"What do you fucking mean?!" Jaxon was the first one to react. It was obvious – kinda - how he was her mate and he made the mistake of leaving her alone when he clearly had an idea that it was dangerous for a Luna to be wandering out all alone outside the werewolf territory, especially how she was in a completely heartbroken and painful state.

"Exactly what you heard, Jaxon," was my reply. I was still whispering, still wondering where Liana could have disappeared off so suddenly, "I still can't understand how you could be so fucking irresponsible, Alpha Prime. You are supposed to be the one who protects her, her own mate, and still you were stupid enough to let her step out of the Kingdom alone. You really don't even deserve her dirty toenails." My voice was a monotone.

"You always know how to lighten the mood, don't you Moon?" Sarcasm dripped from his weak voice heavily, but I pretended to ignore it.

"Exactly what I wanted to say!" I murmured again, "You must be really happy, aren't you? Good riddance, after all, now you can fuck as many women as you want to, without yearning for your mate."

That earned me a large growl as Jaxon lunged at me, "You fucking bitch!"

"Stop, both of you!" Adrian's voice boomed as he grabbed my arm and pulled me behind him. "We need to find Liana right now, and you both are fighting like children," he turned to me, "Where do you think Liana could be right now?"

"Her motorcycle is like her baby. If she wanted to mislead us into thinking that she's still in there, she would still take it away with her, which means that she actually is inside, and from what I know, there are three people who desperately wanted both of us across the MoonLine. You, Jaxon and..." I paused for a moment, peeking up at Adrian to gauge his reaction.

Adrian urged, "And who, Moon?" But realisation dawned on him before I could say anything, "The third one is Lazarus, isn't it?"

I could only nod up at him, hearing Jaxon mutter curses and banging down a tree.

"Fucking shit!" Jaxon cursed once again, just a bit louder this time. "I wouldn't have let her leave at all if I had known this could happen!"

"Jaxon." Adrian's voice was deep, and even in such a time of panic and desperation, I could feel my insides clench in arousal at how husky and dangerous his voice sounded.

"We need to find her before it is too late, Adrian." Jaxon said; his voice grim with fierce determination as his eyes darkened the way they had when I had met him the first time. "I'm not going to lose her now, when things are supposed to get okay soon."

And that was the cue for all the pure werewolves to shift, some small, and some unbelievably large. Adrian was right next to me, and he looked directly at me, his eyes burning into mine.

"Go into the Were Kingdom. The guards will keep you safe."

Celeste answered through the mind-link, and with her voice I could understand how close Celeste and I were into becoming one, our thoughts resonating on a completely different level. "I am not a wuss to go and hide in your palace while my best friend is in danger. I am coming with you, no matter what you say!" She firmly told him.

"Celeste," Adrian warned, "Don't be impulsive: you don't need to put yourself in unnecessary danger. We already have Liana to save; I don't want you to get yourself caught too." I could feel small pangs of concern through the mate bond.

"You don't need to worry." I rolled my eyes, while the voice inside my mind scoffed, "I won't be a burden and I will handle myself well. I'll be fine on my own, you can go ahead and do whatever stuff you want to, but I'm going to help you save Liana."

Adrian's snout lowered and I heard him sigh, "We will bring her back, trust me. We will bring her right back to you."

"Isn't that the problem?" I snapped, "I don't trust you, neither of you."

And with that, I rushed past all the wolves.

Jaxon was leading our little pack of two high ranking Alphas, eminent trackers, trained guards and an undercover wolf-pureblood hybrid. Adrian kept glancing at me, as if waiting for me to chicken out, but even he knew that I was not leaving and hiding like a coward. My best friend needed me, and I trusted the two idiots way too less to keep waiting for them to bring Liana back home.

When I had asked them where exactly we were heading, Jaxon answered that he was going to let the mate bond guide him towards her. It had been half an hour already, and with the speed with which we were sprinting, we could have crossed the entire continent a few minutes ago.

Liana didn't seem to get any closer, and I wondered if it would be too late before we reached her.

