The Blood Moon Luna (Luna of the Pack Series Book 1)

by SJ Hayslett

  "Stop," Evony interrupted. She shook her head in disbelief as a lone tear slid down her face. "Fetus? As in, I'm pregnant?" Evony spoke to no one in particular, not even caring that Dr. Sade was still in the room. Her hands immediately flew to her pelvis and protectively held her hands in place.

  She heard the mumble of whatever the doctor was speaking, even though for much of it, he sounded like the teacher in Charlie Brown cartoons. The one time they had sex without protection, they get pregnant, and Reed is nowhere near ready to hear the good news. Evony couldn't tell if the tears she was holding back were from joy or hurt.

  "Thank you doctor. I'd like to get some more rest."

  "Of course, alpha." He silently left the room while Evony looked out the window.

  "Oh my gosh he told you that you had 48 hours to live, didn't he?" Angela whispered when she came back into the room. She saw the despondent face on her friend and couldn't help herself. She hoped that the absurd question would brighten her mood just a little bit, and desperately hoped that it wasn't an absurd question.

  Evony looked back at Angela who walked in alone and wiped her face of the tears. However, Angela was quick enough to see where Evony brought her hands from and put two and two together. "You're-"

  "Don't say it out loud. And please don't tell anyone, especially Garrett until I tell Reed." Who knew when that would be, Evony thought to herself. From the moment that the doctor had mentioned that she'd feel out of touch with her wolf, she realized that she couldn't in fact feel her out. Evony only felt even more unbalanced now that her wolf and her mate were nowhere to be found.

  "Why do you look so sad?" Angela took a seat next to my bed and watched me intently. I felt a little uncomfortable with her scrutiny.

  "I want to be happy. I am happy. But in no way is this ideal. I'm still in school, and now I'm having a baby with a man who is ignoring me for whatever reason. It's a lot to take in right now."

  "Well that's the brilliant part of being with a loving pack. In less than four months you'll have Aunt Angie and other pack members who can help you out with the little one," Evony smiled as she fidgeted with the fringe on the hospital blanket that was draped over her. Angela was right, her pack would love her pup and it wasn't like Evony was the first werewolf to go through school pregnant. Now if only her dilemma with Reed could be solved so quickly.

  "Aunt Angie, huh?" Evony teased.

  "Of course. And I'm gonna spoil him or her like I'm the first auntie in the entire world!"

  "Thank you Angie. For cheering me up and telling Reed where I was. I'm not sure I would have made it through whatever it was if he hadn't shown up."

  "I didn't tell him." Angela started and shook her head. "I wanted to, but remember, you didn't tell me where you were. All I did was yell at him for ignoring you this week. Connor and Paul were with him when he brought you into the infirmary. Maybe he had you followed? Can you tell me what happened?" Angela seemed shy asking her about her ordeal but Evony didn't mind.

  Evony told her the story of what happened in the hotel restaurant and how she didn't remember anything beyond Reed showing up at her hotel door. She also mentioned the doctor's speculation that she was injected with something when the guy grabbed her.

  "I don't even know what the endgame was, you know?" Evony looked up at Angela, the tears returning to the forefront; only this time they were definitely not tears of joy. Pure fear is what Evony felt. "Why inject me with something and then leave me be? And that's what's so scary, the not knowing."

  Evony wiped some of the tears that leaked while she wasn't speaking but only saw Angela looking nervous and biting her lip. "What? What's wrong?"

  "I'm sorry. I didn't know." Angela whimpered.

  "You didn't know what? You know something about what happened to me?" Evony's heart rate started racing like a horse at the Kentucky Derby as she looked on at Angie in confusion. Angela cowered in the corner, sliding her chair back against the wall. She was shaking her head, denying her involvement but had yet to say anything in her defense.

  "No. I only meant that I didn't know this was an attack against you. I thou- I thought that you did this to yourself. I said so to Reed, and he left. I didn't know. I'm so sorry." Angela continued to cry out, and refused to meet Evony in her eyes.

