My Miracle Luna
Their Gemini Wolves Chapter 69

{Wyatt's P.O.V.}

After Milan and Jason had caught us all up to speed, my blood was boiling, and I saw red. I had completely let my guard down, and to add insult to injury, Eric had been one step ahead of us the entire time. I was kicking myself more times than not. The fact that I still couldn't get a handle on things when it came to Eric and this bullshit situation was driving me mad. Why couldn't I get this right? What was I doing wrong?

"Son." I looked up to see my parents in the doorway of my office. Once everyone left to go put out their own fires, and Chad and Richard returned to Golden Moon to double-check on their pack, I secluded myself in my office to try and figure out our next course of action. Even though several pack members were taken-one of them being Rylee-I wasn't as worried because I knew that Rylee and Kendrick would keep them all safe.

"Dad, what's the total count?" I asked him, referring to the deceased pack members.

"Not including the clones, we lost about a dozen pack members," he answered with his head down.

"s**t," was all I could mutter. "Make sure their families get all of the accommodations for memorials and burial services. Spare no expense," I told him.

"Of course," he replied. I expected that to be the end of the conversation, but they continued to stand there and stare at me intently.

"What?" I finally asked, frowning at them in annoyance.

"Don't use that tone with us, Wyatt," my mother snapped.

"Mom, no offense, but I'm not a child anymore. Don't talk to me as if I am one."

"Then stop f*****g acting like one!" she shouted. My mother rarely ever cursed, but when she did, I knew that she meant business. "Wyatt Valencia, get your head out of your a*s!" she continued. "You need to own up to your mistakes!" "You don't think I know that! I'm feeling guilty enough as it is! I don't need you adding to it!"

"DON'T SPEAK TO YOUR MOTHER THAT WAY!" my father boomed. "Wyatt, I let you slide with a lot of things because you're the Alpha now, but that won't stop me from kicking your a*s if you keep disrespecting your mother that way!" I huffed at him in irritation. "Pack members have been taken by Eric. Three of whom are your mate, your sister, and your Beta!"

"Kendrick wasn't taken; he went after Dot!"

"Kendrick is still missing regardless! We have no idea where they are!"

"What are you talking about? They're at Silver Lake! That's where Eric has been hiding out!"

"Wrong."

"What?"

"Jason and his father just went to Silver Lake to scope out the area, and ..." he paused and looked at me, his facial expression full of concern. "... It's gone, Wyatt."

"What do you mean it's gone, Dad?"

"There is a gaping hole in the foundation. Whatever lair Eric and his family had used to remain hidden is gone. All that's left is a giant sinkhole. Eric is gone, and so are the captives." "That's not possible!"

"It gets worse," my mother revealed. "I spoke with the Lunas of the other packs, and they were attacked as well. They, too, lost members. Thankfully, their death tolls weren't nearly as large as ours, but they still suffered losses, nonetheless. What we noticed, however, was that pack members who were taken are ones that carry rank."

"Can you elaborate on that?" I asked her.

"All of the packs did a headcount after they were attacked, and they found that only pack members that carry a rank, or are directly tied to someone with rank, were taken. In our case, your sister, Rylee, Zoe, Victor, Owen, Lisa, and Darius." "Wait, Aunt Zoe? But Milan said that..."

"Zoe never made it to the bunker. Felix said they had gotten separated in the midst of all the chaos, and now they can't find her. A pack member later mentioned that Zoe was picked up by a twister and taken."

"F**k."

"Luna Milly, Alpha Ramsey's mate, said that their 16-year-old son was taken as well as their Beta's niece, who is only 12. Luna Rowena, Alpha Matthew's mate, said that their Gamma's mate was taken and their pack doctor, who is her brother-in-law. Her sister's husband," my mother explained. "All of the packs had a bare minimum of three people taken." "What the hell is Eric trying to do!?" I exclaimed.

"None of this would have happened had you not just sat around and made stupid plans instead of taking action, Wyatt!" my father yelled at me. "I trained you better than this. But in the last couple of years, you've become weak and soft!" "Me!? You're the one who told me to never jump the gun. To always have a plan of action! To never kill out of revenge or cold blood! That it's not what an Alpha does!"

"I also told you that an Alpha needs to know when to make the tough decision to end a life if it means saving the lives of others! I never told you to use dark magic to do your job for you! I never told you to second guess your mate day in and day out. I also told you to listen to your ranked members. Kendrick and Jason are your Beta and Gamma for a reason! They're supposed to help you run this pack! But you've been ignoring them more and more, and you're even dismissing them as if their opinions no longer matter! Since when did you ever see me disregard Dylan or Felix!?"

"What's worse is that you're always dismissing Rylee as well!" my mother added in. "Rylee came to me saying that you wanted her to give herself to Ash!"

"You what!?" My father exclaimed.

"Are you out of your mind, Wyatt!? What the hell were you thinking!?"

"Rylee was so hellbent on trying to kill them! To go after them! I just wanted her to be included in all of this!" I defended. "Rylee even agreed to it!"

