14: But a Luna Queen

A month ago, my biggest concern was whether the roast I’d prepared for Aaron’s dinner was seasoned well enough to earn a smile. I was a housewife, a shadow, a woman who measured her worth by the silence of her husband’s disapproval. Now, my entire existence was packed into a single suitcase in the trunk of a black sedan, and I was trailing a man who wasn’t even human.

I stared out the window, watching the city blur past, feeling like I had been dragged into someone else’s life.

The silence in the car had stretched too long and I couldn’t take it anymore.

“How long?” I asked suddenly.

Raguel didn’t turn his head. “How long for what, Lyra?”

“How long have you been…this?” I couldn’t even say the word without feeling like I was insane. “How long have you been a werewolf?”

He answered without hesitation.

“I’ve always been one.”

I blinked.

“That doesn’t make sense. I don’t understand how that’s possible,” I said, turning to face him, searching for any sign of a joke. “Biologically. Scientifically. How does it work? Do you just…wait for a full moon? Are there others?”

“We are born, not made, Lyra. We function like any other human when it comes to procreation and life cycles, though our longevity is superior. The moon is a catalyst for certain rituals, but we are not slaves to it.” He finally looked at me, his eyes dark and impossibly deep.

“You’re saying you were just born like that?”

“Yes.”

I frowned.

“That’s…” I shook my head. “That’s insane.”

“It’s normal,” he corrected.

“For you, maybe.”

I exhaled slowly and leaned back, trying to process. “So how come no one has ever figured it out? The Government? Scientists? No one has noticed that there are… supernatural beings just walking around?”

Raguel’s lips curled into a faint, chilling smile. “You assume we are hiding from the Government, Lyra. You fail to realize that we are the Government.”

I opened my mouth to argue, but the words died as the car slowed down.

I barely noticed at first, still lost in my thoughts, until the view outside changed.

The city had disappeared.

Replaced by something else.

Something… larger.

My breath caught.

“What is that?”

Before us was a sprawling estate. It looked like something pulled straight out of the Victorian era with tall windows, intricate designs, sprawling grounds that seemed to go on forever.

The night I had been lured here by Aaron, I’d been too angry to see the mansion but looking at it now, it was beautiful, ancient, and terrifying.

“This is ridiculous,” I whispered.

As the car pulled into the sweeping circular driveway, I noticed a man pacing the entrance. He was dressed in an expensive suit, but his movements were frantic, almost desperate. The moment he saw the car, he broke into a hurried walk toward us.

I frowned.

Something about him felt… familiar but I couldn’t place it.

He reached the car before the driver could even step out, pulling open Raguel’s door with a trembling hand.

“Alpha!” he gasped, his voice thin. “The housekeeper wouldn’t let me in. They kept the doors locked, even after I identified myself.”

Raguel stepped out of the car, his presence instantly dwarfing the other man. He looked down at him with a cold indifference.

“I was the one who ordered my men not to open the doors for you,” Raguel stated, his voice ringing with authority. “Omar Romano, what are you doing here?”

Omar Romano?

My breath caught. This was the Mayor of the city. The man I had seen on the evening news a dozen times, the man who held the keys to the city. And here he was, quivering like a scolded child in front of Raguel.

Then, something clicked in my head and suddenly, I knew. I didn’t know how I knew, but as I looked at the Mayor, I could see the same predatory hum beneath his skin that I felt from Raguel. He was one of them.

“Alpha, please,” Omar stammered, stepping back. “Don’t treat me this way. I already apologized. I admitted to my mistakes, and I…”

He stopped abruptly. His nostrils flared, his head snapping in my direction as I stepped out of the car. He looked at me, his eyes widening as he inhaled deeply, as if he were trying to pull the very scent of me into his lungs.

I stiffened, every instinct in my body telling me to step back.

“You smell… different,” he whispered, his voice trailing off into something dark and hungry. “Tasty. Otherworldly.”

I swallowed hard.

He looked back at Raguel, a suggestive smirk playing on his lips, completely disregarding me. “What is this, Alpha? Some new specimen being bred for the pleasures of the elite?”

Raguel didn’t answer.

Omar chuckled, clearly amused. “I didn’t think you’d indulge in something like this. You’ve always pretended to be above the common hunger, even when we tried to convince you to give in to your primal urges. You’d see now what you’ve been missing out on. Are they breeding them now for alphas alone? That would explain the—”

He didn’t get to finish.

Raguel moved with the speed of light. Before Omar could blink, Raguel’s boot connected with the back of the Mayor’s knees with a sickening thud. The force was immense, sending the most powerful man in the city crashing to the gravel, forced into a kneeling position.

Raguel stood over him, his shadow swallowing the smaller man whole. His eyes were a fiery red, and the air around him felt like it was catching fire.

Omar stayed there, head slightly lowered, breath uneven. I could feel the fear rolling over him in torrents.

“Apologize to her,” Raguel commanded, his voice a low, terrifying growl that made the gravel beneath us vibrate. “Now. You are looking at your future Luna Queen.”