The Choice

Kieran

After Selena left, I had a bad feeling in my gut. I should’ve gone with her to visit Gwen, but she wouldn’t hurt Selena… would she? I go to her room and I feel through our bond that she got hurt somehow. I’m running at full speed and I realize the lights are out, and it has been ransacked… this isn’t good.

“Selena!? Gwen!?” I called out to them several more times and nothing… just silence.

“Everyone on full alert! Luna Selena is missing along with her sister, Gwen! I want search team captains in my office immediately!” I growl through my mindlink and I run to my office. Soon my dad, Connor, Conrad, Mia’s mate Ash and my friend Jake were in my office.

“What’s this about Selena being missing? You just got home!” Conrad asks me worriedly.

“I went to Gwen’s room where Selena had told me she was going to spend some time with Gwen before bed. Then I felt her getting hurt on the head. It was quick like she was knocked out. Gwen’s room has been ransacked. Whatever happened there, they’re gone now…” I could feel Duncan whimpering at the loss of his mate… we had just started living our life together… who would do this to us?

“Well, Gwen has a mate, that princely fellow.” Connor piped up which made me snap my head at him.

“Yeah… Damian… I just thought he was here to support Gwen. He wouldn’t do anything, would he?” More thinking out loud than talking to the group.

“What about her parents? We know she has a rocky relationship with them, and they’ve threatened to split you guys up before.” Dad piped up as well. I growl at the thought of them hurting her.

“It’s possible.” I try to calm down before Duncan just charges at her parents.

“What about that other king guy that came to see Selena?” Jake piped up. He was on guard duty that day when he came to visit. I growl at the thought of him. He was an arrogant prick, and I didn’t like how he made her feel.

“We can have one search party go to Oakcrown and the other Cedarcrown. Selena’s scent is a chai latte mixed with mine. So I guess a spiked chai latte. I want all available and willing members to meet me outside right now!” We all left my office and all the teams were already waiting outside. About 60 members were waiting for orders. Which for us is a good chunk of the pack. I left mom in charge for now until we came back.

“Tonight men… your luna was taken… and we’re not going to go down without a fight! I want half to go towards Oakcrown and the other half to go to Cedarcrown! Whichever way has Selena’s scent howl as loud as you can! We will bring her home! No one messes with us and gets away with it!” I howl and lead the way towards Cedarcrown.

“I’m coming, my sweet Lena… I’m coming…” I say through my mindlink hoping she’d hear me.

Selena

Ow… my head hurts… I rub my head wondering where the heck I am. I look around at my surroundings and I realize that I’m not at home. I start to panic and scream for somebody to help me.

“Hello!? Hello!? Can anybody hear me!?” I shout and I hear a heavy door open and close. I look around again and realize I’m in some tower.

“Ah, our guest has arrived.” I rub my eyes just to see if I’m seeing straight… it’s Damian…

“Damian?? What’s going on?! Where am I?” I asked him scared.

“Why you’re our guest of course. I was told to bring you here.” He gives me a creepy grin and I get that same bad feeling.

“This is how you treat your guests? Then you need more lessons in hospitality. Who tells someone to kidnap a luna!?”

“One that belongs here so I’m told! Come on… my parents want to see you.” He drags me by my arm and I wince but don’t let him get me down.

“Where’s Gwen!?” I ask him worriedly.

“She’s fine… she’s with my parents in the throne room.” He continues to drag me and I don’t let the pain in my arm hurt me. Once we get to where I presume is the throne room I see the King and Queen along with Gwen… the queen looked just like me. The same shade of red but with some salt and pepper in her hair… same amber eyes… is this what I’m going to look like when I’m older?

“Gwen! What’s going on!?” I tried to run to her but I was pulled back by Damian.

“I’m sorry Lena! I didn’t know it’d turn out like this!” She tells me through her tears.

“Like what Gwennie!?” I scream at her.

“I told you, you’d come back…” The king comes towards me with his hand under my chin forcing me to look at his creepy smirk on his face.

“Well, if you haven’t noticed I’m married and mated now! Last I checked kidnapping a luna is high treason maybe even the death penalty.

“That doesn’t matter… we will find a better mate and husband for you.” He looks down on me like he owns me.

“I don’t want another one and you don’t own me! I love Kieran Stoneshire! I’m happy to be his wife and luna! And all of you took that away from me before I could spend my first night in my own bed with my husband! And what have you done for me for the past 20yrs besides getting ignored and abused?! Is that the life you wanted for me!? If so, then you’re worse than the parents I ran away from! You know what… I’m tired… I’m tired of fighting every. single. day! I fight to wake up and go to bed! All I do is fight for everybody else, but when is somebody going to feel like I’m good enough to fight for!” I let that hang in the air for a moment as I think of Kieran. Is he looking for me? Does he know I’m missing?

“I’m coming, my sweet Lena… I’m coming…” I hear a message from him and it rejuvenates me! He’s coming for me!

