Page 16 of Mated To The King’s Gamma (Lycan Luna: Abbie & Gannon #3)

G annon told me Damian is back, and we will have two new additions to the castle. Staring out of our window, I can see the cars. Beta Damian steps out and is arguing with someone, but the angle I am at is blocking my view of them.

“Bloody hell, woman! How many times do I gotta tell you I am the king’s beta? I live here! What do you think? I would bring you here if I didn’t?” Damian snaps when I hear a child start crying.

“Great! Now you woke him,” Damian says, standing upright, and I notice the toddler in his arms.

“Give him here! Give me my son!”

“No! Do you want him? Then get out of the damn car!”

“Man, they have done nothing but bitch and fight the entire way back,” Liam groans.

“Fine! But if your king abuses me for trespassing, you can bet your damn ass I will whoop his!” the feisty woman snaps.

“Good! Whoop his ass! He is right behind you. Let’s see what you got, short stuff!” Damian shouts. “I would love to see it!” Damian snaps at her. The woman turns around so fast I hear Azalea gasp and rocked back on my heels.

“What is going on?” The king growls. Damian scrubs a hand down his face, looking exhausted, probably more defeated. I’m not sure.

“Kyson, this is Tandi. Tandi, his Royal Highness King Kyson, you know the one you want to beat?” Damian mocks. Azalea’s eyes are pinned to the woman, and her eyes were also on Azalea, her mouth opening and closing like a fish.

“Taylor?” she choked.

“Ivy?” Taylor stammers, looking just as shocked to see her. I thought she was dead; I never imagined seeing her again. Though I have always hoped she was alright I just believed that was wishful thinking.

“Taylor?” Damian says, taken aback, but my feet are already moving as I race to her.

“Taylor?” No, I couldn’t have possibly heard that right. The Taylor we knew is dead, killed by Alpha Brock and Alpha Dean for being a rogue. We were forbidden from going with her and received lashes that day.

“Oh, my gosh, it’s really you!” Azalea shrieked, throwing her arms around her.

“What are you doing here?” Taylor cries, clutching Azzy. She starts crying, and I can’t contain my tears, either.

“Wait! What about Abbie?” she says, holding her at arm’s length, and I bounce on my heels, wanting to rush down to see if it truly is her.

Maybe I’m having one of my moments. I have had them before, and I know if I can just touch and feel her, I would be certain.

I wonder if I am dreaming. I sometimes suffer differentiating between fantasy and reality, though I truly hope I’m not having some psychotic break.

“She is here. I can’t believe you’re alive!” I cry, clutching her face in my hands.

“Hang on, what is going on? Who is Taylor?” Damian says, and Azalea looks at Taylor.

Before realizing what I’m doing, I’m on autopilot, searching for my shoes. Gannon asks me what is wrong several times before I even register his voice speaking to me. “Abbie, what’s going on?”

“Taylor is alive!” I gush, needing to see for myself.

“Whose Taylor?” Gannon asks me.

Gannon stares at me in confusion as I stare at him. What does he mean? Who is Taylor? I have no time to explain; I just need to get to her, touch her to make sure she is real and not a figment of my imagination. But I know he isn’t going to let me run down until I give even a brief explanation.

“Taylor is one of the rogue girls we were with at the orphanage. Ms. Daley hated how close we were and constantly tried to separate us. She said we were plotting against her, anyway. Mrs. Daley’s friend broke a vase and blamed us rogues.

Taylor stood up for us, and it got her beat and kicked out.

One day Azalea and I woke up to her gone.

We looked everywhere surrounding that hell hole before we had gotten up the courage to ask Ms. Daley. She whipped us good for even asking.”

Gannon furrowed his brow, “We never saw any other girls close to your age in the documents we had taken from the SilverShadow pack. This is just more confirmation of what we already suspected.”

I have no time for semantics; I need to get down there; I take the stairs two at a time in my rush and run out the front doors. Just as I all but bolted through the door, I nearly knock Trey over.

“Hello, can someone tell me what the fuck is going on? Did you give me your whore name?” I hear Damian demand, and I gasp at what he called her. Taylor snarls, spinning on her heel to glare at him.

“It’s a long story and Abbie?” Azzy glances over her shoulder at me moments before my hurried footsteps catch everyone’s attention.

The moment Taylor turns to look at me, I stop in my tracks before I stumbled out of the door and down the steps in a state of shock.

Trey grips my arm to keep me steady as my mouth opens and closes in shock.

As I look at Azalea with the same shock that she clearly feels upon seeing Taylor, I find myself staring at her, needing that confirmation from her.

