The Alpha King's Swapped Luna

Chapter 5 Fate’s Humor

Without another word I climbed into the back of the wagon. The cart driver urged the horse onward and I slowly started moving.

Alpha Grayson walked out of the pack house just then and wrapped his arms around Ashley as they watched me go. I couldn’t tear my eyes away as they shared a passionate kiss, truly sticking the knife in my already dead corpse.

“Does he really have to do that right as I’m leaving?” I wallowed to myself, turning forward with a huff.

I felt the wolf give a scoffing chuckle. “He only did it because you were watching him.” I don’t know how but I could feel her rolling her eyes inside my head.

“What do you mean?” My stomach rolled uneasily.

“Let’s just say he’s a coward in more ways than one.” She huffed and eased back into the corner of my mind, putting a barrier between us. “Now, do shut up. I’ve had quite a long day and your incessant chattering only makes it worse.”

The hours passed slowly as I thought about her words. At some point, I gave up trying to analyze them and tried to find things to entertain myself. At some point when it was dark, I picked at my odd clothes, playing with a loose thread on my hem.

Apparently, the Silver Ridge Pack was very old fashioned. To show our courtesy to them as their war bride, I was to be presented in transportation that was assimilated to their culture– a horse drawn wagon. I was wearing an old-fashioned dress with a matching corset peeking out underneath the beautifully beaded fabric. The tightness of the corset was practically torture to me, and I had endured real torture so I knew I wasn’t exaggerating.

“Since we're stuck together,” I thought with a sigh, “we might as well learn each other’s names.”

The silence stretched out for several minutes before I realized that the wolf didn’t plan on giving a reply.

“What happened to your smart mouth? Didn’t you say you wouldn’t stay quiet?” I smirked. An irritation that wasn’t my own flowed through me.

“Why should I converse with an Omega that I’m– as you put it– ‘stuck together’ with? It’s clear you don’t want me here.” She huffed.

“I told you not to call me that!” I growled. “And besides… I didn’t get a choice.”

The wolf chuckled darkly. “You think you’re the only one who's had their choices ripped from them? Perhaps you need to contemplate who is stuck with whom.” The wolf hummed in thought, her presence pressing up against the front of my mind as she seemed to take in her surroundings. It was odd, I’d never felt the presence of my wolf as much as I feel this current one.

“So that’s a no on the name then?”

She growled in irritation. “You will learn my name when you earn it, girl.”

“Were you this brazen with Ashley?” I rolled my eyes. The wolf chuckled which surprised me.

“No, I was… much different with her.” And just like always, she pulled her dominating presence away.

It was clear I was in for a whirlwind with this new wolf.

With nothing more to do, I closed my eyes and tried to catch some sleep for the long journey ahead.

It felt like mere minutes when a voice startled me.

“We’ve arrived, Beta heir Elyse.” The gruff voice of the cart driver spoke, waking me from my fitful sleep.

“Beta heir?” I grumbled, half-awake. I stretched my arms and glanced around my surroundings.

It was like stepping back in an ancient town. Small wooden cottages dotted the forested mountain top with chimney smoke puffing from each one. A foot of snow had encased the roof of each cottage and hundreds of unfamiliar wolves of all ages were glancing at her cart. Most of the faces showed hesitant suspicion while a few young wolves stepped closer to the cart out of curiosity.

“Looks like we’ve arrived at the Silver Ridge Pack.” I glanced at the foreign wolves with skepticism. “What’s up with you? You’re more excited than usual.” I commented, glancing around. “Care to share?”

We were parked right in front of a large castle-like structure made out of masonry. It was practically medieval in the way it loomed over the village with battlements along the sides and three long spiral towers in the middle. It made me wonder what kind of Alpha lorded over a place like this enough to call it home.

“You should be less concerned about me and more about yourself. We have company.” Her voice held an unfamiliar emotion and I turned my gaze to see what she meant.

The largest, handsomest, most muscular man I’d ever seen walked down the stone steps with a slow, almost lazy confidence that had me rooted to my spot. His dark black hair was short, shaved on one side to display a large scar that ran across the right side of his temple and over his ear. Dark symbols were tattooed on the left side of his neck and down his arm. They alluded to his mysterious, dark aura and it held me captive like a snake with its prey. Above all, his dark eyes– almost black in color, and cold enough to freeze my blood– had me quivering in what I told myself was fear but in reality was something very different.

My heart pounded in trepidation. The urge to close the distance with him, to run my fingers through his soft looking hair, to run my tongue over each and every one of his tattoos… I knew exactly what this feeling was.

The Alpha of Silver Ridge was my new wolf’s mate!

And I recognized him.

He was also the male I had found at the edge of the border camp, unconscious and close to death.

He looked different of course. His hair wasn’t tangled and caked with sweat. His face was brighter and less ashen. He was awake and moving. I wondered if the wounds on his chest had healed. I had stayed up night after night changing his bandages because the blood kept soaking through them too quickly to leave him alone through the night.

“You…” I whispered, though I doubt he could hear me over the murmur of the pack wolves around us.

A scrawny Gamma wolf with chin length chestnut brown hair approached the cart and raised his hand to help me down from the wagon. “Are you the war bride from MistFall?” He asked, forcing my gaze away from the mesmerizing wolf who simply stared from the top of his stone steps.

“The Beta heir?” I simply stared at the Gamma, not knowing if it would be wise to lie or tell the truth in this situation. He continued on, “The Alpha King requires you in the Grand Hall.”

I couldn’t stop myself from voicing my thoughts. “The Alpha King?”

If the Gamma wolf thought I had gone crazy, he hid it well. “Yes, Miss.” He grasped my hand and practically pulled my arm off to get me down from the cart. My wolf snarled at the harsh treatment but said nothing. “The Alpha King ruled over the previous Northern Territories– Silver Ridge being the previous capital– and now has control over the defeated Southern Alliance. And as per the peace treaty agreement, it gave him the title of King of all territories in the country.”

I tried to wrap my head around the politics but it seemed so confusing. I noticed the Gamma wolf was taking me up the front steps but The Alpha King was nowhere to be found.