His Luna Queen

Alpha King Nicholas

Nick sat watching his cabinet members argue amongst one another.

“It’s him!” Sean yelled angrily, pointing to an olive-toned young man with dreadlocks. “Walid is the only one who could have leaked the information. We all know you hate us.”

Nick looked at Walid. The man who he’d personally appointed as assistant Treasurer. The Treasurer, William, was a member of his cabinet but couldn’t make it and sent his assistant in his place. Palloc Woodsworth, his Director Communications, also stated his agreement, pointing his finger at Walid accusingly. Nick had a sneaking suspicion Seamus and Palloc had schemed to put Walid on the spot like this. They had probably involved William too and all three had schemed to put Walid in the hotseat today.

Walid didn’t reply, clenching his jaw and simply looking away with crossed arms. A vein thrummed in Walid's temple. He was angry but he wouldn't give them the satisfaction of seeing him lose control. Nick smiled inwardly, good. He'd taught Walid well.

“Now, now,” said his Deputy Chief of Cabinet who advised him on all matters related to International Relations. His white sparkling teeth could be seen behind the smirk. Jerrod Clayton, his half-brother, was clearly enjoying this. Nick resisted the urge to punch his pale face into the table. Jerrod and his stepmother Una, loved it when things were chaotic. They always wanted to impound upon the fact that Nick wasn’t fit to be King. “There is no reason to fling accusations without any proof.”

“Ofcourse you would come to his aid, you’re the one masterminding this vendetta against the King!” Sean yelled angrily, spit forming at the corners of his mouth.

Jerrod remained silent, a mysterious smile on his face.

“Careful,” Jerrod finally said in a light warning tone. “Or people might find out who the owner of the company is that we just contracted to develop new schools and packlands for the pack residing in Balmoral. Oh and I heard someone’s getting a newly renovated castle included within the price.” Jerrod stood up, giving the room a scathing, hard glare. “If I’d wanted to leak something, I’d leak how corrupt the cabinet members are. Not this silly piece of paper that holds no significance,” he ended.

“It’s no longer relevant who did what,” Johnathon Clayton said. Johnathon was Nick's father and probably the only person here that Nick trusted blindly. The retired Alpha stood up as well and tried to placate everyone. “We need to do damage control. Walid, your boss isn't here today. So maybe you can manage the PR? Let’s hold a press conference.”

Nick swept his eyes lazily across the room, looking for any giveaways…any twitches. Any sign of who the actual perpetrator was. But these were all seasoned statesmen. The only one who seemed to be nervous was Ferguson, his legal advisor. Nick knew why Ferguson was agitated. He stood up in a predatory fashion, eyes pinned on Ferguson.

“Best to get busy making your statement for the press,” Nick spoke loudly and clearly, before turning to leave.

“Nick,” his father warned. “You can’t keep doing this. The public has a right to also hear from you first-hand. Ferguson’s statement wouldn’t have nearly the same impact yours would.”

Nick snorted, striding out of the room derisively.

“Next time,” he muttered dismissively, just loud enough for everyone to hear with his back still to them, before exiting the conference room.

Nick heard the loud shouts, the indignant exclamations and Jerrod’s brash statement “If I was the King-“

“Well you’re not!” Sean snapped. “So let’s figure out how to fix this mess.”

Nick hid a smile. Amateurs. He’d had a good ten years to figure out the politics that came with his position. He’d been stabbed in the back (quite literally at one point) multiple times, misguided, and made a good amount of mistakes. But he’d learned from them all and come out stronger. The number one thing he’d learned was: Never reveal your true intentions.

Nick wasn’t worried about the leak. It was a small insignificant document in which his Treasurer had received a considerable amount of money from one of the royal properties. The money was received and forwarded into the royal treasury. Everything had been done as per rules and regulations. But somehow, someone had gotten hold of a blurry picture (probably taken in a hurry), and it was now all over social media that the Treasurer was accepting bribes from the public. A bunch of nonsense. He’d accepted the check as Treasurer of the monarchy and the check had been written out to the Monarchy. Not any individual. William Crane, his Treasurer, had simply signed off on his receiving the cheque on behalf of the monarchy. He hadn’t walleted the money. He couldn't even if he'd wanted to, since it was a crossed cheque. Nick couldn’t help but chuckle darkly over the preposterous allegations.

William Crane was the furthest thing from corrupt. It was why Nick had kept him on. Walid…however. Walid was someone Nick knew through his paternal grandmother. She’d been from one of the tribes in Africa. His grandfather had found his mate in her when he visited and come back home to hold a grand mating ceremony. Johnathon Clayton was a man bent on denying his heritage, wanting to maintain himself as strictly British. Nick…was different. And he openly invited Walid to come and join his team to help William Crane keep things afloat. But the temptation for more power could easily corrupt even the most loyal of friends. It was possible Walid had been offered something…more. In all probability, Walid was the only person who could have leaked the document for a hefty price. But so could anyone else in his Cabinet. The only damning part was that the leaked photo had been an original. The original form that had been deposited in the Secretary treasurer office.Which meant one of his own was doing this. A photo of a copy could have been retrieved from anywhere, but not the original.

