The Luna’s Second Chance Mate

Kaden’s POV

I could not sleep. I was tossing around my bed restlessly, thoughts filling my head. How could I when I had no idea of the whereabouts of my son? My only son. I was going mad with worry, different scenarios of the condition he was in flashing through my head. I hated how powerless I felt in this situation. I had tried to follow his scent, but his kidnapper had taken care of that somehow and made it impossible. My best bet now was to find that bastard’s hideout, but that too was proving difficult. I knew Stefan Tokenmoon had done it on purpose. He had intentionally made it difficult for me to find his hideout so that by the time I was close, he would take us by surprise and attack.

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I would make sure he died a painful death by my hand. The thought filled me with so much hate and anger that I could not bear the thought of just lying down doing nothing. So I stood from my bed and made my way to the balcony. Everything that had happened in the past week was terrible. How did I get to this point? How was I somehow back to my old resentful self? Everything was falling apart and everyone I loved was getting hurt in the process.

A twinge of guilt hit me in the chest at the thought of Larissa and the things I had said to her a few hours ago and I shut my eyes regretfully. Why did I have to go to that extent? Why did I blame her for Declan’s kidnap and the return of her ex husband? How could she have known? I remembered how angry and disgusted she was when she saw him, so I knew how hurtful it must have been to hear me blame her for that.

I buried my head in my hands and heaved a sigh of regret. Stefan had it out for me from the very beginning, before he even knew who I was or my connection to Larissa. She was innocent in all of this, and I knew I had hurt her.

I walked back into my room and made my way down the hall to hers. I knew she might not want to see me, but I had to apologize. I knocked softly at the door. “Larissa, can I come in?” It was still dark outside so I tried to keep my voice low.

There was no response from her.

“Larissa?” I tried again. “I know I overstepped today, and I’m sorry. I should never have blamed you. I let anger get the better of me and I hurt you in the process. Please, forgive me. Let’s talk.”

I waited. And waited. But still no response from her. I pushed at the door and frowned when it fell open. The room was empty, and the bed was made. “Larissa?” I called out. I immediately had a sinking feeling that something was wrong. Desperate to believe otherwise, I checked through the bathroom and the other corners of the chambers. She was nowhere to be found.

“Larissa!” I didn’t care if my voice was loud. “Guards!” I called out, also mindlinking my men. As they all arrived I rushed forward. “I can’t find Larissa in her room. I want the mansion searched from top to bottom until she’s found. Now!”

They all dispersed and I raced up the stairs and rushed to the places I knew she loved in the mansion. The playroom, the library, the study, the courtyard. As I ran, yelling out her name, a dreadful sense of deja vu enveloped me, reminding me of the search for Declan. But I shoved the thought away, refusing to believe that anything had happened to my Larissa.

By the time I reached the front of the mansion, my men were there too.

“We couldn’t find her, Alpha. She’s gone.”

“What the hell do you mean she’s gone?!” I roared. “Search the mansion again! If she’s not there, go beyond the grounds. Do not come back here without her!”

I rushed back to her chambers to check for anything I might have missed, my chest aching. My wolf was writhing in pain at the loss of our mate and I held myself off from breaking down. “Issa!” I called out again, but was met with an empty room. I walked into her closet to inspect and only then did I realize that a pair of her shoes were out of their place; the black boots I had gotten her for our hiking holiday. A sudden thought came to my mind and I rushed to her wardrobe and pulled it open. As I feared, one of her coats was missing too, its hangar dangling in the empty space.

No. Larissa couldn’t possibly have…

I refused to believe it. But the signs were clear. She hadn’t been kidnapped. She had left on her own accord. I slumped to the bed, pain filling up my chest. She had gone to Stefan. She had gone to give herself up in exchange for Declan. I had made her feel so guilty that she thought it was her fault. I shut my eyes tightly, gripping my hair in frustration.

