~~

Ella

~~

Yesterday was the wedding for the Alpha and the Luna. It was a good day. The ceremony was beautiful and I loved seeing the dresses that I made as everyone moved down the aisle. They all looked lovely but I just couldn't get into the whole celebration. I opted to skip the reception and so did mom.

We learned the next day though, that some strange people came to the wedding claiming to be from the fabled Sentinelle. They told everyone at the wedding that our Luna, Trinity, was the new Goddess Incarnate.

I believed it though, she was amazing and it just made sense to me and everyone else. Trinity was a great Luna to us, and now she was going to be the Luna to all of the shifters in the world.

I was just shutting the door to the shop at a little after six. It was early but I was not feeling up to working later. As I pulled my key from the lock my phone rang. The caller ID said that it was Trinity, the Luna. I wonder what she wanted.

"Hi Trinity, what's up?" I tried to put as much energy into my voice as I could.

"Hey Ella, I hope this isn't a bad time?" Trinity sounded like she was excited. I wished I could be that excited.

"I'm just closing up the shop for the day. Mom didn't seem up to working too late today. It's been hard on her lately. On all of us really." I heard the sorrow in my voice, the sadness was so hard to hold in.

"That's why I'm calling really."

"It is? You have news? Is he alright? Is he going to be ok? Please tell me he isn't-." I couldn't stop the questions from coming out.

"Calm down Ella. Slow down and take a breath."

"You're right." I sighed and resigned myself to listening to what she had to say.

"Feeling a little more calm?" Trinity asked me.

"A little, but I really miss him, Trinity. I wish it was me that was taken and not him." I did my best not to cry.

Just then I heard a voice growl from within the nearby shadows..

"Then I can make that happen." A man's voice spoke then, it felt sticky and disgusting when I heard it.

"Who are you?" I asked the man.

"A message." Another gravelly voice answered me.

"Leave me alone, I don't have time for this." I sneered at him, annoyed.

"We can't get to your Luna, but we can get to you." A third disgusting voice laughed at me. That's when I felt fear for the first time.

"Ella!" I heard Trinity call for me just as one of the men moved forward and grabbed my left arm so hard that it hurt.

"Stop, let go of me." I screamed at him.

"What kind of message should we make out of her?" One of the men said.

"ELLA!" I heard Trinity scream from the phone that was no longer by my ear.

"Sorry, she can't come to the phone anymore." The first man laughed into my phone that he was holding now. "Want to give her a message?" Trinity must have said something then because the man laughed and spoke again. "Ohhoho, really. Fine go ahead little Miss." He spoke so condescendingly.

There was a moment of silence from the three men like they were just waiting for something.

"I'm waiting, or are you too scared to answer?" That mocking voice spoke again, then he must have gotten a response from Trinity again. "Calm enough? How about you give me that message now." Another pause, this was starting to scare me even more. "Such fierce words for a woman." The man laughed. "What makes you think you can threaten me?" Another message from Trinity. "The Luna you say? Well, we were just looking for you. You know, your friend here is only in trouble because you refuse to come out and play with us."

What was he saying? They were after me because Trinity was guarded too much. What did they want with her? Why go after me?

"Don't make me laugh you stupid bitch. There's nothing a weak piece of half breed trash like you could ever do to me." The man spat the words in anger after he heard what Trinity had to say. "Let's make the bitch sing so her Luna can hear the song we're making with her." The man that held the phone spoke to the others.

With a sneering look the other two men loomed over me. The man on my left grabbed my hair and yanked hard just as the man on my right struck out with his fist hitting me hard in the stomach. I couldn't help it, I screamed.

"Didn't you like her singing voice? It's got potential." The man growled sickeningly. "Again." With that the man hit me again while the other man grabbed me by the jaw so forcefully that I knew it was going to bruise. They hit me repeatedly around my head, chest, and stomach. I felt a searing pain as one of them slashed my arm with their claws. They were clearly wolves, but I couldn't smell their scent.

