Page 30 of Mated To The King’s Gamma (Lycan Luna: Abbie & Gannon #3)

I ’m buzzing after Abbie has marked me. Relief floods me that she is officially mine and me hers. Making my way down to the king’s office, I grip the door handle. It feels like forever ago that we went over everything; we are no closer to knowing what is going on.

“How is Abbie?” Kyson asks me as I sit beside Damian; I can’t help the smug smirk that slips into place. I don’t have to say anything as his eyes notice my neck. He presses his lips in a line trying to hide his smile.

I clear my throat awkwardly. “Good, yep. Everything is good,” I chuckle.

“Azalea?” I ask, changing the subject.

“Damian and I were just discussing whether we should postpone the trip to Landeena,” the king answered me.

“No word from Larkin?” I ask, and Damian and he both shake their heads.

“Nothing,” Kyson tells me, and I sigh, leaning back in my chair. Great, I was hoping we would have some news from Larkin. At least for Tandi’s sake.

“Do you want me to send Liam and Dustin to the Cypress in search of him?” I ask, but he shakes his head and scratches his chin as he thinks.

“Not yet. We will give him today. If no answer by tonight, and he is still unreachable, we storm through the council,” he tells me, and I nod, trying to figure out this mess.

Damian gets up from his seat before pausing. “What is it?” Kyson asks him. He has been quiet since I stepped into the room. He looks nervous.

“Tandi wants—” Kyson cuts him off with a wave of his hand dismissively.

“All the children who were adopted had their pictures taken. All documentation is in the cellars. She can have access to them. I will let the guards know,” Kyson tells him, and Damian nods.

“Do you really think Paige is one of the children?” I ask. Larkin could be lying, but I highly doubt it. He genuinely appears disgusted with Tandi’s claims and believes Brock didn’t kill his child.

“I hope so. If not—” Damian pauses, looking at me.

“If she isn’t, permission granted. You don’t have to ask, not when it comes to children,” Kyson tells him, and Damian nods. I open the mind link to him.

“Just say the word,” I tell him, letting him know if he wants Brock handled, Liam and I will take care of it.

“I may take you up on that,” he says, and I nod once before turning my attention back to the king.

If Tandi’s daughter isn’t here in Valkyrie, the next place we will be going is to drag the information out of Brock by any means possible.

Damian leaves, and I go to follow him when Kyson calls out to me, making me stop.

“Ah, Gannon, a moment please,” he nods toward the door wanting me to shut it.

“Close the door; I need to speak with you.” I sigh, knowing already what this will be about; reluctantly, I shut the door and retake my seat.

“Sia?” he asks.

“Liam told you?” I ask, or maybe Abbie let it slip to Azalea, but Kyson shakes his head.

“No, Dustin did,” Fuck. I nod, knowing Liam must have told Dustin, which I expected he would; they are together, after all. I’m not mad. Though, a little heads-up would have been nice.

“Dustin told me about Liam’s involvement but said nothing about you. I want to hear it from you,” he tells me.

“Sia, Abbie’s aunty, was my mate.” I breathe out loudly, feeling as if I am repeating this story. For so many years, it was kept between Liam and me; lately, I seem to be constantly repeating myself. But the more I spoke of it, the easier it became, and I found it hurt a little less.

“And Liam helped you cover up her death?” he asks, and I wonder if he is hurt that I didn’t tell him. Once Abbie came into the picture, my reasoning for hiding it became stronger, especially seeing how he treated Azalea at the start.

“You did not need to keep that from Damian or me. I figured something went down,” he says, pointing to my chest where the edges peaked out above the collar of my shirt.

It wasn’t a secret per se, just not something I brought up and not something anyone was game enough to ask about.

It s very obvious to us Lycans what I tried to do, so I didn’t feel the need to speak about it. And there is only one pain that would force you to want to take your life.

“And her body?” Kyson asks me.

“Outside her old pack along with her mother’s,” I tell him.

“The mother?”

“Came after me years later when she learned what happened to her daughter.”

He nods in understanding.

“How did Abbie take this news?” he asks, my brows furrow. That would have been a massive shock and blow to her, but she was okay. She understood and took it better than I could have ever imagined.

“Not well at first, but she understands why I did it,” I admit.

“Is that all?” he asks me. And I wonder how much Dustin did tell him.

