"They left," Keira said, turning to face Nigel.
He was speechless.
"Don't worry," she continued. "I'm sure he will come back for me."
With all the disappointment she could muster, she tried out her newly formed bond link.
'Did you really leave without me?' she asked him, hoping that they weren't too far away. She didn't know the distance on this thing.
Keira felt a small panic on the other side.
"Th-this is serious," Nigel managed to say. "I'll inform the King."
"Don't worry about it," Keira said, shrugging. "I've got it covered."
While she waited, Nigel got some breakfast for her and waited with her until the vans showed up. She was almost done when she heard the engines.
"Here they come," Keira said, pointing with her fork.
All three vans slowed to a stop, one of them opened its door, and out came the General looking a bit uncomfortable. Keira finished her food and thanked Nigel before walking over.
"I know you made your position clear," Keira said softly as she approached, knowing that he could hear her. "But did you really have to leave me behind? What if your father finds out?"
With that, she climbed aboard. The General sat took a seat next to her, and the vans drove off once more. The drive was silent for the most part. Keira wasn't sure if everyone else could feel the tension; if they did, no one was acting any different. For the most part, Keira sat in her seat and stared out the window. Marcus and the General began talking shop as soon as they hit the road.
Keira didn't pay any attention to them. Even though last night wasn't how she thought things were going to go, Keira knew that the General was only fulfilling his obligations. She still got the feeling that she wasn't wanted, and if she was needed, it was just out of convenience.
After fulfilling her obligation of helping out for a month, why should she stay?... Why would she want to stay?
Sometime later, after dozing off, Keira felt the van come to a stop.
"We should get some snacks while we are here," one of the wolves said as the sound of the van door opening reached her ears.
"Get the food out," ordered Marcus. "This is a good place to eat."
The van moved a bit as everyone piled out.
"Should I wake the Luna?" Marcus asked. "It'll be several hours before we stop again."
"You shouldn't call her that," the General replied. "She's not staying long."
"I wouldn't either if my mate forgot about me and drove off," Marcus commented.
"I know you two are bonded," he continued. "I am your right-hand man, your beta, and we're best friends, so I'm going to tell you this while no one else would dare. I don't think it's safe for our Luna to go off on her own. Not with all the news and incidents that we've been getting. Any wolf would be able to tell that she belongs in our pack. They may just go after her to get to us."
"I also know about your promise to Victoria, and I'm not saying to just get rid of her, but you and Victoria don't have a future. The King's line will die if you don't choose Keira. It's not fair to Keira that you are treating her this way, either. It's not her fault that the Moon Goddess decided you two were meant to be together."
There was a pause in his speech.
"Donovan, the pack needs Keira if we are to survive," Marcus said in an even more serious tone of voice. "Victoria doesn't know the first thing about running a pack. Last time you put her in charge, it was a disaster, and we had several members leave. Many others have threatened to leave. You are maxed out. You and I are dealing with all the pack affairs, and we are barely holding on. Keira knows how to do everything. We need her as our Luna, whether you like it or not."
"You don't have to say anything," Marcus continued. "But if I were you, I would do whatever it took to make sure my mate didn't leave me."
Keira heard some footsteps retreating.
'I guess he left,' Keira thought, finding a new respect for the beta.
'I like his speech,' Sabelina said, yawning. 'We should find his mate for him as a thank you.'
'I wouldn't even know where to start,' Keira replied. 'But I'm sure she will turn up somewhere.'
While Keira was debating whether or not she would "wake up", the decision was taken from her when Wade called out her name.
"Captain Luna!" Wade called. "We got some food for you!"
'Where does he come up with these names?' she wondered.
Keira opened her eyes, squinting at the brightness. She looked around lazily and saw that the General was still sitting in his seat next to her.
"Everything ok?" she asked.
He glanced at her but didn't reply.
"Captain Luna!" Wade called again.
"Excuse me," Keira said, standing up as much as she could and walking past him.
"We've got room for you," Wade said, waving at her.
Keira walked over and noticed a few more wolves around Wade.