"HELP ME! PLEASE! SOMEONE HELP ME!"

"Nah, this is getting fun." I screamed again and was sobbing as the man spoke to Trinity on the phone.

Over the sound of my sobbing I could hear someone's feet pounding against the ground. There was someone else coming here, was he going to hurt me too.

"Shit, someone's coming." One of the other men said.

"Leave her, the message has been received by the target loud and clear. Isn't that right Luna?" The man with my phone growled.

"Freeze! Put your hands above your head." A strong, masculine voice shouted in the distance, you could tell he was running but he didn't sound out of breath at all.

"Bye for now Luna." The man with my phone growled as he dropped my phone and the three of them ran off.

The man who had been running sounded like a cop. I could hear that he was almost to my side now but I had collapsed on the ground when the men had let me go.

"Are you alright, Miss?" The man's voice was filled with tender concern and worry. But what I noticed the most, even though I couldn't see him, was his scent. He smelled amazing and made my wolf howl, I couldn't think of that though, I was in too much pain right now. "You guys go after them." He said as he had knelt by my side. The other sets of steps continued running on.

"ELLA!" I heard Trinity's voice yelling from my phone where it was laying on the ground.

"Hello, who is this?" The man picked up the phone and spoke after hearing the screaming voice.

~~

Devon

~~

I had been on patrol again, though I was not alone this time. I had a group of uniforms with me. I hadn't found any of the kids over the last month of doing these patrols but I had stopped a lot of other crimes in the process.

I was walking the streets near a row of clothing stores. It was a relatively nice area but this was still the city and there were still bad people everywhere. All of a sudden I heard a woman screaming in the distance.

"HELP ME! PLEASE! SOMEONE HELP ME!" She sounded scared and like she was in a severe amount of pain.

"Come on, let's go." I signaled to the uniformed officers that were there with me. They started following me but I was still well ahead of them.

Whoever was there must have heard the pounding of my footsteps.

"Shit, someone's coming." A man said.

"Leave her, the message has been received by the target loud and clear. Isn't that right Luna?" Another man growled.

"Freeze! Put your hands above your head." I screamed at them, warning them to stay put.

"Bye for now Luna." One of the men seemed to be talking to someone. Just after he spoke I heard something fall and hit the ground.

When I got close enough to the scene I saw a woman laying on the ground. She was covered in bruises and blood from the beating she had clearly received.

"Are you alright, Miss?" I called out to her and could tell that she heard me. "You guys go after them." I yelled at the others to follow the woman's attackers.

"ELLA!" There was someone screaming from the phone that had been dropped onto the ground.

"Hello, who is this?" I asked the screaming woman after I picked up the phone.

"Who are you?" She seemed shocked to hear my voice.

"I am Detective Scott from the CSPD. Again, who are you?"

"I'm Ella's friend. Is she alright?" The woman was scared and sounded worried.

"It looks like she will be." I could hear the sirens of the approaching ambulance and other officers, someone must have radioed in for backup.

"My husband called the police when I heard the men attacking her. He is also a friend of hers and on his way." The woman sounded marginally calmer now.

"Really? And just who is your husband?" I didn't like the sound of what she was saying.

"Reece Gray." Shit!

"Reece Gray? The Reece Gray? As in the billionaire Reece Gray?" That was just my luck.

"Yes. Ella is a family friend and he is on his way to offer his help."

"Just perfect. Well, I guess you'll know how things are with her soon enough."

"Trinity." The woman, apparently Ella, was yelling at the woman on the phone.

"Take care of her, please." The woman begged me.

"Already planned on it." I hung the phone up then and decided to focus on the woman on the ground.

When I turned to look at the woman I felt like something inside of me just clicked into place. It felt like I was seeing the most beautiful woman in the world, even with her being beaten and bruised. She had sweet light latte brown eyes that gave her an innocent look and soft looking light brown hair. She was a little on the shorter side and had a great figure. I felt like I had just looked at someone I've known for my whole life but hadn't seen in a long time.

