The Unclaimed Human Luna
Chapter 63

Conner POV

He had separated his whole unit through four different universities over the past four days. Each of them were just standing around looking for her at their respective locations, were also listening for her or any mention of her name. But so far nothing had turned up. They had spent nearly a week in the same location, needed to be there every day for a week at each place, they had no idea what she’d opted to study, knew that she had wanted to study a Batchelor or Arts.

Showed him just how very little he actually knew about her, other than she liked outdoor activities and water sports, he had no idea what she liked to read or music she listened to. He’d had no access to her phone. It had been finger print locked, not that he had tried to pry into her world.

Adam had called Marlo. That boy had spent more time with her than anyone and though it appeared they’d had a falling out, he still knew she was interested in doing an Art degree, but even that encompassed a whole variety of other things, could mean anything from actual art, painting and drawing to the written word, literature and poetry, or music even.

Marlo had stated she really actually liked art itself, though he’d never seen her draw or paint anything in the time they had known each other, only that she wanted to study the Italian language as one of her minors, had been excited to go to her father’s university and study there like he did. She never really went into exactly what she wanted to study, but that she had really enjoyed the walking tour of their university’s art exhibitions.

So, it was likely that she actually wanted to study art itself, other than that he didn’t know. He’d texted Cordi more than once to ask her questions that might help him track her down as well. Though he had only gotten back basic information of an art degree, liked to sketch animals, like her father did. Liked hiking, camping, all manner of water sports. Things her own father had liked. Nothing he hadn’t really found out from Marlo.

He had the distinct impression Cordi was keeping things from him, but that was no real surprise. She was El’s friend, not his. She also was not of the same pack and Mated to an Alpha Wolf herself, he thought she’d been sensible from his position. He liked her loyalty to El, though that in itself could well be hindering him right this minute.

He’d text her daily about whether El had shown up there? Or if she had called Cordi, to which she’d simply stated No, or sorry not yet. He did actually believe her on that one. She would know he wasn’t going to reject her friend. If he was, he wouldn’t be out trying to hunt her down. Would just go on with his life. He’d not actually been face to face with her on a full moon.

Therefore, if he didn’t want her, he could just move on and do as he pleased, though whether that would hurt her if he did, he had no idea at all. Could well do, thought it would to be honest they were mated to each other, and he had no intention of doing that, she wouldn’t understand it or know what it was. Did not want to cause her any pain at all, just wanted her back.

Spent most nights in his room staring at the ceiling praying to Selena herself to let him not only replace her but have her be willing to sit down and talk to him, to not reject him. They were never on good terms except for in the bedroom. Sighed not a real good start to their relationship and he knew it, there was the real possibility that she would just issue her rejection of him and walk away from him. It was not what he wanted, not what Atlas wanted, and he didn’t know exactly what would happen if she did that.

Was trying not to think about it for the most part, was trying to stay positive and was willing to apologise to her, bloody get down on his knees and beg for forgiveness if that was necessary. Every day that was passing without her was horrid. He didn’t sleep well, he was anxious that someone out there would know what she was and try to hurt her.

That she might come across some fox that she really liked and decide to let them claim her and then she really would be lost to him. He was certain she was still his, still attached to him. That ache inside his chest had started up once again, it was worse here in the past four days. Got the impression from Atlas it was because they were close to her but still unable to replace her.

It had been a long four days, but he had to go down to her father’s Alma Mater to check for her there. It was where she had wanted to go and he knew that, so he and his unit were headed down there to Bologna. It was only just over a two-hour drive away, they would all be there staking that place out. They all agreed it was likely she’d still want that, to go there, that she could well be hidden in plain sight.

Though the more they drove away from Milan the more his chest hurt, Adam was currently driving, and Conner was aimlessly staring out the window. They pulled up and he got out, only to frown at his Beta. He’d not been paying attention to where they were going, though he knew this was not the right place.

“Adam?”

“Trust us on this, Conner. Your chest rubbing got worse the further from Milan we got. She’s not in Bologna. You were not watching where we were going, I turned us around and your chest rubbing got less.”

