Forbidden Queen
Chapter Nineteen – The Truth

Anna

I have spent the whole day healing the wounded from the battle. I am drained, having used up all my energy. I am dreading the end of the day when I will have to talk to Daniel and explain to him who I really am. I just hope he won’t hate me because of who my father is.

Diane approaches me. “You need to stop now; you are exhausted the seriously wounded have been cared for. Those that are left can be treated with rest and conventional medication. Go back to your tent and sleep.”

I nod in agreement. Too tired to even say the words.

She touches my face tenderly “I don’t know what would have happened if you hadn’t been here to help us. We wouldn’t have been able to heal so many of the wounded. You have saved a lot of lives today. Thank you.”

I try to smile. I am happy that I have been able to use my gift to treat so many wolves.

“Daniel is here to take you to your tent. Go and rest.”

I look behind me and see my mate standing there. His face is expressionless, I can’t tell what he is thinking.

I turn and walk towards him, and he silently leads me out of the tent towards the canteen.

“You need food first. Then we can go back to our tent, and you can explain to me how that enemy warrior knew your name. I want the truth now, no more lies, no more refusing to talk. You need to tell me everything.”

“OK” I say quietly

We lapse into silence until we reach the camp kitchen. A buffet has been laid out, but I am too tired to even think about eating. Daniel takes two plates and starts to load them with food.

When he has finished, he says “Come we can take these back to our tent and eat there.”

I nod and follow him. I am too tired to do anything else. I am too exhausted even to worry about what he will say when I tell him the truth. Part of me is hopeful that he will still care for me after he replaces out who I am. Even though that Black Moon warrior called my name, and he must be thinking the worst of me, it didn’t stop him from filling a plate for me, making sure that I was fed. Maybe despite everything he still cares.

When we reach our tent, he doesn’t say anything. He lets me sit down and eat my plate of food in silence. I suddenly realise how hungry I am. I haven’t eaten since before the battle started which was hours ago. He waits until I finish eating before he begins to speak.

“Who are you really? How did that Black Moon Pack warrior know your name. I need you to tell me the truth.”

I know that I have to tell him everything, whatever happens next, there is no point in hiding who I really am.

“He knows me because I was a member of the Black Moon Pack. Lucius is my father.”

He draws away from me, I can see the shock in his eyes.

“No please. Listen to me” I beg. “I am not like him or the others in my pack. When you found me, I was running away, I truly was trying to reach my uncle’s pack. The warriors you fought with were trying to capture me and return me to my father.

I can’t go back there. He will be so angry with me for embarrassing him by running away, for not being an obedient daughter. He may even decide to kill me. I am not a spy. I do not want to hurt you or anyone else here.”

He nods, and we sit in silence for what feels like an eternity. Different emotions flit across his face. I cannot tell what he is thinking.

“We know that the Black Moon pack are brutal in battle. That they don’t care who they hurt but we know little about what happens within the pack. How Lucius treats his wolves. Even his own family and closes advisors.”

“My father’s ethos in battle is much the same as the one he applies to governing his pack. Weakness is not tolerated. Strength and violence are prized above all else. My father has never shown me any love, I do not believe that he really cares for me. As a daughter the only value I have as far as he is concerned is as someone, he can mate to another powerful, wolf for political gain.

I was mostly left to myself growing up. Until he decided that Mark, his closest ally, a wolf more than twice my age would be my mate. Mark is very like my father, cold and cruel. I knew I couldn’t stay. I couldn’t let that happen to me, so I ran, and while I was running you found me. You protected me from the wolves my father had sent to drag me back.”

Daniel raises his hand and strokes my cheek. I lean into him, taking comfort from the touch of my mate.

“I can’t imagine what it must have been like. To grow up with a father like that.”

Relief washes over me. His immediate reaction is not to hate me because of who my father is. He believes me, he is being sympathetic.

“It is all I have known. I know that my mother loved me and cared for me, but she died when I was very young. After that I was on my own. I have a brother, but we were never close. He is my father’s favourite, and he has been brought up to follow in his footsteps.”

“Well, you are not on your own now. You have me your mate, and I will protect you.”

I look at him, trying to gauge whether he truly means what he has just said, if he is prepared to protect me. That he understands that he might have to defend me from his friends and his pack. When I look into his face I can see determination, I believe that he really will protect me. And for the first time I really know that he loves me.

