Princess Luna

Chapter 3 - Treason

Leo’s POV

After dinner that evening, where we talked about maybe bringing a friend for him to hang out with, and I made sure my son and I got real food by heading out to a restaurant in Seattle for fish and chips, I decided I needed to have a little chat with my mother in law about her mates plans for my son. I have a hard time believing Julie knows about and agrees with his plan. I mean, I know that she normally goes along with whatever her mate wants, but I have seen that she has a backbone when the situation warrants it. In this particular case, she had better have a backbone, and use it!

After we get back from dinner, little Alex grabs his cell phone to text his friend about coming to visit, as he hasn’t been allowed his phone all day. I find Julie in her office, as well as her Gamma Glen.

“Hey Glen,” I address the Gamma, “I just now suggested to young Alex that he invite Troy to come visit so they can hang out. I hope that’s alright with you?”

“That’s not a bad idea at all,” Glen agrees right away. “I’ll invite Hannah and all the kids to come, in fact. I’ve been wanting to spend more time with my grandkids. Too bad Jason is busy with your Luna about to give birth again.”

“Yeah, about that…” I suddenly recall something from the afternoon’s meetings that was bugging me. “Any idea how the King discovered that we are having twins? Because I know we didn’t announce that to anyone.”

“The king has his ways.” Was all the answer Glen would give, along with a shoulder shrug to have rivaled young Alex.

“Well nobody told me about any twins,” Julie says, sounding hurt. “You have so many pups already! So why won’t you let us raise just one of them? Who could it possibly hurt?”

“So you actually do know about that? I can’t believe this! As a mother yourself, I didn’t think you could possibly feel it was a good idea to take Alex away from Amelia,” I scold her. “And not only will it hurt Amelia and I, it will also hurt Alex! He was BORED today, playing with his aunts and doing whatever he was told to do, eating food he didn’t like, and being forced to be polite about it. And it was just one day. I don’t even want him here for the full two weeks of this visit if I hadn’t agreed already, let alone for the rest of what’s left of his childhood, and beyond.”

“But I can’t give my mate the son he wants, and this is the only thing that will make him happy!” Julie wails. I feel bad when Julie begins to cry, and Glen goes to comfort her. “Please, just consider it! You have so many!”

“Well, you have three daughters,” I reminded her. “Which one would you willingly give away to be raised by someone else, knowing your daughter wouldn’t be happy? What if your mate had agreed to send Isabelle to the San Fernando kingdom, as part of a betrothal agreement with Prince Elliot? I only stopped him from doing just that two years ago! Our children should not be used as political pawns. If I allow this to happen, he won’t stop with just one child, he will find ways to use them all for his gain.”

“Is this true?” Julie asks, turning to Glen. His silence confirms it.

I know I had shocked her. I didn’t think the King would have told her about his plans for their daughters, and it looks as if I was right. But he definitely had plans to use every family member he could get his hands on for political gain if he could. The way he carries on, you’d think he was some medieval king trying to increase his lands and wealth with political marriages and intrigue, instead of a modern day King with modern day issues. And while I had blocked having Princess Isabelle moved to San Fernando for now, the betrothal had definitely not been completely tabled.

We talked for a little while longer, discussing what other plans the King had in mind that I was aware of, not being one of his confidants I could only guess at some of it. And then I decided to retire to my guest suite, texting Amelia as I went. Asking her how everyone was doing, and if she was feeling all right. I had zero intention of telling her the kings plans for our son unless it came to a head for some reason.

I had nearly reached my room, when suddenly I feel someone grabbing me from behind and a needle is being jabbed into my neck. I spin around, knocking whomever had grabbed me to the floor. It was someone I didn’t even know, but suddenly the hallway had several wolves in palace uniforms that I don’t recognize, who surrounded me.

“What’s going on?” I ask, rubbing at my neck. I begin to feel very strange, and weak. “What did you just do to me?”

“You’re under arrest for treason,” I’m told, just as I begin to black out. Before I pass out completely, though, I see one of the wolves pick up my phone and hand it to the king. Damn it all to hell!

Hours later, I assume, I wake up in a prison cell that I know to be deep below the palace. Walls of iron 8” thick. A silver coated steel shackle attached to my left ankle with a 6 foot long chain, bolted to the middle of the room to prevent me from being able to shift or to reach beyond the door, but otherwise move about the room, which was 6 feet wide by 12 feet long, and 10 feet high. There was a cot bolted to the walls topped with a thin mattress, a toilet, and a sink with a plastic drinking cup and a sponge, presumably for hygiene.

The suit I had been wearing is gone, replaced by drab grey cotton pants and a matching tunic, with nothing underneath. I notice the door has a an opening that is about 9 inches wide by about 3 inches tall along the bottom and covered with a flap, presumably so they can push my meals into the room without opening the door, and there is also another opening in in the upper half of the door that has iron mesh on this side, and supposedly a flap to open and talk to the prisoner, in this case me. I recognize this cell being in a highly restricted area and used for the most dangerous of criminals, so no visitors will be allowed access. I know there will be a camera near the ceiling above the door to monitor the prisoner, and the only source of light is on the opposite wall and difficult to reach because of the tall ceilings down here.

I sigh in resignation, knowing for a fact that I have zero options at this point but to wait until someone somewhere decides to do something with me.

I wonder what cockamamie story will be given to Amelia, and whether I might be released in time for the birth of the twins. Surely the king will get over whatever I supposedly did to cause him to toss me down here! That trumped up charge of treason has no credibility whatsoever, and without proof he can’t keep me here indefinitely. Can he?

I recall reading a book as a teenager called The Count of Monte Cristo, about a man in a similar situation, who had used spoons as well as his own hands to tunnel out of his prison cell, and then he enacted revenge upon those who had imprisoned him falsely. I think about that, and the revenge I might reign down upon my father in law if I should ever get out of here. Those thoughts keep me happy for a while.

And then I think about Amelia again, and our last moments together. Making love gently in the middle of the afternoon, her body still incredibly sexy even while pregnant. Then she fell asleep in my arms. I kissed her gently, trying not to wake her as I left the bed and dressed to leave just before the kids got home from school, making sure the kids were quiet so she could rest. Then young Alex and I had grabbed our luggage to make the 5 hour car trip from Bull Run to the Emerald pack near Seattle.

The king wasn’t kidding when he had said years ago that I would find the cost of his blood running through my veins would be high. I had no idea at the time he meant that he owned me, my family, and even my soul.