30

~Arian Storm~

I didn't get back home until around noon. I didn't sleep all night and just spent searching the southern border and surrounding area for my mate.

But no success.

And with this realization I had to return, for better or for worse. I was exhausted, but I couldn't sleep knowing she was out there somewhere anyway.

I'll have to keep looking for her...

Was it even right to take a break from searching? Or should I turn back? Any minute I can't find her, something could have happened to her. If something hasn't already happened to her...

My heart has never been so restless. Not even after I had rejected her freshly.

As troubled and worried as I was now? I would love to just slump and let out my frustration. But I could not. I have to be strong. It's bad enough that I caused the whole thing myself.

Naked as the moon goddess created us, I walked the corridors of the packhouse until I finally arrived in the alpha chamber. The first thing I did there was gray sweatpants and a black T-shirt. Then I made my way to my office.

I need to prepare a search squadron. I want every free wolf I have to be looking for their Luna!

"Arian!" Sebastian grabbed my arm. I didn't even notice until just now that he was coming towards me. "Did you have any success?"

Angry and frustrated, I growled loudly and gave him a death glare.

"Do I look like I found her?" I snapped, my nerves breaking. My hopes of finding her alive were sinking by the minute.

"No..." he said softly.

"I want you to send a search squad into the forest. They should turn every stone, no matter how small, after her. The main thing is that she is found. Got it?" I yelled my next command.

„Klar, Alpha."

"Oh, and Sebastian?" I wanted to go on, but I still remembered this little fact from last night.

"Watch out for old hunter traps! I found a dead stray cat yesterday that fell into a pit and Lou got caught in a net yesterday. These traps are scattered near the borders by the looks of it. I suppose it's leftovers from the war."

At least the pit looked almost caved in and the network wasn't the newest either.

With that, I continued towards the office.

I almost reached the massive wooden door of my office when someone stopped me again. But this time it wasn't my beta.

„Hey, Alpha Arian!"

I turned to the voice only to look into those stormy gray eyes I was so familiar with and loved so much.

Only this time those eyes didn't belong to my mate. Instead, her brother Lucian stood in front of me. I almost forgot the other Alphas are still here. Certainly the first ones have already left, but at that moment I didn't give a damn.

"What?!" I didn't mean to be rude, I just didn't have the nerve to talk again right now.

Lucian looked around and then back at me questioningly.

"Do you know where my sister is? I've been looking for her all morning, but somehow I can't find her."

I growled again. Bad enough that I couldn't get her out of my head, now he had to rub it in my face as well.

"No, he doesn't know, because he rejected her last night!" Next to Lucian, the door that led to the lounge opened and Anna appeared, staring at me with a hostile look.

"YOU HAVE WHAT?" Lucian's gaze was now coldly directed at me.

I only growled louder, even baring my fangs in warning.

"He banished her! Just sent him into the woods alone and now he has no idea where she is himself, does he, Arian?"

She should shut up if she didn't want to end up like that.

"I'll straighten that out again. I was out of my mind," I growled, an excuse that sounded very dangerous. You could hear me telling them to stop now.

"ARE YOU STRAIGHTENING THIS AGAIN?" ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! SHE'S MY SISTER YOU IDIOT!" Lucian yelled at me. His alpha red eyes, which he already had, popped out he was so angry.

Before I could react, he was standing in front of me and the next moment his fist landed in my face.

My nose cracked suspiciously. But before the pain could really set in, the next fist hit me. Again and again. I didn't mind. I deserve all these beatings. I don't deserve his sister. No wonder she doesn't love me.

Eventually, when I could barely feel my face, I reached out and stopped Lucian's fist, which was about to hit me again.

I glared at him, eyes red from all the puffiness on my face. As a warning that this was enough, I growled again.

"I swear, if anything happens to her because of you, I'll be your worst nightmare!" he warned. "And I'll stay with the pack, even against your will, until she shows up again. And after that..." He leaned closer to my stooped face. "After that, I'll take her home."

With that he turned and all I could do was growl again in frustration.

Maybe it was better that way... If we find her, if we find her...

~Lou Wilson~

Like every morning, I woke up exhausted in Luan's bed. Sleeping lately just wasn't restful anymore. How could I if I was only plagued by nightmares?

I was just awful. So terrible that sometimes Luan wanted to bring me back to Arian. But I fought it tooth and nail.