Conner sighed “You think she’s here somewhere still.”

“Maybe this is just closer. We’ve only looked at four uni’s and with only one of us at each of them, we could have missed her. You know yourself how delicate she smells.”

He did at that, “Alright, so we’re presuming she’s here somewhere.” He nodded; the man was not wrong. His chest was hurting less than it had been an hour ago.

“We’ll all go to them one university at a time, spread out and look for her, roam around look for others that have her family eyes, and that soft scent of those soaps.” Brayden commented, “other shifters will look right at us, know what we are, we aren’t hiding our scent.”

“Alright.” Conner nodded; it was a good plan. The only plan they had if she was on campus, that was, they could just be near her pack for all they knew. He had tried to replace out if she was registered to the university he’d been at, only to be asked who he was. He’d told them the truth her stepbrother, and that his stepsister was missing, that he knew she wanted to study in Italy, so was just searching for her. That had not gotten him very far.

He had no evidence of her being his stepsister, had no missing person’s report to produce for the girl either, wondered if he should do that? But then had decided against it. There were wolf packs all over Europe and he didn’t want any of them getting wind of her being his Mate and being missing, though they had no enemies here, that didn’t mean she would be safe here from them.

He was not about to go advertising she was missing. It was not a good thing for any wolf to do, though she would just appear human to all others, unless they here in Europe knew that foxes hid their scent with that soap. Sighed heavily and they spread out after getting a map of the university Adam had brought them too.

There were several open areas for students to sit and chat between classes. He prowled through the hallways and pretended to fit in, smiled at many other students, even though he didn’t want to, had a few girls giggle and smile right back at him. He asked a few if they had happened to see his sister, had a picture of her. Showed it to them, most just shook their heads.

His unit wasn’t having much luck either, couldn’t go into the female dorms, wasn’t allowed, so they kind of sat around and just watched everyone walking in and out, saw one man with those silver-grey eyes, they were unmistakeable, didn’t approach him though, didn’t want to scare him off. But mind-linked to his whole unit to let them know what he’d seen and which direction he was headed.

The man or boy had been walking with a bunch of others, and he’d had that fresh linen scent attached to him. He hadn’t looked directly at Conner, had been simply walking and talking, laughing with his friends, had his arm around a human girl’s waist, likely his girlfriend. Didn’t seem to smell Conner out though he was a fair way away. The only reason Conner had seen those eyes was because he was purposefully looking at everyone’s eyes, using Atlas’s wolfen sight, he was likely far enough away that the fox hadn’t seen him.

The man hadn’t so much as missed a step or paused in his conversation with his friends, hadn’t looked up or around, so it was unlikely he’d smelled Conner at all. Which was a good thing, they could stealthily stalk him and if he got in a car and left, track that boy right to where his home pack was.

They were all keeping eyes on him throughout the course of the day. He lived here on campus, from what they could tell, gone into a dorm and not come out after a late dinner and some making out with his human girlfriend, she smelled human to Conner, to all of them. His entire unit also agreed with Conner that those eyes and the smell of fresh linen that he gave off meant he was likely to be a fox shifter.

Adam told him that as far as Kade could tell, he smelled exactly like Sloan did. Atlas was of the same opinion himself. Though they couldn’t stand around all night, campus security would be looking at them, likely ask for ID at some point. Though Brayden strolled on into that dorm and tracked the man right to his room. On the top floor, he shared with two others from what Brayden could tell and they were all in there just chatting away.

Though he didn’t pick any of it up, it was all in Italian, he came back and shook his head. “I’d say settled in for the night.” Conner had wanted to go but everyone thought it was better for him to stay down here, out of sight. They might know what he looked like, it was possible El might have told them, or Sloan had, so it was better that neither he nor Adam went. Seeing as it had been them two the last time looking for her.

They spent a week tracking that fox. He never once headed out of the city, was on campus five days a week, and only left it to hang out with his friends. They kept themselves well away from him, in the hope he wouldn’t scent them out. Started looking for them in return. He went out clubbing with his friends, went out to have dinner with his friends on the weekend but didn’t head off anywhere, didn’t return to his pack for the weekend. Went back to the dorm.