"Wyatt, your heart may have been in the right place, but your head wasn't. Rylee is pregnant! And she may have agreed to it, but she had her doubts. That's why she came to me. Because she felt that she couldn't go to you," she insisted. "What? What do you mean she can't come to me! We fixed our bond! Our bond is stronger than ever! If it weren't, we wouldn't be expecting right now!"

"Your bond as werewolves may have been fixed, but your bond as Alpha and Luna is still in shambles," my father argued back. "Wyatt, remember what I told you when Rylee first came here, and we first found out what she was?"

"To be there for her. To be her foundation. To support her. Treat her as an equal," I responded.

"Exactly. Have you done any of that? I mean, whole-heartedly been there for her? Been her foundation? Supported her? Treated her as an equal?" he questioned. I was taken aback by his accusation.

"Of course, I have!"

"Are you sure about that?"

"What are you insinuating, Dad!?"

"I'm not insinuating anything, son. I'm merely stating a fact. It's something your mother started to notice after it was revealed what Rylee had seen the day of Chad's scheduled Alpha ceremony. Ever since she had that vision, you have not been treating Rylee like an equal. You've been treating her like a child. You say you trust her and support her, yet you stopped her from killing Eric and his family. All this would have been done had you just let her do what needed to be done."

"Dad, I was only stopping her from becoming like Eric!"

"What? You mean a cold-blooded killer?" my mom retorted. I looked at her in shock. "Don't be so surprised, Wyatt. Your clone said that to her face!" "What?"

"Wyatt, clone or not, that thing was you in a sense, and it said things to Rylee that were awful and foul. It's one thing to say that you don't want her to kill because you don't want her hands to be stained with the life of another, but to call her cold-blooded and a murderer in one sentence?" my mother said accusingly to me with full-on disappointment in her tone.

"But I would never ..."

"You may have never said it to her face, but at some point, those were your thoughts. Or have you forgotten that thing was made up from your DNA and your memories?" my father enunciated. I gulped, knowing that they were right.

"Wyatt, just admit that you're jealous of Rylee," my mother told me flat out.

"What? I'm not..." I stopped mid-sentence when I saw the look she gave me.

"You're not? Then why won't you let her be herself? Why not tell the entire supernatural world who your mate is?" she questioned.

"If your mother were even half as powerful as Rylee, I would shout to the world who she is. I would be proud to brag about her," my father gloated. "Even if doing so would put her life in danger?!" I shot back.

"I wouldn't have to worry about that. She would have already proven that she is more than capable of taking care of herself. You forget, other than William and the moon goddess, Rylee is one of the most powerful werewolves to exist in this century, if not the most powerful. And you keep trying to cage her up and hide her away. Open your eyes, Wyatt! She's no longer the slave you had to rescue from Halfmoon. Think about it; your children are going to be just as powerful as her. You can't hide them from the world. You can't protect them from the dangers that their kind will face for the rest of our lives. What you can do, rather, what you're supposed to do is support them, cherish them, and be there for them. But don't hide them, and don't be jealous of them. You are an Alpha, and being an Alpha comes with one of the deadliest of sins-pride." I took in a sharp breath.

"Your hidden jealousy is why you were susceptible to Layla's mind games two and half years ago. Had you just embraced what and who Rylee is, that never would have happened to you," my mother declared. "Even though you say you fixed your bond with Rylee, it doesn't change the fact that you still hold resentment that she is more powerful than you. You were proud of her in the beginning, but slowly, I started to notice the small things every time she came into another power. She would be excited and go to you because of it. Even though you smiled on the outside, I could see the turmoil in your eyes. Not only were you afraid of the fact that she was continuingly getting stronger and stronger, but you were also envious." "Being jealous of your mate is nothing to be ashamed of, Wyatt," my father said, almost as if he could read my mind. "We all get jealous of our mates in some way, shape, or form, but don't use that as an excuse to resent them or hinder them."

"I was jealous of Lizzy," my mother admitted. "The pack loved her while they feared me. I hated that I couldn't be personable the way she was with everyone. But I had to remember that as the Luna, I wouldn't always be able to be friendly with pack members. I was in the same position as your father. I had to lead the pack alongside him, and that also meant getting hate from people. Lizzy, on the other hand, was a natural at just making everyone feel loved and included. Her death was the biggest blow this pack ever had. But I never once resented her for it. That's why I was able to tell her how much I envied her but could remain her friend at the same time. But your jealousy of Rylee's powers is toxic, and no matter how much you say you love her and are proud of her, the fact of the matter is, your jealousy is why you refuse to let her harness her full powers." I closed my eyes and bowed my head in utter shame. I always thought that I was able to hide that I was, in fact, jealous of Rylee and her powers. I was proud to have her as a mate, but I also wanted to keep it a secret how powerful she really could be.

"Goddess, how could I have been so immature and stupid?"

"You're a man. It comes naturally," my mother mocked. My father and I both looked at her, stunned. "Oh, don't even give me those looks. You both know it's the truth." My dad and I exchanged glances at each other and scoffed at how brutally honest my mom could actually be.

"How do I fix this?" I finally asked after being completely humbled.

