The Luna's Revenge: Chosen as his breeder, Born to rule

Selene POV

I turned my phone on for the first time in days. The hikes and the endless travel hadn’t left me a single moment to breathe, let alone think of myself.

A message from Mr. Cipher waited on my screen. He had been trying to reach me for two days straight, and I hadn’t been able to reply ... my phone had been off the whole time.

Hi Selene, I hope you’re doing well. Your project has been on hold for a while, but there seems to be significant progress from where we left off. I hope you haven’t given up on the machine you were trying to build.

Cipher was the only one who had ever cared about me. No one in Bloodmoon had. Since I left, he’d been the only one who still reached out

I typed back:

I’m doing fine, sir, thank you very much. I’ll continue my research. I’m yet to settle into this territory’s library.

That was when I started searching for the Winterwood library.

I hadn’t read in so long. I needed to get back to the love of my life.

I remembered vividly where Mr. Cipher and I had left off. What I’d been building was supposed to benefit Bloodmoon. Now it would benefit Winterwood instead.

I told myself:

If I wouldn’t do it for anybody else, I’d do it for Lucian.

But breeders weren’t allowed to leave at will. We were treated like prisoners, barely more than slaves. The only way out was to sneak. So I came up with a plan.

”I want to go see if the King is doing okay,” I told the guard stationed at the door.

”You’re not going anywhere. Sit down,” he snapped.

”Ms. Tessa already knows about it,” I said. ”I’m sure you don’t want to be punished over this.”

That was enough to make him step aside.

When I reached the Alpha’s chambers, I knocked and was let in.

”I didn’t summon you,” Lucian said the moment he saw me.

”I know, Alpha. I only came to check on you. But you’re resting, so I’ll leave you be.” I turned to go.

”Wait.” His voice cut sharp through the room.

”Did I tell you to leave?”

”I only didn’t want to disturb your peace.”

”If you didn’t want to disturb my peace, you wouldn’t be standing here at all, would you?”

I shook my head, unable to argue with that.

”Since you’re already here,” he said, ”then please me.”

”I could cook your favorite dish. What would you like?”

He said nothing.

”I could dance for you,” I offered instead.

His silence was unbearable. Was there nothing I had to give him that he actually wanted?

Finally, he spoke. ”I don’t want anything. Just go. Please.” Lucian, being polite to me.

That alone told me something was wrong ... Lucian was never polite to me without reason.

”Since you let me live that night,” I said, ”I want to know why. You should have let me die.”

The words came out before I could stop them.

”I don’t have the strength to answer questions right now. Please, just leave me alone,” he said, his voice fading.

”Since you spared me, let me please you,” I said, stepping closer. Closer still.

”Selene, I don’t...” He stopped mid-sentence, like the words had lodged in his throat.

”Sir? What’s wrong?” Panic rose in my chest.

He started choking. Foam gathered at the corners of his mouth.

”Somebody help! Please, help him!” I screamed. Two nurses rushed in, Beta Kael right behind them.

”What happened?” Kael demanded as the nurses worked over him.

”I don’t know, honestly. We were just talking, and then he started choking ... and then this.” I gestured helplessly at the King.

I don’t think Kael believed me. He ordered security to pull the last thirty minutes of footage from the room.

They returned a few minutes later and murmured something into his ear ... too quiet for me to catch.

”The King has been poisoned,” one of the nurses announced.

My stomach dropped. Who would dare poison him, especially in this state?

”The food itself was prepared properly,” the nurse continued, turning to Kael. ”But his body couldn’t tolerate it ... not in his condition. It’s a slow poisoning, not a sudden one.” They’d checked the footage; nothing had been tampered with. It was the King’s fragile system that had turned against him.

He was slipping in and out of consciousness now, unable to speak.

I knew a little about food ... the kind I’d studied for years, tested and refined through my own research.

”His system is fragile,” I said to Kael. ”I might know what to prepare for him. But it’s my own recipe.”

”Absolutely not,” the nurse cut in. ”The King cannot survive another poisoning. We need to be extremely...”

”Wait.” Kael held up a hand, silencing her. ”Let’s hear what she has to say.”

At that moment, Tessa burst through the door, chest heaving. ”What the hell happened? Is he alright?”

”It’s under control,” Kael said. ”But the King has suffered food poisoning.”

”Get the chef in here now!” Tessa shouted.

”It wasn’t the chef,” Kael said calmly, then nodded for me to continue.

”What just happened proves his system reacts differently than a normal patient’s,” I said. ”His food needs to be prepared with that in mind.”

I turned to the chef, who was already standing by, pale-faced. ”Do you add ginger or cloves to his meals?”

”No,” she admitted.

”Start adding them. Ginger and cloves reduce metabolic reactions that can trigger poisoning symptoms ... or the poisoning itself.”

The room went quiet, everyone staring at me like they were trying to figure out where I’d learned all this.

The nurse finally nodded. ”That’s... actually a solid idea. I’ll try it.”

”Do it,” Kael told the chef. ”And make sure this never happens again.”

”Are you sure this will work?” Tessa asked, still catching her breath.

”Let’s trust the science,” Kael said simply.

That was my cue to slip out, straight toward the library. I stopped a guard along the way and asked for directions.

My research would continue. Winterwood ... maybe all of Morvaine ... was standing on the edge of something bigger than any of them realized.

And I had a feeling this was only the beginning of earning their trust. My recipe was about to prove itself right.