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.

have to put him in your backpack, okay?”

put Teddy in his bag, and once he was secure

went downstairs, and after we were fully dressed, I did a quick scan of the house. It seemed like I had remembered everything we

my arms and held

baby,” I said, and I wrapped my

further.

him out of the house and

sure we were alone. Luckily, everyone else seemed to be asleep. I held Finnick tight and

fear.

there, Finnick let out

Mommy?” he asked, and

I said. “I’m so sorry we have to go there, I know you

we have to go?” he

I decided. “The man we saw today. He’s very bad and very dangerous. So we have to go somewhere to keep us

total lie. Asher Collins wasn’t a good

done to me.

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

Let’s

sweetheart,” I said quickly as he tried to wiggle in my arms.

held my son closer to

was for the best. Finnick would have been fine on foot, but there was a short

away.

pace and

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

down and reached into my pack. I’d brought a flashlight, a compass, and a knife with me. Retrieved them all, and after I put the knife in my pocket, I turned on the

needed to rely on the flashlight to see. I used 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

us from making too many sounds or running into any predators.. Luckily for us, my father had taught me how to use a knife when I was a girl, but I’d never had to use one

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

we began our walk through

too afraid to speak. We continued on for an hour in complete silence, carefully maneuvering through the sp ikey trees