone."
"How could you have lost him? You said he wasn't moving, he'd just been stabbed, it's not like he could just get up and walk away!" I scream as I push away from Brandon and step towards Ace. Brandon moves to grab my shoulders and I don't fight him.
"I don't mean he got up and walked away, Alaina. I mean someone took his body. I'm sorry, Alaina, but Mason's gone."
I can't even process what's going on right now. I can hear someone screaming in the distance, but I can't seem to focus on anything. It takes me several minutes before I realize that I'm the person screaming. The pain slicing through me is so bad I just want to lie down and die. He can't be gone, he just can't be. Everyone told me he would come home to me and everything would be fine. He promised me he would come back!
But that's not true.
The pain I felt, the crippling pain that spread from my chest, that was him being stabbed. I knew what I was feeling wasn't just him getting hit while fighting.
Mason's gone. My mate - the one who I am supposed to spend the rest of my life with - is gone. He isn't going to be here for the birth of his daughter. He isn't going to be here to help me raise her. He isn't going to be here for anything.
My wolf whimpers. I suddenly remember what the doctor said earlier and I look between Aiden, Brandon, and Ace. The tears in my eyes make it hard for me to focus, but I do my best.
"He's not gone!" I scream as I clutch my belly. "The doctor said I would have been able to tell if something was wrong with Mason. He said if he were to be gravely injured and died, I would feel our bond break. If he were truly dead, I wouldn't still be able to feel him and I can!" I press my hand against my chest as another sob echoes through the trees. "I have a hole in my chest, but I can feel him! I haven't talked to him since before he went into battle, but if he were truly gone then I wouldn't be able to feel him like this!" I cry.
"Alaina," Ace whispers as he rests a hand against my shoulder. "It's probably the baby. She's part of Mason. What you're feeling could be your wolf clinging to the only piece of Mason she has left." I shake my head no and let more tears fall freely.
This can't be happening.
He's gone.
And now… now I'm all alone.