  Evony's rage calmed down. She could understand that her friend was experiencing shame and guilt. Shame for even thinking that Evony would attempt suicide. Then on top of that guilt for accusing Reed for pushing her to go that far. Was that why Reed wasn't there even then? Did he feel guilty for ignoring her for so long? That if he had been paying attention, Evony wouldn't have been in that position to begin with?

  "Angela, stop," Evony said calmly. She had to wait a few seconds before Angela stopped crying and calmed down. "You didn't know, it's okay. I don't blame you for anything. We're okay. We're okay." Evony assured her friend and continued to whisper consolations to her until Angela seemed like her old self again.

  "I should go and let you get some rest. I'll come back to visit tomorrow." Angela made quick work of leaving the room. There wasn't a single light source in the room and besides her breathing; Evony could only hear the slight hums of the machines surrounding her. Afraid of where her thoughts could lead, Evony closed her tired eyes and prayed that sleep would overtake her quickly.

  Chapter 23

  Without opening her eyes, Evony knew there was somebody in her room. One whiff and she confirmed that it was Reed by her side. He appeared to be sleeping, one of her hands was clasped in both of his, and all Evony could think was that his position couldn't have been comfortable. He had his head prostrate on the bed with his arms outstretched in front of him.

  He gave off the aura of being a mate who cared about the well being of his own, but his actions of the past week betrayed his behavior in this moment. Hell, he didn't even bother to wait around her hospital room until she was sleep. He was still avoiding her, Evony thought.

  The realization hurt, and Evony pulled her hand from his. The action caused Reed to stumble awake. His confused eyes found her hurt ones and for a moment, Evony saw that he looked relieved to see she was awake. However, she was hurt even further when Reed placed this disguised mask on and blocked her from the shared mind link. She couldn't even feel his emotions.

  "Why are you here?" She asked coldly.

  "You were drugged."

  "I know, but why are you here?"

  Reed let out a heavy sigh and looked up at the corner of the wall. The internal battle raged within him to tell her what was going on. His wolf wanted – no pleaded with him to beg for her forgiveness while his mind thought it was best to continue keeping things from her.

  "If all you're going to do is breathe heavily, you should go. You're disturbing my sleep." Evony huffed when Reed hadn't spoken a word of explanation. Pulling the blankets up to her shoulders, Evony turned over to her side with her back facing Reed. She half expected Reed to accept the dismissal and leave but was surprised when he finally opened his mouth.

  "Last week, we got reports from your old pack, that there was a traitor in Blood Moon. And some of the things that were coming back to me were things that only top officials wou-"

  "Stop." Evony turned around and raised her hand to interrupt him. "You 'hear things' about my old pack and your immediate thought was that I was the one betraying you?" It felt like there was a fire behind Evony's eyes as she stared at Reed. He wasn't her mate, at least he wasn't behaving as if he was her mate. He should have come to her, talk to her, anything but ignore her. "Get out." She whispered to him despondently.

  "Evony wait let me explain!"

  "Get out!" Her voice was stronger this time around. "You had a whole week to explain. Instead, like a coward, you avoided the entire situation, you avoided me. And now, now you want to talk? Get out of my face. I can't look at you right now." Evony growled.

  A rejected Reed finally listened to Evony and dejectedly left the room. Once outside he placed both hands on his face and
ran them down. Garrett had warned him that he did this the wrong way, and now he couldn't get Evony's betrayed face out of his mind. He needed to figure out a way to fix his relationship with his mate and find the leak before his pack was too far-gone.

  Evony longed for her wolf to make an appearance, but she knew that the drugs in her system made that impossible at the moment. But as much as the mate bond was still strong and she wished for Reed to come back into the room, she couldn't help but feel anger and hurt that he would think that she was the one giving pack information to her father. It wasn't fair for him to make that assumption without speaking with her first. And if she was truly honest with herself, she felt like she would have respected him more had he been trying to figure out if she was a spy covertly. Actually, she wasn't sure what upset her more, Reed thinking that she was conniving enough to do the bidding of her father, or the fact that Reed had ignored her this whole time based on a rumor.

