Where's my Luna

Chapter 15

Alpha Kael POV

"Have you ever experienced rejection before?" she asked.

I felt a sharp pain in my heart. I've experienced worse than rejection; Natalie's death is a blow I would never wish on anyone.

"No," I said, my voice lower than I intended.

"Then you won't be able to understand the pain I went through and am still going through," she said sadly, chucking a cookie into her mouth.

Disbelief clouded me; I stared at her unbelievably.

"Why are you looking at me like that? What's wrong with what I just said?" she asked, facing me.

I ignored her, turning to the other side. Talking about Natalie would reveal a part of me that only Mother and Ramon know about - a part that would make me seem weak. An Alpha should never be associated with tears.

"It's all right to cry," I heard a voice whisper into my ears.

I jerked back to see Kaila Jacobs standing beside me with a mischievous smile on her face. When did she get up from the bed? How did I not notice?

"It's all right to cry, go ahead, Handsome Scarred; you can cry, right?" she asked, bending down to my seated position.

I stared at her in disbelief. Is she implying that I, Alpha Kael Duke, the Alpha of Astro Park, should cry before a peasant, a commoner?

"You know," she started, pouting her lips, "it's hypocrisy to give advice you personally don't adhere to."

As true as that is, thankfully, the advice didn't originate from me but rather from my mate.

She sat directly opposite me, her feet on the ground.

"I've learned that opening up makes one feel so much better, and crying is another medicine on its own. I felt much better after crying; it helped soothe the pain," she paused to take a breath.

"So, Handsome Scarred, share with a stranger what happened."

I turned my face from her, unsure whether to open up to her or not.

"Handsome Scarred," she called.

I raised my head to face her in response.

"You know, it would be easier to share with a stranger what you're going through. That's because you'll never see me again, and it would save you the embarrassment of facing a familiar face," she said with a serious look.

Her words made sense; she succeeded in convincing me to talk about Natalie.

"She was my mate," a lone smile crept across my face.

Kaila sat up properly, anticipating what I had to say.

"We loved each other so much and couldn't do without each other, even right from when we were still pubs. Ramon and I both had a crush on her; Ramon is my best friend."

I chuckled, recalling how furious I was when Ramon told me he loved Natalie and would be happy if the moon goddess made her his mate.

"I was very excited when Ramon met his mate, and all the love he had for Natalie was automatically transferred to his mate. But I know he still has a soft spot for her. I was tempted to ask her out, but unfortunately, Father became ill during that period, and I had to cancel and focus on him."

"I skipped the part where I had to take over the running of the park, attend boring meetings. Thankfully, Mother was there to help when I was tired or indisposed."

Kaila stared at me with rapt attention.

"A month after Father passed," I continued, "we both discovered we were meant to be. She was my mate, my ordained mate. Well, I couldn't imagine marrying another."

A bright smile spread across my face. I remembered happily announcing to Mother that we would like to get married the next day, as we couldn't wait to be in each other's arms, wake up right next to each other - a dream I'd had since I was old enough to understand how love worked.

I fell into silence, reminiscing about the good times with Natalie.

"What happened?" Kaila asked carefully, probably scared I would get mad.

"Last year, there was a war between our park and another park. Natalie is a Gamma, the only daughter of her father. Having no son to teach the tactics of war, he realized his golden daughter was interested in learning. He spent time training her to be a soldier, even though he never meant for her to be one."

"I guess it was fun having your child interested in what you do," I said, remembering how Natalie's father had cried and regretted ever teaching her how to wage war, shoot with guns and arrows, and the tactics of war.

"He wished he had allowed her to grow like every other girl child."

"Natalie became one of the best soldiers our park has ever produced; she indeed took after her father. She fought wars alongside the best soldiers and brought victory home."

" Here is the rest of the rewritten text with corrected grammatical errors:

"Wow!" she exclaimed.

"Yeah, she was amazing," I smiled.

"What happened?" she asked again.

"I warned her not to go to that war. My instinct was against it. I felt something bad was going to happen, and it did," a lone tear dropped from my eyes; I didn't bother to wipe it off.

"She sneaked behind my back and went to the war. She was killed during the war. It was devastating seeing her body dressed as a male soldier among the bodies of the casualties."

The tears dropped more as I recalled when I decided to follow Ramon to identify the bodies of the lost soldiers. I whispered to Ramon that one of the dead soldiers had the build of a woman. The shock on myself when the face was unveiled - it was the pale face of my beloved, Natalie; my dearest Luna and mate.

"I had tried calling her earlier to tell her we won the battle. I had looked forward to her warm smile when I got back."

"She was killed," unashamedly, I let the tears flow. I cried until I felt a tiny arm patting my back. The arm wrapped around me in an embrace.

We stayed like that for a long time. I detangled from her arms. I couldn't believe I had hugged a stranger twice in a row. What's happening to you, Kael?

"It's getting late," I whispered. "Let's go to bed."