The Luna’s Second Chance Mate

Larissa’s POV

The ringing in my ears intensified as I struggled to open my eyes. I could not remember the last time I ever felt so weak and tired. I groaned painfully as I tried to sit up. My bones were also hurting and I felt like I was burning up. I was having a fever? But why? I tried again to open my eyes to no avail. They were just too heavy. I took a deep breath, noticing that it hurt my chest when I tried to. All I knew was that I was laying in a bed. The room was silent and I couldn’t sense the presence of anyone else so I assumed I was alone.

My fingers moved over the sheets I was laying on and I turned my head to the side to get a whiff of anything at all that would tell me where I was. As I sniffed the air, I immediately recognized the scent. I was in Kaden’s room. I could smell him all over. I had spent enough nights in this room to remember what it felt like.

I took another deep breath and I tried to relax, but the thought of Kaden had already set me into an overthinking mode. The last thing I remembered was the argument we had. It also brought Amaya to my memory. A bitter feeling immediately filled up my chest at that. I had let that woman come in between Kaden and I. I remembered the details of what I’d seen, and from Kaden’s explanation, I knew she had thrown herself at him. But I had been so embittered by the scene I walked into that I chose not to listen. I chose not to believe him and I’d hurt him in the process.

Emotion crowded in my chest and a tear slipped down my face. Why? Why did I have to cause a scene? Why did I let Amaya get into my head and plant thoughts I knew Kaden would never carry out? Why did I let myself be sucked in by anger and jealousy?

Another tear dropped to my cheeks. I wanted to wipe it off but my hands were too weak. Now I had created a rift between us. I had to fix it. I had to apologize and make things right. I hated that I made all of Kaden’s efforts seem like nothing. I knew how much he hated being in the same room with Amaya. It killed him, but he did it to get what we all wanted; peace. He did it for his family, for this pack. He did it for me. And yet I had chosen to ignore that. Guilt coursed through me as the thoughts continued to race through my head.

I had to apologize to him. I wanted to see him, hug him, tell him how sorry I was for lashing out. I loved Kaden so much. I never wanted him to feel like he wasn’t doing enough. I never wanted him to feel like his efforts weren’t appreciated. That wasn’t the kind of wife I wanted to be; a nag, and a woman that always had something to complain about. I had promised to be his partner, to stand by him in hard and confusing times. This was one of those times, and I’d been doing a shitty job so far. I wanted to make amends, I needed to.

My conviction filled me with strength and I finally managed to open my eyes. I pulled myself into an upright position and let my eyes roam the room. I was right about being alone. The room was empty and a basket of herbs was placed on a table in front of me. I immediately knew it was Annalise’s. I managed to climb down from the bed and put on my house slippers before I made my way outside. My legs were a little weak but not something I couldn’t manage.

For some reason the ringing in my ears did not stop. It had gotten louder, in fact. On closer examination I realized it wasn’t actually a ringing. It was a loud voice somewhere in the distance. Someone was yelling. I stopped in my tracks and frowned. What was going on? I listened closely and I realized it was Kaden’s voice. He sounded pissed.

What on earth was happening? I increased my pace and walked toward the direction of his voice. I had only taken a few steps when Annalise emerged, a horrified look on her face.

“Larissa? You’re supposed to be in bed resting,” she protested, rushing to me and examining me.

I stopped her with a shake of my head. “I want to know what’s going on. What happening?”

She kept silent. “I think you should rest for now. You still need to recover befor–”

“What happened?” I asked, more sternly.

She took a deep breath. “The Alpha’s son is missing.”

I staggered backwards in shock. “What?!” I could not believe what I’d just heard. “Declan? Declan is missing? What do you mean he’s missing?” Blood rushed through my ears, my heart pounding. Declan, missing? How?

“The last time he was seen, he was in his playroom with Miss Amaya, but he’s not there anymore. The Alpha received a note from Stefan Tokenmoon saying that–”

“What?!” A lot of things were going on all at once and it was confusing the hell out of me. “Stefan? What does he have to do with any of this?”

Annalise dove into the story of how the Gemini had discovered the identity of the mystery pack that had been threatening Griffinhowl and how it turned out to be Stefan. She also gave me details of how a guard had been killed and a note stuck to his chest.

By the time she finished I was dumbfounded. Declan was in Stefan’s hands now. Fear gripped me. I had no idea what he could do. I said a silent prayer to the moon goddess to keep Declan safe. If anything happened to him I would never be able to forgive myself. Kaden would be shattered. My hands shook as I paced around. I had never hated anyone as much as I hated Stefan in this moment. Why did he have to do this? Didn’t he already do enough? Why did he have to keep tormenting us?

I buried my head in my hands, suddenly feeling guilty. Stefan had come here because of me, and I was certain he had taken Declan to lure Kaden out. I don’t know what vendetta he had with Kaden, but I knew he was also doing this to get to me. The memory of the last time I saw him surfaced in my mind. He was sick. He was a dying man, and mating with me was the only thing that could save him. Was that why he was so desperate to destroy my family?

