Alpha's Blind Luna novel Chapter 60

All of us sat or stood in the living room. Jax, Simon and Morgan were leaning against the wall with the fireplace, the couch was taken up by Ezekiel, Bryan, and Lucy. I sat on the single chair across from them, closest to the fireplace while Vale sat in the other. AJ was sitting on the arm of the couch. Everyone was shifting uncomfortably, trying to get comfortable in a conversation we knew was impossible.

“Really, Pipsqueak should be here but she’s been unreachable for a past few weeks.” Morgan was the first to say something.

“It’s fine. I just…I need some of it. Whatever happened.” My knuckles were white as I threaded my fingers together, just trying to hold myself together. Trying to let my emotions consume me.

It was Simon who spoke up first. “Alpha…sorry…Auri had been in contact exclusively with Pipsqueak. They were working nonstop. Auri wouldn’t sleep. She wouldn’t eat until she was working on a new lead with her.”

AJ nodded. “We took turns making sure she rested or ate. Otherwise…”

“She would look like you three?” I held the gaze of Bryan, Jax and Simon. All three of them couldn’t hold my stare.

Bryan peered at Simon. “But Pipsqueak made a breakthrough. She found some footage of them unloading Ezekiel into another vehicle. One that did have a tracker.”

Simon nodded. “Auri didn’t wait, refused to wait. She called me and told me to bring the Range Rover. I did and she was practically dragging Jax with her.”

Jax chuckled but it didn’t sound convincing. “I told her we needed to tell people. Wake everyone up. It was 2 a.m. but it was my turn to make sure she slept at some point. Mo…Auri refused to wake anyone else up. I’m pretty sure now she ordered me but I didn’t realize it at the time.”

“She set up Pipsqueak on the dashboard and we drove. All three of us. It took us about two days of solid driving. Jax and I took turns but Auri refused to stop. She was worried they would move him again and he would be lost.” Simon added.

The room got quiet and I looked at the two men. They looked physically sick recounting this. Simon shook out of his internal thoughts.

“We made it to the facility. Auri wanted to take a look but I told her we needed to do some recon. See what was going on and what we were up against. Jax and I were exhausted but we at least had slept. She hadn’t slept the entire time.” He paused, his hands balling into fists before he continued.

“Auri said she just wanted us to look at the guard situation. To move up closer. I was driving so I did. She would say closer again. And I didn’t realize it until we reached the front gate that she had been using her command. It was so subtle I didn’t even think about it.”

Jax chimed in. “We both didn’t. But we realized it when we reached the front gate, it was maybe about 12 ft tall around the whole building with cameras pointed at us, opened.”

“Both of us were surprised but Auri wasn’t. She said to drive forward. I tried to fight the command that time but there was no way. We drove in and I was expecting the gate to close behind us but it didn’t. It was just left open. She got out but ordered us to stay in the car. We watched her…” Simon’s voice was failing.

“She walked about twenty yards from the car and five vampires came out. Two with lab coats, three with guns and armor. They were somehow conversing. I don’t know exactly how but they were. After a moment, her head turned to us and then back to the building.” Jax swallowed hard. “The two in lab coats disappeared for about ten minutes before coming back with Ezekiel.”

Simon gave a sad smile to Ezekiel sitting on the couch. “They were basically dragging him out. He was so out of it. He looked broken and sick. We were horrified but relieved when Auri put her arms around him.”

“She mind linked me to come over.” Jax took over the story. “So I got out of the car and walked over to them. Auri was whispering to Ezekiel and I felt the shift in Alpha. I was confused but Auri asked me to take Ezekiel back to the car. So I picked him up and carried him to the car.”

Vale chimed in the first time. “Are you didn’t think to grab my mom on the way back?”

“When I say we were asked, we weren’t. She was ordering us. We followed her orders, our Alpha’s orders.”

“But she wasn’t Alpha anymore!”

I growled. “Vale, shut up. Finish Jax.”

“I got Ezekiel situated in the car and I stood at the passenger door waiting for Auri. She turned to look at us and gave us the brightest fucking smile. Like how she used to smile before all of this. When all of us were at the dinner table talking about something. Fuck…” Jax turned and leaned against the wall.

Simon put a hand on his shoulder. “We heard her voice through the mind link. She said she was sorry. Then I felt power like I had never felt before. It made me catch my breath even with how far away from her we were. Auri ordered us to drive home.”

I put my head in my hands but I couldn’t say anything.

“We don’t really remember the drive home. None of us do. But as we pulled into the driveway and we were considered home, the order dropped. It was…like everything came crashing down on us.” Simon finished quietly.

Morgan took a breath. “The boys brought Ezekiel in and we got him stable, Lucy being here to help and Bryan stayed behind since he was still Gamma. AJ, myself, Jax, Simon and Felix came with and we went back to the same place they dropped her off.” He paused for a moment. “The whole facility had been burned down to the ground. There was nothing left. Not a single shred of information. There also wasn’t any information or cameras or anything we could use to be able to see where they took her.”

“Pipsqueak has been searching but she…”

“She knew of Auri’s plan.” I could feel everyone’s eyes on me. “She planned this from the beginning. Auri made a calculated guess of what they wanted. They knew she was more valuable than Ezekiel. No offense.” I glanced quickly at Ezekiel but he shook his head.

“None taken. You’re right. But I can’t figure out why.” My eyes rose to meet Ezekiel. The look on his face was broken. “She shouldn’t have taken my place. I don’t know if I could have survived another week. What they did was…breaking me. But Auri has always been kind and I never felt love of a mother until she stepped into my life. I wanted…want to protect her. I’m an Alpha, not only that but I’m a descendent of one of the originals. A bloodline that goes back to the beginning. Why would she…”

“Because she was…is…the Alpha King.” Morgan answered but he was looking at me.

I knew at some point we would need to get to this topic. Auri hoped that she would just fade out of existence after Vale took over, taking the Alpha King power to her grave. The fact that Morgan was bringing it up now meant that he didn’t have hope for saving her. My hands started to shake.