Luna Lucky

Will POV

The apartment was empty. Her scent—lavender and warmth, laced with her unique essence—was still faintly present, but it was fading fast. My eyes locked onto the phone she’d left behind, lying silent and cold on the nightstand.

She was gone.

I stood frozen, my wolf raging beneath my skin, clawing at my control. Her absence tore through me, a sharp and relentless pain that wouldn’t dull. My mate. My fated mate. Gone.

I inhaled deeply, letting my senses take in every trace of her presence. Fear. Betrayal. Heartbreak. The emotions she’d left behind were suffocating, their scent mingling with the unmistakable bitterness of another presence.

Annalise.

My claws extended involuntarily, scraping against the doorframe as I tried to steady my breathing. It had to be her. Annalise—or Camille or Solara—one of the three princesses tied to me by duty, ambition, and alliances I had never wanted. They must have found Lucky, told her the truth about who I was and the tangled mess of my life.

The realization hit like a blow. Lucky must have felt trapped, betrayed, and lied to. And she had run.

My wolf snarled in frustration, pacing within me. I should have told her the truth—from the beginning. That I wasn’t just a man. That I was William Alaric Draycott, crowned King of the Crescent Kingdom. That I was Lycan, one of the last of my kind, a rare and ancient lineage shared only with my brother, Weston.

But I had been a coward. I had let my fear of losing her stop me from being honest. And now, because of my silence, she was gone.

The need to shift burned beneath my skin. My wolf demanded to be set free, to hunt her down, to bring her back where she belonged. But this was a human city, and my instincts were useless here. Her trail was faint, leading out of the apartment, down the streets, and ending abruptly near a bus station. She was clever, moving quickly, blending into the human world.

I clenched my fists, my claws biting into my palms as I realized the truth: I couldn’t find her alone. If I wanted her back, I needed the resources of the Crescent Kingdom. I had to return to the throne I had abandoned.

The flight back to the Crescent Kingdom was tense, the hum of the jet doing little to soothe my Lycan’s fury. I had left this life behind for her, rejecting the titles, the expectations, the suffocating politics. With Lucky, I had found something real. Something mine.

But now, because of my failure, I was returning to the very world I had run from.

When the jet landed on the royal tarmac, the castle loomed in the distance, its towering spires bathed in moonlight. My chest tightened as I approached the gates, knowing that my sudden reappearance would send ripples through the kingdom. The whispers had likely already begun: The Lycan prince has returned.

My brother, Weston, was waiting. His presence was as steady and unyielding as ever, his piercing gaze—so much like mine—studying me as I approached. Weston had always been the more grounded of the two of us, the one who bore the weight of our lineage with quiet resolve. While I had fled to carve out a life of my own, he had stayed, ensuring the Crescent Kingdom’s survival in my absence.

“Will,” he said, his voice calm but laced with curiosity. “You’re back.”

“I didn’t have a choice,” I growled, brushing past him. “Where’s Elias?”

Weston fell into step beside me, his sharp eyes narrowing. “This is about her, isn’t it? The human.”

I stopped, turning to face him, my mismatched eyes—one blue, one brown—glinting with the power of my wolf. “She’s not just a human. She’s my mate.”

The words hung heavy in the air, and for a moment, Weston’s usual composure faltered. “Your mate?” he repeated, his voice quieter now.

“Yes,” I said firmly. “And she’s gone. She doesn’t know what she means to me—or to us. She doesn’t understand the danger she’s in.”

Weston’s expression darkened. “And the princesses? What will they do when they find out?”

“They already know,” I said bitterly. “That’s why she ran.”

In the war room, Captain Elias Thorn awaited me. I spread a map of the human territories across the table, my claws tracing possible routes Lucky might have taken. My wolf growled impatiently, every second wasted on strategy feeling like a failure.

“She’ll stick to cities,” I said aloud, more to myself than anyone else. “Places where she can blend in. Somewhere far from here.”

“Bus stations, train depots,” Elias suggested. “She’ll want to stay visible, avoid suspicion.”

“Exactly,” I said. “I want trackers sent to every major city within a hundred miles. Every station, every hotel, every corner where she might try to disappear. And keep this quiet. If the packs or the princesses find out before I do—”

“They’ll see her as a threat,” Weston said grimly. “And use her against you.”

I nodded, the weight of his words pressing against my chest. Lucky wasn’t just my mate. She was a human mate to one of the last Lycans—a scandal the kingdom wouldn’t tolerate. The princesses, especially, would see her as a direct challenge to their status.

“If they interfere…” I growled, my claws scraping against the table. “Remind them that their alliances were made with the kingdom, not my heart.”

Elias bowed. “Understood. I’ll dispatch the teams immediately.”

When I was finally alone, the enormity of my failure settled over me. My Lycan snarled, restless and furious, demanding I act. It didn’t care about the kingdom or the packs. It cared about one thing: finding Lucky.

I couldn’t lose her. She was my mate, my fated bond, the one person in this world who truly belonged to me. With her, I wasn’t just a prince, or a Lycan, or a tool of political alliances. I was a man.

