The Alpha King And His Chosen Luna novel Chapter 260

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She never stopped searching

Clint’s

She never stopped searching

(Isla)

I looked at Elara and waited for the answer. She had already given me my father’s name, something I hadn’t expected to learn so soon after arriving in Silvermere. Now I needed to know what had happened to him. I needed to know what had happened to my mother too.

Elara looked down at the record.

“I’ll start with your father.”

“Is he alive?”

“No.”

The answer hurt more than I expected. I had only known Darius Rowan’s name for a few minutes, yet some part of me had already wondered what it would be like to meet him. Vaela became quiet inside me. I kept my eyes on Elara.

“How did he die?”

“He remained in Silvermere after you disappeared.”

“For how long?”

“Many years.”

Elara opened the record in front of her. Darius had helped search for me after I vanished, even after Cael sent word that I was dead. He refused to accept the message without proof. No proof ever came.

“He kept looking?” I asked.

“For years.”

“Even after Cael told him I was dead?”

“Yes.”

I looked down at his name. Darius hadn’t forgotten me or chosen to leave me behind. He had searched until there was nowhere else he knew to look. I wished I could have known him.

“What happened to him?”

“He eventually returned to Silvermere.”

She never stopped searchany

“And he stayed here?”

“Until his death.”

“Did he ever believe I was dead?”

Elara considered the question before answering. “I don’t think he ever completely accepted it.” She touched the record with one finger. “According to the Keeper before me, Darius alway believed there was a chance you had survived.”

I closed my eyes for a moment. My father had died without ever learning that he had been right. I had been alive while he waited for an answer that never came. Ashcrest had taken more from me than I had understood.

‘He wanted us, Vaela said.

‘Yes.’

‘He looked for us.’

‘He did.’

I opened my eyes again.

“When did he die?”

“Long before you came to Wraithbone.”

“Did he have any other children?”

“No.”

That answer left me with another feeling I couldn’t name. Darius had known he had a daughter somewhere, even when everyone told him she was gone. I wondered what kind of father he would have been if I’d reached Silvermere as planned. That was something no record could answer.

I looked at Elara.

“And my mother?”

“Lyrienne’s story is different.”

“Is she alive?”

“Yes.”

I stared at her.

ClanD

She never stopped searching

For several seconds I couldn’t speak. Vaela reacted before I did, moving inside me with enough force that I felt her need for answers. Caius closed his hand around mine.

“You’re certain?” I asked.

“Yes.”

“How?”

“Because Lyrienne is a Celestial.”

I already knew Celestials could live far longer than ordinary wolves. Three hundred years didn’t mean the same thing for her that it would for most wolves. Still, hearing that my mother was alive made everything else disappear from my thoughts. Somewhere in the world, Lyrienne Vale was still living.

“Where is she?”

“That answer is more difficult.”

“You said you know where she went.”

“I do.”

I waited.

Elara opened another record.

“Lyrienne left Silvermere before word came that you were dead.”

“Because she was searching for me.”

“Yes.”

“Where did she search?”

“Every territory where anyone reported seeing a child who could have been you.”

My mother had been searching while I was being raised in Ashcrest. I tried to imagine how close she might have come without knowing it. Someone had hidden me well enough that even a Celestial couldn’t find me. That couldn’t have happened by accident.

“Did she ever search Ashcrest?”

“Not that we know.”

“Why?”

She never stopped searching

“Because every record connected to your disappearance pointed elsewhere.”

Caius looked at Elara.

“Someone sent her in the wrong direction.”

“Yes.”

“On purpose?”

“That is what we believe.”

I looked down at the documents. Whoever had taken me hadn’t simply placed me with Derek and Helene. They had made sure the wolves searching for me looked somewhere else. My mother could have spent years following information created to keep her away from me.

“Where did the false trail lead?”

“South at first.”

“And after that?”

“Across several territories.”

“How long did she follow it?”

“Years.”

I thought about my life in Ashcrest. I had grown up believing Derek and Helene were my parents. Somewhere beyond that pack, my real mother had been searching for the daughter she thought had been taken from her. Neither of us had known how close or far apart we

were.

“What happened when she stopped searching those territories?”

“She came back here.”

My eyes went to Elara.

“She returned to Silvermere?”

“Yes.”

“Was my father still alive?”

“He was.”

That hurt in a different way. For some time, my parents had both been here after losing me.

She never stopped searching

Cla

They had shared the same questions while I lived somewhere else under another family’s name. I wondered how many nights they’d talked about where I might be.

“Did they stay together?”

“Yes.”

“Until he died?”

“Yes.”

“And then she left again?”

Elara nodded.

I looked at Caius.

“Where did she go?”

Elara reached for the final record she’d removed from the box. She turned it toward me, revealing a map drawn across the parchment. One location had been circled near the far northern border. It was beyond Silvermere.

“She went farther north,” Elara said.

“Why?”

“She received information that you might have survived.”

My attention returned to her.

“When?”

“After Darius died.”

“Who gave her the information?”

“We don’t know.”

I almost asked another question, but stopped myself. The answer mattered less than what Lyrienne had done with it. If she had believed there was even a chance I survived, I already knew what she would have done. She would have started searching again.

“She went after it.”

“Immediately.”

“Did she find anything?”

She never stopped searching

“We don’t know.”

I looked at the map.

“Why not?”

“She never returned to Silvermere.”

My eyes went back to Elara.

“But you know she’s alive.”

“We do.”

“Then you’ve heard from her.”

“Yes.”

Cham

That was the answer I needed. Lyrienne wasn’t simply assumed to be alive because she was

a Celestial. Silvermere had received something from her. My mother had survived whatever she’d found beyond these mountains.

“When was the last message?”