“I’m tired of surviving and I want to live dammit! Do you think it’s just so easy to get over everything? To just let go of 20yrs of being ignored and abused!? You think I wouldn’t give anything to let go!?” I scream at them and I see their faces start to drop with sadness and guilt. “I want to be good enough for somebody too but all I’ve heard my whole damn life is that I’m not good enough! I won’t hold a title like my brother Jude or be as special as Gwen! Come to realize I’m not even their god damn daughter! I’m supposed to be yours and you didn’t want me!” I see the shock on Damian’s face as he looks at his parents… well I guess ours…

“I guess they didn’t tell you who I was…. yeah that’s right, you just kidnapped your damn sister! I should’ve had a relationship with everyone in this castle and kingdom, but because I wasn’t a boy I was given away!” The shock on the queen’s face was clear that she hadn’t heard this before. Damian’s face said another message… he looked down on the floor looking away from me… he knew… but wanted to hear it from me.

“Lucian… you told me you wanted her! That it didn’t matter that she was a girl! Yeah, we may have both agreed, but we wanted her to go to a nice family, not to be abused and neglected!” I can see the tears in her eyes making it loud and clear that she had no idea how bad it really was. I felt my chains being unlocked, and the queen ran up to me. “I’m so sorry Selena… I was wrong. You should’ve had a life of love and happiness… but I’m glad you have a mate who loves you.” I wipe her tears and I’m glad to feel what a mother’s love is supposed to look like.

“Seize her and put her back in the tower!” The king tells a guard nearby.

“NO!” The queen and Damian shouted, but it was too late. The guard had already taken me by my arm again just as Damian had and I headed back to my prison. Soon I’m back in my tower but this time with some blankets and a little food. Well, at least they thought of my comfort this time…

“I’m alright, Kieran… I’m locked in a tower… not sure if that helps but I want you to know I’m ok.” I sent a message to him hoping he got it… I nibble at the food that was left for me but I’m startled when I hear someone outside. A voice that sounded vaguely familiar but couldn’t make out. It sounded like he was chanting something, but I was too afraid to do anything. I put the plate of food down and just cried. I could’ve had a proper family that loved me… and yet it was taken away from me. I wrap the blanket around me and attempt some sleep.

Kieran

We finally made it to CedarCrown castle… I try to sniff out Selena’s scent, and it’s faint but there… so she had to be here. At the very least Gwen’s scent was fresh so we can go off of that. I look up at this magnificent castle in front of me. I can see why it’s called CedarCrown. It looks like it’s made of wood, but I highly doubt it is, otherwise it’d be a very bad castle. I counted five towers so at least it gives us a chance to find her. I doubt they’d keep her in some comfortable room so a tower was the next best guess.

“Keep an eye out, men! I can smell her faintly. So she’s around here somewhere!”

“What if they put a spell on her or something? Or what if she’s not even here?” I growl at Conrad for even suggesting that.

“I know she’s here, just have to find out where.” For a brief moment, I thought I felt Selena try to contact me but the connection was gone as quickly as I could recognize it. I call the rest of the teams to come here before they get to OakCrown one member says they’ll be with us soon. Luckily these two kingdoms weren’t too far from each other. I’m trying to focus but I hear something in the woods which makes me and Duncan perk up. I sniff the air to make sure it’s not one of us, but I growl… it’s not one of us. Crap, we’ve been uncovered!

“Be on your toes men, we may have been discovered! It’s probably palace guards!” I hear more growls coming from the woods which confirmed my suspicions. I howl to the others and soon there’s a battle. We were going toe to toe with the guards and it was harder than I thought. I thought they’d be too cocky to be decent, but they’re not so bad. I could hear the sticks, branches, and leaves crunching under us leaving some scratches on my arms and cheeks but I’m safe. I make it into the back part of the castle where I’m not going to get caught since everyone is too busy fighting outside.

“I made it inside! I’m going to find Selena!” I mindlink whoever could listen. I hear more footsteps and crouch in a defensive stance.

“Easy Kieran!” I hear him panting trying to calm down. “It’s just me, Conrad… you know your brother!” I get out of my defense and help him.

“You alright?” I help him from his crouched position to at least get him to stand up.

“A little scratch, nothing big. They like using their claws, don’t they?”

“Yeah, they do… I’m surprised it’s not Connor who didn’t find me. He’s usually not the fighter type.” It did make me worry that he’s not here.

“He wanted to give you time to find Selena. He sent me to help you.” Connor is more of a lover than a fighter so for him to keep fighting… I owe him. We started moving and figured it was safe to eliminate any of the actual rooms. So that just left the five towers. We hear footsteps and we try to hide somewhere but I feel a hand on my shoulder.

“Damnit… we’ve been caught…” I sigh in defeat as the guard smirks at us

“No fake Sherlock… maybe they’ll take us to Selena. I doubt it but it’s worth a shot.” We both put our hands up in defeat.

“Come on you two, the king would like to see you.” He smirks at us and I don’t think this is going to be a nice conversation. We get to the throne room and I can smell her scent… she was here recently. It’s driving both me and Duncan nuts.

“Ah, the famous Alpha Kieran… I’ve heard so much about you.” I already don’t like this guy… I growl at him but between the fighting outside and being away from Selena for so long I’m tired and weak.

