The Hidden Luna Queen 2

To her credit, Isabelle knew better than to dig herself into an even deeper hole than she already was in. She would do nothing that directly

incriminated her, so she seemed to think it best to keep silent, albeit begrudgingly. That, I thought, was the smartest move she had made thus

far.

"For your information," I added, displaying a defiant smirk for her to see," I am perfectly fine. As is the beautiful mother of my child."

Isabelle gave me a tight smile. "What a relief to hear," she said through gritted teeth, briskly turning around and scurrying along, leaving me in total blissful silence and solitude. Thank fucking goodness for that, I thought exhaustedly and proceeded on my way to the training room.

The moment I entered, however, it became very clear that I was not alone.

Standing in the center of the room, surrounded by exercise equipment and going to town on a punching bag was my younger brother Lucas, who seemed to be enthralled in throwing punch after punch.

His presence was unexpected, admittedly, but not unwanted. I thought it would be nice to have the company of a wolf who could hold his own.

"Good morning, Lucas," I said, wrapping tape around my knuckles. "Want to train together?"

To my surprise, however, he did not answer. As a matter of fact, he did not seem to even register that we were in the same room together. If he did, he chose to completely disregard my presence, putting all of his focus into destroying the punching bag in front of him, swinging with force and weeping sand with every powerful blow of his fists.

That was... odd. He hardly ever got so worked up over something. Especially enough to lose himself in his training like this.

"Lucas?" I called out, stepping closer to him.

No response. He simply continued to swing at the punching bag in front of him.

Grunting, I closed the distance between us until I was within feet of him." Lucas!" I shouted, which finally seemed to startle him awake.

Upon seeing me, he let out a breath, wiping at his forehead. "I'm sorry, Xaden... I didn't see you there..."

I eyed him carefully, unable to help but notice just how out of sorts he seemed with those dark circles under his eyes. "You were really in the zone there. It was like you couldn't even hear me."

He refused to look at me, further proof that something was indeed wrong. "I'm fine."

I scoffed, tired of this meaningless back and forth. "Bullshit."

"Can I please just... have some space?" he asked, looking tired. In that moment, I felt pity for him. Whatever was going on, it was fairly significant.

"Not this time," I said, not caring if I was annoying him. The growing irritation on his face quickly told me that that was, indeed, the case. "I have no intentions of leaving just yet, so you have no choice but to deal with me for the next few hours." Lucas squared up to me. "If you want me to tell you, you're going to have to fight me for it."

I set my jaw. If that was how I would get him to open up, then so be it. Alright," I said with a firm nod.

He took a pause and blinked, almost as if he hadn't expected me to so readily agree. "... What?"

"You want me to fight you?" I pushed with a nonchalant shrug, calling out his bluff. "I'm game. I admit I could use a good sparring match right about now... so who better to take advantage of than my stubborn little brother?"

The fire that burned in his eyes was hard to miss. He was definitely stuck in a battle with his own demons... but it seemed that he was not completely void of common sense. Even with his blind fury, it seemed he had the decency to remember just who he was challenging. Lucas might have been my younger brother, but that did not mean I ever went easy on him in the slightest.

If we were going to spar, I would give it my absolute all. And he knew this.

"Forget it," Lucas mumbled, swinging another punch at the bag. “I'm not going to fight you, Xaden."

"I suppose that's to be expected..." I muttered, feigning thoughtfulness," since it is you we're talking about." I snuck a glance at him, hoping my less -than-subtle emphasis on the word 'you' would get his attention, which, sure enough, seemed to intensify the power behind his punches. "You might have our father's alpha blood coursing through your veins, but I doubt even you could get me to break a sweat."

His eyes narrowed. But still, he said nothing.

"After all," I dared to goad him further, itching for a fight, "you're the only one out of us all who lets others push you around." I took a lazy step closer to him. "If there was anyone to take one for the team, then of course it had to be you-"

And then, without warning, Lucas's fist came flying-right at my face.

XADEN POV

Before my mind could comprehend what was happening, my body hurled itself out of Lucas's path of attack on its own accord.

