Page 26 of Mated To The King’s Gamma (Lycan Luna: Abbie & Gannon #3)

“Have you always lived at the castle?” I ask her while watching Abbie hunt beneath one of the bunk beds for her slipper. She comes out and jumps up victoriously, clutching it.

“Pretty much. When I had my mate, we lived in town, and I used to walk here, but after he died, I preferred being at the castle. I was lonely in the house by myself. This place kept me sane,” she tells me.

Just the thought of something happening to Kyson twists my heart. I can’t even imagine losing him.

“What happened to him?”

“He was a werewolf. I had been holding off on changing him, knowing how horrific it is to do so?”

“What do you mean?” I ask, remembering Gannon had tried to change Abbie. Clarice shakes her head.

“That is something best explained by your mate.”

“So what happened to him, then?”

“This was just before your parents’ deaths.

The hunter attacks were quite frequent, but they usually hit the packs.

It was as if they used the packs for training when they hit them.

Anyway, when we learned of the attacks, he wanted to help protect them, that they were his people, and he had family there.

I refused at first, but he snuck off. Kyson found him dead and brought him home for me.

He is buried in the cemetery by the river. ”

“And you never thought to find a new mate?” I ask her.

“No, I loved my mate. After that, I focused on helping here. Put all my time into this place.”

“When I first came here, I was hired as a nanny. I raised Kyson, Liam, and Gannon all here. Damian, too; I love all the staff as if they were my own. Then, once the king was older, he kept me on, and I stayed. Then I found my mate, then lost him a short time later, and all I had was this place, so I moved back into the castle,” she tells me.

“So you never had a chance to have kids?”

She shakes her head.

“No, but I am hoping one day I will get to help you raise yours. When you’re ready, of course, to try again,” she tells me.

I smile sadly and nod. A short time later, Clarice rises to her feet and says she had to check the boys. Moments after she leaves, the fun abruptly stops when Damian bursts through the doors furiously.

“I take it back. Trey is not the fun police. My mate is!” Tandi says, flailing her hand at him. I have to agree with her because the look on his face is furious. Dustin moves quickly to my side as Damian storms in.

“You!” Damian snarls, and I glance between the table Liam and Tandi are dancing on and Damian. However, he is not looking at Tandi but at Liam. Liam looks over his shoulder at Damian.

“Me?” he says, pointing at himself when his eyes widen as Damian snarls and shifts.

Tandi screams, flying off the table as it is upturned when Damian crashes on top of Liam.

The air expelling from Liam’s lungs is audible as he hits the ground with the angry Lycan’s weight crushing the air from him.

Tandi tries to separate the pair of them as they pummel each other, and Liam is far too drunk to even shift.

“Damian! What has gotten into you? Get off him!” Tandi screeches, ripping on his fur. Abbie giggles as she drunkenly stumbles over to me with her bunny slipper in her hand, clutching it as if it is some prized possession.

“Get ‘em, Tandi!” She squeals loudly beside me as Tandi jumps on Damian, clinging to him like a spider monkey as she bonks him on the head.

“I don’t think Damian is playing, Abbie,” I tell her. Abbie’s face suddenly turns serious as she looks at the pair, just as Damian punches Liam so hard his nose breaks.

“Woah! Not the fucking face! Body shots only prick!” Liam spits at him. Just as Tandi slides off Damian’s back and hauls Damian off him, Trey strolls over, sitting next to me.

“You’re not going to stop them?” I ask Trey, and he shrugs.

“Not unless you ask. Or they get too close to you,” Trey yawns. I look at Dustin, who also just shrugs.

“Liam can handle himself,” he says, appearing unperturbed by his boyfriend getting his ass handed to him.

“Stay the fuck away from my mate!” Damian spits at Liam. But good old Liam just doesn’t know when to shut his mouth, and I eye-roll so hard I swear I catch a glimpse of my brain when Liam laughs like a maniac.

