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“Alpha!” I heard a voice, but I couldn’t pinpoint who it was. My chest was seizing, my heart was racing, and I couldn’t catch my breath. My eyes couldn’t focus on anything. The only thought in my mind was her.She left me. Kara left us. She knew it would happen and told no one. Why? Why would she leave us? Did she not trust us to protect her?The pain in my heart increased.Why did she leave us? How could she just give up our life so easily? Did she not feel the same as we did? How could she do this to our family?
“Son? Markus? You’re having a panic attack. You need to breathe. Slow your breathing. Come on. Steady breath.” Dad tried to calm me, but I could barely hear him over the rush of blood in my ears. I began feeling dizzy when I felt a sharp pain on my cheek, making me see stars but cutting through my panic. The pain in my chest decreased, and I was able to take a full breath. I looked up and saw Maya in front of me, tears in her eyes, a hand covering her mouth. Atlas was still asleep, whining loudly. Why wasn’t he waking? Was he abandoning me, too? Leaving me to deal with this pain alone?
Danny moved Maya away, and Gillian pushed forward in her place.
“Alpha? Markus? Talk to me, brother!” he pleaded desperately as he kneeled before me to meet my eyes. “Markus?” I felt tears begin to flow freely from my eyes. “Markus, we need to know what happened so we can get Celeste back,” Gillian said, and I could see a tear falling from his eyes as he watched me breaking down.
“I don’t know,” I choked out. “I woke up, and she wasn’t in bed. I looked for her and found her outside. I thought she was sleepwalking, but Kara was in control. I couldn’t talk to Celeste. She sounded so scared.” I choked back a sob and looked away. I felt broken. “Kara said the Moon Goddess showed her this was the only way to avoid loss.”
“She gave herself up?” Danny asked, his face filling with hurt, and I nodded.
“She said he wouldn’t kill her until the full moon, and I had to find her. He will kill her where it all began and under the full moon to force Selene to watch.”
Dad grabbed me and led me to the bathroom, where he got the shower running and pushed me inside.
“Shower and change. We’ve lost three days already. We need to find my daughter-in-law before anything happens to her. So clean up and get yourself together,” he ordered, and finally, a thought other than what Kara did registered through the pain.
“What do you mean three days?” I asked.
“Markus, you’ve been sleeping for three days. Nothing we could do would wake you. Dr. West and Dr. Castle said you were in a healing sleep. They think you went into shock. Your heart rate was erratic the whole first day. They were concerned your heart would stop beating.” Dad’s voice broke, emotions playing all over his face.
“I… H-how?”
“It doesn’t matter right now, son. What matters is getting your mate and your pups home safe. We only have twelve days before the full moon.” He shut the door, and I removed shorts I don’t remember putting on. I walked into the shower stream, letting all of my anguish flow out of me. If Dad was right, I didn’t have time to let my grief overwhelm me again. I was going to get my mate back.
Wake up, Atlas! I begged, but there was no response. I tried a few more times with the same result.
I wrapped a towel around my waist and looked in the mirror. Despite apparently sleeping for three days, there were large bags under my eyes, and I was tired. I walked out of the room to find all of them still there. Evergreen had joined along with his mate, Valeria. I walked into the closet and pulled on a pair of sweats. I stood before the closed closet door and took a few deep breaths. Though I could find no calm, I got control of my emotions and opened the door.
“What’s happened while I was sleeping?” I asked.
“We reviewed the cameras while you were out, trying to figure out what happened. Evergreen has scanned Huitzilopochtli‘s picture, as it’s better than the painting, and one of Celeste. His software scan is running to let us know where they are. So far, we’ve had no hits,” Gillian said, disappointment dripping from his voice.
“Alpha Diego returned to his pack yesterday. He is gathering his warriors and will return so he can be near when we find and fight Huitzilopochtli,” Danny added. “He also said he would call around for us to see if there have been any sightings from other packs.”
“Tell him not to come but to be ready. Kara said he would take them where it all began, and that will be somewhere in Mexico,” I replied, and Evergreen nodded, already typing away on the computer.
“Get all of our warriors ready. The moment we know where he has her, we are flying to Mexico. Every warrior should have a bag ready with a few changes of clothing and their passport. I’ll call Rhett and ask him to send some of his warriors to protect the pack in case of a rogue attack.”
I went back to bed and sat down, grabbing her shirt again. I felt pain shoot through my heart as I thought of her.
“Have either Dr. West or Dr. Castle be ready with supplies. We don’t know if she’s eating or if she’ll need medical attention,” I said quietly.
“Hey man, Celeste has been through a lot. She can survive anything,” Gillian assured me.
“Can you call one of them? Atlas is not waking up,” I asked Dad, and he sighed.
“Dr. West already said that might happen. When he checked your vitals, Atlas’ eyes were in place, not yours. Atlas healed you while you slept, and he’s likely just tired and will be asleep for a bit longer than you.” I sighed and nodded.
“Is there anything else?” I asked them quietly, unable to look at them any longer. I was tired, and I just wanted to be asleep again.
“Your pack needs to see you, son. The pain they felt, that we all felt. They are worried about you. They need to see their alpha.” Dad said, and I nodded.
“Not today, Dad. I need to sleep.” I looked at my clock. It was only seven in the evening, but I had no energy. I didn’t even have the energy to pretend I was okay for my family. I curled back up in bed with Celeste’s shirt clutched to me. Her scent was faint, but it was still there. It was all I had right now.
“Son, you need to eat something.”
“Tomorrow, Dad. I’m not hungry,” I answered and shut my eyes.
