A Nanny at the Lycan King’s Palace

CHLOE

As I walked down the hallway of the Alpha’s mansion, I clutched the pregnancy test in my pocket.

I kept thinking of ways to tell Logan we were having a baby, imagining how happy he’d be.

I’d been the Luna of the Red Valley pack for a year.

My relationship with the Alpha had started out like a wonderful fairy tale, until that woman came back.

Melody, his childhood best friend.

She’d married her pack’s Alpha, but her husband had abused her so badly that her wolf had become unstable.

When her maid brought her here, mentally broken and asking for refuge, Logan had welcomed her with open arms, of course.

Ever since then, Melody had gotten it into her head that Logan belonged to her.

No one could contradict her, not even me, or he’d fly into a rage.

He said I had to understand her mental state and just play along.

I raised my hand to knock on his office door, but a woman’s giggle came from inside.

I clenched my teeth and tried to calm down.

Logan had canceled lunch with me because he was supposedly too busy.

I turned the handle and walked right in, only to find the Omega sitting on my husband’s lap.

They were smiling, their faces far too close. The whole thing looked far too intimate...

Jealousy twisted in my chest. If it had been any other woman, I would’ve confronted him right then... but this was Melody... and she was sick.

“Chloe, why did you come in without knocking? What’s wrong?” Logan asked coldly.

“I wanted to talk to you about something impor...”

“Chloe’s rude, stupid, and ugly!”

Melody’s mocking voice rang through the office.

She laughed, acting like a little girl despite her fully developed body.

“Baby, don’t say that to Chloe. Be nice...”

Logan always let her get away with insulting me. He never stood up to her.

“But she wants to split us up! She’s mean, she treats me badly, and she hates me...”

She wrapped her arms around the Alpha’s neck, throwing one of her tantrums.

“That’s not true. I’ve never treated her badly. Logan, I need to talk to you about something...”

“Let’s talk tonight. We were just heading out.”

He cut me off before I could say anything else.

Melody got off his lap, and they walked toward the office door hand in hand.

Then the Alpha was looming over me, his hand stroking my face.

I shivered despite myself, and my Omega wolf let out a low growl of pleasure at having her partner so close.

Logan and I weren’t fated mates, but we were bound by the mark he’d left on the back of my neck.

“Don’t be upset. Melody’s been wanting to go horseback riding for days. I’m taking her today.”

I looked up to speak to him, but my hazel eyes landed on a red lipstick kiss on his neck.

Logan noticed it too and adjusted his shirt to hide it, but he didn’t say a word about it.

“Let’s talk tonight.”

Those were his last words before he left with that woman hanging on his arm.

She glanced back for a second, and I saw that malice in her eyes again, the kind she never showed in front of my husband.

I’d suspected for a while... that Melody was faking it.

*****

“Of course she’s faking it!”

“Nana, keep your voice down.” I motioned for her to lower it.

She was the she-wolf who’d taken me in and been a mother to me.

She’d found me as a baby near the pack’s borders and raised me as her own daughter, giving me a place in this pack.

“You shouldn’t put up with this disrespect. Do you think a baby’s going to change the Alpha? Be careful, or he might force you to have an abortion...”

“What are you talking about? Logan would never do that to me. He loves me.” I shook my head, watching her pace around the room.

“I’ve got that strange truth potion ready. Tomorrow, I’ll find a chance to give it to that bitch.”

“No, Nana, no. It’s dangerous. If the Alpha finds out...”

I stood up to take her hands, but she gripped mine tightly and looked me straight in the eye.

“Listen to me, Chloe. I didn’t raise you to let anyone walk all over you, Alpha or otherwise.” Her expression hardened with anger.

No one knew Nana’s secret.

She was a hybrid, and there was a little magic in her blood.

She could identify all kinds of plants on her own and mix them into potions with incredible effects.

Werewolves frowned on magic and on mixing with other species, so I was the only one who knew about her unusual abilities.

“Tomorrow, we’ll find out whether Alpha Logan’s really being fooled... or just pretending he is. Pack the things I gave you and be ready in case we have to leave.”

I tried to convince her this was crazy, but she was stubborn.

My wolf, Vera, was anxious.

She didn’t want to leave Logan, and she still hoped a baby would bring his attention back to me.

I’d talk to him.

