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.

lump formed in my throat as I tried to find my words

b-been a misunderstanding, Your Majesty,” I

your fault?” Asher demanded

Rayden was just trying to help me,” I managed to explain. “There is something I need to pick up at my house, and he was trying to accompany me…”

Asher’s expression darkened, and for a moment, I felt as if

the Alpha King uttered a single, dry

then his voice deepened. “You must not have heard me earlier. If you

run, Your Majesty!” I blurted out before I could consider my words. “I meant what I said, I have something important left in my house.”

tell the guards to get it for you. I’m sure they

I swallowed.

personal, Your

trapped, as if he were the predator and I were the prey. Every

calm.

Alpha King’s response. Event Gareth

Finally, Asher smirked.

announced. “If it’s that important, I will

eyes widened instinctively, and Asher clocked the

you

suspicion, and I

King in a legal sense. Any attempts

the charge they’d placed on my father, after

waiting for?” Asher Collins demanded. “We will leave at once. Meanwhile, it

Alpha of the Wild Crawlers, and I watched Gareth’s

lose whatever color it had

Majesty,” he said quickly, and then he bowed in respect. “He

decide how to handle things. I had no choice but to let Asher accompany me back to my house, but how would I conceal my mother’s

a