Alpha King’s Lost Luna by Aubrey Pepper

Chapter 17 Healer’s fear

ASHER

Once the healer left, I leaned back in the armchair in Alpha Gareth’s meeting room and released a sigh. My head was aching, as if I had a million hammers, pounding at it at once. I pinched the bridge of my nose between my fingers.

It was difficult to say whether the headache was from the mysterious disease worsening or the lack of sleep. I barely got a full night’s rest these days, and it was, beginning to take its toll on my entire body. It was simply too difficult to rest when there was so much plaguing my mind.

And now, there was someone else to consider, someone I couldn’t get out of my

head.

Cas sandra Keller.

Even though she was gone, her name ran circles in my mind, over and over, as if it were a song rather than a name.

Ca ssandra Keller, a nobody healer from a long-forgotten Pack on the border of

Wegalla.

Over the past few conversations I’d held with her, I knew there was something special about her, something weirdly familiar that drew me in in unexplainable ways. As much as I wanted to dismiss those feelings, I knew they couldn’t be ignored.

Had I heard her name before? Or known someone with a similar one? Was her face similar to one I’d seen before? I couldn’t place it anywhere in my memory, but perhaps she just reminded me of another subject… It was so hard to say.

Either way, I couldn’t figure it out.

Deep down, I knew there was no need to bring the girl all the way to Anemond with me. My son was nearly healed from his encounter with the viper and was going

to make a full recovery. And she had been right- she could easily conduct her research here and report her findings to me in the capital city.

But I wanted her to come with me.

to her. Her long, wavy copper hair that shimmered like flame, her beautiful dark green eyes, and her full lips… even her petite, lovely figure drew me in. Since yesterday, I’d fantasized about the way her slender hips curved and how much I wanted to

fact, I hadn’t taken any interest in any woman after Cora

that I couldn’t get out of my

knock rang out and

Lancel, one of my guards. He’d been under my command for years and was one of the few I actually trusted.

was very young, and was the only one who still referred to me as “Alpha” rather than “Your Majesty” or

of nearly fifty, with deep-set blue

empty room, he stopped in front

are all packed,”

Ca ssandra Keller’s house to pack her belongings while we

as my head continued to pound.

the kitchen table,” Lancel

her assistant before she fled to

my eyes flew open. “Have

read it?”

be suspicious if

that the healer was preparing to leave this Pack for good. She planned to leave

repeated back.

continued slowly, and he lowered his voice slightly. “There’s something I found

I frowned. “Really?”

“I may be reading into the matter, but I think she may

afraid of Anemond.”

repeated

trusted guard nodded. “Yes, Alpha.”

rose up

Anemond, Lancel, “I noted, and I rested back into the seat. “She’s afraid she might struggle to take on the responsibilities I’m asking of

felt foolproof, yet Lancel didn’t

that’s not quite what I

piece, Lancel,” I urged, and I released a sigh. With my head pounding as severely as it was, I needed rest, and my guard was taking too long to reach his point. What was so suspicious about Ca ssandra