Captivated, Cursed: Alpha Linc | 18+

Episode 42

I wake up alone in bed, but what's new? The curtains are drawn closed but my heavy exhaustion tells me that the sun isn't up yet. I run my fingers over his side of the bed.

Completely cold.

He never came to bed last night.

Or the night before.

Or most nights this week.

If I want to see him I have to search him out in his or Luke's offices. When I find him he's usually angrily pacing the floor, shouting at someone on the phone.

I pull myself out of bed, taking a deep breath to quell the nausea churning in my stomach. Everything is wrong, off. Ever since the ceremony it's been like walking on eggshells here. Lincoln is tense and angry all of the time. Cam is hurt and reeling over the betrayal from his long-time friend. Luke is quieter even than normal, beating himself up over his failures as head of security. Vic hasn't been around much, whatever happened between him and Maggie is keeping him away. Maggie is throwing herself into work, instead of trying to stop this madness, she's letting Linc continue with this tirade unchecked. I need her to be the voice of reason that she normally is.

I need backup here, he's not hearing me. He's become blind, obsessed with finding Clabus, with keeping me safe.

Truthfully, I've never felt more unsafe here and it's not because Clabus is still on the loose. Linc is so distant and preoccupied, I feel alone.

Everything has come to a head at the worst possible time. Each person is dealing with their own feelings and issues and no one is united. We are weaker than we have ever been. I see it, I just don't know how to fix it.

I move to the terrace, the dark morning air still hanging heavily over everything. I sit here, for hours sometimes, trying to remember exactly what the Moon Goddess said to me. I remember bits and pieces, sometimes sentences come back, but it's all hazy.

I'm not sure Lincoln even believes me. He thinks it was a dream induced by the magical coma I was in.

As soon as Clabus and I recognized one another he stunned me, shocking my wolf and momentarily shutting down my system. Then, turning his magic on himself he vanished from the room, and seemingly, the world.

I need to find Linc, to try, again. I'll go to him, plead with him, every day if I have to. Eventually, he has to hear me, I just can't give up on him.

As I make my way to his office Luke is sitting in the formal dining room. He has taken over the space adding a wall of monitors to one side of the room. His skin looks pale bathed in the blue light from the screens. The dark circles under his eyes are accentuated by the glowing hue.

"Luke," I ask cautiously, everyone is a bit jumpy lately, I don't want to catch him off guard.

He hums a response without looking up from his screens. His eyes flit back and forth over the different monitors. Each screen is a live feed from somewhere on the property. Of course, he wasn't caught off guard, he saw me coming.

I watch for a moment, staring at screen after screen of... absolutely nothing. It's still dark out, there isn't a single, minuscule movement on the screens. Not even the wind is shaking the trees outside.

I suddenly feel a strong mixture of anger and sadness. I hate that he is spending his days like this. Waiting, watching for something that probably won't ever come. He didn't fail. Clabus was a friend, he betrayed them, he isn't the person they all thought he was. He is a sorcerer, the best security in the world can't stop him.

Before I realize what I'm doing I pull a plug from the wall outlet. The chord is a strip connecting the rows of monitors to a power source.

As soon as I pull it the screens go black.

He gasps and jumps up, looking from the wall outlet to the power chord in my hand.

"What the fuck?"

"Enough!"

"Enough what? This is my job! Plug it back in before I miss something!"

"No!"

He turns to me with furrowed brows and his mouth set in a grim line.

"No?"

"No, I won't plug it back in. This is stopping right now, today. Go take a nap and for the love of God, take a shower. Eat something that isn't prepackaged vending machine food."

"Jo, this is my job. If I'm not watching, no one is. I was distracted the other night and look what happened! You were injured and our enemy was here, on our compound, in our home!"

"Luke! You couldn't have known that! You all trusted Clabus, no one knew he was behind everything!"

"It's my job to know!" He's practically screaming now.

I grit my teeth, "I never thought I would be doing this, I hoped I would never have to but... I'm ordering you to stop."

His eyes harden and he looks down at the floor for a moment before throwing his hands in the air angrily.

"Fuck!" He looks at me and paces around the room, "You're really going to command me to stop?"

We're both shocked. I'm sure I look completely nervous and not at all like a Luna Queen.

"I... yes...that is an order" I stutter anxiously, hoping he doesn't decide to call my bluff.

"Unreal!" he sits down angrily and pulls his head into his hands.

"Luke," I move to sit in the chair beside him, "please, look at me."

He doesn't lift his head but he turns slightly to meet my eyes.

"What happened wasn't your fault. Magic doesn't play fair. You can't beat yourself up for not seeing a threat in someone who you've known for a long time, someone you trusted. I don't know how to find him or how to fix this but I can tell you that running yourself into the ground, not eating or sleeping, staring at camera feeds, isn't the way."

He sighs and stands up, "will you at least let me plug it back in so that if I get an alert to movement or suspicious activity on the property I will be able to see it?"

"Fine," I move toward the outlet, "but only if you get an alert. You can't just sit here watching all day."

"Yes, Luna," he says with a scowl but I can hear a faint, almost imperceptible smile in his voice.

One down, four to go.

Authors Note: Have a good weekend, my loves. 😘🧡

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