Alpha King’s Lost Luna by Aubrey Pepper

Chapter 39 Jealousy and Mystery

ASHER

“Checkmate!” Kane laughed as he shifted his pawn.

An agitated grumble rose out of me and I sat back on the couch in irritation.

“That’s the third time you’ve lost today,” my stepbrother remarked, much to my annoyance, and then he grinned at me. “So strange, brother. Ever since we began playing years ago, you’ve never lost a single match. Tell me, what’s bothering you?”

I remained silent and did my best to ignore him as I crossed my arms against my chest. It had been a huge mistake to invite Kane to play chess with me, but I’d needed something to distract me from thinking about Ca ssandra Keller. That being said, this experience only added to my frustration.

“Let me take a guess,” Kane continued on, and he rubbed his chin and gave me a mischievous, boy-like expression. “It’s the healer, Ca ssandra, isn’t it?”

I wanted to curse him out at even mentioning her, but I held my tongue and rolled my eyes instead. How dare he pretend to know me?

“Don’t deny it,” my brother prodded, and then he chuckled. “She’s really rather

cute.”

“She’s alright,” I mentioned off-handedly, and I regretted my words immediately. Kane sat forward and leaned on his elbows.

“She’s more than alright,” he replied with a shake of his head. “I can see the lust in your eyes, brother. You want to f**k her, don’t you?”

“Kane!” my voice hardened, and I nearly rose from my seat at his crude remark. He was entirely unbothered, though, and pressed further.

“Well, well,” Kane mused, and then he laughed. “Sorry for my bluntness, but do

you really think you’re hiding it that well? Everyone in Merliscire knows you fancy the woman. Besides, you’re rather obvious about it, Asher. You personally had her promoted to be your private healer, and we all know that you let her stay in your chamber late in the day… every day.”

“In my office,” I corrected him through narrowed eyes.

“What’s the difference?” Kane retorted, and he sat back in his brown leather armchair. “The office, your chamber… either way, Adalyn is sore about it.”

Adalyn?

Sore?

a good thought..

I pressed, and I tucked

my brother,” Kane replied. “Adalyn is jealous. You can practically smell it in the air when she enters the room. She wants to

like that. It isn’t like her to

girl in our youth, but she’s changed, Asher,” my stepbrother insisted, and this time, the playfulness in his tone. disappeared. “She knows you don’t want her, not in the way she needs you to. Jealousy has twisted her heart,

believe you,” I said, and a strange expression crossed Kane’s

haven’t laid a finger on a woman since Cora died, Asher,”

Cora’s name. The two of us hadn’t spoken about her in ages. I’d practically

and then he sighed. “You can’t live in a

truth to my stepbrother’s words. As much as I didn’t want to admit it, I knew Adalyn was prone to jealousy, and I knew that that jealousy had only surged with time. I couldn’t touch her, not when the memories of touching Cora still lingered in my mind. I hadn’t desired a single woman

until Ca ssandra

of my

very long day,” Kane spoke up again, and he rose to his feet. “I’m going to get

healer.”

say,

Ca ssandra Keller was quite protective over you. She wouldn’t let any of us come too close to you while she was treating you. It seemed

saving you.”

speak,

Cas sandra really been so protective of me? I’d had no

to say through my frown. “For telling

then flashed me a slightly playful smile as if he were amused by his own words. It was hard to say if he was simply teasing the issue or if he was being truthful, but that

I released a sigh and closed

nice to relax in the

heard a knock

mission for a while now out in Wild Crawler territory, doing some investigative work

I wondered

Alpha,” Lancel replied dutifully, and he gave me a small bow of respect. “I would have arrived back in Anemond sooner, but while I was there in Wild

“About