The Luna Trials by Marissa Gilbert

35. Bird Of Prey

Kai groaned, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

“It’s… everything,” he muttered, but of course, it wasn’t enough for Savannah. “No offence, but your brother is the biggest pr*ck I’ve ever met.”

“True,” the Princess agreed, stretching the word. “But so are you. What’s the story there? Tell me because Gideon says the same thing about you. Even Riannon didn’t get much out of him, and she is a superwoman, no less. There must be more to the original version you both share.”

“The story starts before I met him,” Kai grunted hesitantly and then pulled her higher on his chest, caressing her back. “Savvy, whatever you hear now, please know that I love you and please promise that ….”

“I will not stop loving you because of you being honest with me,” she snorted. He felt relief running through his veins.

“Fine,” he exhaled heavily. “When my parents died, Elene went into a state of shock. She was their little princess, and they adored her. Without them, my sister was completely broken. After crying for months, she became quiet and never left her room. These were hard years for me, Savvy. I was very young, she was still a teen, and it was just her and me. At some point, I was afraid I would lose her.”

“Sounds familiar,” Savannah sighed, and he placed a soft kiss on her forehead. She lost her parents too.

“Penelope was the one to help me with Elene initially,” Kai continued, and suddenly Savvy did not like this story. Why did Penelope have to be a part of it?!

“How … nice of her,” the Princess said through clenched teeth.

“Anyway, she was helping, but Elene still wasn’t her usual self,” Kai continued. “Not even close. She only talked to Pen.”

“Wait, wait, wait,” Savannah couldn’t handle it anymore and placed her index finger on his lips. “Never call her Pen again. Not in front of me.” But after thinking some more, she added. “Not ever!”

Kai’s lips curled into a feline grin, and he quickly bit her finger gently with his teeth, sending tingles all over her. Then he took her whole finger in, closing his lips around it and released it slowly, bit by bit.

“Stop this!” Savvy almost moaned. This was so silly, but it made her want him again. Somehow it was never enough.

However, she decided that finally hearing this story was more important. So, she pulled the cover higher on them to cover up all the goods, not to be tempted anymore.

It wasn’t helping much. Luckily, she was stubborn enough to endure this.

“Continue, please.” She put on a serious face, trying to play it cool and only the devilish glint in Kai’s eyes told her that he knew what had crossed her mind.

“Very well,” he started drawing circles on her exposed skin. “So, one day, my absolutely platonic friend, who is actually more of my sister’s friend than mine, and whom we shall not name anymore, brought her to my Alpha training. You probably already know that it’s exclusive to the top-ranked wolves. Lycans go there as well. Anyone who is about to assume the position from Alpha to Delta is obliged to study there.”

“Of course,” Savvy nodded, not biting his joke. That was more like it.

“So, naturally, this was where Gideon and I met.” Kai scratched his chin, noting that a beard was forming there again. “I wouldn’t want to lie to you, Savvy. There was no chance in hell of us ever becoming friends from the very beginning. Do you know how competitive your brother is?”

“Very,” she had to admit because there was no point denying it. Gideon loved his victories.

“And so am I,” Kai chuckled. “We were at each other’s throats in everything. Especially combat training. Whatever competition they had, we were there. One time he would win, and another time I would win. Well, mostly me, of course.”

“Of course!” Savvy giggled, remembering that her sibling insisted he was the one leading their score.

“Once, Elene and her nameless friend witnessed our training,” Kai continued. “And after that, they kept returning almost every day.”

“They left the North for so long? That training centre is far away from both our kingdoms.”

see me, but I caught Elene giggling next to Gideon after one training session. Savvy, you have no idea what it meant to

whispered. She knew far too well how the pain from the loss of her own

so I was starting to warm up towards him. But then… One day I heard Gideon talking badly about her.” Savannah looked at the Northern King in surprise and saw how tense his face was. The

say?” She asked, sure that it must have been a

of a brother said that he would rather stay alone forever than be with someone like my sister. He called her a spoiled brat who liked to play victim all the time, and when his right hand asked if it was okay for him to pursue her,

Savannah had to admit that it was harsh. However, knowing Elene, she believed there was a reason for

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speak to him about

and ordered Elene and the nameless one to return to the North,” Kai grunted. “But … Elene burst out

This wasn’t something

care of her.

Gideon to marry her for the first time?” Savvy felt so sorry for him. She could only imagine now what it

replied dryly.

really bad. We almost killed each other in the process.” The reply shocked her.

hand in marriage?”

because I simply wanted to piss him off,” Kai

the desired effect is achieved.” Savvy tried to suppress a laugh. “You are not

Kai bent down and placed a kiss on her forehead. “Back then, was still the bitter, rebellious boy who had to pretend he was

through her lashes. “I always wanted to

of this name made the Lycan sit up and

went from unpleasant to infuriating rather quickly.” A soft laugh rocked

decided to come clean about everything, but first, she had to find out one thing. “He said a phrase that stayed with me. He

his face closely, but not a single

but since she asked, not telling her would be the

killed, of course,” he answered after what seemed like forever.

is always a challenge,”

she knew he was choosing his next words. “Savvy, this is something I have to tell you anyway. The northern

that. We can do something that other

Princess chewed on her lip

can shift into

since they were in contact with Savannah and Zara knew everything was in her hands now. She had to be somewhere close since the King was

the Princess and the King were undeniable. Everyone who worked at the castle or took part in the Trials knew that Kai only had his eyes on Savannah. This wasn’t a secret even despite them acting in public like they had nothing to do with each other. It was impossible to ignore all the glances or the fact that when the King was supposed to have dates with other contenders, he ended up only exchanging a word or two with them briefly. Penelope was the only one who got the honour of a more extended conversation, but

Northern Princess was telling her and Kyle was the truth. Savannah was just

the recent events, Zara couldn’t sit still, knowing that Savvy had to be in the

loyalty to. The one who

Eden in her mind, she was lost. Savannah took her under her wing and helped her to feel useful,

but at the same time, it covered her from all the eyes on the ground. They were told not to look for the

princess. And the black hawk didn’t plan to stop looking for her

she flew around the capital and surrounding areas, but there weren’t too many people outside. Sadly, she realised very fast that her abilities were limited and she couldn’t fly too far in such weather without risking death in

days but

his Beta, Lachlan. So, when Zara saw him speaking to Elene on the other day, she shifted into the smaller version of her black hawk and watched him until he left the castle in his wolf form. Lachlan had a cream-coloured wolf and was hard to spot in all that snow, especially during a blizzard, but she still managed to do it. When he stationed himself

the move again, and she had to follow him deeper into the mountains. Luckily,

content.