The Lunar Queen (Lyric and Mason) novel Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Hunter POV

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I know I haven’t been the best big brother to Lyric, but hearing about everything Summer has done to her over the years makes me want her to suffer, makes something dark twist in my chest that I can’t ignore anymore.

How could you do that to your own sister, your twin sister?

Yeah, they look like total opposites, but they are still sisters.

“She will pay for hurting her,” Lars my wolf says.

She’s been suffering in silence.

Right in front of us. And we missed it.

When Winter tells us Lyric is missing, we all jump into action to find her.

“We need scouts in the woods searching. Lyric, she has not been seen since this morning,” I link patrols, pushing the order harder

than I ever have before.

I link my dad,

“Dad, Lyric is missing. She isn’t answering links, and Winter says she hasn’t seen her since this morning,” I say.

“What do you mean, Hunter? How does she just disappear?” he links.

“I don’t know, Dad. Winter just linked Mason,” I say.

And that alone tells me this isn’t normal. Not for her.

“Where are you?” he links.

“On my way to the packhouse,” I say.

“Good, get here now,” he links.

When I arrive at the packhouse, everybody is panicking in the main hall, voices overlapping, tension thick enough to choke on.

“I want everybody searching every dead spot, check by the lake, by the waterfalls. Check the whole territory. She can’t be far,” Alpha Liam tells everyone.

I look over at Mason, and he looks like a shell of himself.

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Chapter 16

Not just tense-empty and barely holding it together.

He’s been fighting Kane for control since we left the hospital.

“Good evening, Alpha. Did we come at a bad time?” a deep voice says.

We all turn toward the voice.

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“Oh, Alpha King Cole, welcome. Forgive me for not greeting you when you pulled up. My Beta’s youngest pup is missing, and we ap calling a pack-wide search for her,” Alpha Liam says.

I see the king’s eyes flash to that of his wolf.

Just for a second-but it’s enough to feel the shift in the room.

“Can we help?” he asks.

“Please, the more people, the better. She has been missing for about seven hours. Winter last saw her at school this morning, and

she never came home,” Alpha Liam replies.

“Did we check the security footage at the school?” the king asks.

“I have one of my best techs on it now,” Alpha Liam replies.

“Do you mind if my men start looking?” the king asks.

“Of course not, your majesty. Thank you for your help,” Alpha Liam says.

The king and his men walk out after that.

Mason stands abruptly.

“I need to go look for her. I can’t just sit here,” he says before shifting into Kane and heading for the woods.

He doesn’t wait. Doesn’t think. Just goes.

“Boys, follow him. Make sure he doesn’t do something he will regret,” Alpha Liam says.

Because right now… that’s a real possibility.

Cole POV

The whole time we are searching for her, Zeus is on edge, restless in a way I’ve never felt from him before.

“What do you think happened to her?” Dominic asks.

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“I don’t know, I hope nothing bad, but the way Mason and Hunter were acting, I’m not so sure,” I say.

Something about this feels off. Wrong.

“Alpha, we found blood at the school,” one of my warriors links me.

“Where?” I ask.

“At the back exit. There’s a blood trail leading into the woods,” he links back.

I link with the alpha, and as the King of werewolves, I can link with any wolf in my kingdom.

“Alpha Liam, my warriors found blood at the back of the school.” I say.

“We are on our way,” he links back.

They arrive before we do, and Mason is losing it.

“It’s her blood, she was here” he growls.

His voice isn’t steady-it’s breaking under the weight of it.

“Whoever hurt my mate is going to die a slow and painful death,” he snarls.

“Mason’s mate,” Zeus says in my head, his voice low and unsettled.

The words sit wrong in my chest, not because Mason is wrong to claim her, but because Selene’s warning suddenly makes more

sense.

“Maybe this is what she meant when she told me not to interfere with Lyric’s path,” I say quietly.

Zeus does not answer. He only paces harder.

“Mason, calm down, son,” Alpha Liam says calmly.

“This blood smells old; she hasn’t been here in a while,” I say.

And that’s not a good thing. Not at all.

A warrior comes running out of the school.

“Alpha, we found where she was attacked” he yells.

We all run to follow him.

The closer we get, the stronger the scent hits-metallic, heavy, unmistakable.

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What we find is something we weren’t prepared for-so much blood, everywhere.

Too much. Way too much.

What did they do to her?

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“This is her blood,” the Beta says, falling to his knees. “All of it is hers.”

The sound of him hitting the floor echoes louder than anything else.

His son stands in the middle of the floor, dead still, like he’s finally figuring it all out.

Like everything just clicked-and it’s too late to change any of it.

Mason is on the verge of shifting and has pretty much lost control of his wolf.

“Mason, calm down,” I command, letting the words wash over him gently.

I see his wolf recede and his gray eyes come back.

“I understand she is your mate, alpha, but losing it will not help us find her,” I say.

Even though I feel my own control slipping.

“Most of the blood in this room is dry and old, so this is where she was attacked. It smells like silver and wolfsbane mixed with blood. She lost a lot of blood, and without her wolf, she doesn’t have much longer before it’s too late. We need to follow the blood outside the school; it will lead us to her,” I say, trying to contain my own wolf, who is howling in my mind.

Time is already running out.

I pray to the goddess we find her in time.

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Because with this much blood….

there’s only one question left-

are we following a trail to find her…

or to find what’s left of her?

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