Chapter 95

It hadn’t escaped my notice how quickly Lorenzo made his mad dash to the door as soon as that message came in from Adeline. The man hadn’t even given me a legitimate answer as to why he was going to the palace.

Yes, he mentioned that he was going to see the Lycan Luna—but for what?

Lorenzo knew how much I hated being left in the dark like this, I had half a mind to storm after him and demand to follow along with him to the palace. However, the message from Adeline was weighing too heavily on my mind.

I needed to see her and make sure that everything was okay. Upon my leaving, I told the staff that I was headed to our usual spot at the cafe and would be back later on.

I tried reaching out to Adeline again, asking if everything was alright. But I never received a response. Now, my anxiety worsened.

By the time I finally reached the cafe, I rushed out of the car and headed toward the doors. As I frantically glanced around for my friend, I was quick to discover that the place was practically empty. And Adeline was nowhere to be found.

A terrible feeling of dread filled me as the one figure that came into view happened to be the last person I should have ever hoped to see. Sitting at the far end of the room, at the furthest table and masked in eerie shadows was Cruz.

I just made out the nauseating smile that was curving his lips. Without giving a second thought, I turned around to leave; however, two large guards blocked my way of escaping. Wonderful.

I turned my head back to glare at Sterling with lethal hatred. Cruz merely chuckled at my irritated expression.

“Come on, my sweet Dark Luna,” he hummed. “I just want to talk.”

I quickly noticed the familiar-looking phone that was placed on the corner of the table where he was sitting. Adeline’s phone.

My stomach rolled and my nerves jumped into question.

‘So, he was the one who’d been sending the messages,’ I concluded. ‘But what does that mean about Adeline? Oh my God, had he done something to her in order to obtain her phone?’

“What have you done to Adeline?”

He rolled his eyes. “Absolutely nothing. I merely borrowed her phone to send a quick message. And it worked.”

“What the hell do you want?”

“You know very well what it is that I’m after.”

“I don’t have the flash drive. Plus, even if I did, there’s no way in hell that I would ever give it to you.”

Sterling clicked his tongue. “You know how valuable that USB is to me.” I could faintly hear footsteps coming from behind me. “I wasn’t able to make a decent trade with Lorenzo before but all that’s about to change.”

“Oh, really? Why is that?”

His smirk deepened. “Because I have the one thing that he cares about most.”

My brows furrowed, and before I knew it, I felt a large hand clamp a piece of chemical-soaked rag over my face. I struggled to move but the world around me quickly blurred and soon everything had gone dark.

[Lorenzo’s POV]

“I have none.” Lorenzo and the Lycan Luna turned their heads to see the king standing in the doorway with a sorrowful expression.

He slowly stepped into the room and held up his hand. “Please, allow me to explain.”

A dozen types of emotions flooded through Lorenzo at once. Seeing the Lycan King, knowing all that he did, was like getting repeatedly punched in the gut. It was unbearable—monstrous to think that he once held the man in such high, respected regard.

“Why should I?” he barked out.

“Because you deserve to know the truth...Because I loved your mother very, very deeply,” the king said.

He took a seat at one of the chairs across from Lorenzo and began to explain.

“Lorenzo, when I first encountered your mother, she was among many of the other young women that had been collected—”

“I do not want to hear how horribly my mother was hurt and raped by fucked-up men like you.” The anger in his voice caused the King to pause and rethink his choice of words.

“Alright. You’re right, it was horribly wrong of me to take part in such a diabolical set-up that Blue Moon had running. At the time, I was feeling sorry for myself. I know, it’s no excuse for what I did, but I wasn’t happy with my marriage to the Lycan Luna. It was an arrangement from the very beginning...”

As much as it pained Lorenzo to hear the man talk, he found himself lost in the story.

“Had I known your mother was my mate, I would have never let anything like that happen to her,” he confessed.

Lorenzo felt his mind blank out. He sagged back onto the couch and stared at the king with an overwhelming look of disbelief. Slowly he shook his head in denial. “No,” he whispered. “It’s not true...You’re lying. It’s not true—Tell me it’s not true!”

“I tried my best to protect her,” he said. “One night, I helped her escape Blue Moon and made sure that no one ever knew where she’d gone. But I never knew that she was pregnant.”

“Why should that have mattered?” Lorenzo asked incredulously.

Right as the King was about to speak, another voice spoke out, causing all of them to find the Prince gaping at Lorenzo from the doorway. “What are you doing here?!”

His agitated behavior had Lorenzo wondering what his problem was.

“Son, what is the problem?” the King asked.

“He shouldn’t be here!”

“And why is that?” Lorenzo questioned sharply.

“Because he should be at home, protecting Eleanor!”

Something ultimately snapped within Lorenzo. He shot up from the couch and barreled his way across the room. He snatched the Prince by the collar of his shirt and pinned him harshly against the wall.

“Why the fuck would say something like that?! How dare you even think of speaking her name!” he snarled.

“Because I faintly know what Cruz has planned for her should he get his hands on her,” the Prince said brokenly.