Alpha King's Lost Luna novel Chapter 2

CASSANDRA

“Cassandra?” Marley mudged me back into reality. Her pretty eyes were wide with concern. “Are you okay?”

I gulped, and then nodded as I pushed away my memories of Anemond. “Yes.”

I managed to pull myself together. I needed to be level-headed if we were going to heal this patient.

It didn’t take us long to reach the Pack House. The enormous mansion wasn’t far from the clinic.

When we crossed through the doors, we were surprised to see a crowd of people hustling around. The Pack House seemed to be in a huge commotion, and I had to duck to avoid bumping into anyone around me. This was the most activity I’d seen here in a while.

“Wow,” Marley remarked as Jasper led us down the hall. “This must be serious. Everyone seems so upset.” She tugged at Jasper’s sleeve. “Can you tell us what’s going on?”

“The Alpha will tell you once we find him,” Jasper remarked.

“Oh,” Marley replied, and she let out a sigh. “So much secrecy.

I wanted to ask follow-up questions, but Jasper’s tone was so serious, I decided to wait. When we reached the end of the busy hall, a pair of people were waiting for us. One of them was Gareth, the Alpha of the Wild Crawler Pack, and the other was his eldest son, Rayden.

We bowed respectfully when we stopped in front of them.

The Alpha of the Wild Crawler Pack was a stern man, yet fair, and he was well-respected amongst the Pack. He was normally quite calm, but today, his brown eyes were wide with concern. Rayden wore a similar expression.

Rayden was tall, with big, dark brown eyes, and black hair that glinted blue in the light, and his perfect teeth were white as pearls. He was slim, but covered in exotic tattoos, and girls in the pack admired his high cheekbones and fit frame.

When I first arrived here five years ago, Rayden had been a young man of sixteen. Now he was all grown up, and it likely wouldn’t be long until he took his father’s place as Alpha of the Wild Crawlers.

I was a little surprised to see him here at the Pack House. The last time I’d seen him was two years ago at a dinner hosted by the Alpha’s family. It’d been a farewell dinner to celebrate Rayden’s departure for the Wegalla Empire’s army- an elite group known as the Myriad. It was an honor to be recruited, and so we’d honored the young man accordingly.

“Cassandra,” Gareth greeted me in a relieved tone, and then he looked at Marley. “And Marley. I’m so glad to see you.”

Then he turned to Jasper. “You can leave us. Thank you for collecting them for me.”

“Of course,” Jasper replied, and after he gave us a small smile, the guard turned and left us. After he disappeared down the hall, my attention turned to Rayden.

He offered me a kind smile as we approached.

“Hello, Cassandra” he greeted me warmly, if not formally, and he nodded his head at me.

“Hi, Rayden,” I replied politely. “It’s a surprise to see you here.”

“It’s been too long,” he agreed, and then he looked at Gareth. “If you’ll excuse me, father, I have some quick business to attend to.”

“Of course,” Gareth replied. “Do what you need to do, son.”

Once he was gone, Gareth turned his attention to the young male servant standing politely in the corner. “Please escort the doctor and her assistant to the second floor,” he ordered in a stern voice. “I must be going.”

Surprise flooded through me. The second floor of the Pack House was usually reserved for the Alpha’s family and their servants. It was considered private quarters while the first floor was used for meetings and dinners.

Marley and I exchanged a glance. There was a bad feeling forming in the back of my mind, but I did my best to brush it away.

“Follow me,” the servant addressed us, and after Marley and I offered polite nods toward Gareth, we followed him down the hall and up the stairs.

At the top of the stairs was a pair of double doors, and on either side of them stood four guards. Much to my continued surprise, they weren’t a part of the Wild Crawler, but the Crescent.

“Crescent guards?” Marley whispered under her breath. She too recognized the special crest on the guards’ shoulders. Her pale green eyes darted around the hall. “What’s going on here?”

“I don’t know,” I admitted. I was just as curious as she was. This guest of honor must have been very important if there were so many heavily-armed guards outside of the door.