Chapter 214

Zane POV

While Sarah slept, almost in a coma, in her room and Dr. Ibsen (no relation) tended to her, I kept out of the way in my study. At Whitfield’s advice—well, insistence, I was checking social media.

Time4me2fly: The temples been closed for 3 days now. Whats going on?

Satples: You make me live, and I make you cry. I believe its time for me 2 fly!

MissingTheNorth: Is this the end of us all?

PinkCadilllllax: I’ve heard of the Luna Temple closing down before. It’s not a big deal. They did it on the full moon, and they’ll probably open back up on the next full moon. Seriously, we have no idea what sorts of schedules they’re following. Can we stop it with the conspiracy theories?

PipPipHorray: No more song lyrics.

A message from Delia popped up: Do you know anything about lighttripx?

I typed back: I assume it’s yet another designer drug?

Delia897: You’d think that, but no. Well, no, yes. It’s kind of a drug. It’s an incense.

AlphaZane: What about it?”

Delia897: I don’t know. That’s why I’m asking you about it. Someone is bragging about how awesome it is. I’ll get back to you.

AlphaZane: Please do.

Delia897: How is Sarah?

AlphaZane: Sleeping.

Delia897: Tell her we’re all pulling for her, OK?

AlphaZane: Of course.

Her pop-up screen went away, which left me with:

Satples: I’ve had enough of the jealousy and the intoleration.

KiKiKee: I thought Id die before people actually started talking shit about the Luna Temple. It’s the LUNA TEMPLE, people! Whats wrong with you?

Beefkake: Sarah’s been nothing but trouble since Day One.

SweetShufflers: @KiKiKee We can actually use apostrophes?

GinnyWolf: Sarah’s the serious issue here, people. The temple took her. Doesn’t anyone care about that?

Satples: I knew it had to happen/Felt the tables turnin'/Got me through my darkest hour

JaneSillwell: Temples can take wolves when they want, my Nany says.

KiKiKee: @SweetShufflers Nerd.

GinnyWolf: Sarah’s not a wolf!

SweetShufflers: @ KiKiKee Hey, let’s go fuck.

JaneSillwell: She might as well be. I mean, come on, she’s all but mated to our alpha, she’s the goddess-mother of his kids. How stpid are we supposed to be? We think we’re all so cilivized with our rules and things, but hey, Pack Alpha Zane is free to do what he wants, isn’t he? Let him mate Sarah if she’s up for it.

Flders!!: Sorry about my user name. I tried about 15 times for something clever. If the temple took Sarah, then we need to tell them to stop. She’s not a wof.

SweetShufflers: @KiKiKee You know it. Hey, if Sarah turns out to be a wolf and all that, you wanna make a bet she ends up Alpha Cavendish?

Satples: And though I know all about those men/Still I don't remember/'Cause it was us baby, way before them/And we're still together

Paperclipt21: @ Flders!! She’s not a humn either.

KiKiKee: @SweetShufflers You think that’s a real thing?

Augst54evah: More bad parenting! Save the Girlz! #ZaneGirlz

SweetShufflers: @KiKiKee Why not?

KittySnoGlobe21: Music is a great uniting force

GinnyWolf: If Sarah has been taken by the temple, we have to rescue her.

PinkPinkPink: Sarah’s been taken by the temple?

Satples: But I know the neighborhood/And talk is cheap when the story is good/And the tales grow taller on down the line

JaneSillwell: I kow I’m talking to myself here, but come on. If Sarah is being abused by the temple, then we need to do something, not just post bullshit here.

PinkPinkPink: Seriously, Satples, just dump her.

A message from Melissa popped up: How is she doing?

AlphaZane: Better, I think. The doctor says it’s more like regular sleep than a coma. I won’t be happy until she wakes up, of course.

Melissa123: Of course you will.

AlphaZane: It’s time again to say thank you.

Melissa123: No need. Sarah is my friend. What I did, I did for both of you.

AlphaZane: I was wondering if you might do me a favor.

Melissa123: Of course. What is it?

AlphaZane: Can you write down everything you remember from the incident?

Melissa123: No

AlphaZane: It’s important.

Melissa123: Of course it is, but I don’t remember. I seriously don’t remember a thing from when Ollie let us out on the temple grounds to when we were back in the car going home. If you ask the girls, I’m pretty sure they’ll say the same thing.

AlphaZane: . . .

Melissa123: Alpha Zane?

AlphaZane: I’ll get back to you.

GinnyWolf: This isn’t a joke, people!

I put my phone down and walked to the girls’ playroom, which Sarah had told me I needed to start calling the “art room.” They both smiled as they saw me enter, abandoned their projects, and went to me with smiles as I sat on the floor.

“I love you both so much,” I said as they came into my arms.

“We love you too, Daddy,” Grace said as they snuggled in close.

“I want to ask you a question,” I said. “It’s OK if you can’t answer. Whatever you say is going to be all right, OK?”

“OK,” Chloe said.

“What did we do this morning?”

They both considered that, and with each second, my heart sank further.

“We had breakfast,” Chloe said finally. “And it’s Saturday, so we went to the art room. And we’ve been there since, right, Grace?”

I suspected Grace only spoke to appease her sister when she responded, “Yes. We had breakfast and went to the art room.”

Oh, goddess, guide me, I thought. What was I supposed to do? Whatever the Oracles had done at the temple had affect me and the girls and—

I lefty the art room and dialed an easy number on my phone.

“Alpha Zane?”

“Melissa, I need your help.”

“The girls? Ollie?”

“Oh, I hadn’t even thought of Ollie.”

“Everyone involved in what happened with Sarah and the temple will be impacted by their mental and spiritual abilities with the astral plane.”

I felt a sudden urge. “Melissa, about the temple.”

“Yes?”

Sanity returned to me. It was bad enough I had told Sarah. “Nothing. I mean, nothing you don’t know. What do I do now?”

“Alpha Zane.”

“Yes?”

“Whatever . . . issues with the Luna Temple you may wish to discuss, rest assured that I believe I know the basics.”

Well, what was that supposed to mean? She knew the Oracles were all omegas or she didn’t care or something else entirely?

“The important thing is what happened with Sarah,” I told her. Of that, at least, I was certain.

“You’re right. How do you wish to proceed?”