Thank you for any readers who have stuck with this book. I'm happy to say that I will return to writing and finish this book . Turns out the "lack of motivation" I had three years ago which paused the progression of this book was depression and bad friends lmao. So I'm doing much better now and have gone through and edited/updated parts of the book. Anyway onwards with the story~ Here is an extra long chapter to make up for my absence.

Jade felt a chill rush down her spine, it had been hours since Slate and Bash left — To say the least, she didn't believe them one bit and frankly she was confused as to why they would lie to her "Luna? Are you okay?"

She snapped out of her thoughts "Oh, I'm sorry Jennie. I'm just a little worried about my mate"

"Oh, that's surely nothing to be sorry for" The lady replied as the other few elderly women that remained in the room chuckled lightly.

Jade had made a plan to meet all the middle aged members who wanted to see her — which took about 3 hours. Then when she was done she would move onto the elderly members that wanted to see her, so far she was on her last group — already taking another 3 hours of her day.

What Jade didn't anticipate was the amount of members that wanted to meet her, surprisingly she lost count of how many people she saw and just to make sure that she could meet as many people as she could Cora and Bentley kept watch occasionally telling the group that their time was up.

Jade stifled a yawn.

A whole day of smiling and making conversation can drain a person — it wasn't late but it was going well into the afternoon "So you're from the Divisions?"

"Yes, I was born in the Divisions but after the death of my parents..." She trailed off — her eyes drooping with tiredness.

Jennie couldn't help but feel sympathy for the girl "Oh, Darl-" Before she could finish her sentence an ear piercing scream could be heard just behind the Pack house.

Jade bolted up from where she sat on the bed to look out the window – What she saw shocked her to her very core. A group of Werewolves surrounded a little girl while all the Guard wolves were too busy fighting.

But as she focused her eyes on the mystery wolves Jade could plainly see that a majority of them were covered in blood — which meant only one thing.

The Rogues broke through the barrier.

Anger burned through her veins at seeing the clearly defenceless child cowering as Rogues were circling her mercilessly. Without thinking twice Jade ignored the pain in her body and ran out of the room, only to head downstairs — blatantly ignoring what Dr. Robert had told her.

As she made her way down her heart ached at the sight before her.

The members who couldn't fight including the children were huddled together, fear etched into their tear stained faces. Each one of them cowered while sobbing quietly — it was then that she realised.

This had never happened to this Pack before, Slate always had the best fighters when it came to a Rogue attack. Never has there ever been a time where wolves broke through their defences and even came close to their boundaries — to say the least, each one of them were petrified, knowing that the Guards were slowly losing and the Rogues were seemingly winning.

Jade needed to do something.

She just knew while looking at all their faces "It's going to be all right" Surprisingly her voice came out almost melodically causing a soothing effect to wash over everyone inside — it was the mark of a true Luna. It would be the particular tone they would use to calm even the most deranged of souls.

All the Pack members felt an instant feeling of calmness wash over them — of course there was a tinge of fear but somehow they all trusted her with their lives. Cora stood behind her friend simply speechless at the scene in front of her, if it had been any other situation she would've smiled proudly.

"Bentley and Cora I need you to make sure they all keep calm. Stay with them and reassure them if they have doubts." Jade stated with so much authority that all the members marvelled at how powerful she sounded.

"Wait...where are you going?"

"There is still a pup out there who is scared. I need to get her back" Before anyone could argue with her Jade held up a hand "I'm stronger than I look. I'm a Luna and it's my job to protect my Pack, you're going to let me go and that is an order"

Not giving anyone a chance to defy her, her legs had already found themselves running out the backdoor of the house in the direction of the little girl who cried relentlessly "Hey!" when she was close enough her training kicked in.

Tanner always taught her to see her surrounding, evaluate her enemies and think logically.

Within the three-seconds that were given to her before the Rogues turned around, she saw that there were five of them – Guards were still fighting other wolves and were in fact losing so she possibly had another six to face.

