A Return to Happiness (The True Luna Series Book 1)

Chapter 9

Boone

I see her eyes widen in shock and instantly I know that I just made a mistake. I should’ve formed my words much nicer than that. She is after all my mate. Looking at her more thoroughly now, I realized that she looks familiar. Beta Bradley didn’t seem to think that she was a danger to me, he was the one who sent her up to my room. He said that my lemon cake was coming, did he sense that she was my mate? That guy is very intuitive.

Knowing that somehow Beta Bradley has vetted her, if I can borrow Moira’s word, makes me even more comfortable around her. She’s probably one of the maids. There are hundreds of them in the whole kingdom, I’m not expected to know each and every one of them. Yep, she must be one of the maids, that’s why she looks familiar. She’s not assigned to me, though. I know the names of all the three maids that duties are to take care of my suite. I have always treated them with respect, but never been overly friendly. That would be a no-no.

But if she’s one of the maids that I’ve seen snippets here and there, how come we just realized that we were mates. Could it be because that she was never a maid? And that I actually dreamed her into life? That’s it. She was a dream that I’ve dreamt many, many times the Moon Goddess took pity on me and decided to bring her into life. For that, I thank Moon Goddess again, in my heart.

“Lily,” she says in her sweet but soft voice, answering my earlier question. She looks embarrassed now, she starts sitting down on the bed covering her body with the sheet.

“Lily,” I say, sitting down myself. My hand reaches out to hers, I don’t want her to leave because she all of a sudden becomes shy. I’m not done with her, I would never be. “Lily of the valley. You are what I smelled the sooner my car reached the palace gate. Lily, my love, you are my true mate. Did you smell me?”

She nods. “Yes, I smell sandalwood, and spring rain.”

“Spring rain?” I ask, laughing a little. “Lily for me and sandalwood for you, but we both have spring rain, in August.”

She laughs with me. “I know, my son thought I was crazy when I mentioned it.”

Ah, she has a son. But then again, I have a daughter. Perfect.

“But I also smelled lemon cake,” she continues. “The smell was so delicious, so intoxicating, I went to the kitchen to ask for a slice. There I met Beta Bradley and Luna Andrea, they were talking about the spring rain as well. So, I joined the conversation, which was so not me, I never did such a thing.” She laughs, I laugh with her, urging her to continue her story. “Then the chef told me that he didn’t bake lemon cake today, Luna Andrea then said that you had lemon cake and would be willing to share it with me. She then asked me to come and see you.”

Huh, so both my Beta and my mom knew that this sweet thing in my bed was my mate. And somehow, they approved. They made her come to see me instead of trying to hide her from me. This is a wonderful news. My mom approves of her. Life couldn’t be more perfect that this, my search is now officially over.

I get out of the bed and walk towards my drawers, getting myself some boxers and a T-shirt for her. I gave her the T-shirt and put on the boxers. “Sorry for destroying your clothes,” I say sheepishly, making her giggle. “But please wear this for now, I reckon you might want to feel a bit more comfortable. I want us to talk more and your beautiful body is too much of a distraction for me to stay focus.”

She smiles shyly, but obliges and carefully puts on my T-shirt. It drowns her, but we both love it. She holds the T-shirt tightly in her grips and inhale the scent deeply, my c**k twitches. I’m coming home to this every night from now on. The desire to make love to her again is strong but we still need to have a little chat, and eventually dinner. I bet people are waiting for us downstairs with bated breath, so I can’t be selfish. Besides, the night is still young.

“I love my mark on you, love it so much. It makes me so proud,” I say, starting the conversation again, smiling at her. “Do you want to mark me now?”

Lily’s eyes widen, she looks surprised but at the same time, pleased. “Maybe next time?”

“Oh,” I say, then wink. “Will there be a next time? Millions of next time, I hope?”

Lily laughs and covers her face with both of her hands. Goddess, even her laugh sounds melodious, I’m so beyond whipped. But she doesn’t answer me, too embarrassed to do so. I let her, she’s too cute. “I also smelled lemon cake,” I start again, coming back to sit on the bed beside her. “That’s another thing we have in common, lemon cake.”

Now she peeks from between her fingers. “I’ve never really wanted a lemon cake that bad,” she says. “I don’t know what came over me.”

“Oh, me too, believe me, my love. Me too,” I say. Slowly, carefully, I continue, “Listen, Lily. I’ve never felt like this before. What I feel for you, it’s beyond crazy. I guess this is what they call a matebond, huh? I’m so glad that I’m finally able to experience it. You’re my true Luna, Lily. I will arrange for the ceremony as soon as possible, hopefully it can be done in a week or two, can’t be longer than that. I’m a patient man, but not when it comes to you, love.”