Several steps behind me, Gannon and Tyson emerge from the castle. My bottom lip quivers when Azzy nods to me, telling me what I’m seeing is real before my feet are moving quickly, and I collide with Taylor. There is barely enough time for Taylor to catch me as my legs and arms wrap around her.

I can’t believe my eyes. It can’t be Taylor, but it is.

She is alive! Ms. Daley had gotten tired of us asking for her.

She spun on her heels, almost snarling at Azalea and me.

Mrs. Daley screamed in our faces, telling us she was dead and that she couldn’t wait until the day it was our turn so she didn’t have to look at our faces ever again.

“I thought you were dead,” I gush, squeezing her tight.

Taylor, who apparently is now named Tandi, reaches over and grabs Azalea, squishing us together as she embraces us.

“How, how?” I say, placing her feet down as tears stream down her face.

Kyson, Gannon, and Damian all stand there gawking at us while we fuss over each other when Tandi turns to Damian and pins him with her glare.

“My son, now. I did what you asked,” she said, and Damian stares at her, but it is Gannon who nudges Damian to hand her son back.

“Give her son back. She looks like she bites, like an angry gremlin,” Gannon mumbles, and I press my lips together to stop from laughing.

“She fucking does. She bit me already, twice actually, while pitching a fit,” Damian growls in annoyance as he reluctantly hands her son to her.

“You have a child?” I ask, making sure I heard right, and I pull back the blankets to take a closer look at the toddler in Tandi’s arms. Turning back to Gannon, I hold out my arms for Tyson, who flails in his arms, wanting to come to me.

“Who is this little one?” Tandi asks while reaching out and gripping Tyson’s little fingers as I hold him. I have so many questions, like where she has been all this time when, she had a baby. I don’t have a chance to ask before Damian is asking us to take Tandi inside.

“Gannon, Abbie, take Tandi to my quarters and help her settle in, please. I need a word with the king and queen,” Damian says, and Tandi’s head whips to the side to stare at Azalea.

I guess Azalea hasn’t had a chance to tell her yet.

Tandi’s eyes widen when recognition hits her at Damian calling her queen.

“Azalea, Queen Azalea Landeena, I knew I heard that name,” she exclaims.

“Have you heard of the Landeena’s?” Azzy asks her, shocked because I know she can’t read like us unless she has since learned, maybe she had.

“Yes, of course,” Tandi says. Then the king speaks, “Everyone has. It is in every history book, love. You and Abbie are the only ones oblivious to who they were, who you are.” He purrs at Azzy when Tandi speaks up, shaking her head, answering one of the many questions I had for her.

“No, I can’t read. No, I heard about it at the brothel when the hunters come in sometimes. Amazing the things you hear when you aren’t supposed to be listening,” she says, blowing out a breath.

“Hunters?” Kyson asks her, lifting his head to look at her.

“Yeah, the ones who work for the council. Larkin, introduced me to a couple of them. They creeped me out,”

“You know Larkin?” Kyson asks her.

“Yes, she does, and that is what I need to speak with you both about. Because I just stole his son,” Damian says, and I gasp at his words.

He just kidnapped a council member’s son?

Surely that will have consequences. Kyson straightens, and I look at Tandi’s son in her arms. I wonder what sort of repercussions this will have.

But I also wonder why the hunters would be working with the council.

Aren’t they supposed to care and preserve the Lycan and werewolf way of life?

“You said the hunters work with the council?” Kyson asks Tandi. She nods and shrugs as if this is something we should already know.

“Yeah, I have seen them a few times. Larkin and Crux seem pretty buddy, buddy with them. They hold meetings at the brothel. They all wear patches and call themselves the rebels.” Her brows furrow as if she is thinking hard, trying to remember some detail.

“Mr. Crux holds the meetings. He has worked with them for years, and they have meetings yearly for some blood ceremony or some crap. Bloody freaks always drinking each other’s blood from a cup, and they call me diseased since I am rogue.

Those fuckers sitting around drinking blood as if they think they are bloodsuckers,” she says with a swift shake of her head.

“Did you say blood?” Azalea asks her, looking a little shocked.

Why would the hunters be drinking blood?

Tandi nods. “Yep, like clockwork. Every February, on the 1st day of the month, is the annual meeting. They talk shit and spout changes within the council. Dawning their stupid insignia’s about how Crux will take over once the royals are dead,” she says with a shrug as if we should know this already.

Turning my head, I see the worry on Azalea’s face. She has enough going on, and I don’t want this to be another added worry for her.

“Dustin has some documents you will want to see, too. We got Alpha Brock and Dean. They have been trafficking rogues for years,” Damian says before turning to glance at Gannon and give him a subtle nod. Gannon walks over to escort Tandi and me inside the castle.