I move in closer. All of a sudden I am desperate to kiss him, to be held by mate. The first person in my life who is prepared to help and protect me.

As I move towards him, he dips his head, his lips meet mine, and we kiss. As soon as our lips touch, I feel the strength of the mate bond. Sparks ignite across my skin, and I know that he feels it too as he growls. He deepens the kiss, his tongue demands entrance to my mouth, as his arms wrap around me pulling my body closer to his. Our tongues dance and I can feel heat rising in the depths of my stomach.

His hands begin to make their way down my body, touching and caressing, until he reaches the bottom of my t-shirt which he quickly pulls up. He pulls his mouth away from my lips so that he can pull my shirt over my head. My lips feel lost without his, empty.

Once the t-shirt is gone, he starts to trail kisses down my neck, stopping to lick and suck at the place where I will wear his mark; before he continues down to my chest. He removes my bra, and then stops for a second to look at my breasts. His eyes darken, turning black, and his breathing hitches. “So beautiful” he whispers before taking my left nipple into his mouth. He starts to suck and then gently bite down. A wave of pleasure like nothing that I have felt before races through me.

His mouth suddenly moves away, and I whimper at the loss of his tongue, but he turns his attention to my other breast which he latches onto. I can feel heat building again. Until he removes his mouth from my breast again. I growl in frustration, until I realise that he has started to trail kisses down my body.

He keeps going lower and lower until he reaches my jeans. He undoes the fastener and pulls them down gently. I step out of them, and then he moves me gently back towards the camp bed. We both hastily remove our remaining clothes before he lays me down on the bed. His mouth returns to my stomach as he starts to kiss me again, his lips going lower down until he reaches my clit. His mouth latches on and he starts to lick, suck and then lightly bite. Waves of pleasure being to course through me.

He moves his tongue away, and I growl with frustration. He looks at my face and smiles before his tongue moves until it is suddenly deep inside of me. No man has ever gone there before. At first, I feel embarrassment. It feels so strange, but I am soon overcome by intense pleasure. I can feel my orgasm building, and sensing that my climax is close his tongue becomes more insistent. Pushing further inside me, before he stops and turns his attention back to my clit. I can feel that I am not going to last much longer. I begin to tremble and then suddenly I experience my first real orgasm. Waves of pleasure roll over me and I cry out.

As I come back down to earth, he looks at me. “I love you, MY mate.”

I think that this is probably the happiest I have ever been. The safest I have ever felt.

“I love you too. I have never felt so safe and so loved as when I am with you.”

“It is going to be difficult for us. I am going to have to tell Katy and the others who you really are, and I don’t know how they will respond. The Lunar Eclipse pack has suffered at the hands of traitors who were working for your father. Katy, Alex and I have all lost family members because of him.”

“They will hate me” I say sadly.

“I don’t know” Daniel confesses. “They hate your father and his pack, but they know that you cannot judge someone because of the way their father behaves. They will need you to prove your loyalty to us, to show that you are no longer bound to the black moon pack which will be hard.”

“I am prepared to do whatever it takes,” I promise him.

“Even if it could lead to the death of your father, and the defeat of your old pack? he asks.

“Yes. If my father sees me again, he is likely to kill me. I think he killed my mother. My pack never cared for me. The only people I ever felt any affection from where the healers. I would never do anything that would endanger them, but the rest…. I have been treated better by all of you in the last week than I have been treated by my old pack in my entire lifetime. I am ready to swear allegiance to your pack, my mate’s pack.”

He kisses me gently. “I will protect you from anyone who tries to harm you. We are together now, and soon, I will complete our mate bond and claim you. If that is what you want?”

“There Is nothing I want more. I feel at home with you and your pack, I want to belong to you, and only you.”

“Then tomorrow we will start to make it happen” he tells me.

“How?” I ask. I am nervous. As much as I love him, I am not sure how we can tell anyone else about me without them trying to destroy what we have.

“Tomorrow morning, we will go and see Katy, and tell her who you are. She will help us; she will know how best to approach Alex and Joseph.”

He seems so confident that his friend the queen will support us. I am scared though. Why would the queen help the daughter of her worst enemy? The person who was responsible for killing her parents and forcing her to remain hidden for eighteen years.