Chapter 97

Chris

The sleek black SUV rumbled steadily as we navigated the winding dirt roads that formed the outer perimeter of the Moonstone pack territory. I kept my eyes trained on the densely wooded areas flashing by, searching for any sign of movement, any hint of a disturbance that could lead us closer toward Olivia’s trail.

But so far, there was nothing. No broken branches, no crushed foliage, no lingering scent trail to follow. It was like my sister had simply vanished into thin air after her daring escape from the cell beneath the Packhouse.

We had been searching the surrounding woods for days now; nearly a week, even. Leonard had stuck true to his word in sending four of our best trackers out in all directions, but the search had turned up fruitless. Every morning, I hoped to wake up to news as to Olivia’s whereabouts—even the tiniest scrap of a trail—but there had been nothing.

Now, as my Beta and I surveyed the pack’s border for the umpteenth time in the past week, there was still fucking nothing.

“Damn, she’s being crafty about this,” Leonard muttered from the passenger seat, echoing my own frustrated thoughts. He scratched at his salt-and-pepper stubble as he peered out the window. “Did she just go up in smoke? Disappear into thin air?”

“I can’t say I’m surprised, though,” I muttered, my knuckles tightening so much around the leather steering wheel that they turned a paper shade of white. “Olivia may be a lot of things—insane, evil, selfish—but ‘stupid’ certainly isn’t one of them.”

Leonard let out a wry snort. “Of course not. Your family has always been full of smart folks.”

I grunted in response, refocusing my eyes on the road ahead. As furious as I was over Olivia’s theft of the sacred moonstone, I had to admit a begrudging respect for her cunning and preparation.

She had clearly laid the groundwork for this escape long before any of us suspected that anything was remotely awry. And she likely wasn’t working alone. I wanted to say that that Dedrick character had been working with her, but as far as I knew, he was still imprisoned in Moonrise under Lily’s command.

Although, I was still waiting on word back from her that he was still imprisoned. Perhaps he escaped, too.

“Speaking of smart… I still can’t get over how Ava pieced it all together so quickly,” Leonard mused after a few moments of silence. “I mean, she just... knew to check that loose stone for clues, didn’t she? Saw right through Olivia’s tricks in a matter of minutes.”

I allowed a faint smile to tug at the corners of my lips at the mention of Ava’s name. Of course she had unraveled the first strands of the mystery before anyone else—she always was incredibly perceptive and intuitive. Constantly observing and thinking ten steps ahead.

Olivia may have been smart, but Ava was smarter. That much was certain. And that was why I wanted her as my Luna, no one else.

“She’s got an amazing eye for details,” I agreed with a nod. “It’s part of why I like her so much.”

Leonard shot me a somewhat amused glance. He was the only one here in Moonstone who knew about our relationship as far as I was aware—and right now, he was the only one who I trusted with that knowledge. It was nice to have an ally in that matter.

“You have to admit,” he said, “it’s an invaluable trait for a potential Luna to possess. Perhaps once all of this is over, the Elders will see that.”

My chest tightened almost imperceptibly at the reference to the Elders and their insistence that I take a Luna very soon. As much as I understood their concerns over upholding sacred traditions and doing what was ‘best’ for the pack, they just didn’t… get it.

I already had my Luna. She was strong, intelligent, brave, and endlessly supportive of me and my role as Alpha. Why couldn’t they see that? Why couldn’t they push away their obsession over the fact that she was mated before?

With an inward sigh, I firmly pushed those aggravating thoughts aside for the moment. This wasn’t the time to be stewing over the Elders, not when we had more pressing matters to deal with; such as finding my traitor of a sister and returning the moonstone to its rightful place before any signs of the blight set in.

The sound of Leonard’s gruff voice cut through the tense silence again. “You wanna pull over up ahead there for a minute? Take a quick look around the roadside?”

Nodding curtly, I eased my foot off the gas and guided the car onto the crunchy gravel shoulder of the road, throwing it into park. Leonard was already climbing out before the vehicle had fully stopped moving, his boots thudding solidly against the ground.

I watched as my Beta began a slow, methodical sweep of the nearby foliage, his keen eyes no doubt scanning for any potential footprints or other disturbances. With my door still open, not even the whisper of the breeze carried any scents that I could detect.

Pursing my lips, I turned to follow Leonard’s lead and climbed out as well, shoving my hands into the pockets of my jeans as I began to wander further up the dirt road. The surrounding trees were thick and lush, their branches weighed down with the thick foliage and all kinds of flora.

At least... most of the foliage looked healthy and vibrant. But then something caught my eye further up ahead—a small patch of gnarled, withered underbrush huddled against the tree line, the sickly brown leaves looking almost burnt.

A crease formed between my brows as I headed straight for the anomaly, pushing through the bush with my bare hands.

Up close, the damage looked even worse. What should have been a thriving patch of ferns and wildflowers was instead a twisted, revolting tangle of blackened plant life. A faint, acrid odor hung in the air around it, burning my nostrils.

I froze, my breath catching in my throat as I immediately recognized that stench—the same rotten, sickly-sweet scent that had permeated the air of that blighted warehouse. I had been able to smell it even though my mask that day, and now it was practically choking in the air.

Dropping to a crouch, I tugged a pair of thick leather gloves from my back pocket and pulled them on quickly. Then, tugging my shirt up over my nose and holding my breath against the putrid smell, I began to carefully sift through the dead undergrowth in search of the source.

My gloved fingers brushed against something hard and brittle, like burnt plant matter. But as I grasped the object and gingerly pulled it out of the ground, I felt my blood turn to ice in my veins.

“Leonard,” I called out, my voice hoarse and tense. “Come here… quickly.”

Leonard’s boots crunched on the gravel behind me. “What’ve you got there... Holy shit.”

His voice trailed off in a strangled whisper as the scent reached his nostrils too. “Chris, please tell me that’s not what I think it fucking is.”

I didn't answer, couldn’t answer around the lump of dread that was now clogging up my throat. All I could do was stand, turning to face my Beta as I held what I had found flat in the palm of my gloved hand.

A small, blackened fungus stared up at us.