Dead Luna
Chapter 76

Leo's

POV

I was understandably nervous about hosting the Lycan King at Bull Run, especially when I was in the r the capital, let alone have any idea why the Royals should bother to come all the way for such an eve preferences and dietary restrictions.

of hosting my first major event, the mating ball, before I was even a full fledged Alpha. I had no idea that the news of the event had even reached as far as received a phone call from their office of affairs, and was told to expect them, told what all needed to be provided for their stay, as well as food

Then it all made sense when I discovered that the new Queen Luna was my former mother-in-law, Juli Hearst. Naturally, motherly instinct would entice her to come support her daughter on the night of her first shift, and her husband would be by her side! Everything was going great and coming along well, in my mind, until Amelia dropped that bombshell

She is the daughter of King Alexander, a princess with a Lycan wolf, as well the kings heir. I was STUNNED to pay the least. Flabbergasted! Even afraid, just a little bit. I had to leave my own office for a few minutes while I had a bit of a panic attack, although I would never admit that to anyone.

Then during dinner, King Alexander sat next to me and chatted affably about the problems of modern enough to add to the conversation where I thought appropriate. Almost like I was the kings friend, if r "So, my Queen Luna tells me that you used to be Amelia's mate," King Alexander begins, and I begin to "Dad! That is no one's business but ours!" Amelia says sharply.

"It IS my business!" The king stands up and shouts. "You are my heir, and you need to take a mate who will often having to make very hard decisions. Decisions that will have far reaching consequences if you choose who rejected you once already, or someone more suitable like Prince William who is already trained fo "It's alright, Amelia," I say to her. "He's right." Then I look the king in the eye.

olfen politics and current affairs around the kingdom. I said little, but listened much. I was letting down my guard just a little and getting comfortable qual. Until he suddenly changed the topic to my messed up relationship with his daughter. was anywhere else but here. "Care to enlighten me as to why that is no longer the case?"

and by your side! Being a princess and an heir to the throne isn't going to be all fairytale rainbows and unicorns! Its politics, keeping up appearances, and wrongly. In fact, tomorrow you will be required to make one of those decisions that has far reaching consequences. Will you be choosing this untried Alpha ole?"

"I rejected Amelia because I was young and stupid, and she ordered me to do it. I didn't really want to and I had no idea of how much pain it would cause, but she made me to do it!" I tell him truthfully. "I thought she would soon come back and that we'd make up, and everything would be great again like it was before. Only she never came back, and nobody would tell me where she was! When I finally found her again, I wasn't given any chance to explain or apologize. My Alpha ordered me not to go after her, and I couldn't go against his order! And then just minutes afterwards she was attacked and killed by rogue and I swear I wanted to die to."

"I promise I would never make such a mistake again," I continue, willing myself not to cry. "Only I don'........you'll need to worry about it. I'm pretty certain Amelia intends to choose someone else."

"You ordered him to reject you?" The king says, addressing his daughter. "You, an untrained half Lycan princess ordered him to reject you? You had just enough of a powerful aura at 18 years of age to force him to reject you. But why do that if you truly loved each other?"

"He wouldn't mark me!" She responds bitterly.

"Well, he couldn't mark you!" The King informs her, and I'm listening intently as this conversation get more interesting by the second. "You are a Royal Lycan, and he's not. You have to mark him first! Lycans don't mate until they reach age 21, but you are half wolf so you were mated by the moon goddess much too early."

I nearly fell out of my chair at this revelation!

"Oh, goddess, Leo!" Amelia wails, "I didn't know!"

At first I was full of wonder, and then joy. And then I became very angry, very quickly!

"You put me thru HELL!" I shout as I stand up, the wine glass I was holding in my hand shattering into pieces. "You forced me to reject you against my will, you left me, you treated me like a naughty child when I finally replace you again, and after you died and came back to life, you were parading around with all your new potential mates, humiliating me and breaking my heart all over again!"

"I know!" Amelia cries, "I'm so sorry!"

I want to forgive her, but I'm just so angry right now that I don't know what to do. Then I notice my hand is bleeding. "Excuse me, your majesty," I say to the king. "I'm going to leave now before I break anything else tonight."

The king nods his head regally, and I leave with Beta Ragu following just behind. Ragu insists that I at least allow him to spray my wounds with antiseptic spray. He leads me down to the kitchen, my head so full of everything I just heard that I couldn't attend to anything else. It barely registers in my brain when Ragu is washing my hand and removing a few specks of glass that had embedded into my palm. The sting of the spray brought me back to reality.

"You seem to be taking things well," Ragu mentions. "Jerome would have destroyed that room and probably killed Amelia."

"First off, I'm not Jerome," I remind my Beta, not enjoying the comparison to my predecessor. "And secondly, it wasn't her fault. She didn't even know what she was doing, apparently. I'm going to the gym now, and going to destroy the punching bag." That was my refuge these days, when I was angry, frustrated, or upset about anything. The pack had a state of the art gym, and I had been making much use of it. Worried about the future? Gym. Can't sleep? Gym. Hiccups in the party planning? Well, you get the picture.

By the time I reached the gym, my hand had healed enough that I could put on the boxing gloves and I began pounding away at the bag like it had personally done me wrong!

I have no one to blame for this major fiasco called my life, except for the fates. The fates must be laughing their asses off at the misery and suffering they've caused. We are all nothing more than puppets for the gods and goddesses to play with when they are bored. Not enough drama? Let's pull on Leo's strings and see how he reacts!

I must have been pounding away at that punching bag for a good 20 minutes, not replaceing it to be even half cathartic enough, when I felt the Kings aura enter the gym, along with his Beta and Gamma. I ignore him, though, and continue to punch the bag even harder. Why can't everyone just leave me the f**k alone?

The king dismisses Ragu, claiming I will be perfectly safe with him. I rather doubt that, but I turn around and also tell my beta to go.

"You've taken the news rather better than most Alphas would have." The king compliments me, but I doubt he intended it like that an I don't take it that way.

"I was a c**k up as a Gamma, and now I'm going to be a failure as an a Alpha," I say out loud. "It's only by the combined talents of my established team that I'm able to manage this pack at all." The king nods at that.

"Will you also be a c**k up as a prince and future Queen consort?" The kings probes, and I gasp at what he's implying.

"It doesn't matter, does it?" I reply, getting angry again. "She's not going to choose me! She left me and never came back! Then the moon goddess took away our mate bond. I'm nothing to her anymore."

"I have a reliable source that told me she was going to choose you, because that is apparently what the moon goddess wants." The king says, and my heart nearly stops. "And now that she realizes her mistake, she is absolutely devastated! My daughter still loves you. Only, I can't let her choose a mate who is not a Lycan."

Suddenly I am being held by Beta Alfred and Gamma Glen.

"Hold him steady, so I don't accidentally hit an artery." The king says, and I before I realize what's happening the king bites me in the shoulder, injecting his venom deep into my body. I scream at the pain. And the last thing I hear before I pass out is the kings final words to me. "Only if you can survive this, are you worthy to be my daughters mate!"