  Worst of all, she still didn't know how or when she was going to tell Reed about their baby.

  ***

  Two days later, the doctor finally released Evony from the infirmary. Evony's wolf still had not made her presence known, and she tried desperately not to think or worry about the prospect that she'd never hear her wolf again. Even more troubling, Dr. Sade insisted that she didn't force a shift until she heard her wolf.

  Reed desperately tried to be the doting mate to Evony, even though they had yet to talk their issues. Even now, he kept the mind link open, though Evony refused to use it. Logically, she knew she was being petty, but she did not a thing wrong. She felt that since Reed was the one jumping through conclusions, he should jump through hoops to talk to her. And what he shouldn't be doing is putting on the front that everything was good between the two of them in front of the pack.

  But in the meantime, she'd let him play his game. The pack may think their alpha pair was a united front, and she'd continue to let them think that. At least for the sake of the pack not thinking that there was something to worry about. As far as she was concerned the truth would hurt the pack more than help, and she had every intention of putting the needs of the pack first.

  Having emailed her professors, Evony had been able to secure a two-week period of not going to class as long as she was able to complete her assignments. Which was fine since she was able to keep up with the coursework online.

  "Are you still working on your essay?" Angela interrupted her from her studies. Evony was determined to keep up her schedule of working on school work for at least five hours before she worked on any pack work. Although the previous day was the exception to the rule when she spent several hours at the hospital since two of the she-wolves went into labor. Evony was pleased to spend time with the new mothers and meeting the new pups that were added to the pack.

  "It feels like my professors are punishing me for asking for time off from classes. I just need to get my bearings straight after what happened, ya know?" Evony had made the decision not to tell anyone, including Reed, about her missing wolf. Dr. Sade swore that he wouldn't spill the beans to his alpha, not that Reed had even bothered to ask the doctor for her status. Angela's only glimpse to Evony's health was knowing that she was pregnant.

  "Take a break, Arielle is here to see you." Evony's sweet little shadow bounded into her office and into her arms. Evony had just enough time to place her pen on the desk before catching her. Angela closed the door slightly when she left for the kitchen, giving the two some time alone.

  "How's school my sweet girl?"

  "Good, Jackie is having a sleepover tonight but she's afraid that it won't be as fun as mine." Evony smiled into Arielle's hair, happy with the knowledge that her little party helped Arielle gain some friends from school and within the pack. It wasn't easy being the new girl when cliques and friendships had already been established. As she sniffed her hair, Evony realized something.

  "Arielle, what pack did you and your father come from?" Evony asked with trepidation.

  "Black Falls, in North Carolina."

  Black Falls wasn't in alliance with Silver Fang, but definitely an alliance with Blood Moon. However, that wouldn't explain what Evony smelled on Arielle.

  Evony got up from her chair and peeked out of the door. She could barely hear down to the kitchen and heard the cooks preparing lunch. Everything seemed normal, but something felt off to her. Evony closed and locked the door and grabbed her keys.

  "Come on Arielle. I need you to do me a favor, okay honey?" The little girl nodded and followed Evony to the connecting door.

  'Reed! Reed?! I need you to answer me!' She called out through the mind link. By the time she unlocked the door and barged into his office, he still had not answered. She'd hoped that he'd be there but he seemed to have her blocked while she was blocking him. 'Curse the goddess that we're both petty.' Evony thought and huffed.

  "Arielle, did you talk to anyone before you came to my office today?" Evony relocked the connecting door, this time keeping her and Arielle in Reed's office.

  "No," Arielle looked thoughtful before opening her mouth again. "But I accidentally bumped into Claire."

  "Claire?" Who's Claire, Evony wanted to ask Arielle, however, the young girl must have seen the confusion on Evony's face and answered her without needing to be asked.

  "She tried to challenge you for Luna, remember?" Oh she meant Blair.

