Crossing Paths With The White Wolf

Natalia P O V

We let Eun Kyung go nuts in one of the clothing stores while Celeste and I watched. While it made me happy to see her back to her old happy self, I had a bad feeling in my chest. I could feel Helios' distress like a dull ache through the incomplete bond. Hestia's constant whimpering was giving me a headache. She had demanded that I grab Helios and talk to him before we left, but when he came down and wouldn't even meet my eye, I just felt shame and hadn't thought twice about leaving for a bit. I thought maybe he would cool down a little by the time we got back. But the bond was getting stronger every day and I could feel when his hurt changed to anger while he talked to Markus. That was easier to manage, but the nagging bad feeling didn't change. I wanted to get home and talk to him.

"Can I ask you a question?" I asked Luna Celeste, trying to distract myself from the disaster that was my life.

"Of course," Luna Celeste said while she wouldn't take her eyes off Eun, clearly in overprotective mom mode.

"Alpha Markus calls you Tuli, right?" I said.

I saw her smile and nod. "Why?" I asked.

"I have a pyro gift. Tuli is the Finnish word for fire."

"Is Alpha Markus Finnish?" I asked her. It was starting to make sense now.

"Yes, his great grandfather. Why?" She asked.

"Oh, it's nothing. Your explanation makes more sense than mine," I started chuckling.

"What did you think it means?" She asked curiously.

I couldn't stop chuckling, "You sure you want to know Luna Celeste?"

"You can just call me Celeste, and I think I do want to know," she insisted.

"Well," I started and had to stop, the giggles were just too much. "I spent about 7 years in the Philippines. Tuli means something else in Tagalog."

"What does it mean in Tagalog?" She narrowed her eyes at me.

"It- It's...Oh goddess please don't hate me," I gripped my stomach, "Tuli is the Filipino rite of male circumcision," I finished. I looked at her face and I saw her jaw drop and shock filled her face. Gabriel started chuckling behind her and then Celeste started laughing. Full on giggles where she ended up holding her stomach while crouching on the floor, holding on to the chair behind us. We were both crying laughing 5 minutes later. She just kept repeating the same phrases over and over.

"Oh goddess. My little circumcision," she said in what seemed to be Alpha Markus' voice and laughed harder, "I love you, circumcision!" She hit the seat cushion as she laughed. People were looking at us now, and even Gabriel was finding it harder to glare menacingly at the people that looked our way.

It took her a full 10 minutes before she calmed down and then she looked me in the eye and just said, "Don't tell Markus. It would crush him." Before she chuckled a little more. "And you," She pointed at Gabriel, "Not a word to anyone. The boys won't let him live it down if they find out."

"Yes Luna," he chuckled.

At around 4:30, we finally left the mall. We stopped at an Indian place for takeout. We got back in the lambo and it was a bit uncomfortable in the back seat, but Gabriel wouldn't let me drive back. I had convinced him to let me drive it to the mall after Helios said we could take any of them. But my driving wasn't up to his safety standards for his Luna and I think he was rather cramped back here.

We were heading back when Celeste grunted. "Gabriel, drive faster. Markus is hurt," she said.

Hestia growled in my head and then I felt a pain in my jaw. Helios was hurt. Where they fighting? From everything I had seen, they seemed fairly close. That could only mean that they were in danger. We turned the corner to his street and I saw a strange black van in front of his house. We were a couple hundred yards away and then, to my horror, we saw three men in tactical vests carrying the unconscious body of my mate with another three carrying Alpha Markus. Celeste jumped out of the car before Gabriel had even parked and screamed for her mate. The men dropped Alpha Markus and I saw him stand up and knock one out with an elbow to the face as he realized his mate was near. I struggled with the damn car lever from the back seat while Gabriel had to put the car in park. Two men ran out and when they saw the struggle, I saw one of them push a button and scream at his men to run. They dumped Helios in the back of the van and I heard and felt the blast of an explosion engulf and destroy the entire house. Alpha Markus and Celeste were thrown by the force of the blast and the windows of the car shattered. I covered Eun Kyung and heard the van speed off.

"Stay here," I told her as I ran. I wanted to run after the van but I knew it was futile. I wouldn't be able to catch it and that meant I needed his friends to rescue my mate. I ran to Luna Celeste. I put my hands on her abdomen, my first priority being her pup. I could hear the strong little heartbeat in my mind and feel no damage. I saw her head was bleeding and was going to move to it when she screamed at me.

"Markus. Get Markus Please," she cried as she swatted away my hands. I ran over to Alpha Markus. There were two other men unconscious or dead near by.