Two of the wolves immediately recognised her as a Luna — one a bright orange and the other a dirty blonde. The both of them lunged for her neck in the small space in between her and them — she saw the orange wolf was closer, so she chose him as her first victim.

Slightly leaning to the left, gash wound across its right hind leg — As if the world around her slowed its pace she quickly brought her leg up in a roundhouse kick with all her force she smashed its ribs on the left side of its body.

The orange Rogue violently landed on the weaker side of its leg with a sickening crack while immediately blacking out.

Swiftly turning around Jade anticipated the other Rogue who had lunged at her, straight away she could see it's weaknesses as light as day — One gash across its left eye, two deep cuts on its front leg — Without thinking twice she faced it head on, only to turn step to the left where he couldn't see her due to the wound above his eye socket.

This caused the Rogue to hesitate — seeing this, Jade took the opportunity to grab it by the ears and smash its skull into the dirt.

As it laid lifelessly on the grass she returned her gaze on three other Rogues who were circling the little girl — they all snarled at Jade before attacking her at once. She easily took all three of them down with the same strategy her brother taught her.

Look, Evaluate and Think — then and only then can you attack.

She slowly started to walk near the hysterical girl before kneeling down to eye-level "It's okay, your safe now...can you tell me your name?" Jade whispered with as much gentleness as she could muster in that moment — or as much gentleness a person can feel right after killing five wolves.

The girl opened her blood-shot eyes "M-my names A-Adrian"

"Well, Adrian. I'm going to put you back into the Pack house, okay?" Jade replied softly – Adrian nodded her head shyly.

She made her way inside while handing the little girl over to Bentley who gladly took Adrian into her arms "Wait!"

Jade turned her attention back to the little she-wolf "what is it?"

"My brother, Jake! He's still out there!"

Bentley cradled Adrian against her chest "Where?"

"In the meadow! We were playing before the Rogues came.We were running but I think he fell" There were tears on the brink of her eyes "I think he might still be near the path"

Jade nodded her head "I'll go back for him-"

"No!"

"There are blood thirsty rogues out there!"

"We let you be in danger once! We cannot do it again!"

"Luna we can't let you!"

Choruses of disagreement echoed through the house "Enough" Jade yelled causing everyone to go into a dead silence "There is a little boy out there, scared, alone and most of all in danger . He is one of us! He is a Luna Moon Pack member and as Luna I can't leave him behind."

Without knowing it, she had earned the respect of everyone that was there, including the Guards who could hear her even if they still fought relentlessly.

Cora was the first to speak "Fifteen minutes. That's all I'm giving you until I go out there myself."

"I'll be back in five" Jade smiled lightly before turning away and heading to the path that lead to the meadow.

She knew that a normal human couldn't possibly find that boy, I mean he could be literally anywhere. Lucky she wasn't a normal human, using her Validus senses she closed her eyes and inhaled deeply.

Her hands laid flat on the forest ground and if she could focus hard enough she could feel vibrations through her skin.

Without opening her eyes she immediately saw her surroundings — her ears picked up on the slightest of sounds, ranging from the ants that littered the trees five miles away to the distant growls and snarls of battle not too far away from where she kneeled.

But Jade focussed harder, trying to find a miniature heart beat of a little boy hiding somewhere, after a few more minutes, she all but heard a small voice near the meadow frantically calling for help. Her eyes snapped open and almost immediately started sprinting in the direction of it.

She ran at an almost inhuman pace, to only find herself in a clearing. The sight in front of her made a cold shiver go down her spine, four Rogues were mid-air just about to land on the little boy who had tears running down his face.

She could see that those wolves had one thing in mind;

Kill him.

She was too far away.

Jade knew she couldn't make it to him, Her body was still weak and couldn't control time like she could before. There was no way she could get there before those Rogues devoured their prey, who happened to be an innocent child. As if her heart stopped beating for a second one of the Rogues landed on him while biting into his shoulder.