“Fuck!” I stood from the bed and began to pace. I had lost the most important people in my life in the space of a few hours. My heart felt like it was about to shatter and I desperately wished I could go back in time. “I’m so sorry,” I whispered into the empty room. My wolf was stricken with pain and fear.

They were in the hands of a ruthless man. What if I never got to see Larissa again? Our last conversation would have been an argument where I blamed her for something she had no fault in. And Declan.. all alone in the middle of nowhere. What if I never got to hug him again? What if I never got to see him, or hear him call my name…

A painful cry escaped me and I fell to my knees, my chest aching. I couldn’t just let them go. I had to find them. I needed to find them. I could not go on living without them. Suddenly filled with determination, I pulled myself off the ground and staggered to the door. As I pushed it open, my eyes met the last person I expected to see.

“Amaya?” I growled, filling with rage at the sight of her. “What the fuck are you doing here?”

Hunter, who was holding her hands behind her back, bowed to me. “We found her outside the premises. It seems like she was making her way inside so I brought her to you.”

I was shaking with fury. I pulled her forward roughly, ignoring the fearful look in her eyes. “I said, what the hell are you doing here? You had something to do with this, didn’t you? Where is Larissa? And where is Declan? You were the last person to see my son, and you disappeared as soon as he did. What the hell did you do to him?! Answer me right now or I swear I will make you regret it!!”

She yelped, trembling under my glare. “I-I.. this was never part of the plan, I swear it. Declan was never a part of this. He was supposed to release my son as soon as he got Larissa back. T-thats what Stefan told me. H-He promised that Declan wasn’t a part of this.”

I wanted to strangle her on the spot. “So you were working with Stefan. Why?!”

“I…I met him outside the premises here once. We got to talking a-and he came up with a plan that would help each of us get what we wanted. He wanted his ex wife and I wanted my son…and the ten million–”

“You put your son in danger for ten million?!” I could no longer hold back the disgust I felt for her. As I stared at her fearful tearstained face, I wondered what I had ever seen in her. “You kidnapped your own son and handed him to a dangerous man for some money? How could you do something like that?”

She wiped her face. “He promised to keep to his word.”

“And you believed him? You’re not a fucking child, Amaya! He wants to destroy me. What do you think he would do to my son?”

She was silent, as though she just realized that. “I’m sorry. It was never my intention to hurt anyone. Stefan and I had a deal…but now he doesn’t want to release Declan even though he has Larissa now.”

My heart jumped. “You saw Larissa?”

She nodded shakily. “She came to Stefan herself.”

The guilt pricked at my chest again. I had to get them out of there. I faced Amaya again. “Where are they?”

“They were at the pack mansion when I met him, but that’s not where he’s holding Declan. There is somewhere else, another hideout. That is probably where he will take her.”

“Give me the location. Now.”

She continued to sob as she described the hideout and the address. As soon as she was done, I showed her roughly away from me and motioned to my men. “Let’s go.”

“Kaden! I’m sorry,” Amaya called out to me as I walked away.

I glared at her right before I walked past her. “You are a disgusting woman. A sorry excuse for a mother, and a cold hearted monster. If you weren’t Declan’s birth mother, I would have strangled you with my bare hands.” I shoved her away and led my men to the council room, leaving her sobbing in the middle of the hall.

“What do you propose, Alpha?” Hunter asked as we all gathered at the round table. A map of our destination was splayed on the table.

I examined it carefully and tried to pull myself out of the disoriented mood I was in. I needed to get my head in the game. “It is 4:30am. Larissa probably arrived at his mansion around 2. Naturally, Stefan would assume I would not notice her absence till daylight. So my best guess is that he plans to attack at dawn. At dawn we should be drowsy from having just awakened, and unprepared for attack. That would be their best bet.”

Everyone nodded.

I continued. “And that is why we will beat them at their own game by attacking them in their sleep. If we prepare now, we should be there in thirty minutes tops. That will give us the advantage.”

The men nodded in agreement.

I looked through the map again and faced them once again. “So…here’s what we’re going to do…”