"Ella." I whispered her name and pulled her into my arms. That too felt like it was something that I had done many times before even though I knew that this woman was not someone I had ever met before.

Why was my body telling me that I was already in love with this woman? It wasn't just my body either, it was also my heart. I just felt like I was instantly in love with her. Did love at first sight really exist?

Just then I heard a man shout for the woman I was holding in my arms.

"Ella?"

"Reece?" Ella yelled back at him.

"What happened? What did they do to you?" He sounded so worried when he asked her that question and for some reason it made me jealous.

"Mr. Gray I assume?" I snarled at the man.

"Yes, I am Reece Gray. And you are?"

"Detective Devon Scott, CSPD." I glared at him, the wannabe mafia boss.

"Thank you for your help, Detective." He tried to act all saintly or whatever.

"It wasn't for you, Mister Gray." I couldn't help the sneer that was in my voice.

"Did I offend you Detective Scott?" He seemed to be losing his patience now.

"You walk around this city like you own it. You even act like you can run the police department." I snapped at him as I looked at Detective Masterson, who seemed to be in Gray's pocket.

"I don't try to run the police department. I do, however, try to help people. And in case you didn't notice, Detective, I do own about sixty percent of this city." Was he rubbing that in my face.

"See, that's the attitude I am talking about."

"Enough! Ella is the one who matters right now, so stop your damn pissing contest." A man standing at Gray's side snapped at the two of us. He was right though, Ella needed help right now.

After his outburst, I watched as the man knelt next to Ella, checking on her.

"Are you alright?" His voice was soothing as he reached toward her.

"I will be." Ella told him.

"An ambulance is on its way." I told them, the anger gone from my voice.

"We can get her there sooner." Another man offered.

"No, she needs an ambulance."

"I will be alright, Detective Scott." Ella smiled at me and I swear I saw my instant love for her already being reciprocated.

"No, Ella, you need to be taken care of." I pleaded with her.

"Fine, when the ambulance gets here I will ride with you Ella." Gray offered and my jealousy flared so high that I wanted to growl.

"Like hell you will." I yelled at him.

"Will you two stop arguing?" That man snapped at us again. "Ask Ella what she wants and stop trying to decide people's lives for them."

"Thank you Vincent." Ella smiled at him but it looked like the gesture hurt her, it was like it was painful to move her face.

I felt embarrassed, we were arguing like children while she was laying there on the ground in pain.

"What do you want to do, Ella?" I asked her.

"Since the two of you are arguing, perhaps it would be best if Vincent rode with me. I think he will be the most level headed." It was understandable for her to choose him, honestly. She didn't know me at all.

"Of course, I will be happy to ride along with you." Vincent told her. "How about I wrap those wounds up while we wait." He smiled amiably, making her feel at ease. I looked at the man named Vincent, trying to figure out his angle here.

"Relax, he's very happily married with three children. And he's definitely not the type to cheat on his wife." Gray patted me on the shoulder with a smirk.

"What are you even talking about?" I asked him, shocked by his words.

"Yup, just try to keep that attitude up for a little longer." Gray laughed at me then as he stood up. "Ella, I will leave you to Vincent while Noah and I go and talk to the other officers. I want to know what happened here but I will let you rest first. Do you mind if I come see you tomorrow?"

"No Reece, that will be fine. Will Trinity be with you?" I could guess that a familiar face would help soothe her when she was feeling tense but that didn't mean that I had to like it. But why the hell was I so jealous right now?

"If you want her to be, then yes."

"Mmhmm, thank you." I saw the gratitude in her eyes then as Gray started to walk away.

The ambulance came soon and they loaded Ella into the back. She looked like she didn't want to go, perhaps she had an aversion to hospitals. I asked the driver what hospital they were taking her to so that I could go and see her tonight. I was technically off duty already anyway.