“Not my fault she likes me more than you,” Liam taunts. That crazy ass Lycan has a death wish, and death is coming for him. As Damian spins on his heel so quickly, Liam only jumps out of the way of his foot as Damian goes to stomp him.

Damian’s foot misses him by mere inches when Liam punches Damian’s inner thigh as he reaches down to try to grab him. Which makes Damian grunt, and he drops his head.

Liam takes that opportunity to uppercut him.

I hear the sound of his teeth gnashing before all hell breaks loose.

Dustin sighs, stepping in front of us, acting as a shield.

My heart skips a beat, and I grab Abbie, ripping her away as they come flying toward us.

Trey quickly moves to block me as Liam comes flying toward us from a kick to the stomach.

Trey grabs him, shoving him away and toward the doors, while Dustin shoves us behind him to the side.

“Out now!” Trey snarls, pointing toward the door while glaring at Liam, and I feel Kyson wake, and by God, they want to run before he gets here. Liam bows and looks at Dustin.

“Come on, Dustin, you can kiss my boo-boo’s better,” Liam purrs. Dustin growls and watches as he saunters out, and Trey blocks Damian as he follows him.

“Go, Trey is with me,” I tell Dustin, and he sighs, rushing off after him.

Tandi appears to be in shock, and she gasps when Damian turns his head to look at her. He looks menacing. And I don’t blame her at all for not wanting to go with him. His chest rises and falls heavily with each panting breath he takes.

“Tandi now!” Damian clicks his fingers at her, but she shakes her head, eyes wide as she stares at him petrified.

“I’m good here. You go ahead.” But not petrified enough to defy him.

“It wasn’t a question. Now!” His demand of her makes her eyes narrow.

She clearly isn’t impressed by him making demands of her, and it isn’t like she was doing anything wrong.

They were only dancing, or is that not allowed?

I wasn’t sure what appropriate male and female interactions are outside my guards, so I’m not sure.

Then again, Kyson, I know, easily becomes jealous, especially with Trey.

Dustin, not so much, but he has even had his moments with him.

Abbie snickers behind me, cupping her mouth with her hands.

She has been in fits of giggles since the first glass of wine.

She can’t even stand upright properly. Abbie is leaning against me, and I’m sure she will topple over if I move.

Damian’s head twists at the noise she makes before recognition dawns on him.

His eyes soften slightly as he peers at her.

“Abbie, Gannon is on his way to get you. I sent Clarice to watch Tyson,” he tells her.

“What! You speak to her nicely while I get yelled at for doing the same thing!” Tandi snarls, outraged.

“You’re older. You should know better! And she wasn’t dancing with the man whose initials are carved into her damn thigh!”

Tandi rolls her eyes and folds her arms across her chest, popping her hip, which is a big mistake from where her pajama pants have ridden up, exposing the white scar marring her skin.

Damian snarls at her as if she did it deliberately, and she realizes the mistake, quickly fixing her stance as his eyes lock on her. He growls, stalking toward her, and my feet move when he grabs her. I shove past Trey as she squeals. Her small body hits the floor as he pins her.

“Damian!” I snap. Trey races past me just as she screams.

Everything goes to shit. Trey tries to pry him away, and I see blood spill on the floor and Tandi screams a blood-curdling scream that makes my heart leap into my throat just as Trey rips him back.

The inside of her thigh is all bloody, and Trey growls at him just as Kyson rushes into the room and rips Trey off Damian.

But my eyes are on Tandi’s thigh, torn to pieces by his claws. Tears brim in her eyes as she looks at where he carved his name, or half of it, on her leg with his claws. Damian, coming back to his senses somewhat, stares at what he did, yet his anger is quick to grip him in this heightened state.

“I think I am going to be sick,” Abbie says behind me, and I turn to see her face white as a sheet. She staggers and is about to hit the ground when Gannon is suddenly beside her. He scoops her legs out from under her, and she pukes all over his shirt the moment he does.

“Sorry,” she murmurs, wiping her mouth on the back of her hand.

