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.

full lips… even her petite, lovely figure

been like this in years. In fact, I hadn’t taken any interest in any woman after Cora had died.

was it about this woman that I couldn’t get out of my

out and

said, and I recognized it as Lancel, one of my guards. He’d been under my command for years and was one of the few I actually trusted. Despite being the king of the realm, there were few I

since I was very young, and was the only one

Lancel entered. He was an older man of nearly fifty, with deep-set blue eyes, and hair that had turned prematurely white. He was broad and muscular

stopped in front of me and bowed

are all

pack her belongings while

nose again as my head continued to pound. I closed my eyes again and leaned back into

kitchen table,”

with her assistant before she fled to the forest.”

I asked, and my eyes flew open.

read it?”

had to be suspicious if even Lancel found it curious.

this Pack for good. She planned to leave her clinic to her assistant, Marley Raven.”

repeated back. “I’m not

he lowered his voice slightly. “There’s something I found very weird.”

I frowned. “Really?”

“I may be reading into the matter, but I

afraid of Anemond.”

repeated

guard nodded.

up from my

course, she’s afraid of 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 her. Why else would she try to run

felt foolproof, yet Lancel didn’t seem

“But that’s not quite what

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