The Luna and her Quadruplet Pups

Chapter 101

3rd Person

“Eve, what have you done?” A man’s voice penetrated the thin walls of the pups’ prison, reaching their young ears as easily as water through a sieve.

“l know that voice!” Riley exclaimed, “It’s the ‘tective!”

“Shh” Parker hushed her, “I want to hear!” Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.

“I did what anyone with half a brain would Eve told her lover, glancing at the cellar door where Jane’s brats were locked safe and sound. They walked right into my hands, I would have been a fool to turn such a golden opportunity down” A golden opportunity was putting it mildly. It had been an absolute blessing. She didn’t have any particular plans when she went to Ethan’s home, only to watch and try to figure out what to do next. Then the little idiots walked out the door like lambs to the slaughter. It had been only too easy to get them to do what she wanted, once she grabbed the runt.

She hadn’t figured out how she was going to get rid of them yet. Every time she tried to get her hands on one long enough to inflict some damage, the other three lept on her like a pack of vicious monkeys.

Eventually she could wrestle one of the girls away long enough to hold them hostage against the others and make them stop attacking, but she was going to need to plan much better if she wanted to end all four of their lives.

This isn’t what we discussed” The investigator growled. “Every man, woman and child in the pack is going to be looking for us now.”

They were going to be looking for me anyway.

Eve reasoned coolly, “And now I can finally get rid of the little monsters.

“I thought you didn’t want him anymore?” The detective hissed. “There’s no reason to harm them. You have me now. You have our baby.”

“1 don’t want him.” Eve replied. “I want my years back. She declared, with a catch in her shrill voice. “All the best years of my life, that I wasted trying to make him love me. I did everything in my power to make him see that I would make the most perfect Luna, and he only ever had eyes for Jane. She could do no wrong, even after the attack! He just kept her inside where the pack couldn’t see how much he still loved and doted on her”

“Killing them won’t give you your youth back, Eve.”

The detective raised his voice so loudly the pups reeled back from the door. “If we run right now, we might have a chance to escape. We can start our lives fresh someplace new, but if you kill those pups Ethan will hunt us down and he will never stop. He will not give up until we, and our child, is dead.”

They deserve it!” Eve countered, “That runt foiled my plans every chance she got, and the others helped her once they found each other.”

“So what?” The investigator replied, “You want to ruin our lives out of spite, you want to let a pack of toddlers steal your future?”

“If you’re this much of a coward, why did you agree to help me in the first place?” Eve quipped cruelly. “I thought you and l were on the same page.”

“We were!” He shouted back. “Until you decided to throw our lives away. I helped you because I love you and I hate what the Alpha put you through. You deserved so much better than his indifference and derision, but I can’t support this, Eve.”

The pups jumped when Eve’s voice rose to a shriek,

“Don’t you dare walk out on me!”

“Why?” He roared back, “Because you want me to stay? Or because you’re afraid of what l’ll do?”

“What are you going to do?” She snapped.

“Well, I suppose that answers that question!” The detective bellowed, charging outside and slamming the door behind him.

“Kieth wait!” Eve cried, rushing after him.

As soon as her footsteps receded, the pups turned to one another. “They’re gone!” Ryder exclaimed, “

Paisley, give me one of your hair pins.”

“Why?” The little girl replied, pulling a couple of b0bby pins from her dark hair even as she questioned the point.

“1 saw this in a movie once.” Ryder shared, jabbing the thin metal prongs into the keyhole. “If you jiggle them around enough, it can open the lock.”

“Are you sure there’s not more to it than that?”

Riley asked skeptically, watching her brother clumsily bang the pins into the locks.

“Well I dunno, I’ve never tried ‘afore” Ryder answered.

“Tha’s not ‘portant.” Parker declared, “if there’s a chance it can work, we have try.”

“Parker’s right” Paisley agreed, “but for da record, I thinks you’re doing it wrong, Ryder.”

“Tha’s not helpful Paisley.” Ryder bit back.

“Maybe one of us should try.” Riley suggested.

“Fine.” He sighed, handing the pins over to his sister.

Riley caught her tongue between her l!ps as she concentrated on the lock, carefully threading the prongs into the keyhole and wiggling them about. She moved them more deftly than Ryder had, feeling the door’s internal structure and listening for the various little clicks and clangs.

“I thinks I almost got it.” She announced after a few minutes of struggling.

“Good job, sissy.” Paisley praised, “just keep trying.

Don’t give up.”

After another minute, a loud click filled the air, and then the door sprung open. However as soon as it did, so too did the front door, and Eve reappeared, her eyes red and streaming with tears. Her jaw dropped open as soon as she saw the four pups framed in the cellar doorway. “How did you get out?”

“Cuz our brains are bigger than yours.” Riley sniffed haughtily, looking between her siblings with a suddenly mischievous grin. “Charge!”

All four pups raced for Eve, throwing their arms out towards her legs and tackling her with all their strength. Eve went flying, hitting the ground hard beneath their small bodies. She wailed in fury as they scrambled up, racing out the door while she was still trying to catch her breath.

Eve clumsily scrabbled to her feet,”No, come back here!”

The pups ran onto the street, not pausing to look around before choosing a direction, but simply tearing off into the night. They held hands as they ran, determined to stay together at all costs. As Eve chased

after them, they looked around for anyone who might help, but it was so late now that the streets were all but empty.

“She’s gonna catch us!” Parker exclaimed as she drew closer, speeding up more and more as she recovered from her tumble.

“That’s right you little demons!” Eve told them, and when I do l’m going to rip you to pieces!”

“Don’t stop!” Ryder cried back, pulling harder on Paisley’s hand as she started to fall behind. Her heart was still recovering, and not as used to being put to such hard work. Her breathing was coming in great gasps, and all her siblings could tell she wouldn’t be able to keep up for much longer.

Riley scanned the path ahead, and her heart leapt when she saw a cluster of garbage bins on the curb, rolled out by the street’s inhabitants for sanitation workers to empty in the morning. She nudge her brothers and shot a pointed look at the bins. The boys nodded in understanding, and as soon as they passed the black containers, they stopped, turned back and toppled them over.

Garbage exploded onto the pavement, and Eve went flying for the second time that night. She screamed as she went down, her limbs colliding with the hard ground as her body rolled and bounced. Trash bags broken open around her, sending all manner of waste over her clothes and skin. The pups only paused long enough to look back and enjoy the sight of her sprawled among the refuse, bruised and humiliated.

“Come on!” Parker urged them after a beat, “she’ll be up again soon!”

With that they fled, rushing away as fast as their little feet could carry them and not stopping until they were all completely exhausted. They decided to hide in an alleyway until they were sure Eve hadn’t followed them. Bent over double and gasping for air, they exchanged relieved smiles.

“That was amazing” Riley laughed breathlessly.

“I’ll never forget the look on her face!” Paisley giggled, still picturing the hilarious sight.

“Shhh” Parker cautioned, even though he too couldn’t contain his amusement.

Only Ryder seemed to realize they weren’t home free yet. He was looking around the mouth of the alley and the strange surroundings beyond its edge with worry and confusion. “Guys where are we?”

The other pups looked around, their laughter dying away little by little. “l dunno.” Riley and Paisley answered in unison.

“How… how are we gonna get home?” Parker asked.

“I dunno.” Ryder repeated his sisters’ words. “I think we’re lost.”