The Unclaimed Human Luna
Chapter 21

Conner

It was going to be a long drive with his wolf ticked off at him, and for more than one reason, it seemed. The bloody beast wouldn’t sit still inside of his mind for the first few hours of the drive out to Seattle.

Atlas was very unhappy with him, even more so, when he pulled over to refuel and decided that he and Adam should get dinner as well. Atlas nearly went ballistic inside his mind, at stopping. For with every minute they were stopped off for anything, the time for the moon setting and their window to scent Eliza out was ticking away, and his wolf knew it.

In the end, Conner snapped at his own wolf, that it was more or less his own bloody fault, that if he had not receded so far away, that he didn’t know what was going on around him. Which left Conner in complete control of running his own mouth and actions. It was likely that he, Atlas, wouldn’t have allowed Conner to say such harsh words to her, or that he’d not have let her leave.

Conner knew it to be true, he also knew that Atlas would never have allowed them to leave for the mating ball. Which would have taken him right back to the pack, and then they’d have known, likely just a few hours after she’d left, that she was gone. His beast would never have allowed him to leave the pack knowing she was there, and the full moon was upon them.

Especially considering he’d pushed all his Alpha Wolf needs at Conner and tried to have Conner Mate her that very morning. It was bloody lucky Conner had realised just what was going on, he’d been lost to the Mating of her as his wolf had wanted him to be.

If he’d not realised that they were about to knot her, the fallout of his and Atlas’s actions would have been terrible. They could have seriously injured her, and he knew that wouldn’t have gone down well with his father, or her mother at that. Certainly, wouldn’t have gone down well with himself or Atlas, for that matter. It would have devastated both he and his wolf. To hurt one’s own Mate like that, to know it was their fault and see her in so much pain. Would likely render themselves to agony.

She would have ended up inside the pack hospital. Could well have rendered her so damaged that she’d never be able to have children. Would have been in the pack hospital for a long time, and she would likely hate him for it. Could well have had to Mark her in the hope she’d turn and get her wolf to heal her injuries the very next day. Not something that was done.

This was the very reason that Atlas had left him, hidden himself away from all, his need to have his mate had nearly seen them hurt her and possibly irrecoverably as well. He’d stayed away to stop himself from wanting to be near her, until he’d felt the moon rising and would be setting soon, had only come back then so he could claim her.

Atlas himself, had realised that he was out of control where Eliza was concerned, but now she was missing, had left and no one knew exactly where she was at this very moment. Somewhere between the pack and her grandmother’s house was all he could presume.

Conner got pulled over for speeding along the highway. He hadn’t even realised that he was speeding, and could only think it was Atlas’s doing. His wolfs thoughts encroaching on his actions, his wolf pushing his foot down on the accelerator little by little without Conner realising he was being influenced by his own beast. Knew it to be true when he felt amusement roll off his wolf as he told the highway patrolman, he was sorry and hadn’t realised he was speeding. Had to accept the speeding ticket and be polite and remorseful at the same time. Didn’t need that officer being all on his back or ticked off and having a reason to arrest him.

Let Adam drive after they were pulled over. Atlas, it seemed, was not only amused but proud of himself for asserting control over Conner without him even realising it. Conner could be a bit of a lead foot at the best of times, but he had no idea how long Atlas had been pushing his foot down.

Adam pulled the truck back out onto the highway as Conner looked at the remaining time to get to their destination in Seattle, realised his bloody wolf had made up not only for their meal break time, but that they were now ahead of schedule by thirty minutes as well. “Don’t speed Adam, one bloody ticket is enough.” He muttered.

Heard Adam chuckle “You’re going to lose your license, you know.”

“It is likely.” He nodded “I guess you’ll be driving everywhere when that happens, huh.” He muttered.

“Yes, what’s wrong with Atlas? Kade and I can sense him every now and then.”

“He doesn’t want to be disinherited. Is determined to get to Eliza and bring her back…I guess you could say. I didn’t even know I was bloody speeding.”

Heard Adam really laugh at him now, “Pushing you with his own agenda, I see.”

“That he is.” Conner nodded with a heavy sigh. It just wasn’t the agenda everyone thought it was going to be. No, his wolf, wanted to scent her out as his Mate and bloody claim her for himself, something that Conner did not want. That thought got him an aggressive snarl from his wolf.

He ignored it as he always did, there was nothing he could do at this point. But he knew that it was going to be a battle of wills, when the time came, and they did scent her officially. Atlas wanted her and Conner did not. He had no idea who was going to win that battle either.

All he knew was that they both had to want to Mark her, to be able to claim her for themselves, and right this minute he and his wolf were at odds over it completely.

He felt the moon set as did Atlas, felt annoyance roll right off of his wolf at the fact that right this very minute he should be standing in front of Eliza inside their pack. Scenting her out and they were not.

