The Perfect Luna’s Rogue Mate

Chapter 3

The Alpha King did not bat an eye. Again, Chrystal felt the discomfort of something shared between the rogue and the King.

“Why are you here?!” Chrystal snarled, her eyes flashing, the weight of her training as pack mother, peacekeeper, the voice of reason, kicking in.

She had to keep the man whom the goddess had declared to be her mate focused on her rather than letting his attention spread to multiple targets.

She glowered at the interloper whose life was now tied to hers.

“What is your mission here, rogue?” the King’s deep voice rolled over the gathering like thunder, promising a storm to come, the Alpha King doing the same as his daughter, drawing the invader’s attention to himself.

“Is your plan to walk in here, take my daughter’s hand, and be welcomed back into our fold?” his tone one of absolute indifference.

Castian’s eyes snapped back to the Alpha King as he took two steps toward the dais that was much too far away; the lazy, distant expression that had characterized his behavior since stepping into view now replaced by something far more dangerous as the rogue faced the King with a wide-eyed, almost feverish glare.

Chrystal stared, her mind racing as different emotions hit her from all sides. Her own, her father’s, her intended mate, and her supposed mate.

Her supposed mate’s feelings stood out among all others. Thanks to the mystical link that had now formed, she could feel his emotions, almost as if they were her own.

He is angry! No. He is enraged! He is barely holding back! What did Father say to cause such a violent response?

Her hand moved absently to her chest as she watched her ‘mate’, her heart pounding against her chest, just as his must be; her breathing raspy, just as his should be; yet, only his eyes revealed any of the chaos inside him.

His stone expression had returned since the smile, or his version of one, had vanished.

Castian Rhodes…

She said the name in her head. Castian’s gaze moved back to her, slowly, his shoulders straightening.

Her eyes widened.

For real? No way! She screamed in her mind.

Her pulse quickened. Her heart pounded, and her face reddened from the rush of blood. Immediately, black eyes flashed in Castian’s face, but it was only for a split second.

His wolf had pushed forward, a primal urge overtaking him. The pull to defend something or someone precious or vital to him, but he had taken back control of his reaction almost instantly, his eyes returning to their human form.

In response, Chrystal felt her own wolf rise to the surface, her eyes turning black as if, at a primal level, to embrace the protection that had almost been offered. Her eyes remained that way as the connection between them deepened beyond anything she had thought possible.

Her mouth fell open in shock as she struggled to process what was happening to her, no longer able to maintain her regal poise.

Darius’ head snapped to Chrystal as he noticed the change in her eyes, then swiveled to Castian, his brow furrowing, his mouth turned downward.

He grabbed Chrystal’s hand with a possessiveness that threatened to crush her bones, snapping her out of her near-hypnotic state.

“Capture the traitor!” Darius growled.

Blades flashed in the firelight as the pack warriors turned against Castian instantly. Chrystal hardly blinked before Castian moved toward her faster than any wolf she had ever seen.

One moment, he was standing still; the next, he was a blur of motion, taking down three warriors in the span of a breath.

He did not hesitate and did not falter as he swept toward her.

Darius lunged at Castian, his hands transforming into claws as he entered a part shift, fury driving him to forget his blade, but Castian wasn’t there.

He dodged Darius, spun with fluid grace, then grabbed Chrystal by the waist. A shiver shot through her, the mate bond burning hot where he touched her skin.

“Let go of me!” Chrystal snarled, furious at being handled in such a rough manner, digging her nails into Castian’s arm. Her nails, not her claws; a distant part of her registering that she could not shift.

And even with her nails, she could not bring herself to draw down or across his flesh.

She could not hurt him; even as her mind struggled to escape his scorching hold. Such was the power of a mate bond.

Yet, Chrystal’s mind was being pulled elsewhere. Thoughts and feelings that contradicted everything she should think, should desire, threw themselves up as the three struggled against one another.

“Let me go! You’re a traitor to our kingdom! I can’t be mated to a rogue! Let me go!” she screamed out loud while pushing other thoughts to the one who held her.

Get out of here! They will torture you! Even if they can’t kill you, they will make you suffer. Darius, will make you suffer! Run!

She all but screamed internally as she pushed Castian’s arm with one hand, while Daruis pulled on the wrist of her other hand as he tried to claw at Castian with his free hand, three people moving in a very strange, violent dance, until Castian broke their circle of doom.

“They will kill you, little Luna,” Castian breathed, low and lethal, against Chrystal’s ear. Her breath caught in her chest, and she moved without thinking, pulling her wrist from Darius’ grip with sudden strength she hadn't known she possessed.

Time seemed to slow to a crawl as she watched the scene unfold. Her gaze shifted to her father, and what she saw in his expression made her heart stop, the blood freezing in her veins as she recognized something she had never seen before in the man who had raised her.

His eyes were fixed on Castian with a deathly stare that went far beyond the hate between pack wolves and rogues. She had never seen her father, the Alpha King, look so…cold, so far removed from the gracious, yet impartial ruler she knew him to be.

If she knew the wolf holding onto her, she was practically one with the Alpha King. And from her father’s face, the King wanted to kill this wolf, and he would, no matter the cost to her or the kingdom.

Her innermost being cried out with the horror that overwhelmed, that she was still trying to process.

Castian’s eyes instantly snapped to the King. He bared his fangs in a wide grin. “You want me dead?” he called out mockingly, almost as if he had pulled the words from Chrystal’s mind, “Come and try!”

With one powerful leap, he dragged Chrystal with him, straight into the darkness, into the unknown, away from those who would kill him, who could kill her, away from calculated certainty into unimaginable possibilities.