"You need to get your head out of your a*s like I said before and go find your mate, young man!" my mother scolded me.

"How am I supposed to find her!? You said it yourself that Eric's lair at Silver Lake is gone!"

"Wyatt Valencia, stop being a stupid little boy and think like a man! You're an Alpha and a werewolf at that! Start acting like one and use your senses, you dimwit!" she said, smacking me across the head.

"Ow!"

"Go! Get out of this packhouse and go find my daughter-in-law, or there will be hell to pay!" she shouted and literally kicked me in the a*s, forcing me out of the office.

"This is my office!"

"Do you think I care!? Get out! Go find her!" She tried to kick me again.

"s**t, okay!" I grumbled and ran out of my office as she slammed the door shut. I scowled at the door.

I know you're scowling, Wyatt! Don't make me go out there! she said in a mind-link. I hated how she could do that.

I pulled myself together before I headed down to the main floor, and I saw Jason and the other guards he took to Silver Lake walking in.

"Hey, my dad told me what you guys saw," I told him.

"More like what we didn't see," he replied, giving me a fist bump. "What's the plan?"

"We're going after them."

"What? But we have no idea where they went."

"Then we track them down. You're a tracker Jason, so do your thing and track them. Let's go find our friends and my mate. Gather all of the trackers that can travel. I'm going to make a few calls." Jason just nodded and went to assemble the men we needed. I pulled out my cell and called Chad.

"Hey, Wyatt."

"What's the damage at your pack?"

"Jackson, Thomas, who was one of the newborns that came with Brent, and Jasper's mate."

"How many deaths?"

"Four, thank the goddess. It could have been worse, but Lanie and Lexie were able to get a lot of people to safety when the tornadoes hit."

"I'm sorry, Chad. My stupid decision is what got all of us into this mess in the first place. I never should have made the decision to use clones again. I should have learned from my past mistakes."

"What's done is done, Wyatt. There's no use crying over spilled milk. We heard that Eric has disappeared. How are we going to find him and the others?"

"We're going to use what the goddess gave us, and we're going to track them down like we're hunting prey."

"Aren't you worried that whoever ratted us out will tell Eric we're trying to find them?"

"I'm betting on it. Besides, with Rylee being with them, I know that she will keep the captives safe until we find them."

"You seem to have a lot of faith in her."

"I know I haven't been the most supportive mate or Alpha when it comes to Rylee and her powers, but I've learned my lesson and then some. My parents have already expressed their disappointment in my actions, and I don't want to let them down again, let alone, let Rylee down again. I refuse to just sit around anymore. This ends one way or another."

"Glad to see you coming to your senses. Lanie and Lexie have been worried about you."

"They have?"

"Dude, it was no secret that you coddled Rylee and tried to keep her some big a*s secret. Even though I disagreed with it, I think it will work in our favor right now. If they don't know what she is, then we have the upper hand and the element of surprise in that factor."

"Thanks."

"What's the plan?"

"I need you to tell Richard and Jonah what's going on and to have them contact the other Alphas to see if they're willing to join the hunt. If they don't trust me anymore, then I won't blame them. They have no reason to trust me anymore. But, tell Richard and Jonah that I gave authorization for them to tell the others about Rylee and who she is. Hopefully, that will sway their decision to help. Also, I won't stop you from telling everyone who Lanie and Lexie are either. I never should have inserted my opinion the way that I did. She's your mate, and Lexie is Brent's mate. I should have let you two handle their situation how you guys saw fit. I apologize."

"Hey, it's cool. Believe it or not, we're family now, and family supports each other. We're going to get through this, and I know for a fact that Rylee will forgive you for everything once this is all over with."

"How do you know that?"

"Because Lanie said so."

"Lanie?"

"Don't ask."

"She and Lexie must be growing into their powers pretty quickly."

"Yeah, no kidding. But I'm happy that she is. Their powers are going to come in handy."

"What do you mean?"

"Lanie spilled to me what she saw in the future. Even though she wasn't supposed to, she was too worried about Rylee and told me what she saw."

"Wait, I thought she wasn't allowed because it could change the outcomes in more ways than one."

"Only if we try to change it. She's not trying to. I just know that our clones will be with us as we descend into wherever the hell Eric is hiding now and that Lanie and Lexie will be following us."

"What?"

"Yeah, if you sense them, just leave it alone. They're supposed to be there. I don't know why, but I'm not going to question it, and neither should you. Rylee was meant to be taken. So don't beat yourself up over it."

"Okay, if that's what Lanie said she saw, then I believe you."

"Alright. I'll talk to Richard and Jonah and let you know as soon as we're ready to head out. See you soon."

"Bye."

If Rylee was meant to be taken, then maybe this plan wasn't a complete failure after all. But that didn't change the fact that I messed up. Not just with Rylee but with everyone else. When all this was over and done with, I planned to announce Rylee's identity to everyone in the supernatural world. I no longer cared if people feared her. She was meant to be feared. Then maybe our lives wouldn't be so chaotic anymore. It was time to embrace the fact that my mate, the Luna of Blue Lake, was the most powerful wolf in the world, and I was proud to call her mine.