The panic in me didn't go unnoticed by my dear mate, and he started running closer to me, his occasional glances getting more and more frequent. I didn't push or move away, I more than needed some comfort when my best friend was out there, facing Goddess knows what.

"Do you want me to carry you? You look tired." Adrian's voice infiltrated my thoughts. I looked towards him and shook my head a little, even though I knew he was right. Celeste was strong, but she was still weak without her other half: my Pureblood, Cynthia.

He gave a slight nod and we kept running, for a few minutes or so. That was when I started to feel pain and dread curl up in the pit of my stomach, along with the anxiety of coming closer to a point.

"What is it, Jaxon?" Adrian asked, and that was when I realised that it was Jaxon whose emotions were becoming more and more palpable with time.

"She's in pain, Adrian," Jaxon's voice was hoarse, and I could only imagine what he was going through. Even though our emotions differed in their intensity on the elemental level, I could understand what he was feeling. I had just got a best friend, I just couldn't lose her, now. "I can feel her; she's somewhere towards the north and in mind-numbing pain. I hope we're not late, Adrian, or I would never be able to forgive myself."

I gasped slightly, but knew it was high time I started becoming slightly amiable to Jaxon just for the sake of my best friend. So I did what a Luna could do her best, I tried my best to comfort everyone, even the guards and trackers who seemed to be slightly anxious. Jaxon and Adrian both turned to give grateful nods, to which I smiled back politely.

It was time to finally go rescue my best friend.

Up till then, we were running miles in the span of a minute, but now, we started to move stealthily and slowly, and as Jaxon's pained features grew deeper despite all the comfort I could provide, I knew we were close. Jaxon and his trackers sniffed around to find traces of her scent while Adrian and I stayed at guard, watching for movement anywhere around us.

It troubled me how Jaxon just stopped sometimes and let out a few harsh breaths. His dull face was now pale, rugged and dirty... And he was fucking crying.

My heart melted for one little moment, but another part of my brain thought he deserved all the pain he brought to Liana. Alright, I was completely content with him being in pain, and I would've loved to see him suffer...

...but not at the expense of my best friend's life.

I would've let him suffer, too, but I knew he was the only way we could reach Liana as soon as possible.

I sighed.

Jaxon and the trackers seemed like they had found a hidden trail, and soon we were all following them. I could feel it – how just one trail lifted everyone's spirits in hopes of finding their Luna. I momentarily wondered why Lazarus didn't think of abducting me. It would've actually been easier for him to do that: I was all alone in the human world after all, and I was no trained warrior.

But then, maybe Lazarus was smart like that. He knew which one of us was actually worth putting up the efforts. I mean, after all, Adrian and Jaxon, both wouldn't bother much about me at the moment. Even though that date went well, it didn't mean that he really needed to care as long as he had Delia. It all felt good, but I couldn't let myself get swayed by his sweet words.

Liana, on other hand—

"All of you. Go ahead," Adrian growled; his wolf-eyes glaring at me as if he wanted me to burn into flames right there and then. "Your Luna Queen needs a break."

What?! I never said that! Looking at Adrian, it seemed like even he knew that I didn't need a break.

The guards and the trackers nodded, while Jaxon and Adrian shared a look.

Did I do or say something wrong?

All the wolves disappeared deeper into the forest one after the other as they followed Jaxon, leaving Adrian's big, bad wolf alone with my small, helpless human form.

I shifted on my feet, uncomfortably. The last time I was alone with his wolf, I was nearly choked to death.

Adrian's eyes were storming hellfire now.

"Are you self deprecating just like that or is it just that you are having shitty thoughts just to annoy me? I thought everything was fine after the date. You know the situation, Moon!" He cocked his head to a side, his words no less than a growl in my mind.

"You can read my thoughts?" I squeaked out in panic.

"Yes." He spat, "I can hear every single thought. You didn't have your mind link closed and I am your mate."

My brows furrowed, "Shouldn't this stuff be possible after marking and all?"

"Doesn't mean that I can't get an idea of what you're thinking about. Why can't you, for once, believe that Jaxon and I do care for you and want to protect you with all we have? Do you even know how it makes me, your mate, feel?"

