Alpha King’s Lost Luna by Aubrey Pepper

Chapter 17 Healer's fear

ASHER

Once the healer left, I leaned back in the armchair in Alpha Gareth’s meeting
room and released a sigh. My head was aching, as if I had a million hammers,
pounding at it at once. I pinched the bridge of my nose between my fingers.

It was difficult to say whether the headache was from the mysterious disease
worsening or the lack of sleep. I barely got a full night's rest these days, and it
was, beginning to take its toll on my entire body. It was simply too difficult to rest
when there was so much plaguing my mind.

And now, there was someone else to consider, someone I couldn't get out of my
head.

Cas sandra Keller.

Even though she was gone, her name ran circles in my mind, over and over, as if
it were a song rather than a name.

Ca ssandra Keller, a nobody healer from a long-forgotten Pack on the border of
Wegalla.

Over the past few conversations I'd held with her, I knew there was something
special about her, something weirdly familiar that drew me in in unexplainable
ways. As much as I wanted to dismiss those feelings, I knew they couldn't be
ignored.

Had I heard her name before? Or known someone with a similar one? Was her
face similar to one I'd seen before? I couldn't place it anywhere in my memory,
but perhaps she just reminded me of another subject... It was so hard to say.
Either way, I couldn't figure it out.

Deep down, I knew there was no need to bring the girl all the way to Anemond
with me. My son was nearly healed from his encounter with the viper and was
going

to make a full recovery. And she had been right- she could easily conduct her
research here and report her findings to me in the capital city.

But I wanted her to come with me.

As much as I didn’t want to admit it, I was immensely attracted to her. Her long,
wavy copper hair that shimmered like flame, her beautiful dark green eyes, and
her full lips... even her petite, lovely figure drew me in. Since yesterday, I'd
fantasized about the way her slender hips curved and how much I wanted to
place my hands on them and draw her to me in an embrace.

I hadn't been like this in years. In fact, I hadn't taken any interest in any woman
after Cora had died.

So, what was it about this woman that I couldn't get out of my head?

Suddenly, a knock rang out and interrupted my thoughts.

“Alpha,” a voice then said, and I recognized it as Lancel, one of my guards. He'd
been under my command for years and was one of the few I actually trusted.
Despite being the king of the realm, there were few I could trust in Anemond.
Everyone was conniving with ulterior motives and agendas that threatened to
undermine my every move.

But Lancel had been close to me for as long as I could remember. He had been
my bodyguard since I was very young, and was the only one who still referred to
me as “Alpha” rather than “Your Majesty” or “King”

“Come in, Lancel,” I called out. Moments later, the door opened, and Lancel
entered. He was an older man of nearly fifty, with deep-set blue eyes, and hair
that had turned prematurely white. He was broad and muscular and reminded me
of a kinder version of my father.

After he crossed the empty room, he stopped in front of me and bowed in
respect.

“Alpha, the healer’s bags are all packed,” he reported.

I'd sent my guards to Ca ssandra Keller's house to pack her belongings while we
spoke, so she wouldn't have a chance to escape again.

“Did you happen to find anything suspicious?” I wondered, and I pinched my
nose again as my head continued to pound. I closed my eyes again and leaned
back into the chair.

“There's a letter we found on the kitchen table,” Lancel revealed. “It seems she
left it with her assistant before she fled to the forest.”

“Really?” I asked, and my eyes flew open. “Have you

read it?”

I knew that it had to be suspicious if even Lancel found it curious.

He nodded. “It seems that the healer was preparing to leave this Pack for good.
She planned to leave her clinic to her assistant, Marley Raven.”

“Marley,” I repeated back. “I'm not surprised.”

“But there’s more, Alpha,” Lancel continued slowly, and he lowered his voice
slightly. “There’s something I found very weird.”

I frowned. “Really?”

“Yes,” Lancel replied. “l may be reading into the matter, but I think she may be
afraid of Anemond.”

“Afraid?” I repeated back.

My trusted guard nodded. “Yes, Alpha.”

A laugh rose up from my chest.

“Well, of course, she’s afraid of Anemond, Lancel, “I noted, and I rested back into
the seat. “She's afraid she might struggle to take on the responsibilities I'm
asking of her. Why else would she try to run away?”

My logic felt foolproof, yet Lancel didn’t seem too convinced.

“Well, yes, Alpha,” he said. “But that’s not quite what I mean.”

“Then state your piece, Lancel,” I urged, and I released a sigh. With my head
pounding as severely as it was, I needed rest, and my guard was taking too long
to reach his point. What was so suspicious about Ca ssandra Keller?

“Alpha, I've seen werewolves who have run away from their duties,” Lancel said,
and his deep blue eyes grew worried. “They were nothing but cowards. But this
healer... she doesn’t seem like any of them?”

“What makes you say that?” I said, and my eyebrow raised.

Lancel reached into the pocket of his trousers and retrieved a folder piece of
paper. He unfurled it and then handed it to me.

“It's the last few sentences she wrote,” he said, and then he gestured to the
letter.

I stared down at the flowy cursive writing and quickly read through the letter until
I reached the bottom of the page.

Brun...

“Please forgive me, Marley,” I read aloud. “I just can’t go to Anemond. I have to

I suddenly stopped, and my eyebrows creased together. I understood instantly
what Lancel meant.

“She says “I can’t go to Anemond’ rather than “l don’t want to,” I mused.

Why would she state it that way if she were truly trying to desert her duties?
“Alpha, I believe the woman to be very suspicious,” Lancel said. “From what I've
inferred/it appears she’s been to Anemond before.”

I fell silent as I stared at the letter in my hands. My trusted guard’s words were
likely true. The healer had been to Anemond. Something about her was strange,
and the letter seemed to prove exactly what I'd been thinking.

My head pounded even further. Something about this Ca ssandra Keller needed
to be investigated, and it needed to be done at once.

“Keep an eye on her, Lancel,” I ordered as I closed my eyes and gently rubbed
my temples. “If she is afraid of something in Anemond, we need to find out what it
is. She's hiding something. And I intend to discover what it is.”