I had lied to her. Betrayed her trust. But I would not let that be the end. No matter how far she ran, no matter what it took, I would find her.

Because Lucky wasn’t just my mate. She was my salvation.

The war room was quiet, the faint echo of retreating footsteps the only sound as Elias left to carry out my orders. The map of human territories lay spread across the table, its lines and markers a reminder of just how far she could have gone.

Lucky was out there, running from me. From the truth. From a bond she didn’t understand yet. But she wouldn’t stay hidden for long. My trackers would find her. Until then, I had unfinished business to deal with.

I straightened, rolling my shoulders as I let my wolf settle. It wasn’t enough to simply search for Lucky—I needed to handle the root of the problem. The princesses.

Annalise, Camille, Solara. Each one bound to me through alliances forged long before I’d ever drawn my first breath. Their titles were meant to bring stability to the Crescent Kingdom, to solidify our ties with the largest packs. But their presence had only ever felt like chains.

I hadn’t been blind to their ambitions. Each of them sought to strengthen their own power within the kingdom, using their positions as political weapons. They didn’t care for me, nor I for them. Yet their reach extended far beyond what I had allowed, and now their meddling had driven my mate away.

This would end tonight.

I strode into the council chamber, my footsteps echoing against the polished stone floor. The vast room, with its high ceilings and stained-glass windows, was both imposing and cold—a fitting reflection of the Crescent Kingdom’s politics.

The princesses were already waiting, seated at the long table with their respective entourages standing silently behind them. Annalise, ever poised and calculating, was the first to meet my gaze. Her icy blue eyes narrowed slightly, a faint smirk playing at her lips as though she already knew why I’d called them here.

Camille sat to her left, her sharp features unreadable, though the flicker of amusement in her dark eyes betrayed her anticipation. Solara, the youngest and most outwardly charming of the three, smiled warmly, though it never reached her golden eyes.

“William,” Annalise said smoothly, her voice laced with false pleasantry. “How unexpected. We were beginning to think you’d abandoned us entirely.”

I ignored her comment, stepping to the head of the table. “You know why I’ve summoned you.”

Camille tilted her head, her tone light but edged. “Do we? You’ve been gone so long, it’s hard to tell what matters to you these days.”

I slammed my palms against the table, my claws extending slightly as my wolf surged forward. The sound echoed through the chamber, silencing their murmurs. “Enough.”

The princesses stilled, their confidence flickering under the weight of my gaze.

“You’ve overstepped,” I growled, my voice low and dangerous. “I left this kingdom to avoid your games, to give myself space to live on my own terms. And now I return to find that you’ve interfered in something that does not concern you.”

Annalise raised an eyebrow, her calm demeanor faltering for a split second. “Interfered? You’ll have to be more specific.”

“You know exactly what I mean,” I snapped. “Lucky.”

The room tensed. Camille’s gaze sharpened, Solara’s smile faded, and Annalise’s smirk vanished entirely. I let the silence stretch, my claws tapping against the table as I studied their reactions.

“She is my mate,” I continued, my voice firm. “My fated mate. And you—one or all of you—saw fit to meddle where you had no right.”

Solara was the first to speak, her voice soft but laced with concern. “You misunderstand, William. None of us would dare interfere with a bond as sacred as—”

“Don’t lie to me,” I interrupted, my wolf growling low in my throat. “Her scent carried the weight of betrayal. Someone told her something. Someone drove her away. And it wasn’t me.”

Annalise leaned back in her chair, her gaze icy. “Perhaps she ran because she realized the truth. That she could never belong here. That she could never compete with us.”

My claws gouged into the table, splintering the wood. “Compete?” I snarled. “She is not in competition with anyone. She is my mate. A bond you will never understand. And if any of you did anything to harm her, I will personally ensure you regret it.”

Camille frowned, her sharp tone cutting through the tension. “We have no reason to harm her. But you must see how this… complicates things, William. A human mate? The packs will see it as weakness. As a threat to the kingdom’s stability.”

“Let them see what they want,” I growled. “Lucky is mine. That is all that matters.”

Annalise’s lips curled into a sneer. “And what of us? Are we to simply stand aside while you abandon every tradition, every alliance this kingdom is built upon?”

I met her gaze with the full force of my Lycan power, my voice low and deadly. “You will do as you are commanded. Your alliances were made with the kingdom, not my heart. You have no claim to me, and you will never have a claim to her.”

The room fell silent, the weight of my words settling over the table.

“You will leave her alone,” I continued, my tone sharp and final. “You will not speak of her, you will not interfere, and you will not challenge her place in this kingdom. Do so, and you will answer to me.”

The princesses exchanged wary glances, their confidence visibly shaken. Finally, Annalise inclined her head, her voice tight. “As you command, Your Highness.”

Satisfied but not deceived, I turned and left the chamber, my wolf simmering with unspent rage. The princesses might have yielded for now, but I knew better than to trust them. Their ambitions would not die easily.

But Lucky was mine. My mate. My destiny. And I would not let anyone stand in the way of bringing her back.