Princess Luna

Chapter 4 - Texts from… Leo?

Amelia’s POV

I see Leo has sent me a text, as he usually does every evening when we are apart. The king insists that no one should have their phones on them in his presence, for “security reasons”, and I’m usually busy during the day with either the pups or with pack matters.

Leo: Good evening, sweetheart! How was your day?

Me: Still pregnant! Otherwise everything is going well. Raghu had an architect brought in today to draw up plans for an additional two bedrooms plus a playroom, if we can steal space from the delta suite. Shantae says she won’t mind moving to a house.

Leo: look into the cost of having a larger house built adjacent to the pack house for our brood. It could be connected to the east side with a breezeway between, for an extra measure of privacy.

Me: I love that idea!

Me: So how was you day?

Leo: The usual.

Me: OK

Hmm. The usual. That could mean anything. Normally Leo will follow up at least some explanation. At a minimum he would say goodnight. I was about to give up and go to sleep, when he finally sent me another text. This one very strange.

Leo: Your father has decided that Alexander needs to stay here for the entire summer, and I agree with him.

Me: Why wasn’t I consulted about this? My father can’t just decide to do whatever he likes with MY SON!

Leo: It’s for the best. You’ll be busy with the new pups. And if he likes it here, Alexander can stay permanently.

Me: Are you out of your flipping MIND?!?!? I have not agreed to this!

Leo: Its already been agreed to.

Leo: I’m tired now. Sleep well!

I try calling Leo, but he doesn’t answer. Something must be wrong, because he would never make a decision like this without consulting me first. Then I try calling little Alex, but he doesn’t answer. His grandparents would have taken his phone away already, I think as I look at the time. 9:45. He’s only allowed use of his phone at his grandparents palace between 7 and 9 in the evening. Damn.

I look back at the conversation, and I realize it doesn’t sound like Leo at all. We never call our son Alexander. Leo almost never agrees with my father on anything. And he always ends with “goodnight, my love.” This couldn’t possibly have been written by Leo at all! But I have no proof, it’s late at night, and I’m 8 months pregnant with twins. Dammit, I’ll kill my father if he has done anything to harm Leo! I would like to say that was unlikely, but my father nearly killed Leo 11 years ago because he didn’t think Leo was good enough to be my mate, so I doubt anything is beyond the realm of possibility. I decide to try one more text.

Me: Unless you can prove to me right now that you are Leo sending this message, I will drive to Seattle IMMEDIATELY and take my son home.

Leo: What proof do you need?

Me: Tell me how many pups I’m carrying, their gender, and names.

Leo: We are having twins, a boy and a girl. Jackson James, and Diane Elizabeth. Now can we get some sleep? Your father says we have some important meetings tomorrow.

Gotcha, dad! Neither Leo nor I know what gender the pups will be, and the names are nothing close to what we are planning to use. We have learned from past mistakes, and made sure to be overheard discussing it in Leo’s office, as well as other locations which we are almost certain have been bugged by my fathers men. We pretend we don’t know about the bugs, and still use both our offices regularly, but anything we don’t want overheard by Royal ears is said outdoors on our little patio, where we installed a loud water feature a couple years ago, or in the cabin deep in the woods where Shantae had hid from her original mate Jerome.

My gamma Jason is now knocking on my door, having sensed my anger and fear.

“Is everything ok? Are you in labor?” He asks me, and so I show him the texts from “Leo”. He read through the exchange a couple times, obviously not seeing the significance.

“This is not Leo!” I shout. “We don’t know the gender of the pups, and these are not the names we agreed on!”

“Are you sure?” Jason says. “Maybe he forgot”

“Those names are ones we pulled from a stupid song on the radio!” I inform him. “Does a little ditty about Jack and Diane sound familiar at all to you? Two American kids growing up in the heartland! We left this false trail in an effort to weed out who or where my father is getting his information from.”

“In the Luna office we say it’s triplet girls named Belinda, Rachel and Chelsea, after my best friends growing up. In the alpha office we said it was just one boy, named Derrick after Leo’s cousin. We knew that YOU would figure out it was twins anyway, so we made sure you were given a completely different fabricated story.”

“Damn.” Jason says, not even bothering to deny anything.

“You either help me RIGHT NOW to go collect my son from the capital, or you and your family better be off the Bull Run territory by the time I get back. And I order you not to tell my father that I’m on my way. No text. No phone call. No asking someone else to do it for you. Or so help me, your pups will be fatherless!”

“I’ll drive you there.” Jason says, obviously feeling guilty. Not that I blame him. No, my so-called father is to blame. Again.

