Alpha King’s Lost Luna by Aubrey Pepper

Chapter 9 Attack

CA SSANDRA

When I entered my son’s room, I half-expected him to be awake, but he was

fast asleep.

He had his arms wrapped around his favorite teddy bear, Teddy, and for a moment, I didn’t want to wake him up. He seemed so peaceful, and I was about to put him through so much stress.

But not as much as I would be if we went to Anemond.

So, I leaned down and gently touched his arm.

“Finnick,” I whispered, and when he didn’t rouse, I said his name again. After a moment, his nose crinkled and his eyes blinked open.

“Mommy?” he said, and he yawned lightly.

“Sorry to wake you, baby,” I said, and I gave him my most apologetic smile. “We have to go.”

“Go?” he repeated back in a confused voice. “Go where?”

“I’ll tell you on the way there,” I explained. “For now, we just need to get ready,

okay?”

Finnick nodded, though his gray eyes were concerned. I pulled the covers aside and helped him down. We walked over to the closet, and we got him dressed.

After I zipped up his jacket, I picked out a couple of fresh sets of clothes and packed them in a small backpack.

“Put this on,” I instructed him.

“Can Teddy come?” he asked hopefully, and he glanced over at the stuffed bear he’d left on the bed. I studied the toy carefully. We were running low on room, but Teddy was his favorite toy. I couldn’t ask him to leave it behind when I was already asking so much of him.

“But we have to put him

We carefully put Teddy in his bag, and once he was secure it was

after we were fully dressed, I did a quick scan of the house. It seemed like I had remembered everything we needed. I glanced at the clock.

arms and

and I wrapped my jacket around him to conceal him

further.

out of the house and into the night.

street was completely empty, with only the streetlights out to light our way. I glanced around and made sure we were alone. Luckily, everyone else seemed to be asleep. I held

fear.

Finnick let out a

Mommy?” he asked, and his

so sorry we have to go there, I know you

to go?” he pressed. I considered

right before,” I decided. “The man we saw today. He’s very bad and

total lie. Asher Collins wasn’t

had done to

I know he didn’t want to hear. “Are you

Let’s leave. I’ll protect

in my arms. “Not before

held my son closer to my

he fell silent. It was for the best. Finnick would have been fine on foot, but there was a short interval just before midnight when there would be no guards around. This window was our only hope

away.

pace and

after, we made it there, and to my delight, there were no guards. around. I let out a sigh

way in, I set Finnick down and reached into my pack. I’d brought a flashlight, a compass, and a knife with me. Retrieved them all, and

enough to get us through. We needed to avoid the forbidden section of the forest, so I had to find us a shortcut

to keep my wits about me and keep us from making too many sounds or running into any predators.. Luckily for us, my father had

were wet. I felt pangs of guilt go. through me. Putting Finnick in this much danger wasn’t fair, but I had no other choice. I couldn’t let the nightmares of Anemond come back to me,

our walk

continued on for an hour