  "Blair. And she's the only one who touched you today?" Arielle nodded, confusion was written all over her face. "Okay." Evony stated while trying to think at the same time. Either way she had to get to Reed. "Okay, I need you to push this button as soon as I leave this room." Evony showed her the button that Reed had installed that activated the lockdown mode for the office. "Don't open the door for anyone. The door will open for only Alpha Reed or myself, so you'll be safe. Okay sweetheart?" Panic began to spread all over Arielle's face, but she tried her hardest to remain calm.

  "Don't forget to push the button when I leave." Evony slipped through the door and paused for only a second before she heard the locks engaging. She took a quick sigh and began moving away from the door towards the kitchen.

  "Angela, do you know where Reed and Garrett are?" Evony asked when she reached the kitchen.

  "I last saw them at the training grounds. Why?" So that was why he was blocking her. He didn't want any distractions as he helped train the wolves.

  "I can't reach Reed through the mind link and I need to tell him something." She huffed a huge sigh again and looked around the room at everyone standing there. "Listen, I'm not entirely sure what's going on, but I need you all to gather as many people and get them to the tunnels. Don't use the pack link. We have a traitor and I don't know what they have planned. Just as many people as you can. And whatever you do, avoid any contact with Blair." The women looked at her for a brief two seconds before scattering to their homes.

  Reed had once explained that most of the homes had tunnels in their basements, which led to safe houses outside the property. The houses were monitored so that if anyone attempted to enter them from the outside, Reed would be alerted. All of the pack members were given assignments of whose house they were to report to in case of emergency.

  "Where's Arielle? What's going on?" Angela asked concerned for whatever had Evony worried.

  "I don't know what's going on, if I'm honest. And Arielle's safe in the office. She didn't smell right, and she said the only person she touched was Blair."

  "Blair?" The two of them were running towards the training field and Evony could see Reed fighting in the distance. "And what do you mean she smelled wrong?"

  "I'll tell you when we're together." They ran the rest of the way quickly cutting the distance between them.

  When Reed spotted Evony, for one brief second she saw elatedness on his face, but he quickly placed his indifferent mask back on that she wasn't even sure she saw it.

  "Reed something is going on, I -"

  "Did you activate the safe room?" Reed interrupted.

  "
Yeah, I did. Listen..." Evony started. She was determined to let it slide that he knew the safe room was activated and continued to keep her blocked from the mind link."

  "It's not a toy. Now I have to reset it."

  "SHUT UP!" Everyone in training stopped their sparring to listen to the alpha pair. This was the closest anyone had ever seen of the discord between the two that it seemed that it would make for great drama. Plus, no one ever dared to yell at Alpha Reed unless they had a death sentence.

  "Is Blair the person that you have working at the airports? The one that gave you the reports?" Evony asked, this time in a much quieter voice that the other wolves on the field wouldn't be able to hear her.

  "What difference does it make?"

  "Just answer the question!" Angela asked since Evony looked like she wanted strangle Reed.

  "Yeah," Reed rolled his eyes. "Why?" That one admission was enough to cause Evony to release a breath she hadn't realized she was holding.

  The anger and frustration of the last couple of weeks had finally bubbled over and with some regret Evony's fist swung back just before connecting with Reed's jaw.

  "Because, mate of mine, Blair is your traitor."

  "How can you be sure?"

  "What are you talking about?" Reed and Garrett asked on top of each other.

  "Arielle came to see me today. I happened to smell her hair and caught a whiff of two scents that should be nowhere near her. I smelled Alex Daniels specifically, and the scent of Silver Fang. Arielle said the only person that touched her today was Blair, and that was when she bumped into her accidentally."

  "If Evony is right, how sure can you be that she wasn't doctoring the reports?" Garrett asked thoughtfully.

  All eyes were on Reed as he thought through the latest theory. Part of him wanted to ask Evony if she was one hundred percent positive. However, he doubted her once before, and he swore that he'd never doubt her again.

  "We need eyes on Blair. Garrett, take five men and find her," Reed's alpha tone reverberated throughout Evony' body and she felt the chills. Her mate, though infuriating sometimes, was sexy and she couldn't deny that ever. "I need volunteers to help everyone who isn't fighting to get to the tunnels."