Conrad POV
I spent the rest of the day in the room after that meeting. I didn’t want to face anyone. I could hear the bustle of cars leaving one after another. Food was brought up for me, but I barely ate anything. Just drank my whiskey to get me to
sleep.
Every time I closed my eyes, I lost my moonlight again. I tried to scent her pillow, but every trace of her in the room was gone. That bitch had made sure that her scent covered everything that was hers as if marking her territory.
I burned everything. The only thing that held sentimental value was the moon pendant I now wore. Everything else could be replaced.
I know a night has passed, but I have no idea what time it is. I ignore the sound when I hear a knock on the door.
“I’m coming in, son. Don’t give a crap if you’re decent or not“.
I snarl when Arthur walks in. “What do you want, old man?“.
He looked at the mess of me in the bed, and I could see the pity in his eyes. “You need to get up, son. We need to go
train“.
“Get fucked. I’ve already lost everything“.
“Oh, so you think Lewana is already dead, or is your Luna Queen going to save herself from the enemy while you go wait in the kitchen baking cookies for her return?“.
I growl at him and flash him my Alpha eyes. The bastard laughs at me.
“Your bark is worse than your bite, kiddo. Unless you want to prove me wrong in the training ring“.
“I am the Alpha King. I am undefeated in combat….“.
“Except for me, two days. By me“.
I launch myself across the room, claws out and swinging. The jackass dodges every swing and kicks my legs from
underneath me, sending me to the ground.
“You need to direct your anger properly. You’re not thinking things through“.
I turn round and attack him again. This time, he clocks me straight in the jaw and finishes with a spin kick to the ribs.
“Say we were to find her location tomorrow. You want to wait here for us to bring her back?“.
I roared at him. “NO. SHE MINE. MINE TO PROTECT“.
“Then train with me at the gym“.
The gym is empty when I arrive with Arthur. He has clearly set it up that way. We trained me for two grueling hours. Boxing, weights, running, circuit training. I struggled through all of it. Thought I was going to give up most of the time, but he kept telling me to do it for her, so I did.
1/2
At the end, I collapsed in the ring, and he just sat next to me.
I have to ask him. “Why are you helping me?“.
“Same reason you fought so hard just then. For my Jellybean. I don’t know what’s happened to her, but I know she is strong. I know she has survived worse. I know she will keep fighting until she gets out or we go get her“.
I don’t know why, but the weight on my shoulder feels lighter when Arthur is around. “How do you know how to deal with
this?“.
“Because I have been there before. I noticed the signs in you a while ago. Quick to anger. Your controlling habits. The main giveaway was your drinking. Anytime you’re stressed, you have a glass. Your bond with Lewana balanced that out as you listened to her. Now she is not here, you don’t know how to cope, so you need to learn to deal with it and focus on the job at hand“.
“When did you go through this?“.
“I lost my mate, my unborn child, my Luna, and rejected my Alpha in the same month, remember. Lewana’s mother helped me a lot. She was also grieving her mate and child. I was much more of a mess, and at one point, she wouldn’t let me see Lewana anymore. That’s when I knew I had to change. It all went to hell again when Blake took her. I could feel she was happy for about the first year. That’s when the abuse started. As she was my Alpha and we had a bond, I could feel all her pain, the fear whenever she heard Blake’s footsteps at night. The terror when more Alphas arrived at the pack. My first attempt at saving her was to barge my way in without strategy or thinking. I was taken down immediately, had 30 lashes, got a massive infection, and was locked in the dungeon with minimal food and water for three months. I was too weak when I got out to do anything else. I tried but failed each time“.
I get what he was saying. If I fail to get her back the first time. I might not get another shot.
“How do I focus? How do I focus on something other than the whispers I hear of her suffering because of me?“.
“Mentally fight back. You can’t just be physically strong. You have to be mentally strong as well. You need to focus. Have a
task in mind and keep going until it is done. Have a smaller task to get there“.
He pats me on the back and goes to leave. Once I’m alone again, I lie on the floor and think. I try to focus on the bond with Moonlight, and I can tell it hasn’t snapped. She is alive somewhere.
“Failure“.
I sit up as I hear the whisper. I’m not sure if that came from my head or somewhere in the gym. I can see no one around me, so I know it must be in my head. I really am going crazy.
I need to try to focus. I decide to go to my study and work out a plan. I need to do something. I need to get her back.
“Disaster“.
I have to ignore it. I have to focus. I have to get her back to make this stop.
