Chapter 38

Chapter 38

Going down to dinner felt surreal. Statf bowed to me respectfully, and a discreet butler showed me the way to the dining hall.

Deborah and Lyle were already seated at a long, mahogany table when I arrived. When he saw me, Lyle jumped up and pulled out my chair, smiling from ear to

car.

“Uh… thanks?” I said awkwardly, not knowing what else to do. Lyle was being polite, after all.

A liveried servant came and set a china bowl of soup and a spoon in front of me. This was different than at least a dozen other pieces of cutlery that spread out from either side of the plate that rested beneath

gold, or at least gold-plated. More money that bowl. All the silverware was

Shadowmoon.

never made it to the people of

Deborah sipped her soup primly, and Lyle did the same. I knew I had table manners-my father had raised me to be a lady-but they were woefully unpolished compared to the impeccable ballet these two were putting on. “Don’t worry, dear. Lyle will round off those rough edges.” Deborah said, patting my hand.

“Um… Luna Regent… I’m not sure you’re understanding Lyle’s and my situation correctly.” I replied slowly. “Lyle rejected me some years ago. I have… I actually have a mate now. And it’s not Lyle.”

Deborah pursed her l*ps. “Lyle made a monumental mistake, my dear. I’m sorry he hurt you. He was young and immature. She glared at her son. “All you need to do, dear, is reject Mason Hale, and have a proper mating ceremony with Lyle.” Honestly, I was surprised that she knew about Mason, but if it was true that she was the culprit of the tragedy fourteen years ago, no wonder she knew that much. I pretended to be terrified, dropped my spoon with a clatter and a splatter of soup. “Um… but… he already accepted me.”

“No ceremony, so you have not officially accepted him. Everything can still be fixed.” Deborah gave me a motherly look. “Please don’t hold Lyle’s st upidity against him. I know you loved him, once.””

“I..” I furrowed, but almost laughed out in my heart. Love, for Lyle? “Luna Regent, I can’t… I can’t betray my pack…”

Deborah gazed at me softly. “Oh, dear…the pack who betrayed you? Trained you up to be cannon fodder? Rejected and spat on you? THAT pack? You can’t betray THAT pack?”

My heart dropped, and my blood ran cold. For the first time, I looked into Deborah’s eyes directly.

She was dangerous.

There was nothing I could really argue about her points, but loyalty still throbbed in my heart. To my pack. To Mason. One or the other. Both? “I just… it… they…”

“My dear, look around you. These people will always treat you with respect, and never doubt your merits as their Luna,” Deborah said. “Whereas Fullbright will always question you, always sneer at you behind your back. Perhaps even to your face. I’m sure even you don’t know what could have possibly possessed Alpha Hale to agree to mate you. At a rejection ceremony, no less.”

I bowed my head. I’d made the decision long ago. The thought had crossed my mind more than once. “I still…” I squared my shoulders. “I thank you-both-for your offer, but… I really need to do what is right for my pack.”

Deborah’s smile turned brittle. She looked at Lyle, who stopped eating immediately at her glance. “Perhaps you need to hear that Lyle loves you?”

I choked, trying to stop a bitter laugh. It didn’t help.

“Ah.” Deborah’s eyes narrowed on her son. “You couldn’t do this one thing? I send you off to take her to her room, and you can’t even express your feelings properly?”

“Sorry, Mother,” Lyle said, though he was seething.

I understood. I’d hate to be taken to task by my mother in front of my potential mate. I almost felt sorry for him. Almost.

“Well?” Deborah prompted.

“I think it would sound a bit insincere if I did it now, Mother,” Lyle replied in a low tone.

Deborah rolled her eyes. “Young people. Always wasting time.” She straightened up and turned back to me. “Luckily, I have something that will make the decision much easier for you, my dear.”

Oh, Goddess. Father.

“Oh?” I said, just barely able to keep my voice from shaking. “What’s that?”

“Mason Hale.” Deborah gave me a smug and somewhat evil smile. “The fool came after you. We caught him, and now, I’m going to have him killed. Unless, of course, you reject him as your mate and mate Lyle instead.”

I stared at her. I remembered their “border patrol” and had to bite the inside of my cheek to keep from laughing at the ludicrous idea that anyone, or a number of them, had inanaged to capture Mason.

“Well, what have you got to say about that?” Deborah asked, triumph in her tone.

“I… um… well…” I swallowed. “I’d like to see him if you don’t mind.”

Deborah shooker eat Not a chance. Not until you’ve rejected him properly.” “It’s hard to reject him properly when I can’t look him in the eye,” I pointed out. Deborah’s l*ps thinned. Obviously, she hadn’t thought of that little kink in her plan. “I will have him brought here shortly. We need to…. soften him up a bit.”

I didn’t even want to know her definition of “soften him up.” But as they didn’t actually have Mason, I decided I didn’t need to worry about it. “I think I’ll to my room now and have a uice, long think, if you don’t mind.”

go

back

This put Deborah’s hackles back down. She nodded and gave Lyle another harsh glance.

Lyle jumped to his feet and pulled out my chair.

“Er… thank you.” I said again.

“I have missed you. Kora” Lyle murmured in a low tone, subtly sniffing my hair.

I wanted to punch him in the balls. I smiled slightly instead. “Um… thank you for that, too.”

The butler who’d shown me down materialized and showed me back to my

room.

Once there. I sat down on the bed with a sigh. “Goddess.”

“Kora,” a familiar voice wheezed from the doorway. “What are you doing here?”

I looked up and saw him.

My father.

Oswald Monroe, Beta of Fullbright. Betrayer. In front of me at last.

I had imagined…

Imagined so many times, for so many years, imagined since the day he left us. Imagined when I trembled in the freezing Traitor’s Cave, when I got lost in the blood of rival warriors, when I was alone at the riverbank… I imagined. How would our reunion be?

Would I squeal? Would I cry?

Would I kill him?

I rose from the bed and ran to him, wrapping my arms around him. He hugged me back feebly. He’d lost weight. He looked… well, not old, exactly. More worn down. Defeated. Crushed to dust.

“Dad,” I whispered. “Dad, I’ve missed you so much! I know it wasn’t your fault, and so does Mason. We found your diary, and we know you weren’t in control of your actions. You can come home now, Dad.”

My father pushed me away. His watery eyes were stricken as he squeezed my upper arms. “What are you doing here, Kora?”

“What do you mean? I came here for you. Well, you and Shawn, but Shawn already escaped so…” I said.

Shaking his head, my father took my hand and walked us both over to my bed. He sat me down next to him, then took both my hands in his. “Kora, you can’t be here.”

“Sure I can,” I replied. “Who else was going to come to get you? Come on, Dad. I’m sure you know a million ways out of this place. Let’s just go.”

“Kora,” my father said sadly, taking a measured breath. “You need to go home. Without me.”