Rescuing His Captive Mate: Saving The Future Luna

~~

Star

~~

 I had been shocked to see the Warlocks leave so abruptly. We were just taking them to see the boys that needed help when they acted like they were frightened by something. They were out of there within minutes. It was like a whirlwind.

Though, the problem was, I didn't think that Julian would last much longer with his talisman on. I had learned through Uncle Howard and Artem that the boys had different talismans than I did. 

The talismans the boys were wearing were meant to destroy their wolves, but mine had been meant to enslave me. That was the fundamental difference between them. The boys would not survive if their wolves were completely destroyed.

I didn't know what I could do to help them but I wanted to be with them as much as I could right now. There were things I wanted, and needed, to do but I could wait on them for right now. I wanted to look through the box of things from my mother. I wanted to spend more time with my cousins. I wanted to go on dates with Artem. And I wanted to get to know my great great grandfather who had given Artem some much needed information.

Over the last six weeks I had been selfish and I had focused on myself. But Chay told me that was a good thing. She said that I needed to become my own person before I took care of the others too much.

I think I am done growing now though. Any more development to who I am as a person will have to come with my hands-on experience of being the Luna to Artem's Alpha. I would just have to figure everything out as I went. How to manage the pack, how to be a good Luna, and how to be the real me.

Maybe I am so confused on how to be me because I was meant to be the Luna and I haven't really started doing that yet.

It was the day after the Warlocks had been here and I was in the library with the boys, studying. I was having fun learning with them and I was supposed to take a high school equivalency exam soon. From there I would decide if I wanted to go straight to college or wait a little bit. But just knowing that I was capable would make me feel really good.

My cousins really were wonderful teachers, they didn't just help me but all the kids. Everyone was learning so much, they were all smart kids.

That felt weird, calling them kids. I knew that I wasn't that much older than them, but I just felt like our experiences and the things we have been through have made us grow up at different rates. Still, I felt weird thinking I was so much older than them.

It was mid afternoon now and we were all working on different art projects. I was helping Cohen and Dalton make mobiles of the planets while the others did their own things. Cohen and Dalton were the youngest of the boys that were with us and had taken quite the shine to me. They liked me to work with them quite often.

Everything was running smoothly, no issues whatsoever. That is until there were half a dozen different blazes of bright purple light.

Every boy in the room had what looked like a ring of purple fire circling around a different part of their bodies. Some had the ring on their arms. Others around their necks. And lastly some had the fire on their legs.

Aside from the fire there were screams of pain. All six of the boys suddenly collapsed to the floor with shouts and cries of intense pain. I didn't know what was going on but it scared me.

I held seven year old Cohen and six year old Dalton against my chest, doing my best to sooth them but not knowing how.

"Reed, go get Doc and Artem, now." I didn't mean to give him a command or tell him what to do, but he would get there faster than I would.

"Yeah, I'm on it." He didn't protest at all, he just ran out the door and was on his way immediately.

"Bailey, help the others to lay down properly." Some of the boys, especially the older ones, were still laying partially on their chairs from where they had fallen to the side.

"Alright." Again, I was just saying what was instinctual for me, I didn't mean to act like I knew more than he did, but he also followed my prompting immediately.

"S-Star it...it hurts." Cohen cried out then as he tried to grab onto my arm. "W-what's happening?" I wish I could tell him what was wrong, why this was happening. I wish I knew what it was. It reminded me of what had happened when my talisman came off but the color was different and the pain came after it fell away. My pain didn't hit me until I was shifting into my wolf for the first time after it came off.

"I don't know, buddy, but we will figure it out." I tried to give him the most comforting smile I could muster. "Doc is coming and he is a smart man, he will figure it all out."

Right on cue the door burst open with Doc running in the lead followed by Artem, Kent, Reed, Toby and Morgan.

"What happened?" Doc demanded when he saw the state of the six boys laying on the floor.

"They all were suddenly ringed with this light and started screaming." Bailey answered him before I could.

"Doc, could it be their talismans? Could they be coming off of them like mine did last month?" I was hopeful. I wanted them all to be OK.

"This looks like when you shifted, but you had a red light." Artem answered for Doc.

"But my talisman was made by Uncle Howard, not that Warlock that started all this. Maybe his are a different color?"

"Maybe." Doc mused for a moment as he knelt next to Flint. "Their heart rates are accelerated and they seem like they're all about to lose consciousness." I could hear the worry and fear in Doc's voice as he spoke. "We need to get them to the infirmary."

Just as Doc was about to pick up the boy next to him the lights that were ringing the boys flared to an even more intense shade of purple. There was no heat coming off of it but it was bright enough to hurt the eyes. The eight of us that were not covered in the light or writhing in pain all needed to squint or shield our eyes from the intensity of it all.

Seconds later, when the light faded all of the screaming seemed to just stop as well. Then, one by one, six bright purple strips of fabric seemed to fall from the boys onto the floor. They were indeed the talismans that the boys had been wearing.

The magic in the talismans seemed to have disappeared. They were just the markers now. It was similar to what happened to me but more intense and scary.

Now the boys would be alright, right? They should be able to heal, to grow, to shift. This was the best thing that could happen to them, right? And this must mean that the evil Warlock, Gannon, was dead. These were all good things, right?

So, why then, were none of the boys moving? Why were all their eyes closed? Why was it that Cohen and Dalton were laying limp and lifeless in my arms?

My heart had stopped. I really don't think that it was beating anymore at all. I was scared. I was beyond worried about the boys as I looked at each and everyone of their still, motionless faces.

I saw Artem, the fear and the heartache that was clear as day on his face. He had worked hard to save these boys. He had worked hard to change their futures and he now looked like he felt like a failure.

'Artem.' I wanted to call out to him but I couldn't, so I just said his name inside my head.

Kent, Toby, Morgan, and Doc all likewise looked like they were scared and heartbroken. How could we have failed the boys like this? How could this have happened to them? What did we do wrong?

I felt the tears beginning to sting the back of my eyes. I felt the need to cry over what had happened right before my eyes. I pulled the two very small and very young boys to me, against my chest, and hugged them tight. 

I kissed their foreheads, then their eyes, and next their cheeks. That was when I felt the slight stirring of air against my cheek. Just enough to move the hairs by my ear. I pulled away then, shock written on my stunned face.