I took in a deep breath, "I'm just stressed, insecure and am being unreasonable. Let's go ahead and continue the search."

"The purpose of the date was to put an end to any kind of insecurity, Moon. I had told you I'd be checking up on you regularly, too. I thought we were fine; we are, aren't we?" he asked, taking a step close to me.

I took a step back, "You could have done it out of a sense of duty; we don't want the Weres to start revolting again, do we?" I shrugged, nonchalantly, but I knew it was of no use. Adrian knew that I was close to tears. "And you really think that regular visits are enough for me to feel cared for? While Delia gets all of you, all your touches and all your affections," I was choking up now, "All I get is regular visits? And what kind of regular visits? To the lingerie store just to tease me? To my workplace to see if my resignation is in order? To my house – and that too because you didn't want to check up on me but on Liana?" I shook my head furiously, "You would have never come to even check up on me today. You came just because Jaxon sent you to check up on her."

"It isn't—"

I stopped him, "I'm not stupid, Adrian. All the things that you claim to do for me are actually the things you do for yourself and all the people you do care about. Do you even know how it makes me, your mate, feel?" I mocked him, even though I was on the verge of sobbing, hysterically.

What was wrong with me? Why did I feel like I was being irrational?

There was a slight pause in the air.

"Why Moon, why? Why are you always jumping to silly conclusions? Don't you see how I feel for you?" His voice was just a husky whisper, and his eyes and emotions were full of inexplicable pain and sincerity.

"Because I really don't see what you feel for me – other than a stupid, nosy mate bond to which we both are helpless, or some misguided sense of responsibility." My voice was hoarse.

"Moon?" He was unbearably close to me, now. "Why don't you understand how much I want to be with you, all around you, all over you, all the time? My actions as well as my words that day - everything can testify what I feel for you. "

"But why should I even understand?" I sobbed, finding myself leaning against a tree with Adrian's huge form trapping me to it. "I understand, but it doesn't mean that I have to be rational, reasonable and understanding. I do understand that it was hard for you to keep waiting for decades and centuries. At this point, I even think that you could've done what Jaxon did: fucked around to let off steam. You know what? This is not the time to talk about this stuff. We need to find Lia na and you can stay here as long as you want to make the trees understand how much you feel for them. My mind is in hysterics anyways, I'm sure I'll be rational once we find Liana."

I wiped my tears away furiously.

"You are not going anywhere." He blocked my way.

"What?"

"I will personally guide you back to the Kingdom. You can stay at Liana's house if you want to, or in the palace." He stated.

"Are you serious?!" I hissed, "My best friend is out there in danger—"

"And so will you be if you take one step ahead into the forest. I wasn't lying when I said that I do care for you and want you safe."

"But Jaxon needs you," I tried to make an excuse, "Are you leaving him alone when he needs you the most?"

"Jaxon is more than capable of doing it all alone, baby. And I will be back with him in no time." He sounded as if he was assuring me.

"I am coming with you." I declared.

"No need to be stubborn and make it difficult for me right now, Moon. I need you out of danger and this is definitely not the way— Celeste! Where are you running off to! ?"

I heard a growl close behind me, but I kept sprinting with all my might where Jaxon's scent led me to. I was not stupid to stay there and keep arguing with my beloved mate.

"Stop right there, Moon!" He growled again, "Once I get my hands on you I will..."

I ignored him and kept running as I felt closer and closer to Jaxon.

And that was when I felt an intense pain crackle through my body like fireworks, burning my insides into flames till I fell on the ground and curled up in pain. It hurt so bad, that I couldn't even scream out how much it hurt. The incessant and agonising pain seemed to start to numb all my senses, so much that I couldn't even feel Adrian until he was covering me with his form.

"Moon? Moon! What the fuck is wrong with you?!" His voice barely reached my ears, but it managed to numb the pain inside me slightly. The moment he leaned down to nudge my neck with his snout, I felt I could breathe.

And just to stop the pain, I clung on to him as if he was my lifeline.

"Adrian..." I breathed, "It hurt so fucking much!"

"What happened to you all of a sudden?" His snout nudged me, "Weren't you running just fine? Let me check for injuries."

