For a long time, the palace of the great king had become a dreaded place for people not working there to visit. Though there was a great natural park, museum, and aquarium with a creek for tourism purposes, there was no one visiting after they heard how strict the new king was.
King Lucius was only king for a year and six months, yet he had achieved a whole lot, what his dad could have achieved in six years. He commanded the respect of everyone in this short while too.
Kate and Bella were the first to report at the tourist site for the first time since he came in as King.
"I'm going to use this opportunity to see Adrian. Once he's told that his sister-in-law and the Luna of his pack are here, the king might give him some time to come see me."
"Then, I'll use this chance and discuss my plan." She leaned towards Bella's ear. "I want him to sign a contract for marriage with him. He will pretend to be my fated mate and I'll go over to live with him. Since Gary hates him so much, this will be his greatest pain."
Bella pulled her lips wide open in amusement, her eyes poked out. "What?"
She couldn't believe that Kate could come up with such a great plan. She giggled, she was in full support of this.
"Only if he'll agree to this!"
At this point, Kate grew sullen. She realized it was a different thing entirely to get Adrian to cooperate with her. Besides, he was always with the Alpha king. For a while, this plan of theirs seemed like a failure, not until Adrian came out to greet them.
He had heard from the receptionist that Kate and her friend were her. Kate told it to the receptionist on purpose.
Kate was sitting at the edge of the creek overseeing the beautiful yacht which was on the water. They couldn't stop admiring this.
It was her chance, she never knew what could happen or how long Adrian was going to stay with them. Even though they were in bikinis, they weren't shy. Adrian was a werewolf like them. Nudity didn't mean anything to werewolves except either or both had a crush or mate love for the other.
"Why are you here so soon?" Kate asked with surprise. "The king released you?"
"Oh no," he chuckled. "He's out so I'm free," Adrian grinned.
"Oh, thank goodness!" Bella raised her hands to the sky. "I don't want to deal with his strictness."
"Where has he gone? I heard he doesn't accept invitations except on rare cases?" Kate got so curious, it was unusual for the king to leave the palace.
"He's having a fond time in that yacht over there!" Kate and Bella slowly closed their legs which they had spread wide with their bikinis, thinking no one was around. Slowly, they stood up, pulling their hands over their head.
They wanted to blame Adrian but then realized he just came now. They didn't see anyone outside the yacht and it wasn't moving, so they thought no one was inside. The yacht was close to the shore.
"Chill!!" Adrian warned.
"Don't let him know I'm referring to him. He doesn't like outsiders knowing about his whereabouts."
Kate and Bella gasped, realizing what Adrian just said, they slowly composed themselves.
"Should we change into our clothes?" Bella asked her friend.
"Changing would make it so obvious that we know he's down there. Let's just act as though we are surprised about something else!"
"Okay!" Bella agreed. She winked at Kate to remind her of what she wanted to ask Adrian.
She started by clearing her throat. As she was about to say this, Adrian's phone vibrated. He immediately looked into it.
"Oh I'm sorry, excuse me. It's the king!"
Kate and Bella vibrated with shock. They suspected the king of saying something connected to them.
"What did he say?" Kate asked Adrian, looking away, she didn't want Gary to know that she was interested in Adrian's phone.
"Type your response, don't speak!" Her digital watch was on her wrist, she immediately received the message as Adrian forwarded it. He left, without saying a word, hoping Kate would understand.
"What are you doing there with those two bitches?"
"Have you forgotten that you're my escort and people can always use women to trap information about me from you?"
"They are suspects! Ask the receptionist to tell them to meet me on the thirteenth floor when they are about to go."
Kate pulled up her gaze at Bella as she turned slowly towards her. Bella peered into her watch.
"Is this not what I told you that I'm not coming?" She cried out.
"What does he want to see us for now?" She grunted.
"Please compose yourselves!" Adrian's message dropped. "He's seeing you both and you can't leave there until the time you paid for expires. Lest he will suspect I told you something."
The king later changed his mind and requested to see Kate only. To him, she looked familiar and something was attracting her to him.
He was settled in his office and donned a black suit and a nice pair of black shoes. It was his office hour but he only had Kate to meet with for the day.
As they approached the reception, the young lady at the reception notified them of the schedule.
"The first person to come in on an appointment with his majesty for this year is Luna Kate." Her eyes fell on Kate. "You would be spending a total of forty minutes as directed by the king."
As she finished speaking, Adrian came forward to pick her up. He was sent by the king.
"Follow me, ma'am." He asked her professionally. Though they had some relations with each other, they couldn't act formally yet.
As Kate climbed up the stairs with Adrian, she pulled out her phone to message Bella.
"Babe, I'm scared as I'm going into the presence of the king. I wish we were together." She tapped the send button, sending it.
"What are you afraid of, go in there with full confidence. Probably he had an intention towards you," Bella replied suddenly, attaching a blushing emoji.
