His Mute Luna
Chapter 1

June

I waved goodbye to my work colleagues at the bar and started to head out into the crisp autumn air. It was a clear sky, so the night held a chill that I hoped would sober me up on the walk home. Not that I was drunk, but I had enjoyed a few drinks tonight, though not enough that would impede my work tomorrow.

“You sure you don’t want me to drop you off? I’ve been on water and soda all night, I’m fine to drive you?” Bea asked out loud as she signed to me.

She had become a fast friend at work when I had started at the Ashen Star Ecological Trust – or A.SET as it was known around the pack – last year to complete my PhD.

“I’m fine, the walk will do me good. I’m only 20 minutes away,” I signed.

Beatrice, or Bea as she preferred, was one of the few wolves I knew besides my brother that knew sign language. The other few wolves and humans I worked with were starting to learn the odd bit here and there, some found it more of a hassle than others. I had no problem hearing, so I didn’t necessarily need others around me to sign, I just needed it to communicate instead of having to write everything out or use my text-to-speech app.

“Ok, don’t forget you’re buying the coffee in the morning! Mama needs her caffeine before I stare at moths for 3 hours” she shouted back with a huge smile, to which I sent her a mock salute.

She was our resident entomologist, we all had our specialisations. My study was looking at the reedbed habitats around the Ashen Star packlands. Our pack was located along a few estuaries on the Oregon coast, so I had plenty of work to contribute towards my doctorate. And I hoped my work would help protect the habitat along the estuary that I loved.

By the time I reached my driveway, the heat in my cheeks had dissipated, as had my buzz from the bourbon and tequila. I now also remembered I had forgotten to drop off the egg custard pie for my brother, Tom, before I headed to the bar. For someone who was pretty intelligent, if I do say so myself, I could be ridiculously scatterbrained at times. As I approached my door, I took out my phone to text him.

Me | Sorry, forgot the pie. Just raid my kitchen tomorrow. It’ll be in the fridge.

He replied with a SpongeBob GIF of squidward dumping his brain in a trashcan.

Me | Wow…ok, rude b***h, no pie for you.

Tom | I mean…I can just break in, sooooo…

I was about to reply while sliding my key into the door, when a hand grabbed me from behind. One hand secured around my mouth and the other around my waist, lifting me clear from the ground.

I tried to thrash, but their grasp was solid and incredibly strong.

A masked man approached me, spraying a canister over my skin. It stung a little as it made contact and irritated my nose as I accidentally inhaled it. My keys were still lodged in the door and my phone, I’m sure, had been flung into the grass. Without any words uttered, I was carried off into the night.

They had to be mind-linking, they were werewolves.

How the hell did outside wolves get in so far into this pack’s territory? Was it to do with whatever they sprayed me with? I had heard of scent covers but I had no clue about them. I now truly envied wolves and their ability to mind-link…I was human and had no such ability. I couldn’t even scream or shout properly, even without my captor’s hand placed over my mouth. An injury I had no memory of from when I was a child had severely damaged my larynx and any sound I could make was an awkward, hoarse murmur. Whatever the altercation was, had left my throat heavily scarred with claw-like s***h marks. I usually wore a neck gaiter around this time of year to hide it, to avoid the looks and stares.

I could only hope someone realised I was missing before these men did something to me. If only I could reach the silver coated flick knife in my back pocket. My brother insisted I carry it when I was out doing my fieldwork alone. For once, I could k**s him for his overbearing protectiveness and the self-defence lessons he insisted I take.

As I struggled, without warning, a needle was jabbed painfully into my neck. My eyes began to droop, despite my efforts to keep them open and I started to feel my limbs go limp and unresponsive. I still felt conscious but the world around me seemed hazed and dream-like. I could only pray that this would wear off soon. Maybe then I could catch these two wolves unawares.

Morgan

*BUZZ*

*BUZZ*

*BUZZ*

I was dragged out of my sleep by my phone vibrating like crazy. Bleary eyed, I stared at the caller.

Tom Greenwood?

Oh, Tom, I realised as my sleep-brain caught up.

“Hey, man. What’s up?” I yawned out.

Why the hell was he phoning me at…23:21? f**k, I had to be up in three hours for patrol, so much for a goodnight’s sleep. Although I’d count Tom as a loose friend, he wasn’t exactly the type of close friend that you’d call in the dead of night for something. If he was phoning me at this time, it had to be about something serious in the pack.

“I think my sister’s been taken!” He rushed out.

Ok, that had my attention.

“What do you mean? How do you know?”

“She was just coming home and texting me, she was replying, then just stopped! I sent her some more but she didn’t reply, so I went over. Her keys were in the door and her phone was thrown on the ground. Someone’s taken her, I know it!” He was practically shouting now, his worry evident.

“Ok, replace something with her scent on and I’ll have some trackers come over,” I was about to mind-link them but my dad’s voice came through first.

‘Morgan, get over to the pack house now. We have reports of she-wolves gone missing, we think they’ve been kidnapped.’

‘Just she-wolves? Tom Greenwood just phoned to say his sister’s missing and she’s human.’

Though I didn’t know Tom super well, I knew that unlike him, she was human. From what I remember him telling me, they weren’t biologically related but had been found, together, just outside our territory with no memories.