The moment he started to pull away, I hugged him closer and protested, "No! Don't stop touching me. The pain will come back."

His snout scrunched up in confusion, "Are you injured somewhere?"

"I don't think so." I said in a small voice. "But I feel like it doesn't belong to me. I think the pain...it's Liana's."

He could trace the panic in my voice.

No wonder Jaxon was close to crying; he knew the state Liana was in. And knowing how Liana seemed to feel at the moment, I feared that we were already too late. I could feel the urgency and the pain in the connection Liana and I shared, and I forced Adrian to hurry up.

"But this isn't the way Jaxon took. His scent points to another direction." Adrian asked when he stood up as I clung to his back.

I winced when I felt the pain intensifying a little, but gritted out, "I can feel that she's close this way. Maybe Jaxon had something else in mind and he took the other way."

Adrian sighed and nodded. He then took off as I synced my mind with his to save from the torture of telling him the way. The pain grew more and more as we reached the denser part of the forest, and I tried my best not to let my pain mingle with my syncing thoughts.

In just a few moments, just as we seemed to reach a clearing in the middle of the forest, the pain stopped.

And it could mean two things: either we were really, really late, or Jaxon had reached in time. I desperately hoped for the latter.

Sensing this, Adrian sped up and we were now facing an entire clan of gorgeous looking humans with unbelievably long and sharp fangs – thirst of blood flashing in their eyes. Some of them even smirked at me, and I remembered them from the first time Lazarus had tried to abduct Liana and Me.

We were surrounded from all sides by vampires, some buff with longer canines and looking paler than the rest. "This was the reason Jaxon didn't take this path." I heard Adrian's voice in my mind, "He knew that all these foolish beings would be waiting for us to appear from this direction, leaving only a few of them to guard another side. Listen carefully, you're going to jump – I know you can do it – all across these vampire minions and go to Jaxon, where he probably needs you more, you being the Luna Queen. I'll handle these mosquitoes. Be careful."

I nodded against his fur and involuntarily reached out to kiss the spot behind his ear. Once I was done, I sat straighter and threw a smirk to all of them, standing carefully on Adrian's back and then throwing myself in the air, thanking my grandma for letting me learn gymnastics all those years ago. With my wolf, I was able to jump higher and farther than I thought, successfully crossing the stupid clan that had surrounded Adrian. After glancing at him once, I turned away to run towards the direction, sensing a few vampires hot at my heels. Just as I was about to take them down, a few of the guards we had brought along killed them. I shot them a grateful glance and one of them joined me to lead me towards Jaxon and Liana.

The closer we got, the more anxious I felt. I wanted to reach her as soon as possible, and at the same time I didn't want to see how badly hurt she was. I went ahead and froze in my tracks when Jaxon appeared with Liana in his arms.

"They left her to die all alone, Moon." Jaxon yelled, tears streaming down his face steadily as he held a naked Liana in her arms. "She doesn't seem to have a single, unbroken bone left," he said and my eyes watered when I finally mustered the courage to see her. She was unconscious, her face pale, dirty and bloody. Her body looked like she wouldn't be able to stand straight even if she wanted to, and she had numerous amounts of cuts and bruises all over her.

A sob escaped me.

"You are going to take Liana to the Were Kingdom with the trackers. Adrian needs me and I need to break every bone and snap every neck of those bloodsuckers."

I slapped him - hard enough to hurt him without making him fly across the forest.

"Adrian can manage with himself and the guards but Liana needs her mate to heal as soon as possible! You can break bones later! We need to take her back instantly and you have to maintain physical contact as much as you can." I had figured out that Jaxon needed to be near Liana as much as possible, their mate bond acting as a wonderful healer and painkiller.

Jaxon understood what I was trying to say, too, after all the slap he had just received brought his brain back to its rightful place.

Two guards flanked our heels as Jaxon nodded and handed Liana to me for a moment to shift into a wolf. In my haze, I hadn't realised that Jaxon had shifted back into his human form and had been standing buck naked in front of me all this time.

Excruciating pain hit me with a force the moment Liana was in my arms. I was right: Jaxon was Liana's painkiller.