He doesn't want me and I don't want him either. At some point this will definitely stop, I hope...

Still, I got up and dressed enough to look reasonably decent and had breakfast. I was just sick, but I forced myself to eat.

For once, Luan wasn't there today, which didn't bother me, after all I found my way around very well in his modest little house, which is nothing unusual when you've been living here for more than a month.

Stepping out of the hut after eating, I stretched briefly before stripping off my clothes and transforming. Not long after, my white wolf sped through the woods on the north side of the pack. I knew the way to the hospital pretty well by now. Luckily for me, it was also on the north side, so I didn't have to make a detour around the center of the pack's territory, where Arian often hangs out.

In the best mood possible for my situation, I entered the small pack hospital and greeted the other sisters after transforming and changing into clothes that were deposited in the sisters' changing rooms.

"Hi Luna," a little curvier sister said to me.

“How many times, Lou is enough. I'm not your Luna as long as..." I didn't say my words out loud. She knew what I meant. Almost all of the staff knew that. Luckily there weren't many people coming and going here. It was mostly only pregnant women Women, or mothers with their puppies, who got injured while fighting with other puppies. Rarely were warriors looking for me. And when they did, the other nurses quickly hid me in the unclean room. This room where to part cleaning the urine containers covered my smell well enough not to make the warriors suspicious, so things have been going well so far.

"Hi Lou, nice to see you." I turned to identify the voice and recognized Linus poking his head through a treatment room door.

He cleared his throat and then turned his head to all the other nurses who were lounging around me. "I need some sisters here. My patient who came in for the checkup just went into labor."

I quickly made my way into the room with a few others. I had never witnessed a birth before so it was all the more exciting to be able to watch a live one.

"Natascha, please bring some towels." Linus called to the dark blonde-haired nurse next to me, who nodded and left the room again. "And you Lou?"

"Yes?"

"Come and hold the patient's hand. I just notified your husband. But as long as he's not there, she needs someone by her side."

"Oke," I said and carefully took the dark-haired woman's hand in mine.

She suddenly cried out and grimaced in pain.

"This is my third puppy already," she told me, almost breathless during the break in labour.

"Oh, that's nice." I patted her hand reassuringly, but the next moment she squeezed my hand so that it immediately went away.

"Right there Maggie.", Linus now talked to her. "I can already see the little head."

"How? So fast?" I asked in surprise. Didn't giving birth take much longer?

"The more puppies you have, the quicker it goes, sweetie," gasped the patient.

"O-oka-"

"I'm here, darling," I was interrupted and shoved aside. It wasn't great, but now I was uselessly standing on the edge and just watching the scene. I hope I wasn't in anyone's way.

A tall and broadly built man was now standing where I was a few minutes ago. He held Maggie's hand and rested his forehead on hers. It was cute how much support he gave her. This man was clearly her mate because he felt her pain and it showed clearly in his sympathetic features.

I was just so focused on the two that I only now noticed how the room was filled with babies' cries. The mother had an overjoyed expression on her face and her husband looked at the baby like it was the most beautiful thing in the world.

Unconsciously, my hand went to my abdomen and I stroked it a little. How did that feel? It was a real miracle that I was able to witness, so that I just stared at the family for a long time.

"Are you alright, Lou?" Linus appeared in front of my face and took my face between his hands. Luckily he had already taken off his gloves, otherwise my face would have been covered with blood by now.

"Yes, why?" I looked confused into his eyes, but they looked at me sternly and worried.

"Secure? You're very pale..."

He was interrupted by the man's voice. "Wait Lou? are you Lou? Shit, I gotta tell the alpha he's looking for you!"

Oh shit. Wait is he looking for me?

I couldn't think about all this for long because suddenly my stomach contents came up and I ran to the nearest toilet, which was adjacent to the patient's room. I threw up there.

"Lou! That's enough. I will examine you now. It's the third day in a row that you've thrown up." Linus came into the bathroom behind me, holding my hair back.

I didn't reply, instead I threw up again.

Why did I feel so bad all of a sudden?

I completely forgot that the man just wanted to let Arian know, until another nurse came hurrying into the bathroom behind us. "Dr. Malcolm, we have to get Lou out of here. Matt has notified the alpha that Lou is here."

Shit!