Melina Kingsley

Melina's POV

I gasped as my eyes flew open, my heart hammering wildly against my ribs. Slowly I pushed myself up, sweat was covering my forehead.

I was having the same traumatic nightmare that's been haunting me for three years. It comes more frequently whenever something or someone triggers me.

And nothing triggered it worse than that Asshole werewolf king.

My skin crawled just thinking of him. His cruel words earlier tonight still echoed in my head.

“My mating ceremony with Melina will be held within the next three months.”

I hugged my chest trying to steady my breathing, when my Mom burst into my room.

“Melina, sweetheart! Are you okay? I heard screaming,” Mom asked, concerned.

She wrapped her arms around me and pulled me to her chest, stroking my hair gently.

“The usual nightmare,” I whispered, my voice hoarse.

Mom gently kissed my forehead, holding me closer, “It's okay, my love. It was just a dream. You're safe now.”

I closed my eyes, leaning into my mother's warmth, but fear still gripped me.

“Mom…I don't even know how I'm going to spend my life with that man. You know how I interact with men. They terrify me….especially him.”

Mom pulled back slightly, cupping my face gently. “Melina, baby… if you truly don't want him. I will tell his mother myself. We won't force you into this.”

“No! Please don't. I can't put you and Dad in trouble with the Queen. I won't risk our family like that.”

“I regret the day I asked you to go with me to that charity event. If you hadn't come, Eleanor would never have seen you…and she wouldn't have chosen you for her son,” Mom said, her voice heavy with guilt.

“It's okay, Mom, I'm not that weak. I may have lost my wolf and suffered from that trauma but I'm still capable of defending myself. I've trained hard these years. I'm a skilled warrior now. Don't worry me,” I reassured her.

Mom's eyes softened with pride, she brushed a hair strand from my face, and smiled warmly.

“I know, my daughter is a brave woman.”

We sat in silence for a moment.

“Mom… King Azrik said something strange earlier tonight. He called me Selene. He accused me of pretending to be someone else. He seemed so angry at this Selene…Do you think I could have been her? Three years ago…..before the accident?”

Mom's eyebrows frowned. “I don't believe he was connected to you sweetheart. The accident happened near a hotel in the Human city. You were brought to my hospital barely alive, every bone in your body broken. It was a miracle you survived. You have no ID, no belongings, and no one came looking for you.”

She took my hand and squeezed gently.

“ When you finally woke up, you had no memories at all. Your Psychologist said it was your mind’s way of protecting you from something truly traumatic. The memories might return one day…or they may never come back. So we took you in. we adopted you, and gave you a new life as Melina.”

“I really want to remember who I was. But it's been three years, and nothing has come back,” I whispered, my chest tightening.

“Don't force it, darling. The doctor warned that pushing too hard could do more harm. Let the memories return come naturally,” Mom replied softly, kissing the top of my head.

I nodded silently. “I love you, Mom.”

Mom smiled warmly. “I love you too, baby. You were the best thing that happened to me.”

She leaned in and kissed my cheek tenderly. “I will let you rest now. Goodnight, sweetheart.”

“Good night, Mom.”

Once the door clicked shut behind her, I curled under the covers. I closed my eyes, desperate for sleep to claim me…but it never came.

The face of King Azrik hunted me instead. Every time I tried to drift off, his intense gaze and deep angry voice echoed in my mind. My heart clenched in fear.

No matter how hard I tried to be strong, I had to admit it.

He terrified me.

And deep inside I know that this is just the beginning.

Alpha Azrik's POV

“Mother, you never mentioned that your friend Emma had a daughter before,” I said casually as I poured myself a glass of whiskey.

Mother said, while flipping through her magazine. “Because I didn't know myself until recently. Emma and I were best friends growing up. I was the Alpha's daughter and she was the Beta's. We were practically inseparable. But we went our separate ways when I was mated with your father at the age of eighteen and she left my father's pack when she mated with Alpha Oliver of the Dark Shadow Pack. She became a surgeon and even opened her own hospital in the human city.”

Mother placed down her magazine on the table and looked up at me.

I coincidentally ran into her at a charity gala a few months ago…and that's when I met Melina for the first time.”

I took a sip of my whisky. “What made you think she would be a suitable Luna Queen when she doesn't even have a wolf? I didn’t sense one in her. Besides, do you think the kingdom and the council will accept her?” I asked sharply.

Asshole! Don't talk about our mate like that. Zayden snarled furiously in the back of my mind.

I simply blocked him out.

“They will like her, Azrik. She is beautiful, intelligent, well-mannered, a highly skilled warrior and she comes from a noble family. Those qualities matter more than you think. The kingdom and the council will see her value, just as your father and I do.” She said firmly.

Mother paused for a second then her expression hardened.

“Azrik,” she said, her voice low and commanding. “ I know you don't like her. I know you feel forced into accepting her as your chosen mate. But the moment she becomes your Luna Queen. It will be your duty to defend her against everyone, from the kingdom or the council. You will be protected from any threat. And you will never think of hurting her. Do I make myself clear?”

“Yeah. Yeah,” I muttered, waving my hand dismissively.

Mother gave me another long doubtful glare, her eyes narrowing slightly but she didn’t say anything more. Instead, she rose gracefully from the couch.

“I'm going to sleep. Goodnight Azrik.”

“Goodnight, Mom,” I stood and kissed her cheek, respectfully.

Once she left the room. I sank back into my chair and took a sip from my whisky, and my mind drifted to that morning three years ago. The morning after rejecting Selene.

I needed answers.

How the hell did my broken, rejected stripper mate, the girl I left in that hotel room, reappear in my life as Melina Kingsley, the elegant daughter of a respected Alpha and a renowned surgeon?

Something wasn't adding up. And I was going to find out exactly what happened in the years I had tried to forget her.