Also knew Adam felt it, heard that man sigh heavily “Sorry Adam.”

“You’d better mean that,” Adam muttered, “there were three unaffiliated packs there and just about sixty unknown she-wolves or newly turned 18 in the New Moon Pack, I’d never met, under a full moon before.”

“I know. I am sorry.” And he was they all deserved the right to attend mating balls and find their mates. “If father had trusted me to go on my own, I would have left you there as well.”

“I don’t think that is wise. Not with your current attitude towards Eliza.”

“Mm,” was all he could say on that front, though it was for a very different reason. He knew being alone with her probably wasn’t a good idea. He’d likely Mate the hell out of her the moment he was alone with her. The minute they stopped for the night, and he was completely alone with her, in a hotel room with her because she wouldn’t be getting one on her own, not with her being a flight risk. He knew Atlas would be pushing his own agenda with her. It would be even worse if they had sent her out as their Mate prior to that.

Conner could feel Atlas’s amusement roll off him ‘Like you wouldn’t enjoy it.’ Atlas snorted at him. Conner ignored his beast, but knew he was bloody right. The scent of her arousal was too strong for him to ignore, he loved the smell of it, enjoyed feeling like it was the sweetest air he’d ever breathed. Breathed it in until it consumed all of his thoughts and nothing else mattered to him.

Pulled his thoughts away and looked at the time of their estimated arrival, and sighed, it was going to be in the wee hours of the morning. He knew that he was not going to be able to wait for a decent hour to knock on Sloan’s door.

Knew damn well Atlas was not having the phase of the moon pass where he could scent her out, which was going to be 5am or roughly there abouts. Knew that Atlas was going to be in control of his entire body, whether he liked it or not, if Conner tried to stop him or delay them.

Then Adams’ eyes were going to be wide open and know exactly what was going on. Knew that he would have to report to his father when they got back, everything he’d seen. It wouldn’t go down so well.

His father was not so dumb, that he wouldn’t realise that Conner hadn’t known what she was to him. That his words about her not being welcome, would all be because he didn’t want to have a human Mate.

Then all hell was going to break lose inside that pack and he was going to incur his own father’s wrath, he was likely going to end up beaten and in the cells for his behaviour towards the girl. Even worse, if he Alpha Ordered him to tell him everything that had gone on between her and him. Might see himself getting chained and lashed for that. He’d certainly be made to stay away from her. Until he or his wolf begged to be near her, the man was going to punish the hell out of him.

A Mate is a Mate. Would be his opinion, it was the entire pack’s opinion. He himself just had other thoughts about it. Considering his own needs and the way he liked to f**k, how rough he liked it, he knew no human could ever handle him when he got going.

‘Bullshit,’ Atlas shot at him. ‘El, handled all of you, every time.’

Conner knew that was true, and his need to have her increased her need to have him and the more she had been turned on, the more he was as well. It was that cycle he’d believed would happen when he found his Mate. Only she was human and not wolfen. That still bugged him. She could give him human children and not a pup, not a wolfen Heir to the pack. Even if it was a boy, it could still be just human. He couldn’t hand the pack over to a human. It just wasn’t right. It’s not how things were done.

They traded driving every few hours and he made Adam tell him when he was speeding, knew his wolf was going to make him, wanted to get there well ahead of the moon setting.

They arrived just after 4am and he was out of the car before Adam even had the hand break on, “Conner, look at the time.” He called out to him as he was getting out of the car.

“I’m aware of the time.” And he was if he didn’t voluntarily go and knock on the door Atlas was going to be ripping out of him to do it for himself. “Father will expect me to lay eyes on her right a way.” He muttered.

Jabbed his finger at the doorbell and heard it ring inside the house, waited a little impatiently for any light to come on, jabbed that doorbell again. Atlas was sitting up and he could feel the excitement of being this close to where Eliza was. She would have gotten here hours before they had, could well have been here a whole day before they got here. He didn’t know.

Though they didn’t see her car on the street or in the driveway, that was odd. The house did have a double garage, it was likely parked inside. They also couldn’t smell her from out here, but with her scent already so delicate, if she hadn’t been outside recently, he doubted they would.

He needed this woman to open her door, and was actually a bit on the antsy side himself, standing here waiting for someone to answer the door. He had no idea how old this woman was, and wondered if Eliza would answer the door herself. Tried to prepare himself for the battle with his wolf, over not yanking her into his arms, burying his fangs right into her and claiming her the moment they saw her.

“You alright Conner” Adam asked him a minute later.

Conner realised he was actually breathing, long slow steadying breaths as he stood here waiting for the door to be answered. A light had come on upstairs in the house finally, “Yeah, just worried I won’t be able to get her to come home.” He murmured.

“You need to apologise to her first, I imagine.”

