Luna Helena

5

Despite the humiliation, a royal reception still had to be organized.

After touching up her mascara—smudged from the few tears she had allowed herself—Helena called her Beta, Claire.

“We only have a few hours before the prince arrives. Everything must be perfect.”

Claire didn’t mention anything, but she knew her Alpha well enough to guess what had happened in her bedroom. She would only speak of it if Helena chose to; if not, she would be a perfectly sealed tomb.

“Of course, Hel. I’ll get the omegas moving right away. What are your orders?”

Helena took a moment to breathe. This wasn’t her first time organizing a royal welcome. Before her unfortunate marriage—back when her beauty was the talk of bachelors across the kingdom and beyond—she had been the one to welcome a noble lycan from the Eastern realm. At just thirteen, she had been the only woman in the house, and the task of organizing a spectacular reception with her father’s limited resources had fallen squarely on her shoulders.

“The first thing we need to decide is the menu. Everything else will revolve around that,” Helena said, remembering that special occasion—one where she had been praised, and where her fate had almost led her to a distant kingdom. “Lycan from this realm have a particular weakness for pheasant, so we’ll need to order it by the ton.”

Fortunately, this time around Helena had a far more generous budget—and after what had happened, she had no intention of sparing a single expense.

“Tell the kitchen omegas to work directly with the chef and buy whatever he needs for a pheasant-centered meal.”

Claire took careful notes.

“Then the décor must match the theme. Lycans love the hunt, so we’ll serve wild game dishes as well, and the entire pack house must evoke savagery, forest animals, and the thrill of the hunt. Understood?”

“I’ll inform the decorator, Hel.”

“I don’t want any cost-cutting when it comes to decoration. The prince must be impressed—he needs to know that Moon’s Claw is the richest and strongest pack of them all. That way, the other packs he visits won’t even come close.”

Claire kept writing, quietly admiring how her Alpha, despite everything she had suffered, still thought of Moon’s Claw as her pack—and still cared about the image it would project to the crown prince. Had she been in Helena’s place, Claire would’ve been planning how to humiliate her husband—but Helena wasn’t like that. She still believed that the pack’s image was hers, and so everything had to be flawless.

Helena continued adding instructions to Claire’s list. Only after half an hour and a final review of each item did the Beta begin to delegate the tasks—orders that, despite the bruise darkening Helena’s face, she would personally oversee.

“Milo asked to meet with you to coordinate the Alpha’s schedule, Hel,” Claire said, as dusk began to fall and the tents in the garden started to go up.

“I figured his Beta would’ve asked earlier, which can only mean the Alpha’s been asleep while his Luna handles everything.”

Claire didn’t comment, but nodded silently.

“Fine, tell Milo I’ll see him in my office.”

The Beta quickly delivered the message, and while Helena reviewed the payments made that day for the prince’s welcome—with a hint of malicious satisfaction at the money “invested”—she received her husband’s trusted right hand.

“You look stunning, Luna,” Milo said as he stepped into the office, which radiated femininity in every detail—so unlike the space where he usually shared whiskey and crude conversations with his Alpha about women’s bodies. “May I?”

Helena appreciated the Beta’s courtesy. Despite knowing where his loyalty lay, she enjoyed his company. Their conversations were light, intelligent, and for a moment, they allowed her to let her guard down—though never completely. She always chose her words carefully, knowing to whose ears they would ultimately travel.

“What entertainment has my husband planned aside from taking the prince hunting?”

A somewhat seductive smile appeared on Milo’s lips. Helena knew she wasn’t indifferent to him—just as she hadn’t been to nearly every man she’d met since the age of twelve.

“Billiards and an afternoon of horseback riding, although I warned him about the lycans’ bad luck with horses.”

“You’ve met lycans before?” Helena asked, intrigued by his observation.

“Only a few—but enough to know they aren’t exactly skilled riders.”

“Then scratch that stupid idea of my husband’s. The last thing we want is for the crown prince to break his neck on our land and make us the lycans’ next war target.”

“I already had, but I was waiting for your confirmation, Luna.”

“Excellent. So what did you come up with to replace horseback riding?”

Milo’s amber eyes gleamed for a moment. Helena found him very attractive—so much so that sometimes she wondered if he might be her mate, and they simply hadn’t realized it because of her missing wolf.

“Golf,” the Beta replied without hesitation. “I’ve already instructed the omegas to prepare the course.”

The idea intrigued Helena. Although after the failed phone call she had ruled out approaching the prince—or even speaking to him briefly—the idea of a golf match, a sport in which she excelled, couldn’t have been better.

“Do they like golf? Oh, expert in lycan hobbies?”

Milo smiled.

“They like anything that reeks of aristocracy—except horses, but that’s not by choice.”

“Good. In that case, send me the schedule and I’ll make sure the itinerary aligns with the meal times.”

Milo nodded, stood, and—just as Helena had predicted—turned around before reaching the door.

“By the way, Luna…” He looked directly into her eyes and held her gaze for a few seconds before stepping closer. “I took the liberty of asking your maid to leave a box on your nightstand.”

Helena guessed what it was, especially when she caught—out of the corner of her eye—his subtle movement as if he wanted to touch her face. Such a gesture would’ve been out of line, even for him.

“Thank you, Milo.”

Why couldn’t her husband be more like the Beta who served him?

Everything would be so different.

Helena silenced the shiver that thought caused and, after a long sigh, finished adjusting the day’s finances and approving a few final payments to key vendors.

Now, the Luna needed to rest and be ready for the whirlwind day that awaited her in just a few short hours.