Ch. I Refuse to Be Your Luna 242 I Refuse to Be Your Luna 242

Chapter 242 Hidden Passage

Alpha Harold Virel POV

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I was halfway through calling the security team when Rhys confirmed the tracker’s signal was coming from beneath Stonehedge.

I ended the call with him and contacted Magnus, ordering him to meet me in the eastern wing with a small group of trusted warriors.

Flourish was already on her feet when I turned toward her. Her bag sat beside the chair, and the look on her face told me she had no intention of waiting upstairs while we investigated.

“You’re staying here,” I told her.

“Absolutely not.”

“Flourish, we don’t know what’s down there.”

“My mother’s scent was found in Marvolo’s vehicle, and now his tracker is transmitting from under our home.” She stepped closer, her voice rising. “You can’t expect me to sit here and wait for someone to tell me whether she’s alive.”

I understood why she wanted to come, but understanding did not make the risk disappear.

The last time we followed a lead connected to Elara, the eastern army had moved beneath our estate, and we still had no clear answer about who was directing them.

Magnus arrived with Rhys and six warriors carrying weapons, flashlights, and portable scanners. Rhys had his tablet open, displaying the tracker’s location as a pulsing point beneath the eastern wing.

“The signal is coming from a section of the old foundation,” he explained. “There’s no access point on the current building plans, but the older maps show a service corridor nearby.”

“Then we find it,” I said.

Flourish reached for her bag.

I caught her wrist before she could lift it. “You stay between Magnus and me, our instructions once we’re inside.”

and you follow

“I can do that.”

“If I tell you to stop, you stop.”

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She pulled her hand free. “If you tell me to run away while my mother is down there, we’ll have another argument.”

Magnus cleared his throat, and Rhys looked down at his tablet. I let out a breath, then nodded

once.

“Fine. Stay between us.”

We followed Rhys through the eastern corridor to a narrow maintenance room behind an old storage closet.

The room had been locked, but one of the warriors opened it with a key from the security office, revealing a concrete stairwell that descended into darkness.

The air changed as we went down. I caught damp stone, old dust, and traces of wolf scent that had been buried beneath the smell of the estate for years.

My wolf pushed forward, alert to the unfamiliar space.

“Watch your step,” I warned.

The warriors switched on their lights and moved ahead in pairs. Magnus stayed near Flourish, while I kept close enough to reach her if anything came at us from the sides.

The stairwell ended at a stone passage with a low ceiling and uneven walls. Marks had been carved into the blocks at regular intervals, some worn almost flat, while others looked sharper beneath the dust.

Magnus stopped beside one of them. “These are old pack markings.”

“How old?” I asked.

“Older than the current boundaries. They were used before Stonehedge became a single organized pack.”

He brushed dirt from a symbol shaped like a crescent crossed by three lines. Flourish had moved a few steps ahead, but she suddenly slowed and pressed her palm against the wall.

“What is it?” I asked.

She stared at the stone. “I don’t know. I feel something when I pass these markings.”

Her wolf stirred, and I felt the shift in her scent as her First Alpha blood reacted to the old wards. A faint pressure moved through the passage, making the warriors behind us pause.

Magnus turned toward her. “Don’t touch the marks again.”

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Chapter 242 Hidden Passage

“Why?”

“Some of these wards may still be active.”

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Flourish withdrew her hand, though she kept looking at the wall. I ordered the team to continue, and we moved deeper into the passage, checking each turn before advancing.

Rhys crouched beside a narrow section of stone where a metal plate had been fitted into the wall.

He wiped away dust and exposed a small electronic panel with a dark screen and a card reader.

“This wasn’t here when the old maps were made,” he said.

“Can you access it?”

“I’ll try.”

He connected a small device to the panel, and a row of lights appeared across its surface. A few seconds later, the lock clicked, revealing a narrow recess containing wires and a compact control unit.

“Someone’s been using this recently,” Rhys said. “The system has a fresh power connection, and the access logs were wiped.”

I looked from the panel to the old stonework around it. Whoever had been moving through these tunnels had found a way to use the pack’s ancient passages alongside modern security systems.

They had not simply stumbled into Stonehedge. They had been making use of it.

“Can you trace the access?” I asked.

“Not from this terminal. I’ll need to take the unit apart or connect it to the main security network.”

“Do it when we’re back upstairs. Keep moving.”

We reached a wider chamber beyond the control panel, where the ceiling rose high enough for several people to stand without bending. One of the warriors swept his light across the room and called us over.

Metal restraints were bolted into the stone wall. A dark stain marked the floor beneath them, and scraps of fabric lay near a broken wooden chair.

I stepped inside first, checking the corners while the others spread out. The smell of blood was old but strong enough for my wolf to pick up, and I found several drag marks leading toward a

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Chapter 242 Hidden Passage

second passage.

“Someone was held here,” Rhys said.

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Flourish had stopped beside the chair. She crouched and picked up a small piece of pale fabric before Magnus could stop her.

“Flourish,” I said.

She turned it over in her hands, her face draining of color. “This belongs to my mother.”

Her wolf surged, and her aura pressed hard against mine. She moved toward the passage where the drag marks disappeared, but I caught her around the waist and pulled her back before she could rush ahead.

“Let go of me!”

“Not until you stop.”

“She could be right there!”

“And whoever took her could be waiting for you.”

She fought my hold for a moment, then went rigid as a sound reached us from beyond the chamber. It was faint, almost lost beneath the warriors’ movements, but every wolf in the room heard it.

A woman’s voice called from the darkness.

“Flourish?”

I raised my weapon and stepped in front of her. “Everyone hold position.”

The warriors aimed their lights toward the passage, while Magnus moved closer to Flourish. She gripped the piece of fabric so tightly that her knuckles turned pale.

The voice came again, clearer this time.

“Flourish, please.”

Her eyes widened, and she leaned past my shoulder.

“That’s my mother,” she whispered.

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