"JAKE" Jade screamed desperately, successfully causing the wolves to back away from the child only to have their attention focused on her as he whimpered on the dirt covered floor. Nonetheless her legs didn't stop running towards him, her anger sky rocketed at the sight of the bloodied boy.

They all attacked her at once with no warning but Jade just felt pure hatred and disgust for the monsters in front of her. What happened next was a small blur in her memory but all that she could recollect was the sight of blood that found its way on her hands, arms and clothing and four dead bodies at her feet.

Her gaze slowly found its way onto the little boy who laid on the ground a few feet away from her, he stared at her with what seemed to be utter amazement. Without even having to talk him, Jake automatically knew she was his Luna, mainly because of the power that radiated off of her but like many other things, she would never know that.

Taking slow, calculating steps towards him she tried her best to not to scare him. While kneeling in front of Jake, her eyes saddened at the shoulder he clutched in his small hand. An unknown tear rolled down Jade's face at the sight and was simply unprepared when he hugged her chest.

She wrapped her arms around his small frame "I'm sorry..." she whispered against his hair "I'm sorry, I came too late"

"...Thank you" his eyes started to shut "Thank you for coming for me, anyway" he whispered before completely shutting them.

Picking him up in her arms she made her way back to the Pack house as fast as she could, cradling him against her chest softly "Luna!" Robert exclaimed as soon as she walked into the room.

"Please. You need to help him, he has a bite wound just above his shoulder"

Robert nodded hesitantly "Luna-"

"Help him." She demanded, tears threatening to fall out of her eyes — she felt weak as the aching in her muscles finally caught up to her but nothing would beat the pain she felt holding the unconscious body of a child she couldn't save.

Robert only stared into her eyes before nodding his head stiffly before taking the child from her arms "I'll do what I can"

Jade took this time to look at her surroundings and saw that the Guards were being bandaged while Cora looked over them "Jade!" Bentley exclaimed running up to her and engulfing her into a massive hug.

"How is the battle going?"

"The Rogues retreated, Slate and the rest of the fighters are on their way back now, apparently you took down their most important members so the infamous Red rogues had to retreat"

A Guard stepped up from the crowd of Pack members that occupied the very large room "Thank you for fighting alongside the rest of us, you single-handedly defeated nine experienced Red Rogue Warriors - it would've taken five of our best men to take down one wolf. Thank you Luna Leichhardt for defending your Pack"

The crowd slowly started to kneel down on one knee, bowing their heads in respect, all thirty of them — even the children. Cora and Bentley joined in too, smiling at their best friend. Jade looked around the room once again, surprised at all of them doing the same thing.

After a minute they all stood up properly.

"And I'd do it again" Jade spoke with a certain lightness that made the atmosphere brighter with every breath she took

After another twenty minutes of communicating with the members, Slate finally came into view with Warriors by his side. Most of them were injured and bloody, her eyes found his first.

She turned away swiftly while the others made their way outside into the backyard to greet him. Jade walked up the stairs to his room, since it was the only room that she was familiar with.

As soon as her tired body entered, her blood stained hands grabbed a towel — ready to take a well needed shower. The blood that had almost dried against her skin made her shiver in disgust, none of her clothes were in sight and the only thing that she owned was covered with dark red.

A sigh escaped her lips as she opened Slate's draws only to grab the first shirt she saw — it seemed as though it was long enough to wear as a dress. So without a second thought Jade took it, careful not to ruin it, and made her way into the adjoining bathroom.

Water pelted against her skin, washing away the blood that had found itself painting her arms and hands. Her eyes closed, enjoying the solitude that comes with being left alone.

At that moment she felt angry.

Angry that she was too late to save Jake from being hurt, angry that half the members were telling her to leave him and most of all... angry that Slate probably knew about the attack but didn't tell her a thing about it.

Frustrating tears found their way down her face — Slate let me believe there wasn't a single thing wrong when there was a whole battle out there...