They all thought that was odd. Most shifters liked to be with their own kind, especially if they were Alpha-blooded and this fox had the same eyes, so he was likely of the same descent as her, perhaps a cousin or an uncle maybe. He’d seen that both El’s father and grandmother had the same distinctive eyes, so it was likely a bloodline trait. Specific to El’s ancestors, so he at this point was their best option to track her down.

Though if he was not the next in line for leadership of the pack, he could well be just out here living up the life of a carefree fox, without concerns of having to go back, perhaps there was no need of him going back. He could well be way off and not even close to being in line for the position of Alpha.

He’d been doing research on fox shifters, and it was his understanding that they would have multiple births, and many children at that. An Alpha and Luna fox could have a full litter twice over and a fox litter was completely different to a wolf litter.

Wolf litters were considered to be 5 or 6 pups over as many years unless they had twins or the occasional triplet. Fox litters could consist of 2 to 4 kits in one birth, and they would often have up to 4 or five births at that. So, one Alpha fox could have as many as sixteen to twenty kits running around out there and only the first born would take over.

His whole unit had nearly keeled over laughing at that information. Cameron had shoved him around and murmured, well guess you got your hands full when you get her back. They all thought it was hilarious, him with 16 to 20 children running around and all young at the same time. From what they were reading, likely a litter every year or two every year, which in reality meant he could have all those pups or kits, hell a mixture of them all running around under the age of five.

Wondered if that was why that witch and her sisters had laughed at him that day in the New Moon Pack, she’d seen something that had tickled her fancy and relayed it to her sisters. They all thought, whatever it was, it was funny. His own unit thought it was funny themselves just thinking about it.

Conner had just stopped at the information and stared at it himself. Atlas had seemed to come to a pause as well, it didn’t seem either of them knew how to absorb that bit of information. She was only young and pups or kits were not something they were considering at this time, so that was something they could discuss later on if he could get her to come home with him.

Though that thought was now in his brain, as well as Atlas’s, and not thinking about it was hard, when they were in their bed alone at night trying to sleep, they didn’t even know what her fox looked like, what colour she was, what type of fox she was, though he and Atlas were both thinking she was going to be some variation of a silver fox, due to all the things that her father had studied, and silver foxes were high on his list, it was likely they thought that El’s fox was going to be black with white markings.

Atlas liked that thought, wondered how tiny she was going to be, wondered if he would tower over her? Foxes were generally smaller than wolves in their shifted forms. Atlas liked the idea of her fox being able to stretch out or curl up between his legs. He didn’t really care what size she was, only that she would be his to protect. That he was going to, her Fox would know he loved her and would protect her.

Got a text from Cordi “I spoke to El, she’s okay. Didn’t say where, but knows what you are now, what I and Collin are. Has been initiated into a pack is Collin’s guess. So, it won’t be such a shock to her when she sees you again. Is on campus, that was all I got.”

“Did you ask where?”

“Of course, wouldn’t say, also told us she wasn’t allowed to tell us what she was.”

“She’s a fox.” He typed back.

“Wow, that’s pretty cool. Is with her aunt was all we could glean.”

“Anything on the aunt at all?” he needed all the information he could get.

“Her aunt is the Alpha and Luna to her pack, that’s it. No name, no location. But is definitely in Italy. We both picked up the background chatter.”

“Thanks Cordi.” He sent back. “Phone number.”

“We already tired that. Public pay phone.”

He sighed, smart girl, but that whole Alpha Luna thing, that could only mean one thing in his book. Her aunt was the rightful heir to the pack and had mated to someone of lesser rank than herself, so she kept both titles. Which likely means Sloan could take over if something happened to her sister if she didn’t have an Heir.

Still didn’t help his search though. But at least he knew she was alright. She had called Cordi not texted, she’d stated she’d spoken to her. She was alright, that was something, so his severing of her had been her aunt bringing her into the pack, not her being Mated off to someone else. Her Grandmother had worded herself in a particular manner, likely trying to get him to let go of El, give up. Didn’t know him very well.