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Off to the side, I vaguely heard Beta Gillian ask, “Who is Bella?”
I started hyperventilating and felt the room spinning. How did this man know who my mother was? Was I in danger? I felt my eyes flip back and forth from my normal color to black as I tried to get Kara to take over and take us away from here. My flight-or-fight response kept forcing her forward, even though she was telling me to breathe while pushing back to retreat.
We’re safe. Markus won’t let anyone hurt us. He is our mate. He can protect us. Breathe Celeste,Kara said soothingly, trying to push herself back into the recesses of my brain.
“Celeste? Are you okay? Talk to me. Dad, what did you do to her?”I heard Markus growl while sounding panicked. His words penetrated through my panic attack. Right. This was his father. Of course, he knew of my parents. He would have been alpha at the same time as my parents. Tears flowed from my eyes when I realized I must look like my mother. I could barely remember her, my mind having pushed those memories back in order for me to survive.
I felt my body jerk backward unexpectedly and saw my mother and father laughing and playing with a four-year-old version of myself by a lake. My mother looked like me, but she had straight brown hair and brown eyes, whereas my hair color, curls, and eyes were features easily visible on my father. I felt myself jerk back to the present. An instant migraine exploded, and I tried not to cry out in pain.
“Celeste! What’s wrong?” Markus lifted me and sat me on his lap when he took a seat on the couch as he felt my pain. It was so overwhelming that all I could do was hang on to him for dear life as he rubbed soothing circles on my back.
“Who is Bella, Dad?” Markus repeated Gillian’s question.
“Bella was my mother,” I said, knowing that I was at the point of no return. There was no sense in trying to hide anymore.
I gently extricated myself from Markus’ arms and sat up, looking at everyone in the room. “I’m not Bella. My name is Celeste Aurora Dellarosa. I’m the daughter of Alpha Cory and Luna Bella Dellarosa, the last rulers of the Sky Moon Pack,” I said, and Gillian, Markus and the woman standing next to Markus’ father stared at me in shock. There was no way they hadn’t heard what happened to a pack in their same state. Markus’ father was the only one currently looking at me with a tenderness I didn’t expect.
“You’re the spitting image of your mother. Except for the hair and eyes.” Markus’ dad spoke with so much emotion. His brows furrowed, and his eyes watered. “We were told you were dead. We looked for you among the bodies, even though the council said there were no survivors that day. We assumed you fell into the river. How is this even possible?”
“My father’s gamma saved me. He warned me I would be in danger if anyone knew who I was, so he gave me his last name. He tried to help me,” I said, and then, because I needed the warmth of my mate, I leaned back against him. His arms went around my waist before I continued.
“The night Alpha Geoff killed my parents, they also killed all the mated werewolves in my pack and most of the male children, except for the littlest ones. I heard them looking for me, but as I was one of the few ranked pups at the time, the last of the remaining members didn’t know who I was, and the few that did, didn't give me away. I lied about my age and my name, and no one batted an eye. They took the unmated women and underage kids back to Blood Moon to sleep in a dungeon. The older women who didn’t find a mate within the pack after we were allowed back outside disappeared shortly after. The few of us pups that were taken before we had our wolves have been servants in the pack house. Once one of us comes of age, we’re presented to the unmated warriors at the next full moon. The ones that don’t find a mate disappear shortly after. That’s another reason I haven’t told anyone my age. I don’t know what happened to my friends after they disappeared.”
I felt the rage building in the room while I talked. Markus’ fingers were almost digging into my hips, bruising me as he tried to restrain himself. His eyes were black, and he was struggling, so I placed my hand over one of his arms, hoping to calm him the way he calmed down at Blood Moon at my touch.
“That’s illegal! How is he getting away with this!” Markus’ dad raged. His mate was silently crying while clutching him tightly. “What is happening to these women? How has no one noticed this happening? Why has no one denounced this heinous behavior?”
I was about to talk when I felt Markus shift. I looked back up at him. His eyes were back to his normal gray, and he was looking at Beta Gillian.
“Tell them,” he ordered calmly while stroking my side. Beta Gillian shifted a little before he spoke.
“We noticed some strange behaviors from Blood Moon for a couple of months. We have suspicions that they have been trafficking she-wolves in the black market for a while now because the value of their business doesn’t match the size of their pack. We’ve been trying to uncover everything we can, and discover which alphas can be trusted to help us. We need to find proof, though, and we currently don’t have much of it. It’ll be the only way to convince our allies and the council to support us and take our accusations seriously. Daniel is due back next week. He’s been following a few people we think have been in charge of the exchange end of the trafficking, but these guys are stealthy.”
“Trafficking?” I whispered, appalled.
“On the black market. Yes, Luna,” he replied grimly.
Everything made sense then. The reason we were treated so poorly. Why they disappeared once they received their wolf. Why they never included us in their pack fully, and why it only seemed to happen to the people of my pack.
I felt Kara trying to push forward, and my eyes felt weird. A pain formed behind my eyes, a pressure trying to get out. Everyone moved away from me except Markus.
“Celeste? Are you okay? Sweetheart, can you look into my eyes?” I looked back at him at his request, and the pressure I was feeling behind my eyes disappeared. As the pressure left me, I heard a small startled squeak from the side.
“Fire!” Gillian shouted in alarm. He and Markus’ father grabbed the curtains behind me and stomped on them, putting the small fire out.
Exhaustion filled my body, and I could barely hold myself upright anymore. Sensing this, Markus lifted me up into his arms.
“Let’s continue this conversation in my room. The office is soundproof, but we need to be a hundred percent sure we’re not being heard.” He pushed past and went towards the elevator but turned around at the last second.
“Marie, could you please grab something to help with a migraine? I can feel her head pounding.” His father’s mate nodded and hurried off as we waited for the elevator to arrive.
“Got it.” She came running back just in time to hear the ding of the elevator.
‘Are you okay?’Markus asked, using the mind-link and almost making me jump.
‘I am not sure. This is all... It’s a lot,’I answered honestly. I felt him kiss my head, and I smiled into his chest.
‘We will get through everything together,’he assured me.
