Daddy, Can She Be Your Luna?

CHAPTER 3: LYCAN KING’S CAPTIVE

Bella’s POV

“I am sorry, but I refuse,” I replied politely but firmly. I did not want to engage with them any more. I spun around and picked up my little girl’s hand to go away from the masked bodyguards.

“Are you Aaron’s mother?”

I paused.

My heart almost skipped a beat on hearing my son’s name. I hesitated to disclose my identity as his mother, but my son’s safety was more important.

“Where is he?” I asked, my heart crumbling.

“Then please follow us, Ma’am,” the leader of the king’s bodyguards said and turned around his heel. With no option left, I followed him to find my dear son.

I had to remind myself numerous times that I was a wolfless mother of two, and could not afford to do anything rash such as decking the king’s bodyguards, who were flanking my sides. I kept my daughter close to me and did not let go of her hand from mine while clenching our suitcase with the other.

Where were they taking us? Where was my son?

The walk was tense, before we reached a huge golden lounge room. Big golden letters sprawled across the glass door.

T H U N D E R S T O R M

Huge sculptures of lions and dragons welcomed us from either side.

The glass automatic door alone dripped of royalty. A small waterfall dripped down the glass door when closed and opened up vertically on sensing visitors.

“Look, mommy! The door is the wolf’s mouth,” my daughter, Zara, pointed out in awe.

“Yes, baby,” I cooed and softly cupped her adorable face with one hand.

“Are you Aaron’s mother?” The Beta Lycan at the lounge’s entrance asked. The question was slowly turning into a thorn in my side.

I nodded. I clutched my daughter even closer to me.

“I will take it from here,” the beta told the leader of the bodyguards. The latter bowed in front of the beta lycan and left.

“This way please, Madam,” the beta gestured inside the lounge.

I stepped into the lycans’ den, an unfamiliar feeling settling into me. For the first time in half a decade, I could smell something sharply sweet and delicious, as if my wolf had woken up and could smell it from a far distance.

Was my wolf back?

“Snow?” I called out my wolf’s name in my mind.

Nothing.

When no response came back, I called out again. “Snow?”

“Snow?”

“SNOW?”

However, there was no luck. Snow could come to the Sahara, but my Snow was never going to come to me. I had to accept the fact that I had lost my wolf due to the rejection.

“Where are we going, Mommy? I am scared,” Zara squeaked as we walked deeper into the dimly lit VIP airport lounge. Even after coming from a grand beta family, we could never afford to such a luxurious place.

I looked around skeptically. Were they going to make us prisoners? I picked up my daughter and softly assured her, “Don’t be afraid. Mommy is here. We are going to get your brother and get out of here, ok?”

“No, you are not,” a thunderous growl erupted through the silence of the dark, lamp-lit room.

A thousand lamps floated in the scented, crystal-clear waters along with fresh rose petals, in fish-shaped fountain-baths. Two streams of water fountains gushed out of two majestic, golden lions’ mouths.

Round, sophisticated, carved table-tops were dimly lit in hues of soft yellow and orange.

The place screamed royalty and power.

Speaking of power, a chair, or rather a golden throne sat at the far end of the lounge and on it sat a tall, powerful figure. His aura alone was frightening yet majestic. Dangerous but alluring. Beastly but elegant. He was effortlessly the most handsome man in the world with the sharpest of features and drop-dead gorgeous, rugged looks.

His strong, sharply cut jaw clenched when I stepped forward and his noble face scrunched into a frown when something hit his sharp nose. Most likely my scent. Did he figure out that I was wolfless? I couldn’t afford that slip up!

I blinked and tried to avert my gaze from the large, looming beast sitting in the dark, but I felt spellbound and rooted to my spot. Something felt familiar about this face. The face that sent my pulse racing and heart thumping.

He stared back at me as if in a daze, his shining blue eyes looking like an enchanting ocean. I could dive deep into their depths the whole day.

Dressed in an impeccable, dapper, black Armani suit, the man oozed refinement and sophistication along with aristocracy. Royalty and power just poured out of him.

Inspite of his hard, impenetrable exterior, he managed to pull off a soft look when a kid crawled into his lap and hugged his neck.

On the other hand, he glared at my son who had climbed up his other leg too. The two pups looked so similar! Like twins!! Nobility dripped off them.

My gaze dipped down towards the royal’s hand that tightened its hold on Aaron. The king’s hand was bleeding! As if someone had bitten him!!

Zara left my hand and ran towards her brother, screaming, “We found you!”