I go knock on DeeDees door, and ask her to watch the kids until I return. She is gleefully unaware that something might have happened to Leo, instead wishing me good luck with the birth, as she assumes that is what is going on.

In fact, I decide I can capitalize on that confusion, and tell Jason to tell my dad that I’m in labor. That way when I show up it’ll be a complete surprise, as I’ll supposedly be too busy giving birth to do anything else.

Me: Oh my goddess, Leo! My water just broke!!! I’m in LABOR and I REALLY want you to come home PLEASE!

Me: Leo, please answer me!

Me: Leo?

Leo: I’m 5 hours drive away, and I’m tired.

Me: Excuse you? What?

Leo: You’ll do fine. You’ve done this enough times before. Maybe I’ll video chat in the morning before the meetings. I bet you’ll already have the pups before I could get home anyway.

Me: Maybe you shouldn’t bother coming home ever again, then.

“Let’s go.” I tell Jason, and we drive thru the night, stopping only once at a rest stop since being pregnant means I have to pee. A lot. I sleep for the first half of the journey, but then Jason is getting tired so I drive the rest of the way, driving as fast as I feel comfortable with. Thankfully traffic is light in the late night, otherwise the drive between Olympia and Seattle can take an extra hour or more, and I want my son out of there before the king awakes. And Leo too, if he is anywhere to be found.

We arrive at the Emerald pack just about 3:30 am. The sleepy guard looks at my credentials and waves me right in, which is a good sign, I think. I park the car in the area designated for the royal family, and walk right into the palace using my key. Nobody bats an eye as I first head to our family guest suite and check our room to see if Leo is in there. He is not. Just as I had suspected. Then I go check Alex’s room, and he is not there either. And Jason is looking antsy.

“What do you know that I do not?”

“I cannot lie to the king.”

“So when I told you to say I was in labor, what did you actually say?” I demand to know.

“I gave him the code I was told to use in case either you or Leo put me under orders. Before I told him you were in labor.”

And that was the last thing that ever came out of his mouth, as Ambrosia came forward and slit his throat. I feel sorry for Hannah, as I considered her a good friend, and her sons Troy and Sean don’t deserve to grow up without a father, but I had warned him before we set out tonight. Help me, or pack up and leave Bull Run. He was supposed to be MY gamma and friend, not my fathers spy.

“Well,” My father says as he enters the room. “That was unexpected. But I don’t need him anymore, now that I have both Leonard and Alexander.”

“I’m prepared to do whatever I need to do for my family,” I say, growling menacingly. “Give me back my family, now, RIGHT NOW, or be prepared to face the consequences!”

“If you’ll go peaceably, I’ll give you one of them.” My father is telling me, but I beat him to the punchline.

“I’ll take my son home then, please.” I say, “but first you’ll give me proof you haven’t murdered my mate.”

“I haven’t touched a hair on Leonard’s head,” he says flippantly. “Call him yourself and ask. He’s been waiting to hear from you.”

I press the call button on my phone, and a few moments later Leo answers.

“Amelia, is that you? Where are you?” He says sounding panicked.

“It’s me, I came to the capital to bring you and Alex home!” I tell him.

“Your father had me thrown in the dungeon claiming some treasonous plot. But it’s a lie!”

Then apparently the phone was taken away and disconnected. And my father looks very smug.

“You see? I didn’t do anything to dear Leonard. He was plotting against me. I have recordings of the treasonous meeting. And I could have him executed for treason.”

“Give. Me. My. SON!!!” I ground out, using every ounce of Royal aura that I processed. “Or so help me goddess, you are going to feel my wrath as I burn this kingdom to the ground!”

“Mom?” I hear from one of the other doorways behind me. Apparently he had been asleep this whole time in a different room all along. I run over and hug Alex, then look him over to make sure he’s alright.

“I think this pregnancy is making you a little unhinged, Amelia,” my father suggests. “Maybe it’s a good thing that you won’t be able to have any more pups.”

“Same!”

My father makes a face at me and turns to leave. But I’m not done with him.

“Father,” I call out, and he turns around looking like the Cheshire Cat. “When Leo nearly died before, he visited the moon goddess. She let him look through her books that show what the future might be like if he died. One book was particularly disturbing. He said I was on a battlefield surrounded by death and destruction, with you lying dead at my feet. Do not underestimate what I would be willing to do for those I love.”

“Get out of here before I have you tossed into the dungeon as well.”

“I will call Leo every night at 8 pm sharp, and I will talk to him for 5 minutes minimum. He had better answer, and I will send him a code by text that he had better answer with, so you won’t be able to fool me with any sort of pre recorded crap.”

Then I turned around and left. My father is henceforth dead to me, and if Leonard dies in his custody, King Alexander will die by my hand.