His Reluctant Luna

Lucian

Scanning the faces of the rogues before me, I noticed that they all looked scruffy and dirty. Most were looking at me in shock. They had never encountered real werewolves before.

I nodded at Damon. The betas secured everyone with the handcuff specially made for wolves.

Emerging from the dilapidated house, I noticed Zaiden and Kyle dragging two other rogues between them. After dumping both on the ground, they looked up and waved at me.

"What's this?" I asked the two.

"We saw them coming in right after you guys went inside," Zaiden said.

"They were bringing in another human girl," Kyle said in disgust. "She looked barely out of her teens."

"Where is she?"

"She's over there," Zaiden pointed at a tree about five yards away. A sprawled form lay unmoving on the grass at the base of a tree. "She's unconscious but doesn't look hurt. Her breathing and vitals are good. Of course, for a clear assessment, we should take her to a doctor."

"Great job, the girl hasn't seen anything, right?"

"I don't think so. She is not bitten or assaulted. Just knocked out."

"Take her to a human hospital. She can go back to her normal life." I said.

The two of them nodded quietly. The betas rounded up the rogues and let them past. All were handcuffed with silver to keep them from shifting.

I kept my eyes on the group as they were loaded into three unmarked, dark vans that would take them to the pack land. The minute any of the rogues tried to make a break for it, they would be taken down immediately, but I wanted them alive.

Damon walked up to me to give the reports.

"There are 18 rogues altogether..." pausing when he saw the rogues at his feet, "make that 20 including these two," he nudged the unconscious rogues with his boot.

"Six human girls are now being transported to the pack. Two looked critical. I'm unsure if they're even going to make it through the night." Damon's voice was tight with anger at the condition of the human females.

"What about the other four?" I asked.

"They are badly battered, but with care, will hopefully recover."

"There were only six females?" I asked, it didn't seem right.

"Six were alive, my Alpha.....rest all were......" Damon trailed off.

I nodded grimly.

"Anything about their boss?" I asked.

"No," Damon replied grimly. "I hope that the other teams had better luck. We will find out soon enough after I've talked to the other Alphas. This is fucked up." Damon sighed.

I threw him a frustrated glance but nodded my head in acknowledgement.

"It's crucial that we find the mastermind behind all this. He poses a tremendous threat to the community. The idiot doesn't care that he's in danger of exposing us to humans. The human cops are not stupid. They would eventually connect the dots, and soon they'd be outside our pack lands trying to pin all the kidnappings and deaths on us," I said.

"We need to do a thorough clean-up here. We cannot afford to leave any evidence for the cops to find out. I want that house razed to the ground and the dead set on fire."

Peter's brows drew up, "Wouldn't that draw attention? After all, a fire is set out here in a farmhouse known to be abandoned might get the authorities sniffing around."

"Sure, but by the time they come, it will all be ashes. There would be no evidence of us being here. I cannot afford to take any chances, and let them pin it on us." Turning back to Damon, I added, "Make it look like drifters set it on fire. Leave two betas behind to make sure everything worked as planned."

Damon nodded his head. "Sure, Alpha," he said gravely.noveldrama

"Alpha!" Everyone turned towards the approaching beta.

"There's something you need to see at the northern edge of the property."

"What is it?" I asked as we dashed to the place he indicated.

"We were looking around for more rogues..."

"And?" I asked with raised brows.

"There are roughly a dozen or so freshly dug graves over there. As soon as we verified what they were. We have not counted them all yet..."

'This day just keeps getting worse,' I thought.

Grim-faced, I followed the beta, where more unfortunate victims lay decaying in shallow graves.

**********

Alice

It was the wee hours of the morning when SUVs arrived with 6 battered women. Lucian was still in the rogue territory. I hadn't slept all night, either.

The betas who brought back both the women and the rogues wouldn't comment why Lucian and some enforcers had to stay behind.

The infirmary had been a hive of activity after the SUVS arrived, bringing in the wounded women and the rogues. Now, after the flurry of activities, the place was finally settling down.

I was horrified by the appalling condition of the women. They were filthy and stank of death.

It was obvious that they'd been kept in conditions worse than animals. All of them were hurt and sexually abused and kept naked by their captors.

I couldn't hold my tears when I saw the youngest one brought in. The girl could

not be older than sixteen, she was frail and pitiful. Her face was bruised and swollen. Both of her eyes were swelled shut.

She was unconscious, and the doctors feared that she might have sustained a severe brain injury, and she could slip into a coma.

Her ugly injuries contrasted with the pristine whiteness of the sheets covering her. She was not the only one in critical condition; two others were immediately taken to the operating room in a race to save their lives.

I sensed Lucian was back. After ensuring all women were being looked after, I left for home.

"All well at the infirmary? " Lucian asked as I quietly entered the study and watched him pour himself a whiskey.

"Yes. All the women are being seen and being monitored by the doctor and his staff. They did everything to make them comfortable and hopefully soothe some of the trauma they've experienced."

He nodded and swallowed a generous amount of his whiskey.

"Looks like you had a rough night," I said.

"The clean-up was brutal." He sighed and opened his arms. I instantly walked to

him and hugged him close. He held me tight.

"Was it bad?" I asked, nuzzling his chest.

"It was horrible," he rasped.

I lifted my head and saw the tired lines surrounding Lucian's eyes, as well as the grimness of his face. I lifted my hand and caressed his stumbled jawline.

With a tired smile, he captured my lips with his, and we kissed long and deep. His tongue parried and explored my mouth, while my fingers stroked his soft hair.

"I love you, Alice," He said tenderly after he broke the kiss.

"I love you too, "I smiled.

Whatever they did, it must have been awful. Even now, at nearly five in the morning, Lucian's aura was awash with negativity. He was restless.

"What happened Lucian?" I asked, pulling him towards a chaise.

"I want to avoid burdening you with the horror of it. It's better that you remain untouched by the bloodbath I saw tonight." He said, sinking deep into the cushion.

I placed my arm around him, trying to soothe his wolf.

"How about we go for a run, let off some steam, and once you are feeling better. Maybe tell me all about your horrible experience." I suggested.

His wolf needed me. I could sense that.

"Seems like an excellent plan." He responded, finishing his drink.

Soon we were running towards the riverbank in our wolf form. It had been a long time since we had let our wolves free. I cut the chase and let him capture me by the scruff of my neck and mount me in a quick display of passion. He entered me slowly and grasped the back of my neck.

My paws dug into the ground as he started to pump into me. I held my body in offering to him and accepted his knot gratefully.

It wasn't long before he exploded inside me. That sensation pushed me over my edge and I felt my body tighten around him. I felt sated as he howled in pleasure.

As we lay in the grass, I shifted back to a human form. A few moments later the fur receded from Lucian, and he wrapped his arms around me. I didn't pressure him to talk. He would tell me when he was ready.

"We found fifteen decomposing bodies buried in shallow graves. They were not all humans. Half of the numbers were in varying stages of shifting, and two of the bodies were kids barely out of puberty. The other raiding parties had encountered the same heinous thing-decomposing bodies buried in shallow graves." "God !" My voice broke. I couldn't imagine what those people went through before death finally released them.

"Fifteen in the place we raided. Including other locations, there's a total of thirty bodies found so far."

I covered my mouth in horror.

"I am sorry you had to go through this. What can I do to help?"

"You are already doing enough, Alice, just let me deal with it." He said softly.