“Watch who you’re growling at boy! I can kill you right here and now! You want my daughter-”

“Your daughter!? Some father you’ve been to her!” He slaps me across the face and I growl at him.

“Watch who you’re talking to boy… as I was saying you want my daughter, you think your bond is so strong… if you can find her you can take her home. If not by daybreak then you leave here empty-handed and forget about her!” I growl again. There’s no way he’s taking her away from me

“I can’t just forget about my wife and luna!” I get up in his face and he just has this creepy smirk on his face.

“That’s not my concern and frankly you’re nothing to me.” I’m wounded, tired as hell, and pissed off and now he has me go on some wild goose chase before dawn to find Selena!? He lets go of me and leaves the room.

“Dude this guy is dangerous!” Conrad is the toughest guy I know and it looks like he’s even mildly worried about this king.

“I don’t care! That is my wife and your luna!” I growl at him and he just submits to me.

“Alright… where do we start? This castle is so damn huge she could be anywhere or not even here!”

“Oh, she’s here alright. The way the guards ambushed us and the king is being so defensive about her. She’s definitely here.” I had to be confident if not for me but for Selena.

“Or He could’ve brought her here and sent her somewhere else that’s why her scent is faint.” I hate it when he’s mister doomsday.

“Well, aren’t you just relentless optimism… she’s here, I know it. Let’s start with the towers like we originally planned. There’s no way they’d keep her in a room the way he’s been.” I had to be confident, if not to calm my nerves but to have hope that I’ll find her. We searched the first couple of towers… nothing just a cold scent.

“Anyone still here and can make it back home, go… Get yourself some rest and get healed. I’m still looking for Selena.” I let them know it’s safe to go, but I know at least my family is going to stay behind and help me find her. I can feel her sadness and anger in our bond. I must be getting close. I look at my watch and realize I only have a few hours left until sunrise. They obviously did something to hide her scent so I can’t use that. I can’t mindlink her so that’s a dud… I punch a wall to let out some anger, but it doesn’t help that I want my Lena back! We make it through the other two towers and nothing. Finally, we made it to the last tower… figures they go for the classic fairytale. Keeping the princess in the highest room in the tallest tower… how original. I can see Conrad wanting to go full charge, but there’s a guard in front of her door.

“We can’t just full charge at this dude!” I hold him back before going after him.

“Why not!? This has to be where she is!”

“Because we have to do this smartly not just guns ablazing or fists ablazing in this case. We casually walk up to the guard and he glares at us wondering if we’re supposed to be here or not.

“Uuhh the king wanted to see you. Changing of the guard or something like that.” He glares at me again, but he actually buys it. He leaves and heads back towards the main part of the castle. Holy crap that worked?!

“Why guard an empty room?” I break the lock open with my claws and make my way in. Clearly, there’s been someone here. A blanket has been used at some point, empty food bowls, some water… she has to be here. I feel around the room trying to look for anything… some kind of switch or secret door that can take me to her. I feel around the room and when I get near the window, it’s like I could feel her shoulder.

“Selena!? Please be ok!” I look around for something to break whatever wall is around her. I found an unlit torch and figured that’d work. I use the weight of that to break whatever invisible force she’s in. With all my might I scream out in anger and worry and sure enough the invisible wall breaks and I can see and smell her again.

“Selena!” I hugged her with all my might “Come on let’s get out of here!” Before we could leave the room, the king shows up again.

“Well, well, well you found her… lucky you.” He looks disgusted at me.

“Yeah lucky me and I believe you said that if I found her before daybreak I could go home with her and you’d back off!” I growl at him. Selena cowers behind me and I protect her with my life.

“I see my spell has disappeared… very well I am a man of my word… you may go…” He begrudgingly tells us. He steps out of the doorway and we’re free. We made it! We make it out the back door the way I came and I see the rest of my family smiling at us as we come out. As we were about to leave, I heard something and growled.

“Lena! Lena! Please wait!” I hear Gwen and Damian and she’s the last person I want to see and I see that I’m not alone in that. Selena looks pissed too.

“What the hell do you want!?” I’ve never seen her so angry before so I step aside.

“I never meant for this to get this far… I’m so sorry!” I could see the tears in her eyes, but Selena didn’t buy it.

“Save your tears! You’re never coming to my pack lands again!” She gets up in her face and Gwen wipes away her tears. “You’re just as bad as they are! And you-” Sizing up Damian “You may be my ‘brother’ but what the hell was that!? Was that supposed to be some sibling bonding!? Absolutely not! I never want to see you two ever again! I trusted you Gwennie, and you broke it! It’s going to be a long time before I ever even think about talking to you again! I may be just a small pack luna but I know for a fact that I’ll be happier there than as a princess and I’ll take that any day! Come on Kieran, let’s go home!” She turns her back on Gwen and I’m just as shocked as they are. Where did all that come from!? I had never been more proud of her than at that moment. We walk home hand in hand in comfortable silence. I know Connor is chomping at the bit wanting to examine Selena make sure she’s physically ok, but right now I’m also the one chomping at the bit to finally welcome home my luna the way she deserves.