Pain shot through me as I contemplated on what to do. First I had to see Kaden. I walked away from Annalise and hurried off. He was standing at the entrance of the playroom when I arrived, his shoulders tense as he yelled at a group of guards for not being watchful. I swallowed, a little scared to approach me.

As soon as he dismissed the guards and turned around, I called out his name. His face was contorted in rage as he turned around, and I nearly cried from the look in his eyes. He was staring hard at me, anger apparent in his features. “What do you want?!”

I shrunk back, a little surprised. How was I supposed to comfort him when he was so angry. “I…I heard about what happened with Declan. I’m so sorry, Kaden..” I moved closer to him and hold onto his hand. “How did it happen? I know we both saw him there in the playroom. And what about Amaya? Where is she? I don’t know what were going to do but we need to get Declan back. I’ll never forgive myself if anything happens to him an–”

“Don’t!” Kaden snapped, pulling his arm away out of my hold. “My son’s life is in danger and it’s all because of your fucking ex husband! That bastard had my son kidnapped right under my nose and I had no knowledge of it.”

“I’m in shock too, Kaden. Why are you–”

“He’s your ex! And he’s doing all of this because of you, because he wants you back. Isn’t it obvious? He came here and tried to get you to come back to him and when it didn’t work he used my son as a pawn in his stupid games. This is your fault! It’s your fault my boy is in danger. If anything happens to him I will never, ever forgive you.”Copyright Nôv/el/Dra/ma.Org.

My steps faltered as I stared at Kaden and digested his painful words. It was like a stab to my heart that he would blame me for this. Without warning, my eyes filled with tears. My shoulders wracked violently as I stood in the middle of the hallway sobbing. Kaden had already stormed off, leaving me alone to weigh all the words he’d said to me.

I sobbed bitterly, clutching my chest from the pain. Maybe Kaden wasn’t completely wrong. Maybe it was my fault that Stefan involved Declan in this. He was my ex husband after all, and he was desperate to his his illness healed. All of this was happening because of me.

Helpless I let myself sink to the ground, all the tiredness compounding on me and making me weaker. I pulled up my knees to my chest and laid my head down, and I cried until I had no tears left. My chest was so hollow it was hurting. This period of my life has brought forth a lot of terrible things, and I couldn’t help but blame myself for some of them. Now Declan was in the hands of a desperate man, and there was no way to know if he was okay.

My eyes filled up once again and I let myself cry all the pain away. I don’t know how long I sat there for, but by the time I stood up again it was dark. I slowly shuffled back to my room, weaker than ever.

“Larissa?” I heard someone call out my name as I walked past. I turned around to see that it was Annalise. She held my hand and looked at me carefully. “You should be resting. She-wolves need bed rest especially in the early stages of their pregnancy. You should lie down.”

“What do you mean?” I froze, wondering if I’d misheard her. “I’m not pregnant.”

A sudden look came over her face and she quickly apologized. “I’m so sorry. With all the commotion from earlier we forgot to give you the good news. You’re two months pregnant, Larissa.”

I was still frozen in shock at the news. “I’m pregnant?” Fresh tears formed in my eyes and my hand instinctively fell to my stomach. “There’s a little one growing inside of me?”

Annalise nodded. “Yes.”

Tears fell down my cheeks. I couldn’t believe that I was going to be a mother in a few months. This was the biggest thing that had ever happened to me. The only thing I regretted was that it was happening at this time when everything was falling apart. “Does Kaden know?”

“Yes. I gave him the news right before we found out about the little master.”

I nodded, swallowing painfully. “Okay. Thank you for everything, Annalise. I’ll try and get some rest.” Slowly, I walked into my room and shut the door behind me. I shut my eyes and leaned against the door. I felt so light and fragile. After a few moments I walked over to my bed and lay down, waiting.

I listened to the clock as the hours ticked by. Still waiting. Running my hand over my stomach. Finally the hour I was waiting for came. I climbed down from the bed and walked over to my closet. I pulled a pair of boots off the rack and put it on. Next, I changed into a pair of trousers and a jacket and put my hair into a single braid.

As I walked out of my room and made my way through the front of the mansion and past the guards. I wiped my tears as I scaled over the walls and jumped over the gate. As I walked through the woods, my hand did not leave my stomach once.

I still knew my way to my destination although it had been a long time. I walked until my legs began to ache but I didn’t stop. After what felt like hours, I arrived. The guards were manning the gate and I took a few moments to compose myself.

Did I really want to do this? I didn’t know the answer to that. But I knew I had to make things right. Taking a deep breath, I walked forward. The guards looked hostile but as soon as the light hit my face, they recognised me.

“Take me to Stefan.”