Tanner had always taught her from a very young age; "The best thing you could possibly have in a fight is knowledge. Sure you may be strong and fast but that means nothing compared to someone that knows what your next move is going to be, where you're going to strike and how you're going to attack."

In her mind Slate had unknowingly made her the weakest person on a battle field, fumbling blindly in the dark for some sort of weapon and shield.

So, yes — It was safe to say that she was undeniably angry at him for hiding something like this from her...

* * *

"Where is she?" Slate growled.

The fight had been long and hard, for a second his side was losing but somehow the Rogues had lost some of their best Warriors in battle causing them to retreat. It puzzled him though, since none of his Warriors said that they had done it.

He didn't care though, all him and Soren wanted was to hold their mate and make sure she was safe.

Cora turned around to face him "I think she went to have a shower"

"Why?"

Bentley walked into the backyard casually as other members talked animatedly "Well, to get the blood off"

"What Blood!" Slate hissed, no blood was seen on him because he fought the whole battle in his wolf form, meaning when he went back into his human form there was no evidence of a fight since he healed quickly — the thought of Jade getting hurt spiked his anger.

Robert stepped up from the crowd "The blood of the Rogues she fought"

"You let her fight Rogues!" He grabbed him by the neck "You dare let my mate walk-"

Bentley screamed at seeing her mate in danger "Please! Please. She wanted to fight! There was no stopping her!"

"We were losing, Alpha Parker and you know it! If she didn't fight, we wouldn't be here right now!" Cora exclaimed.

His grip around Robert's neck loosened slightly.

Jennie, the older women who guided Jade through her meetings stepped up from inside the crowd that had gathered "We all let her go, knowing the risks. But the way she talked, the way she acted. Needless to say, Jade held authority against all of us. If you want to punish someone, you can punish me too because if time were rewinded I'd still trust Luna Leichhardt to protect us"

"We would too"

"I too"

"She's not weak at all"

Once again Echoes of agreement went through the crowd, each and every one of them declaring their loyalty for Jade. They defended her actions while telling him she was strong willed. Slate let go of Robert as he felt pride in his heart.

Slowly he accepted the confidence they all had in her. 

Everyone in the Pack held so much loyalty, they all stood in front of him proving just that, even the pups.

But the threat of his mate being hurt was still fresh in his mind "You let your Luna walk into battle, on her own. With no Guard, no other wolf, no Warriors - Nothing -  you all want to be punished for blindly sending her to her death then so be it - Everyone is banned from talking to her until I say you can"

Dread was written on all their faces, Cora and Bentley stood there gaping "Alpha!" Bentley gasped.

Slate snapped his glare in her direction causing her to flinch "I am an Alpha who's mate was put in danger by the very people who were supposed to protect her after I had just had the many years of Hell losing her"

Regret registered on everyone's faces.

Without a second to waste he made his way into the Pack house — walking up the stairs in the direction of a certain delectable scent.

Do you think the punishment was a little much? Soren enquired

Slate rolled his eyes — She could have died

Don't you dare entertain that thought! Unless you want me to mark her the next time I see that simply delicious neck of hers — 

He growled lowly — Soren! Stop that!

He opened his bedroom door — only to shiver in pleasure at the sudden wave of his beautiful mates scent — She's in the shower, why don't we join her?

I'm good with waiting out here — Slate bit back, even though he wanted nothing more than to just walk in there and hold her body against his but he doubted she would appreciate it that much.

* * *

Hesitantly Jade slipped into the massive dress shirt that reached an inch above her knees. It hung loosely to her form but was still surprisingly warm, her nose could still smell his woodsy scent all over the fabric.

It was at that moment she regretted not taking her time and looking through the draws to see if she could find a pair of trousers. As she opened the door her gaze was still focused on the ground but before she could lift her eyes a loud growl resonated through the air.

Her vision snapped in front of her only to see Slate facing her with darkened lust filled eyes.

But what shocked her the most was the fact that it wasn't a deeper shade of blue but instead it was a blazing red "Mine" he hissed before capturing her slender body in his arms