"I was telling the guys that we should ask the Alpha to make you in charge of our training," Wade was saying as he sat down.
"I don't think-" Keira began, taking a seat next to him.
Wade put some food in front of her.
"I know, I know," Wade interrupted. "You're not the one to decide it, but if the Alpha says that's ok, would you accept?"
"He won't ask me," Keira assured him.
'I won't be staying long enough,' she wanted to say, but stayed silent. 'Why would he have me do anything else but stabilize the pack?'
'We didn't sign a contract,' Sabelina interjected as she stretched. 'We got right to it and didn't sign anything. I wasn't sure if you remembered. I don't think it matters now.'
Keira froze at the realization.
'Why is the contract important?' Sabelina wondered.
'It's important because it's our ticket to freedom,' Keira explained. 'The King can't break an agreement between mates. However, the agreement would have needed to be signed before any mating or marking to make it valid. We can't sign it after the fact, the King won't recognize the agreement.'
'So we can't leave after a month,' Sabelina said, sounding excited.
"Excuse me," Keira said, standing up and walking back to the van where the General was still sitting.
He was on his laptop typing away.
"General-" Keira began.
"Donovan," came his reply.
"General Donovan," Keira said, correcting herself. "What happened to the contract?"
"The what?" he asked, distracted.
Keira reached over and shut the laptop, forcing him to look up.
"The contract," she repeated. "The contract where we stated our conditions for mating. What happened to it?"
"I-" he began, but stopped short of the realization.
"We didn't sign it," Keira said, looking at him sternly.
"Now what?" Keira asked. "That contract was the basis of our agreement. Now we don't even have that."
"Are you still leaving?" he asked.
Keira gritted her teeth. She couldn't leave even if she wanted to. They were bonded, and without a contract, they couldn't do whatever they wanted; not anymore.
"You know the answer to that question," Keira replied, sighing heavily. "Do you really think I could leave even if I wanted to?"
"No," he said softly. "I'll figure it out."
'This is the best news I've ever heard!' celebrated Sabelina. 'We are going to run that bitch out of the pack!'
'Calm down,' Keira said. 'We don't know what he's going to decide.'
"You should go eat," General Donovan said, opening his laptop once more. "We aren't stopping any time soon."
Keira excused herself and went to join Wade once more.
"Captain Luna, is everything ok?" he asked nervously.
"Just fine," Keira said, going back to her food.
'I wonder if they can sense our uneasiness through the connection we have with the General,' Keira wondered.
"There is a lot of logistics that have to be taken care of before we arrive," Keira continued, trying to explain the situation the best she could.
"I'm sure that you are aware of that," she added.
"Yes," Wade said carefully. "There is a lot of work to be done."
"Like what?" she asked curiously. What 'work' could there possibly be?
Wade looked down at his food and wouldn't reply. Everyone else was also looking away or concentrating on something else. Keira decided not to push it and went back to her food.
Ten minutes later, everyone was packing up and getting to head out once more. If the rest of the trip went well, they would stop every few hours to refuel on gas and use the bathroom.
*
"Alpha," Wade's voice came over the radio. "We are 20 minutes out from the Parkland gas station."
"Parkland gas station?" Keira asked, glancing at him.
Something about that name made Keira sit up in her seat. She had heard that name before, but she couldn't recall where it was from.
"Is there something wrong?" Marcus asked from the back seat.
'That's a known rogue stop,' Sabelina reminded her. 'We've been getting numerous reports about random attacks at that place.'
"It's a known rogue spot," Keira said, remembering. "The Task Force has been receiving a lot of reports about that area. Even packs are being attacked out in the open in that area."
"It's the last rest stop with a gas station before going further away from civilization," Marcus commented. "If we don't stop there, we don't have enough gas to make it to the next stop."
"We'll just have to be careful," General Donovan commented. "No one goes anywhere alone. We will leave at first light. Find out if we packed any gas cans, and if we do fill them up. Buy any essentials that we may need."
"I'll pass on the word," Marcus replied.
Keira was on edge the whole way there. She just had a bad feeling that something was going to happen.