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 in your backpack,

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

of the house. It seemed

my arms

on tight, baby,” I said, and I wrapped my jacket around him to conceal

further.

of the house and into the

glanced around and made sure we were alone. Luckily, everyone else

fear.

there, Finnick let out a soft sound of worry.

he asked, and his

go there, I know you don’t like it. But I need you to be brave,

we have to go?” he pressed.

were right before,” I decided. “The man we saw today. He’s very bad and very dangerous. So we have to

total lie. Asher Collins wasn’t a good

done to

reply, I asked him the question I know he didn’t want to hear.

said firmly. “I’m not afraid. Let’s

sweetheart,” I said quickly as he tried to wiggle in my arms. “Not before

to my chest, and

he fell silent. It was for the best. Finnick would have been fine on foot, but there was a short interval just

away.

quickened my pace and

after, we made it there, and to my delight, there were no guards.

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

the light to check the compass. I wasn’t an expert navigator, but I knew enough to get us through. We needed to avoid the forbidden section of the forest, so I had to find us a shortcut that would get us out of Wegalla, If I timed things. correctly, we could be on the other side of

Now that I couldn’t shift, I needed to keep my wits about me and keep us from making too many sounds or running into any predators.. Luckily for

of guilt go. through me. Putting Finnick in this much danger wasn’t fair, but I had no other

our walk through

were too afraid to speak. We continued on for