The Alpha novel Chapter 42

Ethan's POV

The elevators ding open as I reach the foyer to my penthouse. It's late and I'm exhausted after such a long day. I walk in and turn on the lights, startled when I notice Scarlet sitting on the sofa. She has her knees bent up in front of her with her hands resting on top. She seems lost in thought as she stares out the wall of windows. It's like she didn't even notice or care that she is no longer alone, no longer sitting in the dark.

I'm instantly worried. Clearly something is wrong. I toss my leather jacket over the back of a chair and walk slowly over to her. Cautiously, I sit down beside her. When she still doesn't acknowledge my presence, I reach up and gently sweep her hair behind her ear. Her eyes suddenly focus on me and I can tell she has been crying. Her eyes are red and puffy and dried tear tracks mark her cheeks. I cup her cheeks as her lip quivers as she looks at me. "Babe? What's wrong? Are you hurt?" I question worriedly. She bites her lip and shakes her head before taking a shaky breath.

"I have something I need to tell you..." she begins and I can tell she is nervous. This of course, causes my anxiety to spike as well.

"Okay... what is it?"

"You know how you told me about your mother?... And how she... died?" she replies softly, carefully. My lips press together. I do know. In a moment of weakness, I had pretty much yelled it at her. It's not something I like to talk about, let alone think about. I manage to give her a curt nod, silently telling her to continue. "Well, I had asked Jo about it. Turns out she knew your mom."

My eyes widen imperceptibly. Jo must be older. What happened to my mom was about twenty years ago when the war was just starting to come to an end. St. Louis had been won and renamed Crescent City. Survivors were wandering into our borders regularly, ready to make this their new home. "Okay..." I say, not sure what she is getting at.

"Well, she said that your mother died when rogues had attacked the packless. She died saving a little girl..." Scarlet pauses for a moment as she inhales deeply before letting it out in a quivering breath. "She died saving me."

I stare at her for a moment. My brain seems to be struggling to comprehend what she is telling me. "What do you mean? How do you know this? Are you sure?" I ask as I begin firing question after question at her.

"Yes, Jo was there. I'm so sorry Ethan. I'm so sorry," she sobs as fresh tears begin to leak out of her eyes and down her rosy cheeks. She shakes her head and I instantly reach out for her, pulling her into an embrace. She sobs into my shoulder as I lightly run my fingers through her hair and down her back soothingly. My thoughts are swirling around in my head as I try to make sense of everything she just told me. It's like I'm in shock. My own mind seems to be indistinguishable. Luckily, comforting my beautiful mate seems to be calming my own nerves as well.

"Sshh shh," I murmur in her ear. "It's okay Scarlet." I can feel my own eyes watering and I take in a deep breath trying to calm myself. Everything that I thought to be true was a lie. I have no idea whether it was an intentional lie or not and I guess I may never know. But my mother died a noble death. My mother died being the kind of Luna that people love and respect. She saved a young girl, my beautiful mate. I miss my mother and I love her, but now that feeling has come back tenfold. She is the reason that my angel, my love is here today. She grew up to be just as kind and compassionate, just as brave. My mother would be pleased. I know that she would have loved Scarlet just like a daughter.

I raise Scarlet's face to look at me as her breathing begins to even out and her tears slow. I use the pads of my thumbs to wipe them away as I stare into her mesmerizing eyes. "I love you Scarlet. What happened to my mom was a tragedy but even knowing what would happen to her, I have no doubt that she would do it again. She would be proud of the woman you became. Proud that you were going to take up her mantle as Luna of the Crescent Moon Pack."

She sniffles and a small smile lights her face. "Really?"

"Really," I insist with a grin of my own. I kiss her forehead before she nuzzles into me. Holding her tightly, I enjoy the feel of her against me. She tilts her head before I feel her soft lips press gently against my cheek. She wraps her arms around me and embraces me tightly. It's as though she knows exactly what I need right now, my perfect mate in my arms.

*****

The next morning, I get up and have some breakfast before mind-linking Alex and Xander to meet me in my pack house office. They arrive shortly after me and I sit on the edge of my desk. "You guys should take a seat," I warn as I gesture to the two leather armchairs that are positioned in front of me. They give each other questioning looks before following my suggestion. "Last night, I got some new information that I think you both need to hear," I begin as they both look at me. I inhale deeply before I begin to tell them everything that Scarlet had told me. They sit there in silence, as different emotions flash over their features. Alex bows his head as silent tears fall down his cheeks. Xander leans back, his foot propped on his knee and a hand resting on his chin as his eyes hold unshed tears. He seems to be staring off into space, thinking.

"And you're sure?" Xander finally asks.

"Yes," I answer.

"So, the packless are innocent?" Alex then questions.

"Yes, which brings me to something else I wanted to talk to you both about. Scarlet suggested we allow the packless into our packs."

They both open their eyes wide with surprise before I continue. "I was thinking we could all visit the packless and talk to them. We can interview all of them and help place them in jobs in the city. I know of several of our businesses that are hiring and according to Scarlet there are a lot of skilled packless members. We could house them and the ones that don't want to live in our pack houses can rent apartments if they want. We can evenly divide them among our three packs based on skills and needs."

They stare at me and at first, I think they believe I have gone crazy. Finally, Alex speaks. "I think that's a good idea. Sound like they were wrongly banned anyway."

"And we could definitely use more help now. We're being spread pretty thin now that we are preparing for an attack from the Silver Shadow Pack," Xander adds.

I feel the hairs on the back of my neck stand up as a shiver seems to run through my spine. My brows furrow, wondering what caused such a reaction. Surely it wasn't just the mention of our impending war with the Silver Shadow Pack. I shake those thoughts away and turn back to my brothers. "Okay, so I want you each to select a few of your guards and a few of the HR managers from some of our hiring businesses. They can go with Scarlet tomorrow morning when she goes to help serve breakfast at the shelter. Everyone will be there for their meal so that way we can make the announcement and the people can take their turns to come and talk to us," I begin as we start to make plans. I want to get everything organized as quickly as possible so that we can start getting everyone trained and in place. The packless are also not well protected where they are currently. I plan on building the wall around their area as well, but they are still right on the edge which means they would be the first ones attacked if anyone were to break through the barriers.

We spend a few hours in our meeting as we also discuss different aspects of our various businesses. The moon is now shining overhead and the sky is an inky blue. "One last thing before you guys go. I was thinking about having a ceremony to introduce Scarlet as the official Luna of the Crescent Moon Pack. I thought it best to try to do it as soon as possible to help with morale and so that everyone knows who she is and can help protect her when the Silver Shadow Pack shows up."

"That's a good idea. Do you need any help with the planning?" Alex offers.

"Alex, can I have you work up a budget plan for the event and book a venue? Xander, I want you to talk to Persephone and see if she can come up with a menu. I would like for her to cater," I reply to which they both nod. "Okay, then that's—"

"Alpha!" a panicked voice sounds in my head that I quickly recognize as one of Scarlet's guards for this evening. Nerves creep up my back and I instantly have a bad feeling, my gut twisting inside of me and my breath hitching in my throat. "There's a problem! You need to come to The Scourge immediately!"

"What's wrong? Is Scarlet okay?" I instantly ask as my heart begins hammering in my chest.

"She's missing sir. Scarlet is missing."