Arya had vomited multiple times by now, and the cloth that she had sprayed with her perfume clearly didn't work in keeping the stench away.
She searched the area around the dump for any clue. 'What are we looking for?' Bella asked.
'Anything that seems off, thrown away but is not trash.' Arya said, looking around, the malodorous smell almost making her faint.
"Where's she?" Alfa screamed at the servants in his house.
All the servants were shaking in fear. The alfas aura was terrifying and everyone knew that he had been angry about everything going on, but now his luna was missing, and no one had seen her; and the worst part, no one can smell her.
"Son, calm down!" Luna Genevieve said calmly. "If she wanted to be found, you'd have found her by now."
"But mom..." "Son, your mother is right. Give her some time," Kane said.
"You guys don't understand... "Alfa began but was once again cut short.
"Son, anger clouds your thinking ability. To think clearly, calm your mind. Take a deep breath and think where she could have gone!" His mother said.
He clenched his jaws and took in a deep breath while thinking of every place she could have gone... "West dumpsite! She's gone to the west dumpsite!"
"Are you sure, son?"
"Yes, dad, I'm sure!"
Something shone in a distance that caught Arya's eye. She walked closer and found a golden ring. Picking it up, she saw it was not in any way damaged. Why would someone throw it away?
Looking at it properly, she saw a crescent shaped moon with a little diamond stud in the middle.
"It's looks too expensive to throw away. At the same time, it looks too old, like a family heirloom." Arya said aloud.
'Maybe this is what we're looking for.' Bella said.
"What are you doing here. Aria?"
Arya jumped at the sound that came from behind her, and turning around, she saw a very angry blue-eyed alfa standing there.
"I think I found something!" Arya said, holding up the ring. "I'm sure that this ring belongs to the person who brought Vivien here and left her for dead."
Alfa stared at her with a mix of anger and relief. Then his eyes went to the ring. "This ring is the heirloom of the crescent moon pack..., but no one from that pack has been in my territory for years," he said, confused.
"Then maybe someone came into this pack a long time ago... and kept this ring, just like my mother kept the necklace," Arya said.
"We can not blame anyone with this ring... they can say they had thrown it out. We need more clues," Alfa said, looking around.
'Alfa, I need you to get here. It's urgent.' Gretchen's mindlink came through.
"Aria, we need to go. Gretchen called us."
Arya put the ring she found in her chain, like a pendant, and they ran through the forest in the direction of the hospital.
Their wolf form was faster than their human, so they reached the medical center within minutes.
Even from outside, they could hear someone screaming in pain, calling out to her luna.
Ronald met them outside and updated the alfa on the situation while Arya ran inside.
"Vivien! I'm here!" Arya called out to her, running to her side.
"Lu... Luna... I...I...he ...he wants ..." Vivien was trying to say something but was clearly in too much stress to do so.
"Vivien, calm down. Take a deep breath and calm down... relax," Arya said, breathing in slowly so Vivien could mimic her. She held her hand and stood by her side.
This seemed to help, as she began to relax a little... until her eyes fell on her necklace.
Vivien began hyperventilating and screaming, pointing at her necklace, "Luna, he...he will kill...kill..." That's all she could say before she fell unconscious.
Alfa had heard all this and had just walked into the room. "Aria, you alright?"
Arya just nodded her head. Someone wanted to kill Vivien, and she needed to find out who before he strikes again. She was glad that Alfa had increased security at the hospital and that no one was allowed to visit Vivien.
"Aria, we need to talk!" Alfa said as they walked out of the clinic.
"About what?" Arya said nonchalantly.
"About this morning."
"We have nothing to talk about!" Saying this, Arya turned to walk, but Alfa grabbed her hand.
"Listen, I know you're angry with me, and with good reason too, but I want us to be open about how we feel from now on. I want you to tell me exactly what you think and want. I will do the same." Alfa still held her hand, as the feeling of belonging engulfed Arya.
Her heart rate increased, yet her body felt relaxed.
Without saying a word, she fell into his arms. Alfa wrapped his arms around his mate, and time seemed to stop. They stood like this for a long time before Arya finally said, "I don't know what I want. One moment, I was a human living with my family and friends... had a great career and life... the next, I came here, realized I was not human, and now, I have to make such a huge leap from being a career oriented human to being a werewolf luna of a huge pack." Arya broke free gently and looked at him. "I don't know the 'W' of being a werewolf, and now I'm going to be a pack luna. How will I take care of the entire pack if I can't even solve the mystery of what happened to Vivien?"
"Sweetheart, if I may ask, why do you want to find out all this... you could tell someone else to do it for you!" Alfa asked her.
Arya lowered her gaze, "because I feel responsible for what happened to her. If I hadn't interfered in between Garry and Vivien, maybe this wouldn't have happened."
"You know, love, this wasn't your fault. If you want to blame anyone, blame me. I never stopped this kind of behavior. I could have, but didn't even try," Alfa said, his eyes heavy with guilt.
"At least we know that the one with this ring is the culprit," Arya said, holding her chain up.
"We should look for more clues; like who this ring belongs to," Alfa said, smiling.