His Lost Lycan Luna (Jessica Hall)

Read His Lost Lycan Luna by Jessica Hall Chapter 97 — “It's okay, my King, I know you have to,” she says, focusing on me. I felt terrible. Clarice had been with me since I was a kid, and I knew she never would, but I wasn't going to trust blindly when it came to my mate. My guards were under oath to protect my mate and future Queen and couldn't go against the promise; there was no way they could even if they wanted to.

“I'm sorry, but I have to be sure?” I tell her, and she nods her head in understanding. Clarice was the oldest of my staff, besides Tanner, the gardener. My command dropped all the kitchen staff in the room to their knees because they could not fight it. A king's command is excruciating when used at full strength.

I s“****w and nod to Damian, who grips her arms, so she doesn't hit the ground as the rest did. He looked away, and I knew he felt terrible; he loved Clarice like a mother. I am sure everyone in the castle did since she raised most of us when she was still my nanny when I was a small boy; she had been by my side since I was a toddler. She raised half of those here in this room alongside me, everyone here taking their parents’ places within the castle walls when they retired.

“Did you poison my mate?” I asked her, commanding the answer out of her. She shrieked and dropped, but Damian gripped her tighter. Tears sprang in my eyes, and she shook her head, gasping. “No, my King,” she rasped out.

“Do you know who did it?" I asked, and she screamed, the sound so agonizing some of the staff broke down, and others covered their ears. I cupped her face in my hands and brushed her tears away with my thumbs.

“No, my King,” she answered.

“Do you suspect who might have tried?” I ask her, tears slipping down my cheeks, and she cries out before looking around at her kitchen staff. “No, my King," I sigh, dropping the command. She panted, her face flushed, trying to catch her breath, and Damian rubbed her arms.’

“It's okay, Son. I know you had to,” she whispers, clutching my hands in her shaking ones. Her words didn’t make me feel any better about using it on her.

“When I find out who did it, I will not just punish them for what they did to Azalea; they will get double for making me hurt the woman who raised me,” I assure her. She nods, and Trey rushes over, grabbing her arms, and Damian let her go before getting her a glass of water and helping her hold the cup to her lips so she can drink.

"Help her back to her room,” I tell Trey, and he nods his head quickly.

“One minute,” I said, stopping him.

"All the food. Where have the orders been going out to?” I ask her.

“The fruit is from here, obviously; the rest ordered in from town and the usual shipments we receive,” she answers. She points a shaking finger toward the back wall.

“All order forms are pinned over there, Kyson,” she says. A few of the kitchen staff gasped at the casual way she addressed me. Clarice in front of staff always called me by my title except when Azalea was around or my guards. Clarice recognizes what she did and quickly corrects herself, but I shake my head.

"You know you can call me anything you want, Clarice,” I tell her.

“I know,” she says, and the kitchen staff looked relieved that she wasn’t being punished for it. Not that I ever would punish her for the casual use of my name or anyone for that matter, not that I would tell them that. Everyone slips up from time to time, but considering the woman who used to change my diapers when I was a baby, Clarice had earned her the right to call me whatever she wanted and has never been afraid to scold me either.

Damian fetches the paperwork down and the kitchen inventory lists from the noticeboard at the back of the kitchen where Clarice pointed.

"Everyone is dismissed for now,” I tell them, allowing them back to bed. Damian hands the documents to me, and I shake my head. “You handle it; I want to go check my mate,” I tell him, and he nods before following me out and back to the infirmary. When I entered, Dustin was sitting beside her in a chair while holding her hand, rubbing circles on its back with his thumb. He quickly stood, but I shook my head. He looked terrible, and I knew guilt was eating at him.

“Has she woken up yet?” I ask him.

“Briefly, she asked for you,” he answers, and I nod, brushing her hair from her face.

"Did you find who did it?" he asked, and I shook my head.

“No, but until I do,”

“Until we do, I will be cooking all the King's and Queen's meals,” Damian says, cutting me off. I was about to say I would do it.

“I will be. You are to stay with our Queen at all times.”

"Fine, you're a better cook than me anyway,” I tell him, and he chuckles before sitting at the desk in the corner, going over the paperwork he retrieved from the kitchen. I look down at Azalea, and my body starts relaxing, and I suddenly shift back abruptly. Dustin clears his throat, averting his gaze before standing up.

“I will get you some clothes,” he says, exiting quickly. Damian laughed.

“The only time I see that man blush is when one of us stands naked in front of him,” Damian says, unfazed by nudity. Not like we hadn't seen each other plenty of times before. I was confident every person within the castle grounds had caught sight of me naked at some point. I take his seat before grabbing her hand and kissing it.