Luna's Hidden Heir

The kingdom was dying. I could hear it in the screams. Flames devoured the palace from the inside out, climbing the towering pillars and swallowing the tapestries that had hung there for generations. Smoke poured through the corridors, turning the air thick and black. Steel clashed against steel. Wolves howled. Somewhere behind us, someone screamed for help. I didn't look back. If I did, I might stop. And I couldn't stop. Not tonight. Not with two children depending on me. "Grandmother..." The little girl's voice trembled beside me. I tightened my grip on her hand. "What's happening?" I swallowed the lump forming in my throat. "Keep moving, Virginia." She stumbled over a piece of broken stone, and the boy beside her immediately caught her arm. "I've got you." He was only a child himself. Yet he already carried himself like a soldier. A protector. The captain of the Royal Guard hurried ahead of us, sword drawn, his armor streaked with blood. "This way, Your Majesty." Another explosion shook the palace. The children cried out as dust and fragments of stone rained from the ceiling. I pulled them closer. "Stay with me." We turned another corner. The captain raised his fist. "Stop." Everyone froze. For a moment, there was nothing but the sound of distant fighting. The captain cautiously leaned around the corner. His sword remained raised. "Clear." We moved again. But I knew. We weren't going to make it. Not all of us. I dropped to my knees in front of the children. "Listen to me carefully." Virginia's silver eyes searched mine. The boy stood rigidly beside her. "We may become separated." Fear immediately filled their faces. "If that happens..." My voice nearly broke. I forced it steady. "You must never leave one another." I looked between them. "Do you understand?" They nodded. I turned to Virginia. "Virginia." She looked up at me. I reached for her face, brushing a tear from her cheek. "You are the last daughter of our royal bloodline." Her little brows furrowed. She didn't understand. She was too young to understand. And perhaps that was a blessing. "No matter what happens tonight," I whispered, "never forget who you are." I turned toward the boy. "You have sworn yourself to this family." He immediately straightened. "Yes, Your Majesty." "I'm entrusting Princess Virginia to you." I placed her small hand into his. His fingers closed around hers. "You are her shield." I held his gaze. "Her sword." His jaw tightened. "Her protector." He nodded. "I swear on my life..." He looked down at Virginia. "...no one will ever harm her." A sad smile touched my lips. "I know." I pulled them both against me. For one brief moment, I allowed myself to simply be their grandmother. Not their queen. Not the last line of a dying kingdom. Just Pandora. "I love you." The sound of the explosion that followed swallowed everything. The captain turned. Too late. Something tore through the air. An iron spear drove straight through his chest. His body lifted from the ground before crashing against the stone wall. The children screamed. Blood trickled across the marble floor. I shoved them behind me. Then I saw him. A lone figure stepped through the smoke. Blood covered his clothes. Some of it wasn't his. His eyes found mine. Then his smile widened. "There you are..." His gaze moved past me. "...Princess." Virginia pressed herself against my back. I stepped forward. "Trice." His grin widened. "I've come for my mate." Every muscle in my body went rigid. "Over my dead body." He laughed softly. "Oh..." He dragged his tongue across the blood coating his thumb. "That was always the plan." --- Eleven Years Later Roman Rain had been falling for three days. I was beginning to think the gods had something against me. I stared at the stack of paperwork covering my desk. It hadn't gotten any smaller. If anything, it had multiplied. I hated paperwork. Jax, however, seemed perfectly content. Go outside. "No." It's raining. "Exactly." We could hunt. "We could also stay dry." He growled inside my head. I ignored him. My beta apparently found my suffering entertaining. "Have you heard the rumors?" I didn't look up. "What rumors?" "The Album Wolf." My pen stopped moving. I slowly lifted my eyes toward Alex. "I thought they were all dead." "So did everyone else." He leaned against the windowsill, arms folded across his chest while rain raced down the glass behind him. "But people keep seeing her." "Her?" Alex nodded. "The legends say every Album Wolf is female." "Right.' I leaned back in my chair. The Album Wolf. A creature from stories. A legend whispered about for generations. A wolf birthed by the Moon Goddess herself, one said to have vanished nearly a decade ago. White as snow. Golden eyes. I'd never paid much attention to the stories. Until now. "Where?" "Between here and Blood Moon." My expression hardened. "That's close." "Very." Alex's amusement disappeared. "Every sighting has happened during a storm." I glanced toward the window. "The rain hides her scent." "Exactly." "No one can track her?" "Not for long." I studied him. There was something wrong with his expression. "You've seen her." He hesitated. Then nodded. "I did." I sat forward. "And?" Alex looked back toward the rain. "I've never seen anything like her." His voice dropped. "It was unreal." He paused. "I blinked..." His eyes met mine. "...and she was gone." I almost laughed. "You expect me to believe that?" "I didn't believe it either." The humor vanished from his face. "Until I saw her again." I stopped smiling. "What happened?" "She was running." "From what?" "Rogues." Silence filled the room. My fingers tapped slowly against the desk. A legendary wolf appears after nearly a decade. She's being spotted dangerously close to our territory. And now rogues are hunting her. That wasn't coincidence. Something was happening. Something bigger than a wolf. Jax stirred. Hard. Find her. I frowned. He'd never reacted to a story before. "How many rogues?" "Too many." I stood. Alex raised an eyebrow. "What are you doing?" I reached for my coat. "Going hunting." "For the Album Wolf?" I shrugged it on. "For whatever is chasing her." Alex stared at me. "Roman, it's been raining for three days." I glanced toward the window. "It'll rain all weekend." "You're seriously going out in this?" I opened the door. "If the rain is the reason no one else can track her..." I looked back at him. "...then it's exactly where I need to be." Alex shook his head. "Just don't scare her away." A grin pulled at my mouth. "Scare her?" I stepped into the hallway. "I'm only planning to scare her a little."