"Gabriel, check the men," I instructed him as I let my gift flow from my hands. There were a lot of third degree burns to Alpha Markus' back, being so close to the blast and a piece of wood debris embedded in his leg. "Pull the wood Luna while I heal his back," I told her. She caressed his bruised face before whispering something in his ear. She stood and went over to his leg. She pulled at the hem of her shirt and ripped off a piece of cloth before she wrapped it above the sliver of debris. She sat on top of his calf and pulled. I felt Alpha Markus groan and stir. "Don't move, Alpha Markus. I need to heal your back," I said.

"Helios." He grunted.

"He was taken Alpha," Gabriel answered and Hestia howled in my head. I felt tears flowing down my face but I ignored them. When I was done with his back, I went to his leg quickly. Luna Celeste had kept her hands on it and the mate bond was helping his Alpha wolf's healing already. When I was satisfied that Alpha Markus wasn't in danger, I stopped.

"We should go. I'm sure someone's called the fire department by now," I said.

"The other two are dead. They look human," Gabriel said as he helped Alpha Markus get up.

"Tuli, call Gonzalo. Tell him not to come here. We need to go home so we can find Helios," he said as he limped over to the lambo. We got into the back seat. I put Eun-Kyung in my lap. We were exiting the neighborhood when we saw the fire department rushing in. "Gonzalo is texting me his address. He said we can regroup there," Celeste said after he got done with her call.

We drove in silence the fifteen-minute drive to Gonzalo's flat. He let us into the underground parking and we went up the elevator to the penthouse. We walked in and Gonzalo showed us where the bathroom was before he took the food from us. We all sat in his living room.

"What happened?" He asked. There was worry etched into his face.

"Helios got a call on a burner phone. It was the Drieker guy asking if he'd reconsider selling him Natalia or one of the girls. Their animal forms anyway. A few minutes after the phone call, Evergreen called me. He said he saw the phone call was a ruse. They tracked the location of the phone to us and ambushed us. There were 8 men with full tactical gear and automatic weapons. They didn't try to shoot us. They just wanted us to go with them and when we refused, they attacked us." "Something doesn't add up," Gonzalo said, "I mean no offense, Alpha Markus, but you're an Alpha werewolf and, well, Helios is Helios. There's no way 8 human men, no matter how well trained, could have gotten the drop on both of you." Markus sighed and put a hand through his hair. "It wasn't my idea and I was against it," he said. He looked at me before looking back at Gonzalo. "We had about 5 minutes before they arrived. We thought we had more time and I was trying to talk him out of it. Helios' plan was to let them ambush him. He figured there was no way they would try to kill him without the location of Natalia and the girls. He wanted to let them think they had won and take him so that he could lead us to them, since we had a dead end on the location of the other shifters. He wanted to implant a tracker under his skin, but I was trying to talk him out of it when they attacked and he didn't have a chance to go find one. He told me to jump away when they brought us outside, and that he'd find a way to get the location of where they took him to us and he would get word to us of when to recover him."

"IS HE f*****g STUPID?" I yelled, making Eun-Kyung jump in fright, "How could he just let them take him? How are we going to get him back before they kill him? Call Evergreen. He needs to find them. We're going to rescue him and then I'm going to kill him for sacrificing himself like an idiot."

Gonzalo sighed, "It's not ideal, but this will work, Natalia. We just need to give him time to break free. They can't really overpower him for long."

"Are you f*****g kidding me? These men blew up a house. They are going to torture him and kill him."

"They will torture him, yes, but they won't kill him." He said calmly, though I could see the pain in his eyes for his friend.

"How can you possibly know that? Once they realize he won't talk, they have no use for him," I stubbornly insisted.

"He knows because even if they try, they won't succeed," Luna Celeste said.Contentt bel0ngs to N0ve/lDrâ/ma.O(r)g!

"What does that mean?" I asked.

"Helios can't be killed." Luna Celeste said.

"What?" I asked. None of this makes sense.

"Tuli, it's not our place to tell her," Markus warned.

"She needs to know Markus. Helios is her mate. You heard her at the compound. Were you able to function properly when you thought I might be killed?" She asked, and Markus looked uncomfortable, a dark look on his face. "OK. I see your point," he said, "I just don't think finding out from us is ideal."

"I'm right here. What don't I know?" I asked.

"Helios can't be killed because he is the moon goddess' brother. Helios' original name is Huitzilopochtli, the Aztec God of Sun and War. He's immortal." Luna Celeste said.