Now Lily has tears in her eyes, she nods slowly. “I’m so happy, Alpha King,” she says. “I’ve never experienced something like this before either. What I feel in my heart for you is so strong, I can’t even breath normally.”

“I feel the same way, lemon cake,” I say. “But you can’t call me Alpha King anymore, I won’t have it. Call me Boone, or lemon cake, because apparently, we’re each other’s lemon cake.”

“I can’t call you lemon cake,” she says, but then shyly, she adds, “I will call you Boone, though. Or, perhaps, honey?”

“I like that,” I say. “You have a son, you said? Were you married? I don’t mind that at all, I have a daughter myself. Unless you’re still married, which can become a problem since I’d rather not kill anybody. You’re not, aren’t you?”

She shakes her head. “No,” she says. “My husband died during the war. He was a warrior, he was with King Henry when they died.”

“Ah,” I say, giving her a sympathetic nod. “A hero. What was his name?”

“Mills,” she says. “Gareth Mills.”

All of a sudden, I see lightning. And thunder. And hurricane. And Tsunami. And avalanche. I’m fuckin attacked, drowning, gasping for air. “Mills?” I say, my voice sounds choke, even for my ears. “As in, Mrs. Mills?”

Lily nods, all of a sudden, she looks scared. No, she looks terrified. No, she looks legit horror-stricken.

“You’re Mason’s mother, Moira’s mother,” I say, my voice is harsh now. It sounds accusatory. I can’t help myself. Now I look up, facing the sky, well, the ceiling, arms spread wide, beyond frustrated. This is a bad joke. Bad, bad joke. I’m probably not even awake. Yes, I’m in a nightmare right now. I just need to return to the land of the living.

“Boone,” Lily whispers, her voice shaky.

“What the f**k Moon Goddess!” I shouted, completely ignoring her. “Am I gonna be Mason and Moira’s stepfather? Moon Goddess, dude! Are you sick in the head?”

Lily gasps, then runs.

***

Lily

I run, tears all over my face. I’m beyond embarrassed I could die. Boone just cursed at the Moon Goddess, calling her sick in the head. Who does that? I know that he was the king, but still, he can’t do that. Nobody curses to the Moon Goddess. He was right, though. What the f**k, Moon Goddess! Are you sick in the head?

I continue running, doesn’t exactly know where to go when a hand stops me. I turn to face the owner of the hand. Daisy.

“Come on,” she says, reaching for my hand, dragging me somewhere. I follow her.

After a while, she opens the door to an extremely feminine bedroom. Hers, I suspect and find myself right. Her bedroom is spacious, not as spacious or as grand as the king, but still incredibly sizeable. It has its own living room. Daisy sits me in a sofa and plops her cute behind beside me. She sees tears in my eyes and immediately hugs me tightly. I cry in her embrace, I can’t help myself. She lets me, we stay like that for what it seems like an eternity, or until I have no more tears left. At least not for that day.

Daisy finds me a box of tissues and sits there patiently waiting for me to say something, anything. When nothing is forthcoming, she exhales and gently says. “You are Boone’s mate, his true mate.”

Oh, God. How does she know? Were we loud? But his room is extensive, people can’t hear us, right?

Daisy smiles, understanding my confusion. She then points to the T-shirt. “That’s his favorite T-shirt,” she says. “And he gave it to you, it should mean something, right? Like, where are your clothes? Besides, Boone’s never had s*x with anybody aside from my sister in the palace, he does it discreetly somewhere else. Don’t ask me how I know that, I just do. You two, you just made love, right?”

I nod, too embarrassed to answer.

“Congratulations, I’m so happy for both of you,” Daisy says, hugging me again, warmly. She sounds like she’s genuinely happy for me. “Boone is a good man. He’s been waiting for his true mate all of his life, I’m so happy for him to have found you. I don’t know you, Mrs. Mills, but I know your son. He’s a great guy, such a wonderful person. I just know in my heart, that you’re exactly like him.”

I smile. This girl is such a blessing. “Thank you,” I say.

“But why were you running away?” she asks, puzzled. “Were you running away because you were too happy?”

Oh, she’s funny. Kind and funny, what a combination. “No,” I say. “I was running away because I was too embarrassed. I told the Alpha King that I was Mason and Moira’s mother. He was so incredibly shocked he actually cursed the Moon Goddess. He asked the Moon Goddess why she made him Mason and Moira’s stepfather.”

Daisy gasps, but then she bursts out laughing. I laugh with her.

***