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“Markus? What are you doing?” she asked, tears flowing down her face again.
“Celeste, you are my luna, my life, my mate, and the mother of my pups. I can’t see life without you in it. I know we are already mated for life, but there’s a world out there that doesn’t know who we are to each other or just how much you mean to me, and I find that unacceptable. The entire world should look at you and know you are mine and that I am yours. Celeste, will you marry me?” I opened the box in my hand and hoped to the Goddess that she would love it. I had not asked anyone what I should buy. I just went with my gut.
It was a five-carat oval sapphire surrounded by twelve half-carat diamonds. The band had a wolf on either side of it howling at an amber moon. She smiled and nodded, unable to answer. I sighed with relief when she put her hand out, took the ring out of the box and slid it up her slender ring finger. I stood up and kissed her while everyone cheered.
We sat down to dinner and listened to Tomas telling us the story of Alpha Javier finding his mate last month. The young daughter of one of the betas from another pack had just turned nineteen and basically grabbed him by the ear after they found each other and told him that if he thought he could keep his womanizing ways, she would cut off his penis before rejecting him and taking over his pack in front of the whole crowd.
All through dinner, I couldn’t keep my hands to myself. I would grab her hand or put my hand on her leg any time she shifted in her seat. I just needed to touch her. Something in the back of my mind told me not to let her go. Atlas was pacing, feeling something was about to change, too. We waited until she opened her presents before we snatched her away to our room. We showered, made love, and after, I held her.
I watched her sleep, feeling the occasional kick from the pups. I couldn’t sleep, and Atlas wouldn’t stop pacing. We couldn’t help but feel like something bad was going to happen. Finally, after a few hours of staring at our beautiful mate, I fell asleep.
I woke up only a few hours later, at five in the morning. The bed was empty, and the bathroom light was off.
‘Tuli,’I called to her via mind-link. I got no response, though I felt the connection to her there. She hadn’t left too long ago; her scent was still strong in the room.
Atlas, can you reach Kara?I asked him as I pulled on a pair of pants and headed out the door, following her scent.
No. I think they are sleepwalking again. I can feel her, but she’s not responding, Atlas growled.
I hurried down the steps, jumping down the last floor.
‘How are the borders looking,’I asked the patrol commander for tonight.
‘Everything has been quiet tonight, Alpha,’he answered.
‘Good, let me know immediately if anything changes,’I said and continued towards the doors. I walked out and followed my nose. I saw her in the distance, wearing a nightgown and barefoot. I started walking toward her when she stopped moving in the middle of the field.
‘Wait, Alpha, someone is approaching the border from the east.’ Shit, that’s the way Celeste was looking.
‘Don’t let them get through. Send everyone there,’I growled.
Celeste turned around, and even in the dark, I could see her eyes were black.
“Kara?” I called out to my mate, unsure of what was happening. She raised up a hand when I was a couple hundred yards away, and I stopped.
“This is the only way. The Moon Goddess showed me, but not Celeste. This is the only way to avoid the loss of so many. The loss of our pack. He won’t harm us until the full moon. It’s the only time he kills so that Selene can watch, so he can make her suffer. Look for us, mate. He always goes to where it started. I love you. We‘ll do all we can to protect the pups,” she said, and my stomach dropped at her words. She couldn’t be saying what I think she was saying. I wouldn’t allow it.
‘Alpha, he’s just stan—Holy shit, Alpha! He jumped through the entire border. I don’t know where he landed.’
I started running to Celeste, but I was thrown back when Huitzilopochtli landed between the two of us. I roared as I watched in horror as Celeste was thrown back as well, but Huitzilopochtli was behind her in an instant, catching her. My vision blurred when my head hit the ground, and I stumbled back up. Celeste was okay. I was relieved and surprised Huitzilopochtli saved her. He looked down at her stomach, frowning, and then back at me as I ran towards them as fast as I could.
“Markus?” Celeste’s voice was soft as her eyes turned back to blue and she looked around as if she was just waking up. Her blue eyes turned to look at Huitzilopochtli before she looked at me again, terror filling her blue eyes. I shifted when I saw her begin to struggle, and Huitzilopochtli’s attention turned to me.
“Not this time,” he growled, bent his knees and jumped. My soul left my body when I heard Celeste’s scream as he jumped over the packhouse and into the woods. Away from me.
“NOOOO!” Atlas and I roared as we watched our mate disappear, waking up the entire pack as my scream pushed through the mind-link to every person on the ground, my fear and heartbreak flowing through it. My knees gave out and hit the ground as Atlas receded with his grief, and we shifted back. Howls filled the air from every direction as people realized who had linked them.
‘Markus, what happened?’Gillian asked with alarm, adding Danny and my father to the mind-link.
‘He took her.’ Was all I could say as I looked up at the sky as if she would jump down back to me. Then I heard running to my right.
“He’s over here!” I heard Danny screaming and looked over to see them all run toward me in various degrees of undress. Atlas howled in my head, but I felt nothing. There was no life without Celeste. She was gone and took with her my heart and my will to live.
I stood up and walked towards the pack house. My friends and family reached me, but I pushed through them all. They tried to talk to me, but I had nothing to give. I walked up to our floor. Danny, Gillian and Dad were still behind me, asking me what happened over and over, and I had no answer to give them because I couldn't understand what the fuck just happened either.
I went into the room and didn’t bother to shut the door behind me. They would break it down if I did. I walked into the bathroom, where I knew her clothes from today were in the hamper. I pulled out the red blouse she wore and clutched it as if it were my safety blanket. I crawled into bed and closed my eyes, inhaling her scent on the shirt. I heard my family talking to me for goddess knows how long before they finally left. I remained unmoving in bed, replaying what happened in my head over and over, trying to figure out where it all went so wrong. Just a few hours ago, my life was nearly perfect, and now it was just gone. Atlas howled for hours before I finally passed out.
We slept a dead, dreamless sleep. Atlas was still sleeping when I woke. He was whining in his sleep, and the pain of everything that happened rushed to me. I started gasping, unable to take a breath.
