Lies Beneath the Moonlight Chapter 09
(Kane’s POV)
The package arrived that afternoon.
Kane was back at the pack healing house, sitting in a plastic chair next to Vivra’s bed. She was sleeping, her breathing soft and even, one hand resting on her belly. The healer had said she could go home tomorrow. Just scare. The pup was fine.
A nurse came in with a small box in her hands. “This came for you,” she said. “No return address.”)
Kane took the box. It was light. No bigger than his palm.
He opened it.
His heart stopped.
Inside was the moonstone. The one he had given Selene when they were seventeen. The one she had worn around her neck every single day. He would see it catching the light when she walked through the forest. He would feel it pressed between their chests when he held her at night. She had promised to wear it forever.
Inside the box was a note. One line, written in Mary’s shaky handwriting.
“She doesn’t need this anymore. – Mary”
Kane stared at the words. He read them again. Then again.
She doesn’t need this anymore.
What did that mean? Why would she give it back? Why now?
His hands shook. He set the box down on the bedside table and stood up. He walked out of the room. He walked down the hallway, past the nurse’s station, past the waiting room, out the front door of the healing house.
He stood in the parking lot, the cold wind biting his face, and called Mary.
The phone rang once. Twice. Three times. Then voicemail.
He called again. Voicemail.
Again. Voicemail.
He got in his car and drove to Selene’s house. He pounded on the door. No answer. He pounded again. And again.
Finally, the door opened. But it wasn’t Mary. It was a man. A wolf Kane didn’t recognize – middle-aged, broad- shouldered, with a tired face.
“Where is Selene?” Kane demanded.
The man looked at him for a long moment. “You’re Kane?”
“Yes. Where is she?”
“She’s gone. Her mother took her to a healing house in the North. Early this morning.”
“Which healing house?”
The man shook his head. “She didn’t say.”
Kane turned and ran back to his car. He called the Beta as he drove.
“I need the name of the healing house. The one where they treat silver poisoning. The one on the edge of the Northern territory.”
The Beta was silent for a long time. “Kane -”
“Tell me.”
A sigh. Then the Beta told him.
Six hours. Through the Dark Forest. Through the mountain pass. Through the frozen plains where the wind never stopped howling.
Kane drove.
He didn’t stop for gas. He didn’t stop for food. He didn’t stop to sleep. He just drove, one hand on the wheel, the other clutching the moonstone in his pocket.
The sun set. The moon rose. The road turned from pavement to gravel to frozen dirt.
At three in the morning, he reached the healing house.
It was a gray stone building at the edge of a frozen lake. No trees. No grass. Just ice and snow and a sky full of stars. The windows were dark except for a few on the third floor, where faint light glowed through thin curtains.
Kane ran inside.
The reception area was small and cold. A nurse sat behind a desk, reading a book.
“Selene Winter,” Kane said. His voice was raw. “Which room?”
The nurse looked at her computer. “We don’t have anyone by that name.”
“Please. I know she’s here. I drove six hours. Her name is Selene Winter. She was transferred from the pack territory this morning.”
The nurse shook her head. “I’m sorry, sir. She’s not in our system.”
Kane’s legs nearly gave out. He gripped the edge of the desk.
Then a voice came from the hallway.
“Kane?”
He turned.
Mary stood there. She was wearing a gray cardigan over a hospital gown. Her hair was white – completely white, not just gray. Her face was thin and hollow. She looked like she had aged twenty years in a single day.
In her hand, she held a plastic water cup.
“Auntie,” Kane said. His voice broke. “Please. I know everything. I know about the silver poisoning. I know about the fake cheating. I know it was all a lie. Please let me see her.”
Mary stared at him. Her eyes were red and swollen. Her lips trembled.
“How did you find out?” she whispered.
“The Beta told me. But I should have known sooner. I should have “His throat closed up. He couldn’t finish.
Mary looked at him for a long time. Then she nodded.
“Follow me,” she said.