But I waited for him that night, hour after hour, and once again... I slept in a cold bed.

I didn’t have to go looking for him to know he was with her.

A stomachache, a nightmare... Melody always had some excuse to keep us apart.

I spent most of that night thinking about my situation.

I couldn’t keep sitting back and accepting this.

I was tired of waiting and trying to be understanding.

I’d talk to Logan the next day, and he’d have to listen.

If he chose Melody again, then he could stay with her.

I’d leave with my baby and Nana.

I barely slept that night and was still in bed later than usual the next morning.

The crash of the door flying open made me bolt upright.

“Luna! Luna, you have to come! They’re going to beat Miss Alicia to death!”

At my maid’s words, I jumped out of bed, still barefoot and in my nightclothes.

I ran down the hallway, fearing the worst.

I could hear a crazed laugh, and the smell of blood filled the air.

It was my nana Alicia’s blood.

When I entered the room and saw her lying on the floor, her dress torn and her back covered in lash marks, I screamed and rushed to her.

“Nana!”

I dropped to my knees, getting her blood all over me, my hands shaking as I turned her over.

The color was draining from her skin, and a gash on her temple wouldn’t stop bleeding.

They’d whipped her, then shoved her hard against the corner of a piece of furniture.

“Nana, no. No, please. Wake up. Please, I’m begging you...”

I started crying as I cradled her against my chest, sobs rising in my throat.

I couldn’t feel her pulse, but I still clung to the impossible hope that she was alive.

“What are you waiting for?! Call the healer!”

I screamed at the two maids in the room, but neither went for help.

Instead, they shut the door, locking us in.

Then I turned to the woman responsible for all of it, my eyes full of hate.

The bloody whip still dangled from Melody’s hand.

“No one’s calling a healer,” she sneered.

“What did you think? That you could send that old woman to give me something strange and I wouldn’t notice?”

She glanced at the broken teacup on the carpet.

But that wasn’t the worst part.

It was her steady voice, her focused eyes, her confident smile... not a trace of the instability she always showed!

“You were faking it! You did all of this from the start so you could be with the Alpha!”

I snarled at her, my fangs bared, my breathing ragged.

“Of course I’m faking it, you idiot. And once Logan kicks you out of my pack, I’ll officially be his woman.”

“Officially.” So the two of them...

“You’re lying. He just feels sorry for you. He doesn’t know...” I stammered, still unable to quite believe it.

She only kept laughing, and the two maids covered their mouths, looking at me with pity.

“Of course he knows... Or did you really think he spends his nights in my room telling me bedtime stories?”

She pulled down her neckline, exposing part of her breasts.

There they were, the marks left by a man’s mouth and hands.

“You’re the only one Logan feels sorry for. He just doesn’t know how to get rid of you... but I’ll help him... Get that old woman’s corpse out of here. She tried to poison me!”

Her words set something off inside me.

My wolf roared in rage, and I lunged at her.

I wouldn’t let her keep mistreating the woman who’d raised me as her own.

I shoved her, catching her off guard, and snatched the whip from her hand.

I started whipping her with all my strength, listening to her screams and her maids crying for help, saying I’d gone crazy.

Melody put on her best act.

She managed to crawl out of the room and reach the second-floor landing.

“Help! Save me! She’s crazy! Chloe’s gone crazy...!”

She screamed for the whole house to hear, but I raised my hand to lash her across the face again.

Open wounds covered her body.

Then the whip was ripped from my hand so hard it left my palm raw.

“Have you lost your mind?! That’s enough, Chloe!”

Logan’s voice rang out behind me, and when he saw how badly I’d beaten his beloved Melody, he came at me.

“This is unforgivable!”

His hand slammed into my face so hard I felt bones crack, pain exploding through my head.

I stumbled over my own feet and lost my balance.

The next thing I knew, I was falling backward.

I tumbled down the stairs from the second floor and howled in pain as I hit the foyer floor hard.

My hands went straight to my belly as pain throbbed through it.

The smell of blood pouring from my head mixed with the scent of blood trickling between my legs.

I didn’t even have time to react before they dragged me into the middle of the pack square and began whipping me as punishment.

Through the agony and the tears blurring my vision, I looked at the man who’d sworn to protect me and be faithful to me.

That day, I lost my mother... and I lost my baby.