Nick had reached the grounds by now, and his sharp eyes zeroed in on Hana, the daughter of the Japanese prince who was also a werewolf. She belonged to one of the oldest werewolf royal lineages in the world.

“Good afternoon,” Hana said amicably as she walked over to him, holding a bouqet of flowers in her hands. “Nice to see you out instead of cooped up with your cabinet.”

“I see you’ve got a gift from one of your admirers,” Nick commented dryly, eyes on the beautiful flowers she held in her hands.

Hana giggled, her pin straight hair curtaining her face as she did so. “You know the only admirer I’ll ever want is you,” she replied shyly, averting her gaze.

Nick cracked a half-smile. Hana was here because her father had wanted to unite his daughter in matrimony with Nick. Hana’s mate had been a strong warrior of her father’s pack. He'd been in-line to be the next beta. But he’d died in a battle against another pack. She was mate-less and Nick was well…technically not mated yet. Nick had agreed to get to know Hana. She was a wonderful girl, beautiful and well-versed in the politics of royal courts. Something his mate was not. Nick’s smile fell and his face became somber as his thoughts unconsciously wondered to Janet. Janet…his little mate. She was a mere child.

When he’d first laid eyes on her, he’d been overjoyed. She was the center of his universe. Ofcourse she was way too young to hold any physical attraction for him. But even her smile made him calm. Her laughter still came to him in his dreams. All he’d wanted was to protect her and keep her safe. And then…then he became King and any dreams of a future with her were shattered. Because the Royal Luna Queen would be anything but safe. Janet was a wild free soul, and she’d hate him eventually for confining her to the gilded cage that was now his royal court. He’d never thought he’d become King. But when his late-mother’s brother passed away with no heir apparent, the royal crown passed to him. Una, his stepmother had initially been overjoyed at the chance to live in the palace and live like a royal.

But Una had become greedy. She wanted more, continuously pestering Nick to give his half-brother a royal title. That Nick could not do. Because Jerrod did not have a single ounce of Royal Blood in him. Una and his father were not from a royal lineage. Nick was a royal, thanks to his mother. His father had been an alpha of one of the main packs within the monarchy’s rule. Now Nick was the alpha of his father’s pack as well as the pack residing here where his palace was. Plus he was the Alpha King of multiple other packs ruled by an alpha who submitted to him. Each member from his cabinet had been assigned to work with him from one of the 8 packs that were under Nick’s rule. Together, these packs formed the Monarchy, paying taxes in exchange for services rendered by the crown.

But as of late, there was an uprising. Some of the packs were threatening to revolt. Nick knew why. Because he wasn’t allowing anymore undue favors. His mistake was that in the beginning, he’d let the status quocontinue. The rich got richer, the poor got poorer. It was always tradition to let the alphas who supported him get the big development contracts or other financial favours in terms of personal lands. But in the last five years he’d made sweeping reforms. Reforms that the well-to-do people who claimed to be helping the monarchy no longer benefited from. Contracts were given solely on merit, not for favors. Orphanges were built, schools for packs were pumped full of money. Lunches were given for free in those schools to all pack members children. The blue bloods were adamant that he was corrupt. He wasn’t. They were corrupt. Not only that, they’d also recently turned to other avenues to discredit him. He was linked with girls he’d never seen, stories about his one night stands were plastered everywhere. Stories that were mostly fabricated. And most likely spread by his own stepmother.

“Are you listening to me?” Hana asked softly, her eyes shyly peeping up at him whereas before they’d been looking down at the flowers in her hands.

“Yes,” Nick lied without missing a beat.

Hana began talking again, about how much she was enjoying her visit. Nick let her drone on, not really paying attention. Hana was soft-spoken, demure and everything a man required for his future queen to be. But why did his mind still wander to Janet, curious about what she was doing now? He quickly gave himself a mental shake, doing his best to conentrate on Hana who was now asking him to go on a leiruely walk with her across the gardens. Nick complied, mind-linking his beta to come get him as soon as possible. Hana was perfect in every way except for one: she didn’t hold any interest for Nick.

Nick was suddenly thrown offgaurd however when his beta mind-linked him that he was on an important assignment, sent by Johnathon. Nick pressed him on the details because he had not been informed of any such assignment. His beta assured him he’d brief Nick once he returned. Perplexed, but trusting his beta, Nick decided to not push the matter further. He’d have to find someone else to come help him get away from Hana.