It took a couple of seconds to catch my breath from the sudden motion, eyes wide as I gazed at my brother, who was now, by all accounts, adequately peeved. His clenched fist still hovered where my head had been mere seconds ago. Without my many years of honing my training and battle instincts, I'd be an unconscious heap on the gym floor. Lucas might've been the gentler of us alpha princes, but he still packed quite an impressive punch when the situation called for it.

The power of a true alpha wasn't something to underestimate under any circumstance.

"That was just a warning." Lucas growled, pulling his arm back as he fell into a sturdy offensive position. "Don't think you'll get away with talking to me like that again."

That's what I'm talking about... I mused with a sly grin, brimming with adrenaline.

"We'll see about that," I countered, settling into defense. "If you're so

keen to show me who's boss, now's your chance." I taunted him with a sneer. "Let's see how many minutes it takes this time before I pin your ass to the ground."

With a snarling growl, Lucas lunged at me, throwing blow after blow, which I was quick to block. His punches packed power behind them, but they were all thrown haphazardly. No precision or strategy.

His mind was not at all in this match.

He was going to be easy to take down.

When he threw his next blind punch, I ducked, swerving around his body with ease and throwing myself into his side, tackling him to the ground and knocking the wind out of his lungs.

Before long, I had him pinned on his stomach, his hands locked at the wrists behind his back. My jaw clenched as I steeled myself, intensifying the force in my grasp as he thrashed against me with all of his might." Thirty seconds-that's a new record. Do you yield?" Instead of answering, Lucas pulled strength from some hidden reserve in

his body, swinging his legs around and catching me off guard. It was enough to loosen my hold on him and free himself from my grasp, allowing him to throw more blows.

He was putting up quite a fight, I had to give him that. Whatever it was that occupied his mind, he was determined to keep me in the dark.

I was not going to have that.

I had to go full-offense. Blocking punches quickly turned into tossing my own without reserve. When I found my opening, I took it, landing a blow square in the middle of his abdomen, knocking him down to the ground. Before he could regain himself, I pinned him down once more.

"One of the rules when sparring with someone stronger than you," I growled, "is to know when you're outmatched. So-yield."

After a few more moments of struggle, Lucas eventually went still, letting out a resigned sigh. He was done. I removed my hold on him and got to my feet, holding out a hand for him, which he chose to accept.

"Now," I said, once we were on equal ground. "I believe you owe me

some answers. Tell me what's on your mind."

Lucas grabbed onto a dry towel. "You're so damn relentless, you know that?"

After a few moments of hesitation, he finally offloaded his mind.

"...The... the arranged marriage with Princess Mia of the Vixen-Shifters is still set to happen," Lucas muttered, wiping away the buckets of sweat that dripped down his forehead and neck with the towel. "Less than two months, Father said."

At that moment, I thought I felt the world crumble beneath my feet. How was it possible for that to still be on the table? Not a word of it had been spoken for quite some time. And Father had promised he would give Maeve a fair chance-unless... What if this was his punishment for Maeve's outburst?

"Father will regret this," I vowed darkly, tossing my water bottle to the ground and preparing to march down to his office that instant. I didn't

care if his precious ego was shattered after being scolded by my future mate-I would not let him take her away from me. "I already told him I will not marry anyone other than-"

"It's not for you," Lucas cut me off. Confused, I turned back to face him, and that was when I was able to clearly see the wariness that weighed heavily on his normally gentle features. "It... it's for me-I'm going to marry her." Stunned, I settled back next to my brother, who looked sunken with burden. "Did Father put you up to this?"

Wordlessly, he shook his head, but I did not need words to guess what had happened. Knowing Lucas, he more than likely jumped at the chance to help our kingdom without truly considering the consequences beforehand. It was an endearing yet dangerous quality of his.

Still, I couldn't help but feel for my impulsive little brother. All he wanted to do was help in whatever ways he could, even if it meant potentially sacrificing his own happiness. He was only twenty-one... he still had so much to offer besides an arranged marriage. "Lucas, if this isn't something you want, then don't do it," I firmly insisted, straightening myself as I turned to face him dead-on. "There are ways for us to make it through this impending war without relying on the vixens. Let Father figure it out-"