But she didn’t go towards her brother!

Instead, she ran straight towards the formidable man in black and jumped on her toes to catch his knee. Suddenly, the warriors stepped forward with their weapons directed at the short girl, but the king raised his hand and looked down at my struggling daughter with a raised eyebrow. She hauled herself up and took the surprised king’s hand. I, too, looked at the scene in shock. She got comfortable against his broad, muscular chest and suddenly bit on the part of the thumb which was already bleeding!

Not even a squeak came out of the man in pain. He only grunted when he wanted a warrior to take the kids off his lap and hand him over a handkerchief. I was already rushing towards my precious babies, but my path was blocked by the powerful man’s bodyguards.

“You can’t go there, Ma’am.” The Beta gruffly said, not seeming pleased by the situation. The king’s hand was still bleeding, as if his lycan could not heal him.

“My kids!” I protested.

“They will be returned. Please stay here,” he replied, as patiently as he could.

“No, they won’t,” the loud, booming voice replied pat again.

I looked up, shell-shocked, and the tall royal figure was looking back at me sharply. His eyebrows were knitted together. Anger marred everywhere on his handsome face. The glow on his fair skin radiated royalty and his non-verbal expressions demanded obedience.

However, I was cut from a different cloth. I obeyed no one and feared no one, but I was worried that my kids would be scared of the beast. I ducked under the bodyguards and rushed towards my son and daughter.

Gathering the two in my hands, I gently set them down on their feet and brought them closer to me protectively.

“Your Majesty,” I bowed. “I apologize for your hand,” I addressed the king directly for the first time. His response was to only give me a cold, silent look. Even angry, his face shone like a sun. “But I request you to kindly let my children go. They are innocent babies in a new foreign land.”

“I can’t,” he coldly replied, tersely, as if I was not worth speaking more than two words.

“Why? What happened?” I asked, confused. “Your Highness,” I added as an afterthought, when I looked at the king’s narrowed eyes.

“They bit me,”he stated. “And the wound won’t heal,” he added in the same bored tone, as if the pain meant nothing to him. “This has happened only once in my lifetime,” he said and looked down at his son.

Realization dawned on me, and my eyes widened, horrified. But then I calmed my racing heart and gently apologized.

“I am sorry for the kids imprinting on you. They don’t understand how the supernatural kingdom works.”

The man raised his hand and looked at me coldly.

“Rogues living in a human land?” He smirked, as if amused by our condition.

I drank in my gasp at how quickly he found out about our status. Instead of showing fear, I calmly replied, “Why did you take away my son in the first place? None of this would have happened then.”

“Are you blaming me for keeping them fatherless and their behaviour? Do they always go about biting strangers?” He coldly asked.

“No, they don’t. You know that a kid can only imprint on its father and mother only once each. You have no right to accuse my children or blame me. You are the King and yet you kidn*pped my innocent son from the airport! They were just trying to free my son by biting you!”

A caustic laugh left his lips while his angry eyes shot daggers at me.

 “I did not kidnap your son,” he nixed. “Your son found my pup wandering at the airport without security, and helped him find his way back to the lounge. I am grateful for his help, but he overrode the security code of the lounge and brought my son inside. I want to see his tablet and he is refusing me. No one can ever hack into my system. I need to know how he did it. I promise a large reward for his kindness for bringing my son and his cooperation in handing over the tablet.”

“And that is when he bit you,” I finished the story.

“Yes,” came back his cold reply.

“Aaron?” I turned towards my son, my voice going down by several decibels. I crouched down to his level and held his tiny hands in mine tenderly. “Is this man speaking the truth? Did you find his son and return him to the king?” I gently prodded.

Aaron meekly nodded his head. “Yes,” he whispered.

“And did you enter the security code of the lounge?” I asked.

Aaron looked up at the cold King, but I gently nudged his face to look at me. “Baby, is it true?” I softly said.

Another meek nod. “Yes.”

“He hacked into our system. No one has ever been able to do that!” The Beta interjected.

“Why? Is it difficult?” Suddenly a smile came on Aaron’s mouth.

“Did his son tell you the code?” I further questioned.

“No, he didn’t. Rome doesn’t know the code.”

I looked back at the king with a frown to stop him from interrupting my child and scaring him. However, my eyes widened in shock when I saw his pup－Rome, swinging from one leg to another in a fainting fit. I dashed towards the child, before he hit the ground, and cradled him in my arms.

“ROME!”

“Mommy?” Rome muttered and passed out in my arms.