Alpha's Hidden Precious Luna-Chapter 137

Lily POV

I paused for a minute, trying to school my expression. I didn’t want to worsen the situation than it was already.

I hesitated before I showed her the message. "He can’t make it here. Wants me to take a cab instead."

Celeste threw her hands up. “Unbelievable! He just expects you to—” She groaned. “You are too nice to him.”

I laughed. “Or maybe I just understand him.”

Celeste rolled her eyes so hard I thought they might get stuck in the back of her head. "Typical Kai. Always expecting everyone to accommodate his plans."

"He’s going through a lot right now," I said, defending him automatically.

"And you’re not?" She gave me one last exasperated look but she didn’t argue further. Instead, she stood up from the bed and helped me zip up my backpack. "Just... be careful, okay? Not just with whatever you might discover, but with your heart."

I pulled her into a hug, touched by her concern despite her prickly exterior. "I will. I promise."

Together, we headed downstairs. The afternoon sun was starting to dip lower in the sky, casting long shadows across the dormitory parking lot. Celeste helped me flag down a cab, and I loaded my backpack into the trunk.

"Call me when you get there, text me every hour or I’m sending the pack warriors after you." she demanded, giving me one last fierce hug. "And if my brother acts like an ass, you tell him he’ll have me to deal with."

I laughed. "I will."

As the cab pulled away from the curb, I watched Celeste’s figure grow smaller in the rear window until she disappeared around a bend. I settled back against the seat, pulling out my phone to review the list of places where Meredith, the old pack healer, might be found.

According to Grandpa Marcus, she’d left the pack shortly after Kai’s mate died, moving from place to place, never staying anywhere long. But they’d managed to narrow it down to three possible locations: a small cottage near the Whispering Pine Forest, a healer’s commune in the mountains to the north, or with her sister’s family in the coastal town of Harbor Bay.

I was so engrossed in my notes that I didn’t immediately notice when the cab veered off the main road. It was only when we hit a particularly rough patch that I looked up, startled to see dense trees on either side of a narrow dirt road.

"Excuse me," I called to the driver, a sense of unease crawling up my spine. "I think we’re going the wrong way. The eastern outskirts should be on the main highway."

"Sorry about that," the driver replied, his voice muffled by the face mask he wore. A baseball cap pulled low obscured most of his face. "Just taking a shortcut. To save you some time and money."

Something about his voice triggered a warning bell in my mind. It sounded... familiar, yet not. And why would a werewolf wear a face mask? Our kind didn’t get sick like humans did.

Plus, a shortcut? That didn’t make sense. I had taken this route a hundred times before.

The cab slowed, then came to a stop in a small clearing surrounded by trees. No other cars, no buildings, nothing but wilderness. My unease grew. My gaze flickered to the driver’s reflection in the rearview mirror again.

Something was wrong.

My heart began to pound. "Why are we stopping? This isn’t where I asked to go."

The driver didn’t respond, just turned slightly in his seat. Subtly I reached for my phone, fingers trembling as I tried to pull up Celeste’s number.

Before I could even type a single letter, the driver leaned back in one fluid motion. His arm shot back between the seats, snatching my phone from my grasp.

"Hey!" I lunged forward, anger momentarily overshadowing my fear. "Give that back! What do you think you’re doing?"

The driver chuckled, a low, unsettling sound that made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. Slowly, he removed the baseball cap, then pulled down the face mask.

I gasped, shrinking back against the seat as if I could somehow push myself through it and escape.

My breath lodged in my throat.

Blue eyes. A sharp, cruel smile. The blood in my veins turned ice-cold.

“Hello, little mate,” he murmured. “I’ve missed you.”

My stomach twisted violently, fear slamming into my chest.

No.

No, no, no.

I knew that voice.

I knew that face.

My fingers dug into the car door, my nails scraping against the plastic. “Let me out.”

His smile widened. “Oh, Lily,” he murmured. “You were always so stubborn.”

I shoved at the door handle, but the lock wouldn’t budge.

His golden eyes gleamed with amusement. “Trying to run already?”

My heart was pounding so hard I could hear it in my ears. “What do you want?”

He leaned closer, resting an arm on the passenger seat. “Isn’t it obvious?” His voice was silky smooth, but there was an edge beneath it—a threat lingering in every syllable. “I came back for you.”

Panic flared inside me. “You—” My breathing was shallow. “You’re lying.”

His gaze darkened. “Am I?”

I swallowed, my throat dry. “Kai will find me.”

He laughed softly. “Oh, Kai.” He said his name with such mockery that my blood boiled despite my fear. “You think he can save you?”

I lifted my chin, forcing myself to hold his gaze. “Yes.”

His smirk remained, but something flickered behind his eyes. “Well, then,” he murmured. “Let’s put that to the test.”

He reached into his pocket and pulled out something that glinted in the fading light—a syringe filled with blue liquid the exact color of his eyes.

"Now," he said, his voice almost gentle, "this won’t hurt. Much."

As he lunged toward me, I screamed and threw myself against the door, fumbling desperately for the handle. But it was locked, and he was too fast.

The last thing I saw before the darkness took me was his eyes glowing with triumph