Chapter 427: Chapter 427

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 my lap, 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 coming from Zane and Xander.

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!” Stella cried when I tipped Katie’s head back to clear her airway. “Stop!”

I was aware of Stella 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.” Stella’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 collar 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 place while l fought it.

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

Stella 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 place.

“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.

She hadn’t moved. Stella 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 Stella 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 glance 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 blazed in his eyes and voice, and his face rippled with the force of the beast trying to come 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 Stella.

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.

At last, 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. Stella 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. “Stella. Let us help your mother.”

Stella 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,” Stella said.

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

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