He nodded, though he had no idea if an apology would work, after what had been going down between them in that bedroom of hers, and the way he just up and left and never said anything to her. After he’d just lashed out at her, and hurt her on purpose, in an effort to make her stay away from Marlo.

“Perhaps your father should have sent Marlo. If he is her mate, it would help.”

Turned his eyes right on his future Beta, couldn’t help the angry look that he shot him, Atlas wanted to punch him right in the face, saw Adam take a step back and raise both hands “You think I’m not capable of apologising and being polite and persuasive?” he grated out.

He could hear someone coming down the stairs inside the house, and turned his attention to it as Adam shook his head. “No, I’m sure you can. Just look at you right this minute.” His tone dripped sarcasm.

The door opened and a woman smiled “El…who are you?” she frowned right up at him.

Had been expecting Eliza, he realised, so she wasn’t here yet “Morning Mrs Hunt. Sorry about the hour. My name is Conner Greystone, I’m here to talk with Eliza.”

He could see where Eliza got her eyes from, Sloan Hunt had the same silver-grey eyes as Eliza did. He’d also heard her state she’d gotten them from her father. An inherited trait, she also had that black hair that Eliza had, Sloan also didn’t look very old either. Felt Atlas smell her and saw her eyes narrow right on him. Didn’t smell anything other than human.

“El is not here, you must be Logan’s son.” She stated as her eyes moved to passed him to Adam. “Who’s he?”

“This is my friend Adam, just along for the company.”

“I doubt that.” She frowned right up at him, looked him right over he was big at six four, as was Adam at six two, they were also muscled up to the hilt. Though this didn’t particularly seem to bother her at all. No fear came from the woman. She was tall at maybe five foot ten, was of slim build, barely looked to be in her mid thirty’s, he thought absently as he looked at her. He could see just where El got her looks from, looked a lot like her grandmother, just much younger.

“Do you know when you’re expecting Eliza?”

“No, she said a day or two.”

That made him frown, “Decoy address.” Adam sighed “Smart girl.”

“I don’t know where she is.” Sloan told him, and went to close the door.

He put his hand on the door. “Are you certain? Brittney is very worried about her; we just want to know she is safe.”

Saw her eyes narrow right on him for a long moment, “So do I, from what I heard, she’s not happy out there with you, and your father.”

“I’m aware of that. Likely my doing point of fact Mrs Hunt.” He even sighed, a real sigh “I didn’t want a stepsister any more than she wanted a stepbrother.” Shook his head a little “My manners were lacking; I need to apologise to her.”

“Is she welcome out there?”

Looked right at her and nodded “My father is very happy to have her as part of the family. I was a jerk to her, I will rectify that.” He could actually say that he was, and mean it, because it was true, he’d been more than a jerk to her.

“I think you only speak half-truths, boy.”

He blinked at her statement, she was calling him a liar. Felt Adams hand on him as he stepped up and moved him aside to speak with the woman himself. “Mrs Hunt, may I call you Sloan?”

“No, you may not.” She looked right at Adam.

“I’m sorry to have disturbed you so early in the morning, my friend here is a little impatient at the best of times. I thought it best to speak with you after breakfast, but as you are probably aware, Brittney is worried about her daughter. We are just trying to ascertain her whereabouts so we can talk to her. Try and get her to come home willingly.”

Conner was watching her, she was staring hard at Adam now, a bloody truthseer, he thought to himself. One of those rare things where a human could discern a lie from the truth. Adam had picked it up quickly himself. Everything Adam had said was the truth on his part. Conner was going to make that girl go back to the pack. He’d not spoken the truth.

He had to or he was losing his title. Though Adam didn’t have all the facts around he and Eliza, that man was going to find it harder to do than he thought.

Adam thought the best option was to talk to her and get her to want to come back on her own, so it would all ring true to the woman, “I have yet to see her, she hasn’t arrived. As I said earlier told me a day or two. I guess went somewhere else first.”

“Thank you, Mrs Hunt, if you could call and let Brittney know when she arrives, I’m sure she would appreciate it.”

“Hmm, I guess that will depend on what El has to say to me. When she gets here, and I will question her about a lot of things. To get to the bottom of this matter. Good night.”

“Good night.” Adam nodded and stepped back from the door as she closed it.

“Just bloody great.” Conner muttered as they headed back to his truck.

“I suggest we call your father and have him question Brittney about her friends and where she would go.”

“I’m tired to be honest Adam.” And he was. She was not here, and the moon phase was almost over. His wolf was not happy, not angry though either, just…disappointed, he thought. Sighed to himself as he got into his truck and called his father to tell him she was not there. “Not expected for 1 or 2 days if at all.”

Heard his father sigh “I’ll figure it out and get back to you.” he clicked the line closed.

“Find us a hotel close by. We’ll sleep while he figures it out.”