Luna Lena

Chapter 20 - Found

"Under the articles formed by the packs, an unauthorized war can come with a variety of consequences, all depending on the specific circumstances. For example, an unauthorized war with no proper reasoning could potentially be worthy of an Alpha losing his title all together," Ryder explained.

His words, although calm and eloquent, caused me to flinch.

"That is obviously not the case here, but I'm just saying," Ryder said with a shrug and a rather coy grin.

"These circumstances more so qualify as an unauthorized war with probable cause, although I must say, I don't see what you were getting out of all of this, Zane," Ryder added with an accusatory tone.

"Regardless, I've decided that both Night Fire and Polar Moon will be subject to either a probationary period or a reduction in warriors and warrior training along with a very strict probationary period. Punishment will be decided once all cases are heard," Ryder explained.

I couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief. Polar Moon already had a rather small group of warriors, and after this war, we couldn't risk losing many more, but that was a far better punishment than ones I'd imagined beforehand.

"Lena," Ryder started again, directing his attention to me. "If you don't mind, I'd like to hear your take on this whole ordeal. I don't want to trigger any traumatic memories for you, but I'd like to hear what happened to you in as much detail as possible."

How was this man so damn nice? Any other Alpha who requested such a thing from me would receive the well-versed response of 'fuck off,' but Ryder was so calm and...pleasant. I couldn't bring myself to be rude to him. There was just something about him that radiated this sense of peace. Looking back into his bright, sea-green eyes made all of my worries disappear.

"Sure," I finally spoke up. "Elijah and I were having a dinner together, out in the gazebo, when the roof was set on fire. It was during that chaos that I was kidnapped from Polar Moon. I awoke sometime later in a dungeon, feeling that I'd been drugged. I had no energy or power, and my ability to mind-link with Elijah was gone. I later discovered I was in Dark Root as Archibald came down to taunt me."

Ryder nodded as he scribbled something down in his notebook, "Please, continue."

I took a deep breath, "Archibald informed me that he wanted his son, Alpha Dean, to take me as his mate due to my healing abilities, which are apparently pretty damn powerful."

Elijah gently nudged me, probably suggesting that I should watch my language during this time.

"When Dean found out, he was furious with Archibald and promised to get me back to Elijah the next day, but when I woke that morning, Dean had changed his mind and decided to go along with Archibald's plan. He was going to force me to be his mate and the Luna of his pack," I finally finished explaining.

I felt Elijah tense next to me. He hadn't heard the full story of what happened to me before now, and he wasn't happy. A low growl escaped him, and the anger from both him and his wolf fought for control. I had only ever seen Elijah look so angry and lethal a small handful of times, but I had a feeling this instance would be the worst of all.

"He is the one who deserves the punishments!" Elijah roared from his seat, gripping the edge of the table with such strength that I feared he'd break a chunk off.

"Elijah, look at me," Alpha Ryder commanded, his voice remaining calm.

Elijah growled again, but obeyed. His eyes had darkened during his fit of anger, but as soon as they met Ryder's they melted back to gold. The two Alphas stared at each other for moment, both expressions serious, but composed. I stared back and forth between the two of them as I fought the urge to let my jaw drop.