Tom was an unusual Omega, in that he was huge but couldn’t shift and didn’t have a wolf. There was definitely something there, I could feel it. But no matter how much I worked with him to bring it to the surface, it was like there was a wall, sealing his wolf in place.

‘None of them have gotten in contact, we’ve just sent an alert to members that can’t mind-link.’

I quickly sent Tom a text to let him know it wasn’t just his sister and to convene at the pack house to stay updated. Without his wolf, he wouldn’t be able to mind-link and I didn’t know if he had received the alert as they were mainly for our human members’ benefit.

Throwing the covers off, I grabbed the first thing I laid my hands on out of the closet and headed down the stairs still naked. There wasn’t any point in getting dressed as I would be shifting as soon as I exited my door.

As my feet left my porch, I shifted to my large white wolf and took off in the direction of the pack house with my board shorts in my mouth.

Even though I was next in line for the Alpha position, I had decided to live in a separate house, one I had built myself to bring my mate home to and, hopefully one day, pups.

But seven years and counting, I was still waiting.

‘Focus!’ My wolf, Mars, growled.

The topic of our mate was a touchy subject for him.

In my wolf form, the pack house was barely a few minutes away and when I arrived my father was already out front organising the search party. My three younger brothers also stood by him, Michael, my second brother and the twins, Callum and Cameron, or Cal and Cam as they went by.

“How many are missing?” I asked as I shifted and put on my shorts, coming to stand by my dad.

“3 Omega she-wolves and the human you mentioned. We found patrols knocked out on the eastern and southern borders so this must be their entrance and exit. Shane is by the eastern border now,” he replied.

“Any descriptions of the people missing or the assailants?”

“We’re replaceing that out now. As for the attackers, no-ones even seen them. Shane says he’s picking up a very sophisticated scent cover, but he can’t pinpoint a definite direction,” my dad said while rubbing his chin looking down at the map where he’d circled the two spots on our border.

If Shane couldn’t pick anything up, then that wasn’t good. He was my future Gamma and a vampire-werewolf hybrid. While he couldn’t shift, he had a better sense of smell than any wolf in the pack, probably even better than my own, along with better sight, hearing and speed. His wolf was there, so he could mind-link, but it was incredibly dormant, lying beneath the surface serving as an enhanced instinct. His father, Charles, the current Gamma to my dad, was stood by also looking over the map.

“The girls gone missing live or work nearest the eastern and southern borders. Whoever was behind this knew their targets and planned this,” Charles spoke as he pointed out parts of the territory.

My future Beta, Ryan, and his father, the current Beta, Terrance, approached with the trackers.

“Isn’t this a little overkill for some Omegas and a human? We could lose valuable pack members for some wolves that can’t even shift,” my brother Michael remarked from the side.

I looked at him, outraged and growled. He could be a selfish prick at times, but this was a new low.

“They are our pack! We are not leaving them for these rogues to do goddess knows what! What if this was Lisa?”

Mentioning his mate had his normally brown eyes turn black. She was always his soft spot.

“Lisa can shift and would’ve probably clawed the rogues single-handedly!” he shouted back.

“You both really doing this now?” Cam said, quirking his brow.

“Yeah, super inappropriate,” Cal added.

f**k, when these two were the voice of reason you knew you really were being an i***t.

“Couldn’t have put it better myself,” my dad threw a glare to both myself and Michael. “Fight afterwards. Right now, focus on getting our girls back!”

I looked at the map, seeing what lay beyond the eastern and southern border of Ashen Star.

About 40 miles south sat an old port of the human town, with disused industrial warehouses, perfect for hiding. And to the east, around 50 miles away, lay an old mine the humans used decades ago…a silver mine.

Something told me east was the direction I needed to head in. A silver mine was a risky but ideal spot to hide and regroup.

“We should split into 3 teams,” I started, pointing out the destinations. “I’ll head east, with Charles. We’ll pick up Shane along the way and head to these silver mines. Michael should lead his team south to this port with Ryan and Terrance. Cal and Cam should lead the reinforcements for whoever replaces the rogues and bring vehicles…we don’t know what we’re gonna replace.” I didn’t really want to think about the possible outcomes.

We still had no clue what these men wanted with these females…but whatever it was, it wasn’t exactly going to be ‘pure’ intentions.

‘Gee, thanks for sticking me with your brother, man,’ Ryan mind-linked while giving me a displeased look.

‘Sorry, but I need someone to go with him that’ll make sure he puts in the effort,’ I explained.

“Dad, you coordinate us all from the pack house. You’ll be able to mind-link the two groups from here because we’ll be out of range of each other. You can liaise with the families and update them as we go,” I suggested.

I would be taking over as Alpha in a few years, so my dad had been gradually stepping back, allowing me to take the reins more and more. The heir to the Alpha leadership usually took over around the age of 30, which gave them plenty of time to learn their duties well and start a family before ascending…time that I was rapidly losing without my mate.

“Very well, move out,” my dad commanded.

My brother shifted to his deep, auburn wolf and took off with the Betas and trackers in pursuit. I shifted to my white wolf and indicated to my team to follow.

One way or another, we would get our females back and make these rogues pay.