The Luna Trials

Chapter 3

3. Set Upnovelbin

Kai gave his sister a stern look. He was gone for just a month and only to come back and find all thismess. His home was full of women he did not know and did not want to know. And he found out thatapparently he was supposed to marry one of them in the near future. This did not sit right with him andhe knew very well who to blame.“Brother!” the princess of the North chirped and ran in his direction togive him a hug, but stopped halfway and scrunched her nose while scanning his outfit. “Whathappened to you? You look like…”“We were attacked on our way back from the mountains,” hemotioned for her to stop talking and walked past her to his rightful seat behind the desk. The one thatshe was clearly using all the time while he was gone. “I was lucky that this set of clothes survived thefight as I didn’t have to shift this time.”“Lucky indeed,” his little sister did not look impressed.Kai lovedElene. She was the only family he had left. But sometimes she was reckless and did not think about theconsequences of her actions. Especially when her childhood crush, the western king, was involved. Heknew that this was the case now. And that he would be the one dealing with everything in the end.“Youneed to have some rest,” Elene tried to find an easy way out and was already at the door when hegrowled loudly, making her stop.“Not so fast!” His wolf was angry as hell too. “I repeat my question,Elle, what did you do?!”“You already know what,” she gave up quickly, because there was no pointpretending anymore. She knew that she would have to face the music sooner or later.“Luna Trials,” Kaiclosed his eyes and rubbed his forehead. It was unbelievable that she dared to pull something likethat. “Just why did you do it?”“And what did you want to do?” His sister scoffed, folding her hands onher chest and sat in the chair in front of him. “I saw how angry you were when their letter arrivedannouncing that Savannah Stormhold graciously agreed to marry you since you begged so manytimes!”He indeed wasn’t happy about that. In no way was that the plan. A few months ago, he met withhis old rival king Gideon from the Western Kingdom, because the latter was suddenly desperate for analliance between them. The sole reason why Kai even went to that meeting was that he needed acertain piece of land that was in Gideon’s possession. A piece of land that was essential to hiskingdom. And since he had already asked for the princess’s hand in marriage before only to be refused

every single time, he was sure that nothing had changed. Gideon and he hated each other since schooland then university. But they weren’t just rivals, they actively despised each other.However, Kaimiscalculated this time. He asked for Savannah or the land in hopes that he would get the land. Butinstead, a few months later, he received a letter of acceptance of his proposal and the date when hisfuture bride would arrive on his territory.Hating Gideon was one thing, but going to war with him wasanother. Nevertheless, Kai never wanted to marry his sister. He didn’t even want this in the past. Therewas always a different reason behind his proposals and usually, he was getting what he wanted. Butnot this time.“Admit it, Kai,” Elene’s lips curled into a victorious smile, “I came up with the best solution.The Luna Trials is an ancient tradition of the North. We will fail Savannah early on and will get rid ofher. We don’t need that alliance much anyway, right?”“I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” the kingrelaxed his back into his chair and clenched his lips.“What’s that supposed to mean?” Elene furrowedher blonde brows.“There is a lot of unusual activity in the white bears’ territory,” her brother took thefirst folder out from a huge stack that piled up on his desk during his absence and started lookingthrough it.“What kind of activity?” The princess did not want to leave this matter alone. Not too manyspecies chose the North as their place of residence and there were some good reasons for that. Someparts of the North were uninhabitable and, because of that, in the past, there were many wars betweenthe northern packs of shifters. The ones between the white bears and lycans were always the worst.No one wanted that part of history to repeat itself.“It looks like they are up to something,” Kai muttered,checking the latest budget. “So, it’s really not the time to piss Gideon off.” Elene pursed her lips. Foryears she was dying to get at least a fraction of the western king’s attention. And now she suddenlyhated him because he dared to find his true mate.“You are not seriously thinking of marryingSavannah!” The princess stood up and slammed her fists over his desk, almost leaving a dent.“God,no!” Kai chuckled. “But we need to play it nicely. Gideon wanted this alliance very much if he was readyfor me to have his sister as a wife. You know how many times he rejected my proposals for her.”“As ifyou’d wanted her!” Elene rolled her eyes and sat back in her chair. “I saw her today and, trust me, sheis nothing special. I don’t know what all the fuss is about.” The girl polished her well-manicured nailsand her brother sighed, placing the budget papers back into the pile. He had already found two

mistakes and that meant that he would have to go through them all over again, despite the fact that allhe wanted was a hot shower and some sleep.“But she is the least of my troubles thanks to you now,”he reminded her. “Elle, I really did not plan to get married any time soon. And you set me up with thisbig time.”“Don’t be dramatic!” his sister smiled innocently. “You need a Luna and you know it. But youare not even meeting with anyone suitable. And now this is your chance. Just take a look at these girlsand who knows, maybe you will even find your true mate!”“Yeah… sure,” Kai snorted. A mate was thelast thing on his agenda. Although his annoying sibling did have a point – he needed a Luna. And acapable one at that. Someone who could lead by his side and take care of things like budget and manyother tasks he had no time for. But something told him that this wasn’t the best way to find her. Not tomention that his inner voice, aka his wolf Asgard, was insisting that simply taking a partner who wasn’ttheir mate was out of the question.“Just give the poor girls a chance!” Elene quirked her brow.“It’s notlike I have a choice now, do I?” The northern king did the same. “And all thanks to you.”“No, all thanksto Savannah Stormhold,” the Princess corrected him. “Anyway, if you don’t like anyone, we just failthem all. Trust me on this one, I have prepared tasks that no one will be able to do. But who knows,maybe closer to the end you wouldn’t want to let go of a certain girl.”“Why do I have a feeling that youalready have someone in mind?” Kai closed his eyes and rubbed the bridge of his nose.“No one inparticular,” Elene giggled, and this was how he knew that she was lying.“Who?” His voice soundedmuch lower than usual because he was tired of controlling his emotions now.“A few contenders,” shetried to straighten the creases on her dress.“Who?!” Kai was on the verge of letting Asgard handle all ofthis for him.“Say what you want, but Penelope would make a great Luna for you!” His sister pouted herlips.“Not this again!” He muttered in annoyance.“Just listen to me,” Elene got her mobile phone out andhanded it to her brother. “Look at what they have to do. Test her. You will see that she will handle allthat just perfectly. But no pressure. If you still don’t want her, then this is it.”He eyed his sister for awhile and then just nodded because he was too tired to argue.“Great!” She clapped her hands. “Youwon’t regret it!”“I already do,” Kai retorted. “And don’t think that you are getting an easy way out. I wantto stop all that after a test or two. Got it?”“Deal!” Elene shrugged her shoulders. “It’s going to bewonderful!”She said something else about Penelope, Savannah and the Trials but he didn’t listen

anymore. The exhaustion was catching up on him and he chose to dismiss her. He would have tofigure out how to get rid of all this mess on his own anyway.His sister was already at the door when sheturned and said, “ And, Kai, shave that awful beard! I can barely recognise you with it!”She ran awaybefore he could even growl at her. But looking at the list of the contenders in his hands and seeing whowas on it, he knew that she was right. He had to take care of his appearance and look presentable.Butfirst thing first. He needed to get everything he could find on The Luna Trials. He needed a loophole tobring it all to an end. So, it meant that he would have to start in the library…***Savannah was readingone of the many books she found in the library when suddenly she felt a sharp pain. It ripped throughher whole body and made it especially hard for her to breathe. Her wolf Athena was howling inside andthis could only mean one thing – her so-called mate was intimate with someone at that very moment…