Chapter - Richard
Dirk swipes a hand over the portal’s glossy green surface, the magic of his security clearance seeping into the shimmer. We step back as the portal explodes into the room and then dissipates, opening for us.
“Last portal, Alpha,” Dirk murmurs. “Are yeh ready for this?”
I grit my jaw. “As ready as I can be to challenge my oldest friend.”
“Eh, don’t think of ’im that way,” the sylph cautions. “He’s keeping yeh from yer woman. He is the enemy.”
Despite what happened in Ever, I still hold out hope that, with the initial shock past, Marco can be made to see reason. But if he can’t, I’ll challenge him to become king, and as his Second for a longer duration than Eliel, I’ll be allowed to fight first.
Focus, Alpha,Big Daddy growls into our bond. Get our girls back. We’ve got a day to prep. The challenge is tomorrow.
That’s right. We’ll find a place to hide; I still have friends in Santa Alaya. We step out of the portal, and shock ripples through me at being in my adoptive haven for the first time in decades.
I expected guards to be stationed here, but there aren’t any. Marco must be so confident in his ability to keep Lola from me that he doesn’t even need to guard Santa Alaya’s only entrance.
Dirk looks around. “Beautiful Santa Alaya. I’ve long been of the opinion that she’s the most stunning haven, don’t yeh think?”
I stare at the pristine blue waters of the bay and the multicolored city rising up through the hills to a pink-and-white fairytale castle. All I see is a barrier between me and my Luna.
“Hello, Alpha,”a throaty voice whispers in my mind.
Relief floods me at hearing her. I hoped we’d be able to connect once I was inside the wards.
“Lola, where are you?”My question carries all the urgency I feel. Now that I’m here, I want to run to her.
“Castle. Come to the ballroom. They’ve moved the challenge up—it’s happening in fifteen minutes.”
Urgency fills me as I turn to Dirk. “Lola says the challenge is in fifteen minutes in the ballroom. We’ve gotta go.”
“I’m coming, sweetheart,”I purr into the bond. Relief and satisfaction fill our shared mental space.
“Hurry.”
Dirk grins like a feral cat. “That means I’ve gotta carry yeh, Alpha. “Yeh’re not my mate, so this is gonna hurt a little bit.” He opens his arms like he’s expecting a hug.
I stare at the round blue disk connecting two leather straps that crisscross over his chest. Sighing, I step into his arms.
“Godsdamn, yeh’re big,” he grunts, reaching between us to depress the disk.
Wind whooshes, and then everything disappears.
Screaming wind stings my skin, peppering me with a hail-like sensation that causes Big Daddy to snarl and pace in my mind. My hair whips around my head as I keep my eyes tightly closed. I don’t want to see us flying over Santa Alaya with Dirk in elemental form.
When the howling wind stops, I blink my eyes open. He’s dropped us into the corner of the ballroom terrace, which is full of wolves in their finest dress and swankiest silver jewels. A few turn when we appear out of thin air, but mostly they’re engrossed in conversation—gossip, if I had to guess—and they pay us no mind.
“Let’s go,” I growl to Dirk, pushing my way through the crowd to the giant terrace doors. Inside the ballroom, hundreds of wolves mill around in small groups. The center of the room is left clear for the challenge itself, with Marco’s silver-etched throne at the head of the room. A wall of doors at the back lead to the rest of the castle and his office.
Goddess, I do not miss this place. How did I serve as his Second for so long? Speaking of which, when I take a quick peek around, I don’t see Marco’s current asshole of a Second, Eliel.
Dirk taps my arm. “Yeh want me to zip around and find ’er? Or are yeh taking care of that with the old mind-meld action?”
Before I can answer, drums begin to beat from deep within the castle. The castle herself swings a set of coral-pink doors open wide, announcing the king’s arrival.
“I’m in the ballroom, sweetheart. As soon as you come through, Dirk and I will?—”
Her sweet voice is honey to my soul when she responds, “I’ve got a plan, Alpha. Follow my lead.”
Anxiety rockets through me. A plan? Instinct and Big Daddy tell me to rip her away from Marco and get the hells out of here. But I trust her with my life, and if she has a plan, then we have a plan.
A tall figure stalks gracefully through the open doors. Marco wears only low-slung black dress pants. He’s barefoot and bare-chested, hair slicked casually back. He looks every bit the king who’s unconcerned about the upcoming challenge. He doesn’t bother to address the crowd. Instead, he crosses the crushed-shell floor and seats himself on his throne, throwing one leg over the silver arm.
It’s a power play, something I would have told him to do before facing Eliel, especially if the rumors are true that Eliel’s employing magic. It’s not technically disallowed; it’s just considered uncouth. One should win based on their own abilities, not because they needed magical intervention.
It means that if Marco wins, the victory will be that much sweeter.
Not that we give a shit about his victory right now,Big Daddy reminds us. Where’s my fucking Luna?
Ourfucking Luna follows, sailing through the doors in a traditional gown that takes my breath away. It’s the palest cream see-through gauze that wraps around her shoulders and connects around her waist, revealing her stomach and entire back. Dark nipples are visible through the fabric. It’s thicker around her hips, trailing long behind her.