“But I feel better now,” she nods. Gannon blinks down at her before lifting his head to look past me at Kyson.

“My King?” Gannon asks.

“Go, Trey and I have him.” Kyson answers.

“Night,” he says, walking off with Abbie, who has officially passed out from either fear or alcohol or both.

I grab the napkins from where we had cake, pressing them against her leg, trying to clean it up. Trey taps me on the shoulder, and I move aside, letting him tend to her. When I rise to my feet, it’s to see Kyson glaring at his Beta while Damian is glaring at Trey’s hands on her leg.

“He’s helping her, back off!” Kyson tells Damian in a warning.

He is livid, and I hope it isn’t directed at me.

I can tell he isn’t impressed waking without me beside him, but he doesn’t mention it, and I can tell he is trying to keep himself calm despite also feeling the urge to drag me out of the room.

What a disaster this night—or morning as it is now—became. Tandi hisses, and his claws got her deep, the napkins barely doing anything to stem the bleeding.

“Damian needs to heal you,” Trey mumbles, looking over his shoulder at Damian.

“He mutilated me! I don’t want him anywhere near me!” she snaps.

“Just help me up; I will walk it off,” she groans as she holds her hands out to me, and I grab them, hauling her to her feet. Yet the moment she stands, blood cascades down her leg like a waterfall, Trey clutches her thigh in both hands.

“Don’t be fucking stubborn!” Damian snaps, shaking off Kyson’s arm on his shoulder.

“No! You’re not touching me!” she snaps at him when he pauses, looking around on the floor where mushed-up cake and spilled drinks has ruined it, and guilt smashes me at the mess we have made.

Damian growls, snatches the cake knife from the floor, and stalks toward her.

She stumbles back; her leg still clutched in Trey’s hand.

“Get off her!” Damian snarls, and he holds the knife out to her. Her hands tremble as she hesitantly snatches it.

“Enjoy it. It will be the only time I let you carve me up!” he snaps at her before dropping to his knees in front of her. He growls and stares up at her and shakes his head.

“What? You don’t get to act disgusted. You did it!” she snaps at him.

“I’m not disgusted! Look at it!” he snaps at her, and we all lean a little closer, and she narrows her eyes at him, pursing her lips.

“You best be bloody fixing it. I am not walking around with DAM on my leg!” she growls furiously.

Did she mean she wanted him to carve into her more? Or did I hear that wrong? Damian looks over his shoulder at the king. Kyson shrugs, his eyebrows lifting almost into his hairline at her words.

“Well, you asked this time, so don’t bitch when it hurts,” he tells her.

“Yes, because you mutilated me! Now fix it!” she says, tapping her foot impatiently.

He lifts his hand to her leg, his sharp claw slicing through her soft flesh, and she grits her teeth, grabs his shoulder and bares it while I feel woozy just watching.

Damian does it fast before running his tongue across it and quickly healing the damage he caused, leaving behind only faint scarring.

Tandi examines it, scrutinizing it when a wicked smile graces her face as she runs her thumb over the knife in her hand, wiping the chocolate off it before sucking on her thumb.

“My turn! And you better not squirm like a bitch,” she says, and I look away, noticing he has shifted back and is now naked, kneeling before her.

“Your name only. You write something stupid on me, and I will…”

“Do nothing. You cut me first!” she says, waving the knife in his face. He sighs, and Trey gets to his feet, reaching me at the same time Kyson does.

“That is not normal!” Trey says, shaking his head at them as Tandi carves her name above his pec, while Damian watches her, making sure she embellishes nothing.

“Wait, I forgot to dot the I,” she says, stabbing the point into him and making him hiss.

“There,” she says, dropping the knife and walking off. She passes us and moves through the double doors, snickering to herself. Damian stops beside us, and I glance at his chest, keeping my eyes above the waist. His blood streaks down his chest as he stares after her.

“That woman is driving me crazy! I don’t know if I wanna kill her or kiss her. Maybe both!” he snaps, chasing after her while mumbling.