"Which intention?" Kate questioned.
"Perhaps he likes you," Bella blushed from where she sat at the reception. "This would be the perfect revenge you can ever give to Gary. Getting the Alpha King who's superior above all loving you."
To her message, she attached a shy emoji. She imagined how her friend would be blushing now.
It wasn't just a wish, Bella suspected something. If this were true, then it would be better for Kate to hire Adrian for the revenge plan.
Kate read the message and blushed over it, she didn't do anything as she didn't know what to say.
In response, she attached a teddy bear sticker holding a pink heart.
"I said it, they are in love!" Bella exclaimed in her heart.
"How can I just be in love?" Kate smirked as she spoke to herself.
"What's that?" Adrian asked. She raised her face swiftly, shaking her head.
"No, nothing!" She shrugged her shoulders. "I was just talking to myself."
"Okay," Adrian answered.
"Use this chance and report Alpha Gary," Bella sent just before she got into the King's office. Tension was rippling inside of her chest at this moment.
She had been hearing stories about this harsh King, today was gonna be her day to see for herself. She wasn't doubting all those stories though, one reason she put on her best form.
"Wish you the best of luck," Bella added.
"We are here!" Adrian stepped aside, making gestures for her to go inside. She stood for some seconds, taking a deep breath, then she opened the door and went in.
"Good afternoon, Your Majesty!" She greeted me with a bow.
King Lucius was seated in his seat behind the huge glass desk in a black suit. He raised his face immediately, locking his gaze on Kate. Kate's wolf leapt with excitement. Kate shook in surprise.
The same sensations she felt when she heard that the king requested for her alone.
"So finally I've seen his face!" She muttered inside of her. "He's so handsome, like a god!" She had begun admiring him when he gave out his command pulling her out of her merry thoughts.
"Sit!" His voice was harsh and cold.
Kate rushed over to the seat opposite him. She realized that all this while, she had been locking gaze at him.
Even as she sat, her mind was lost with thoughts of him. She soon began to blush even without realizing, his aura and scent overwhelmed her. She wasn't herself any longer as she got swallowed up in the moment.
Lucius stood up abruptly and walked over to her, sitting on the desk just a few meters away from her, two or three. His arms were folded over his chest, his blue charming eyes had turned cold.
When Kate realized that he was sitting just in front of her, her jaws dropped. Her fingers began to swindle nervously.
"What's going on, what are you fantasizing about?" This question from the Alpha King hit her deep, her heart was gonna rip into two at this moment. Fear settled in her mind but upon this, her wolf was leaping for joy. It was fighting hard for control over her.
The same thing was going on inside of Lucius.
"Be still!" He scolded his wolf who was amused by Kate.
"Are we mates?" The king narrowed his eyes as he asked Kate this.
Kate arched her brows, not getting what he meant. Yes, she got it right but she wasn't getting it at all. It was a moment of confusion for her. Recalling who Lucius was, she needed to be sure of what he asked, so she wouldn't end up placing herself in trouble.
Her eyes raised with pleas for the king to repeat himself.
"I asked, are we mates?" This time around, Lucius' tone was coated with sarcasm. Kate's lips widened into a nervous chuckle, she lowered her gaze as she began playing with her fingers.
"Did he just say that we are mates!" Her lips were moving in gentle mumbles, it escaped her mind that King Lucius was looking at her with cold eyes.
"Yes! Yes! Yes!" She immediately responded, smiling as the king tapped her on her shoulder. Seeing how excited she got, he stood up with an irritated expression.
"I'm sorry but I don't like girls like you!" He stormed off, returning to his seat. Kate sat up, grabbing her chest.
"What did he just say?" She questioned her wolf but it didn't say a word to her. Empress had gone silent, even with this, the rising sensations in her chest weren't gone.
She shook her face. "No, I didn't mean whatever I said!" She pleaded.
"I must have been a fool to confess my feelings to him!" She cried out, thinking she was speaking inside of her not knowing that Lucius heard every word she uttered.
He was confused about why he should fall for another man's wife. He got up from the desk, walking briskly to the floor-to-ceiling window which surrounded the entire office.
Kate watched with horror as the king stood over there without any motion. She contemplated falling on her knees to plead with him when he returned.
"He's much colder than I thought, not nice at all." She shrugged her shoulders. "I regret ever coming here!" Her main self hated Lucius but how come her wolf liked him?
She wondered.
"Hope we're not what I'm thinking?"
As she contemplated what to say, Bella's words rang a bell in her mind.
"Don't fail to report what Alpha Gary did to you." It repeated in her mind. She rose from her seat. At once, the king turned from where he stood backing her.
Kate's stomach churned. She glared in horror.
He smirked, then began to walk towards her. "We have only forty minutes here, so far you've consumed twenty-five for useless feelings and needless expressions. Guess you have something of more importance to say?"