“I picked this one out for you,” she purrs into our bond. “When this is all over, I need you to rip this off me.”
“Lola, what’s the plan? I need to know.”
“Patience, mi amor,”she murmurs. “Just be here.”
My anxiety ramps sky-high as the wolves who’d been standing around form a tight circle around the room’s center. A figure appears on the far side—Eliel—surrounded by his closest packmates. He wears the traditional fitted dress pants for a challenge. Silver cuffs gleam around both of his wrists, a matching collar slung low around his muscular neck.
I bristle, knowing it’s this asshole who made Lola uncomfortable in the past. The tangy, metallic fragrance of magic rolls off him in waves.
Lola ignores everyone and strides elegantly to the center of the circle, turning to face her father. She’ll announce him in the traditional way, and then she’ll announce Eliel and the challenge will begin.
Challenge them both,Big Daddy snarls. We can take the king like this. The Luna bond is stronger than him, I’m sure of it.
“Don’t,” Lola cautions. Her focus moves to Big Daddy. “Trust me, please.”
Always, Luna,he growls, whining and dropping to his belly as we watch her. Dirk is a silent presence by my side, waiting to take his cue.
Lola beams around at the crowd. “Welcome, Santa Alaya, to our challenge!”
The crowd erupts into a cacophony of cheers as I tense. When she spins back around in my direction, I gasp at the dark, circular spots running down her neck and shoulder into the dress strap.
“Told you I had this covered,” she teases into our bond.
Something happened to her, she’s different.
“Lola,” I murmur, overcome with the possessive need to stalk through the crowd and pull her into my arms. As it is, I remain surrounded by Pack Santa Alaya, waiting on my princess.
“We have a lot to catch up on,” she admits. “Later, though.”
She walks a slow circle with her hands clasped at her lower back, eyeing the crowd as tension amps up in the room. Every wolf is silent, staring at their princess as she makes aggressive, predatory eye contact.
Finally, she grins and points at Marco. “You came to see a challenge tonight, isn’t that right? To see my father crush his Second, Eliel?”
The crowd screams and stomps, howls cutting through the air as goosebumps prickle to the surface of my skin at her taunt.
“What the fook is yer woman doin’?” Dirk mutters, leaning into me.
Lola throws her head back and laughs, turning to her father with a deadly glint in her eye. “Instead, I challenge you, Marco Garcia Rosas, Rey de Pack Santa Alaya, for the throne.”
You could hear a pin drop in the room as a hush falls over the crowd. Marco rises from his throne, fists balled as he glares at Lola. “What are you doing?” he growls under his breath, stalking down the dais toward her.
An angry howl cuts through the air as he reaches her. On the far end of the cavernous ballroom, Eliel yanks his shirt over his head and shifts, sprinting into the circle.
I move without thought, urged on by Big Daddy’s overwhelming desire to protect our woman. But to my intense shock, Lola winks out of sight, and where she stood, there’s nothing but an empty gauzy dress on the floor.
Wait—not nothing. I still sense her, even as Eliel skids to a halt and Marco roars for the King’s Guard.
As Eliel reaches us, Lola pops back into view. Except, this time, she’s not a wolf. She’s a gorgeous black jaguar with slightly darker black spots. Eliel pauses, and in that moment, she slides beneath him, sinking her teeth into his throat.
He spins and dives to the ground with Lola hanging on by the teeth. Marco moves to shift, but I slap a hand over his chest.
“Don’t.” Our eyes meet. “This is important to her; I can feel it.”
He snarls and rips my hand away, then swivels to stare at his daughter.
Just as Eliel manages to pry her off him, she disappears again, and he’s left standing there, looking around. When she reappears in the form of a giant anaconda, he whimpers and backs up. She strikes as he backs away, sinking curved fangs into the flesh of his neck as she coils her body around him. He struggles, but his wolf is no match for the enormous snake.
The entire room is quiet as a grave as Lola squeezes Eliel until his head goes limp. She unwinds from him and tosses him aside, his chest still rising and falling slowly. He’s not dead, simply beaten by her in mere moments.
Murmurs begin to echo through the crowd, whispers of power, of the Luna bond, something so rare, it’s never been seen by anyone living.
My mate shifts into human form and stalks naked toward us, head lifted high. She stops ten feet away, hands on her hips, bright joy filling our bond. “Well, Papá, are you ready to fight?”
Marco sputters, raising both palms. “This is madness, Lola. I won’t fight you. What are?—”
“Then concede,” she demands, her voice carrying her words as they echo off the ceiling. “You don’t have to fight me. But if you don’t fight, then you’ll yield the throne to me now.”
When Marco sputters, she lifts both hands, imploring him in a hushed tone. “Richard and I share a Luna bond, Father, as you can see. I can shift into anything I want. I read the old texts in your office. A Luna-bonded omega can challenge the king, and he must respond. What’s your answer?”
The crowd is frozen, murmured words echoing off the high, glossy ceiling.
Luna. Luna. Luna.