His Moonsilver Mate (Abby and Kade) novel Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Rade

The room beneath the packhouse had been built to keep secrets contained.

Thick stone walls blocked most sound and weakened the pack mind-link enough that no one outside could overhear us.

That morning, I was grateful for the privacy. I had barely slept. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw Abby in the sitting room. Her fingers twisted into my shirt. Her mouth beneath mine. Then Sloane standing in the doorway.

Knox had spent the night pacing.

You should have followed her.

Liam took her home.

You should have followed.

I had wanted to.

Instead, I had returned to dinner and sat beside the woman I had publicly named as my future Luna.

Sloane had barely spoken to me afterward. She maintained a polite smile until Tiernan’s delegation retired for the night, then left without waiting for an explanation.

I would deal with that later.

The rogues came first.

They had to.

Liam sat beside me, looking almost as tired as I felt. He had said little since we entered the room.

Across the table, Alpha Tiernan reviewed a document with his Beta, Cole. Finally, he closed the folder.

“The rogue we captured gave us more than I expected.”

Liam leaned forward. “You believe him?”

“Enough that I came here personally.”

The humor Tiernan had shown at dinner was gone.

“Start from the beginning,” I said.

Tiernan rested his forearms on the table.

“You’ve heard the reports from the other packs. Rogue attacks getting more organized. Groups that should have

nothing to do with each other suddenly moving the same way, using the same tactics.”

1

1:04 pm

I nodded. “We assumed 30meone was coordinating them.”

“You were right.” Tiernan’s expression hardened. “There’s a rogue out there who’s been gathering others under him for years. Small groups. Lone wolves. Anyone angry enough or desperate enough to follow him.”

“Who is he?” Liam asked.

“No one knows his real name.”

Cole leaned back in his chair. “The rogues call him their king. The packs started calling him the Rogue King.”

I frowned. “A rogue Alpha?”

“Something like that,” Tiernan said. “Except he doesn’t have a pack in the usual sense. No fixed territory anyone has found. His people scatter, regroup, cross borders, disappear again.

“And he’s behind the attacks?”

“The prisoner says he is.”

Liam’s expression darkened. “Why?”

“That’s what we needed to know.” Tiernan looked between us, “Our territories aren’t being hit at random.”

“We suspected that,” Liam said. “They test patrol routes, then withdraw.”

“They’re not trying to take territory.” Tiernan looked at me. “They’re searching.”

“For what?”

“A she-wolf.”

Silence settled over the room.

Liam frowned. “Who?”

“They don’t know who she is.” Tiernan paused. “Only that the Rogue King has apparently been searching for her

for years.”

“That makes no sense,” Liam said. “How do you search for someone for years if you don’t even know who she is?”

Something clicked into place.

“Girls have gone missing.”

Tiernan’s gaze sharpened.

“A few months ago, Rowan lost a young she-wolf after a rogue breach. They never found her.”

Tiernan exchanged a look with Cole.

1:04 pm

“Rowan isn’t the only one.”

Jam looked at him. “How many?”

“Only a few that we know of,” Tiernan said. “One girl here, another from North Creek months later. Some disappeared around rogue activity. Others simply vanished. There was never enough to suggest the cases were

connected.”

“And no one thought it was systematic,” I said.

Liam leaned closer to the table. “Why does the Rogue King want her?”

“That part is less clear.” Cole pushed a copied statement across the table. “Most of what they know comes from witches and old stories. The Rogue King believes this wolf is valuable enough to change the balance of power

between packs.”

“How?”

“The prisoner didn’t know.”

I looked down at the statement.

Fragments. Rumors. No name. No territory. No clear explanation of what this wolf could supposedly do.

“This could be superstition.”

“It could,” Tiernan said. “But men are being sent across pack borders because of it. Girls may already have disappeared because of it. That makes the belief dangerous whether the story is true or not.”

Liam’s expression darkened. “Then what are they searching for?”

Tiernan went quiet. Something in his expression tightened my chest.

“Young she-wolves. Recently shifted, if they can find them. White coats, pale gray, anything that could look silver.”

Something in Liam’s expression changed.

Tiernan’s voice dropped. “The prisoner said they’ve been told the real one will be different under moonlight. Her fur is supposed to shine silver.”

Liam stopped breathing.

I looked at him. “What?”

He pushed back from the table. “No.”

“Liam?”

He stared at Tiernan. “What do you mean by shine?”

1:04 pm

Tiernan shook his head. “That’s all the rogue knew. Silver under moonlight.”

Liam’s face had gone pale. “It’s Abby.”

The name struck like a fist.

Knox exploded forward.

What?

I stared at Liam. “What are you talking about?”

“Diana.” His voice had changed. “She’s pearl gray. But under the moon…” He swallowed. “Her coat turns silver-white.”

The room seemed to tilt.

“No.”.

“I saw her, Kade.”

I hadn’t.

The realization hit almost as hard as everything else. Abby had shifted for the first time while I was at the packhouse with Sloane. I had followed her scent afterward. Found my mate. Rejected her. And I had never even

seen her wolf.

“It could be a coincidence,” I said.

“Maybe,” Tiernan replied. “But if the Rogue King’s men see her, coincidence won’t matter.”

Knox slammed against my control.

Our mate.

I gripped the edge of the table. “Who knows what Diana looks like?”

“Me. Chloe. Noah. Cassandra. A few others who were there.”

“Anyone outside Moonhaven?”

“Not that I know of.”

Tiernan stood. “Then the important thing is keeping it that way.”

“She’s at the clinic,” Liam said.

My entire body tightened. “We tell her today.”

Liam nodded immediately.

1:04 pm

“And guards,” I said..

“She’ll hate that.”

“I don’t care.”

“I do.”

I looked at him. His expression hardened.

“We explain first. Then we decide with her how to keep her safe.”

Knox growled at the idea of giving anyone time to debate Abby’s safety.

But Liam was right about one thing.

If I tried to order Abby into protection after everything I had already done, she would fight me simply because it was me giving the order.

Tiernan gathered the papers. “She needs to understand what they’re looking for. Nothing more. We still don’t know whether the rest of the legend is even true.”

I reached for the door. “We’re done here.”

Before my hand reached the lock, three hard knocks struck the other side.

All four of us froze.

“Alpha Kade.” The guard’s voice came through the stone. “Emergency.”

I opened the door.

The warrior outside was breathing hard. “Western border attack,

Liam was beside me immediately. “How many?”

“Five injured. Two serious. They’re already on the way to the clinic.”

“When?”

“Less than half an hour ago.”

Tiernan stepped closer. “Did the rogues breach the patrol line?”

“Briefly. They pulled back when reinforcements arrived.”

My pulse hammered. “Anyone missing?”

“Not from the patrol.”

Not from the patrol.

1

1:05 pm

W

It should have reassured me.

It didn’t.

“Move.”

We left the lower level at a run.

The clinic was chaos.

Blood. Shouting. Pack member’s crowding the reception area while Daphne and the other healers moved between

the injured.

I searched for Abby. Not at reception. Not beside Daphne. Not in either treatment room I could see.