Alpha King’s Lost Luna by Aubrey Pepper

Chapter 2 Viper bite

CA SSANDRA

“Cas sandra?” Marley mudged me back into reality. Her pretty eyes were wide with concern. “Are you okay?”

I gulped, and then nodded as I pushed away my memories of Anemond. “Yes.”

I managed to pull myself together. I needed to be level-headed if we were going to heal this patient.

It didn’t take us long to reach the Pack House. The enormous mansion wasn’t

far from the clinic.

When we crossed through the doors, we were surprised to see a crowd of people hustling around. The Pack House seemed to be in a huge commotion, and I had to duck to avoid bumping into anyone around me. This was the most activity I’d seen here in a while.

“Wow,” Marley remarked as Jasper led us down the hall. “This must be serious. Everyone seems so upset.” She tugged at Jasper’s sleeve. “Can you tell us what’s going on?”

“The Alpha will tell you once we find him,” Jasper remarked.

“Oh,” Marley replied, and she let out a sigh. “So much secrecy.

I wanted to ask follow-up questions, but Jasper’s tone was so serious, I decided to wait. When we reached the end of the busy hall, a pair of people were waiting for us. One of them was Gareth, the Alpha of the Wild Crawler Pack, and the -other was his eldest son, Rayden.

We bowed respectfully when we stopped in front of them.

The Alpha of the Wild Crawler Pack was a stern man, yet fair, and he was

well-respected amongst the Pack. He was normally quite calm, but today, his brown eyes were wide with concern. Rayden wore a similar expression.

Rayden was tall, with big, dark brown eyes, and black hair that glinted blue in the light, and his perfect teeth were white as pearls. He was slim, but covered in exotic tattoos, and girls in the pack admired his high cheekbones and fit frame.

When I first arrived here five years ago, Rayden had been a young man of sixteen. Now he was all grown up, and it likely wouldn’t be long until he took his father’s place as Alpha of the Wild Crawlers.

I was a little surprised to see him here at the Pack House. The last time I’d seen him was two years ago at a dinner hosted by the Alpha’s family. It’d been a farewell dinner to celebrate Rayden’s departure for the Wegalla Empire’s army- an elite group known as the Myriad. It was an honor to be recruited, and so we’d honored the young man accordingly.

“Ca ssandra,” Gareth greeted me in a relieved tone, and then he looked at Marley. “And Marley. I’m so glad to see you.”

me.”

can leave us.

and after he gave us a small smile, the guard turned and left us. After he disappeared down the

offered me a kind smile

he greeted me warmly, if not formally, and he nodded

head at me.

“It’s a

agreed, and then he looked at Gareth. “If you’ll excuse me, father, I have some quick business to attend to.”

course,” Gareth replied. “Do what you

the young male se rvant standing politely in the corner. “Please escort the doctor and

and

forming in the back of my mind,

the se rvant addressed us, and after Marley and I offered polite nods toward Gareth, we followed him down the hall and up the

them stood four guards. Much to my continued surprise,

whispered under her breath. She too recognized the special crest on the guards’ shoulders. Her pale green eyes darted around the hall. -“What’s

was. This guest of honor must have been very important if

of the door.

approached the door, but they stood aside and

doors flew open, a chorus of sounds flew toward us. A tingle of anxiety moved through me, but I managed to remain calm.

room was pure chaos. The curtains were closed, and the only -light in the room came from candles and the fireplace that blazed

fire.

and others with trays of

of the room, and when a few moved out of the way,

was a young boy, around the same age as my Finnick. Se rvants attended to the boy, and even from across the room, I could see his lips. were blue. Perspiration ran down his face and his eyes

followed the serv ant

I pulled my waist-length. copper hair into a ponytail and steadied my nerves. I needed to have my wits about me if

I noticed the Luna of the Wild Crawler Pack, Sofia Bailey, stood beside the bed. She was just as beautiful as ever, but her short dark hair was a little out of place, and

and I noticed her eyes were underscored by light purple shadows.

she sighed in relief.

looked tired, but she managed to smile at me anyway.

boys are downstairs with a maid,” she answered before I could ask. “They’re safe and

glad they’re okay. Now, how’s our patient?”

“Please, doctor, you must do something to help him. I fear he’s in a great