Lilienne
The Moonrise Kingdom is known to be the most powerful werewolf kingdom for a reason. Generation after generation, the Royal Wolf Council selects the best female wolf to become the Royal Luna––someone who can be the best partner to the Alpha King.
Someone who can play the role of his queen perfectly.
Being the Royal Luna was never about love or fate. It was about loyalty and duty.
I might have never felt anything special toward my husband, but I've played my role flawlessly, leaving no room for weakness or instability.
I was the perfect Luna: benevolent, smart, respected. I helped my king strengthen his influence and his position among other kingdoms and packs.
I've given him everything I had. So why?
Why do I have to watch the two of them trample it all underneath their filthy feet?
***
"Do you think it's true?" I hear one of my omegas' voices through the closed door to my bedroom. It's my regular maid, Debby, and for some reason, she is whispering as if she is about to reveal some dreadful secret.
I try to be quiet too and press my ear against the cold surface of the door, curiosity overtaking me. Another maid's whisper cuts through the silence again.
"One of the male omegas has returned earlier from the trip to deliver the preparation requests, and he was the one who told me that! It must be true! Imagine what will happen to our Luna once Alpha Kaelen is back!"
Something inside my stomach drops, and my eyes widen in strange surprise. What are they talking about?
Sucking in an abrupt breath, I finally push the door open and enter the room, offering the maids a sharp and rather demanding look.
Their behavior instantly becomes suspicious––they are completely quiet now, their faces tense and devoid of color; their lips are pursed, while their eyes are everywhere but my face. Debby grips the feather duster in her trembling right hand and offers me a bow, almost immediately returning to whatever she was doing before I entered.
The other omega copies her actions, though this time, I hear a loud, hard swallowing sound as she turns away and starts fixing non-existent wrinkles on my bedspread.
"What's going on?" I finally lose my patience and ask, though the calm look of indifference never leaves my face.
I see a flicker of hesitation flash across Debby's face, but as soon as my dominance reaches her, she lets out a faint whimper and rushes toward me, helping me take a seat in front of the vanity mirror.
"There is a nasty rumor, Your Majesty!" She lowers her voice almost to a whisper, though she knows very well that she can talk freely in my presence.
I like Debby; she is quick and obedient, without even a flicker of hostility in her blood. She has been my loyal servant ever since I entered the Alpha King's Palace, and in return for her service, I treat her just like I treat my betas and gammas.
It's a mutually beneficial tactic as thanks to her, I can have access to any sort of gossip circulating amongst omegas any time I want.
"What kind of rumor?" I ask as I look at Debby's worried face in the mirror's reflection. She hands me the hairbrush while the other maid walks up to us, holding my bathroom robe and a pair of slippers.
"One of the omegas who was with His Majesty during the hunt," Debby starts, although I can see that she is still reluctant to give me all of the details. "Said that His Majesty Alpha Kaelen is coming home with another woman and that she is his fated mate!"
She gasps as she finishes that sentence and quickly covers her mouth as if she has just said something absolutely outrageous.
I shift my eyes to the other maid, but she is already looking the other way, avoiding eye contact.
It's just a rumor, but they both believe it.
I look back at my own reflection in the large, oval mirror, my eyes absently running over my blurred features as my mind drifts somewhere else.
Kaelen found his fated mate?
No one would be surprised to hear that, really. After all, Kaelen and I are only chosen mates.
When we were eighteen, we didn't meet our fated mates, so the Royal Wolf Council agreed that it only made things easier for them. We didn't have to sever our ties at the Lunar Temple; we simply had to bond artificially and pretend like that was enough to get married.
Truthfully, I didn't really mind that. Kaelen and I were childhood friends, and the moment we turned five, we knew that we would get married and become king and queen.
Kaelen has always been my trusty companion, my best friend, and my unwavering support. And even though we have lost those childish warm feelings toward one another over the years, the bond we had was enough to keep us going.
So even if he did find his fated mate, I am still the Royal Luna. Nothing is going to change.
Right?
***
I stand in front of the main palace gate, my heartbeat growing faster with each passing second. The anticipation is overwhelming, and I can barely stop my hands from shaking.
Kaelen has been on the annual interpack hunting trip for more than three months, and now, he is finally coming back.
I have made all the necessary preparations for his return. The Palace is in an immaculately clean, all the affairs are in order, the tables in the celebration hall are shaking with the amount of food and drinks waiting for the welcome banquet to start.
I soaked myself in a bath for hours, fixing my appearance to make sure to offer him the most pleasant welcome from my end.
Strangely, I feel like I am eighteen again, waiting impatiently for Kaelen to come and take me to the palace; to announce before all his betas, gammas, and omegas that I am with him now. Officially. Forever.
Or so I thought.
"Goddess, it was true!" I suddenly hear someone gasp under their breath as the front palace gate opens, and my husband's brown wolf walks in, a small figure draped in a black coat resting on his back.
I blink, Goddess knows how many times, my brain still trying to convince my eyes that I am simply seeing things right now. But I am not.
It could have been anyone––a wounded servant, an exhausted gamma, a prey... But then, as Kaelen takes another big step in his beastly form, his body shakes a little, and a long, straight lock of blonde hair falls from underneath the coat, sending a painful ripple down my spine.
It's a woman. He brought another woman to my home. And he brought her himself.