Mason


    “Katie!” The name flew out of my mouth before I realized what I was saying.


    My Luna, my beloved mate, had crumpled to the floor. She curled onto her side with her knees to her


    chest, like an infant in a crib.


    Behind me, I heard Xander’s roar of surprise,but I was the first one to reach her. I threw myself onto the


    floor at her side and slid my arm underneath her shoulders. When I pulled her onto myp, she rolled


    bonelessly onto her back. Her arms and legs flopped. Her eyes were closed.


    She wasn’t breathing.


    “No, no, no…” I heard my own voice muttering and crying out. Through the mind link, I heard the same


    I expected my brother and our Beta to be at my side, but neither of them joined me as I rocked my


    Katie in


    my arms for a moment, desperate to see or feel any signs of life. She was limp and unresponsive. I


    probed her


    mind through the link and got no response. I pressed my fingers to her pulse, but there was nothing.


    She was not dead. I would not allow her to leave us this way. With a strangled cry, I slid her onto the


    floor


    on her back so I could resuscitate her.


    “Wait, Abba. No!” Ste cried when I tipped Katie’s head back to clear her airway. “Stop!”


    I was aware of Ste moving toward me, but I ignored her. I’d fight her off, if I had to, and if Xander or


    Zane tried to get in my way, I’d fight them, too.


    “I. Said. Stop.” Ste’s voice gonged like a bell.


    “F uck that,” I growled. “Katie’s -”


    A force that felt like a giant fist grabbed me by the back of my cor and hauled me to my feet.


    It yanked me back and away from the woman on the floor. And then, by the void, it held me in ce


    while l


    fought it.


    “You let me go right now,” I demanded.


    Ste hadn’t moved an inch. Her hair had started softly floating up and around her,crac kl ing with


    energy. A rainbow nimbus surrounded her. She held out one hand in my direction. The other toward


    Zane and


    Xander,who were frozen in ce.


    “Not until you all three agree to leave her alone.


    You can’t help her right now.”


    “F uck that,” I said again, this time under my breath.


    The three of us stared at our Luna on the floor.


    Contentt bel0ngs to N0ve/lDra/ma.O(r)g!


    She hadn’t moved. Ste knelt next to her and smoothed her hair off her face. The force holding me


    back


    didn’t break, not for a second,even when Ste didn’t seem to be paying attention.


    A chill shuddered through my spine at the enormity of that young woman’s power. Yes, we’d all been


    told she had the abilities of every supernatural, but I’d never seen or felt anything like this. I shot a


    nce at my brother. He was grimacing.


    “We have to fight her. I don’t care if she’s our daughter, we have to help Katie,” said through the mind


    link.


    “Her name, by the way, is Lanie,” Xander thought fiercely at me. His wolf zed in his eyes and voice,


    and his face rippled with the force of the beast trying toe to the surface.


    “Both of you, knock it off. There are more important things right now!” Zane’s snarl reached us both


    through the link.


    In the face of three adult wolves fighting for control, anyone else would have run. Not Ste.


    Our Celestial stood calmly, holding us back with no more effort than if we were toddlers throwing


    tantrums.


    “I can hear you plotting, but please, fathers.


    Stop fighting. I don’t want to have to hurt you,but I can’t allow you to interfere right now.”


    Slowly, I stopped my struggle. Zane followed.


    Atst, Xander went quiet, too.


    The three of us stood panting, our fists clenched. But none of us kept fighting to get to our Luna.


    Clearly, there was no point. Ste was far too strong.


    Lanie…Goddess, I’d called her Katie, and the shock sent ripples of emotional pain straight to my heart.


    She’d been my Katie first, just as the woman standing over her had been the baby I’d been willing to


    raise as my own…even before I knew they both belonged to my brother,


    My chest heaved. “Ste. Let us help your mother.”


    Ste shook her head. “She doesn’t need our help. You need to leave her alone, at least for now.”


    Zane took a single step. When that worked, he took another until he knelt by our Luna’s side. He


    stroked her hair back from her face.


    “What’s wrong with her?”


    “The Moon Goddess has taken her,” Ste said.


    “When will she bring her back?” Zane demanded.


    Ste nodded, then paused, tilted her head and shook it slowly. She frowned. “I don’t know.”