Alpha King’s Lost Luna by Aubrey Pepper

Chapter 22 Elope?

CA SSANDRA

Rayden suddenly grabbed my hand, and when I whipped around to stare at him, his eyes bore into mine intensely, so much that my heart began to race.

“Let me go with you, Ca ssy,” he insisted, and his eyes grew sorrowful, as if he was a young boy who’d lost something he couldn’t recover again. “Please.”

My eyes widened as I tried to wrap my mind around what was happening.

“Rayden…” I uttered.

As Rayden stared at me with his large brown eyes, a feeling swept through me. along with understanding. Asher’s earlier words in the meeting room played through. my mind. The Alpha King had quipped that the prince of the Wild Crawlers fancied me. At the

time, his words had been a massive shock, but as I stood here in the garden, I began to suspect that Asher may have been right.

But I didn’t want to believe it.

At the time, I never could have imagined that Rayden could see me like that. I’d always been something of a friend to him, as well as a healer. Just as I’d done with countless others in the Pack, I’d treated Rayden once when he was quite ill.

I’d assumed Rayden’s outbursts in the meeting room were because he was worried about the Pack losing their healer. And I desperately wanted that to be

true.

“I’m sorry,” he apologized. “I just… I just want to talk to you, that’s all.”

Suddenly, a clapping sound cut through the air, and when I turned around, Asher Collins was right behind me. The Alpha King’s face was cruel and mocking, and the expression on his amused face sent a pang of anger through me.

“How touching!” Asher laughed, and he continued to applaud. Just beyond him, Alpha Gareth and Luna Sofia stood with their arms crossed. Sofia’s cheeks were red with embarrassment, but Gareth looked completely angry. Their brows furrowed as they stared at me.

“Are you trying to elope with the healer, Prince Rayden?” Asher continued. His tone was still amused, but his smile quickly faded.

formed in my throat as I

Your Majesty,” I spoke up. “It’s my

Asher demanded

explain. “There is something I need to pick up at

and for a moment, I felt as if I couldn’t breathe.

Alpha King uttered a single, dry

“You must not have heard me earlier. If you want to run, run wisely. This… is not wise at

to run, Your Majesty!” I blurted out before I could consider my

don’t you tell the guards to get it for you. I’m sure they would love to assist you. It’s their

I swallowed.

personal,

practically stared through me and I felt trapped, as if he were the predator and I were the prey. Every

calm.

silent as they awaited the Alpha King’s

Finally, Asher smirked.

that important,

widened instinctively, and Asher clocked the

you couldn’t

with suspicion, and I

Wegalla Empire belonged to the King in a legal sense. Any attempts to hide

they’d placed on my father, after all.

Collins demanded. “We will leave at once. Meanwhile, it

to the Alpha of the Wild Crawlers, and I

lose whatever color it had

then he bowed in respect. “He

circles and tried to decide how to handle things. I had no choice but to let Asher accompany me back to my house, but how would I

a nightmare.