“There is more, but I can’t tell you, My King. I won’t risk Abbie,” I tell him, and he nods slowly, pursing his lips, leaning back in his seat, and watching me.

“If I look into Sia’s background, what will I find, Gannon?” he asks, and my heart skips a beat at his question. It’s not a command. He is only asking so I can lie. He is my king, but my friend first.

“Are you asking because you already know, My King?” I ask in return.

“I’m asking as a friend. I am asking for my queen. Your queen. If there is anything I need to know, this is your chance to tell me,” Kyson says and I know right then that he has an inkling or some sense of what I’m hiding.

Unable to meet his gaze, I look away.

“Abbie’s parents weren’t involved,” I murmur; I won’t let him hurt Abbie. He will have to kill me before I let that happen. But I’m done with the secrets and the lies.

“Abbie won’t be punished for her family’s mistake, Gannon.

You have my word, but the fact you never told me you found your mate in the first place has me worried.

The fact you didn’t tell me says either you knew I wouldn’t approve or suspected something was amiss,” he says, and I turn my gaze back to him. I tilt my head to the side.

“I want your word, My King. Abbie stays out of it,” I tell him, addressing his title, not my friend, knowing there are two separate sides of him. A king demands, Kyson asks, and I want to know which part of him I’m dealing with.

“Your queen would have my balls if I tried. Rest assured, Gannon. I have learned from my mistakes. I won’t punish her like I did Azalea.

We may be products of our parents, but we aren’t them,” he tells me, and I know Azalea will never let Kyson harm her, but I also don’t trust his Lycan side when it comes to the hunters, especially after what happened to Claire.

“Sia worked for the hunter organization, and so did her mother. Liam and I found out she was one of the hunter’s suppliers,” I tell him, and he presses his lips in a line, and I know I confirmed his assumption as he stares off above his head.

A look on his face I have seen a million times when he is trying to control his temper.

I’m just not sure if he is angry at me not telling him or mad at Abbie’s family’s involvement.

“Suppliers?” he asks me finally, after a few tense seconds.

“Yes, her mother was selling Wolfsbane to the hunter organization,”

“She was growing it?” he asks, looking a little shocked, but that is one part Liam and I couldn’t figure out; she had plenty in her house, but no growing plants or anything to suggest she was growing. More like she was the middle person in her dealings.

“We found no evidence she was growing, but she was definitely obtaining it from somewhere,”

“You won’t keep anything like this from me again. I understand why you did. But we could have figured it out together.”

“Sia was trying to weasel her way into the kingdom. She was very insistent I change her. I wanted to wait. When I refused her, she went to Liam and tried to have him kill me,”

“She wanted access to my kingdom?”

“It appeared so. All she talked about was coming here and me changing her. It set off alarm bells, but I never figured out her intention. She never told Liam anything that was suspicious, either. Then, when I thought we figured it out and she was willing to accept me, I walked into an ambush. Luckily, Liam knew me better than her. Brotherhood won over the mate bond.” I tell him the gist of it.

“You can go. Maybe see if Abbie and Azalea want to help Tandi. It will keep them distracted while we try and figure out this Larkin issue,” Kyson says, and I nod, all too happy to get out of here and back to my mate.

I make my way back to my room only to see Liam stepping out of it with a tray in his hands.

“Everything alright?” I ask him, glancing at the empty tray.

“Yep, fine, Clarice sent food. I told her I would bring it up,” he tells me, clamping a hand on my shoulder before walking off. Shaking my head, I wander into the room and find Abbie dressing Tyson. The toast is set on a plate beside her and a drink.

She picks up her glass, sipping the cordial and pulling a face. Tyson reaches over, stealing a piece of her toast and ignoring his cereal, and Abbie laughs, drinking most of her drink and picking up the other piece of toast.

“Something is wrong with the water around here, and I swear I can taste iron or some type of metal,” she said, shaking her head.

“Does it taste funny to you?” she asks, holding up the glass.

I move toward her, taking it from her. I take a sip of it before glancing at the red cordial.

My brows furrow, trying to figure out the weird taste of it. It tastes familiar for some reason.

“It does, doesn’t it?” she says, watching me.

“Might be the old copper pipes,” I shrug, shaking my head. She shrugs while drinking the rest. I would have to let Kyson know so he can have someone test the water because it tastes a little funky.