The Alpha's Contract Luna (Alexia)

Queen Helen -

Earlier in the palace.

Her slender frame went up and down, and she panted as she chased her high. A man's hands were around her waist as she ground against her true mate.

The woman threw her head back as soon as she reached ecstasy, and so did the man she was riding. The woman was none other than Queen Helen, and she was with her true mate, Alpha Blaze. They were making love inside the king's quarters, the same bed Helen shared with the king.

"Ah, my love. It feels so good to make love to you," Alpha Blaze said as he lay Helen on the other side of the sheets. "It would feel better if we were no longer hiding our relationship."

Queen Helen chuckled. She replied, "Soon, my love." Her eyes landed on the wall clock, and she said, "The doctor working with me should give Bathasar a full dose of the poison today. That should kill him in just minutes."

It had been two days since Queen Helen took over the palace. She made it look like a nurse, and a doctor was attending to the king. In truth, however, both the nurse and doctor were poisoning the king.

It started with a simple headache. Due to the rehabilitation on the southern coast, the king spent long hours attending to his people. As a result, he had headaches during the day.

The Queen saw it as an opportunity. She conspired with a doctor, paid him enough money to live two lifetimes, and urged Balthasar to seek treatment. The medicine the doctor created relieved him of the headaches, but it was also killing him slowly.

She had been working with their enemy, Eswen, for months, hoping to dethrone Balthasar. She and her true mate, Alpha Blaze, had been feeding King James information about the coast's mines and the soldier's war plan. However, in the end, Alpha Kieran still led the warriors of Taplean to victory!

Her exchange deal with King James was simple. By helping him, Balthasar would be dethroned. King James would take his shares of Taplean's riches and receive monthly taxes. Helen did not mind sharing wealth for as long as she was in control, together with her mate, Alpha Blaze.

With King James miserably failing and surrendering, the queen had no choice but to find another answer to her problem. She loathed Balthasar. It started when she found out that Balthasar had found his true mate. He did not deny it, but he swore he rejected his true mate to keep the crown, for the woman named Avery was a mere commoner, and his parents disapprove of her. Helen and the king were married, but he never loved her. He did not even mark her! She could tell his mind was constantly drifting off somewhere, thinking of the woman he rejected.

Thankfully, Helen also found her true mate in Alpha Blaze. They had been keeping their relationship a secret for over twenty-five years. Caspian was a product of their love. He was living as a prince, but he was not Balthasar's real son.

Helen could not forget how he tricked Balthasar into believing that Caspian was his son. He had to get the king drunk and drugged. She forced herself on him until he gave in to the temptation and had sex with her.

Then, a bonus to her plans was the arrival of Alexia. At first, she wondered why Balthasar was adamant about helping her. Later on, she discovered Alexia was the daughter of one, Luna Avery of the Cross River Pack. To her, it wasn't a coincidence. Queen Helen confirmed her suspicion when she poked into the king's office and unlocked his secret safe using a replica of Balthasar's fingerprint. In that safe, she found an old photo of Avery, and the same woman looked the same as Alexia.

It angered the queen that she swore Alexia would suffer along with her husband, Kieran Stone, the same alpha who had repeatedly ruined her plans of winning the war with Eswen.

Queen Helen was thinking about the past and recent events when Blaze remarked, "I can't wait for that bastard Balthasar to die." He leaned to Helen and kissed her lips, adding, "And I can't wait for my son to be announced as the next king."

"Patience, Blaze. Patience, we did not wait this long to fail," she said. She rechecked the time and suggested, "You better leave now - through the secret passage. It will take some time for your scent to leave the room. The guards will be looking for me in an hour." Before Alpha Blaze could get up from the bed, someone had already knocked on the door.

"My Queen! My Queen! It's an emergency! My Queen!" Whoever was behind the door was persistent. It left Helen and Blaze scrambling into their clothes.

"Wait half an hour! Let me change!" Helen replied. "How dare you interfere with my sleep?! Do you want to die?!"

"But, My Queen, it's urgent! The King is missing!" Helen realized the voice was that of the doctor she commissioned to poison the king. If Balthasar was missing, it only meant one thing: he did not receive the last dose of the poison.ConTEent bel0ngs to Nôv(e)lD/rama(.)Org .

Moments later, Helen arrived at the treatment room. She studied the place closely with her son, Caspian. The fluid bag that was supposed to be infused into the king's veins was missing. There were other bags around, but they were not connected to the tubings. 'Did Balthasar at least finish one bag?' She fearfully wondered.

Helen was busy rejoicing in her

triumph and ordering her personal guards that she left the king's care with her son, Caspian. Her orders were not to give Balthasar food of water since he was already hooked into an IV. Moreover, he was unconscious. It was meant to weaken him further since it also contained a dose of the poison.

"I thought he was here all along," Caspian said.

"So that meant you did not bother checking? When was the last time you came here?!" Helen screamed at her son.

"But mother, Beta Ford, offered to monitor father's care. Plus, the nurse you hired was here all the time!" Caspian reasoned. He looked around and realized that the nurse was missing. He let out a low growl. "Where is she? Where is Beta Ford?" Helen grabbed her son by the collar and pulled him to one corner. She angrily reminded, "Are you out of your mind? Don't you remember where Beta Ford's loyalty lies? He would do anything to save Balthasar if he had any suspicion." "What's going on here?!" Eventually, Alpha Blaze arrived at the treatment room after navigating the secret passages.

Helen informed him of what had happened and ordered the guards to look for Beta Ford and the nurse. Unfortunately, they could not find Beta Ford, and the same could be said for the king's loyal guards. The nurse had also disappeared.

Later, a report came to her inside the

king's office. One of the head guards said, "My Queen, Beta Ford, and about twenty guards left last night, saying they needed to visit the southern coast's rehabilitation, but after checking with the warriors there, Beta Ford had not arrived."

"Also, two nights ago, some of the king's loyal guards had left to follow former alpha, Kieran Stone, but the guards at the gate assured the king' was not with them. They did, however, fail to check Alpha Declan's vehicle thoroughly, the guard described before narrating the turn of events.

Povel

"Ahhh! Why am I only hearing this now?" The queen yelled, throwing whatever documents were at the king's table. She ordered the guard, "Send men to Alpha Declan's pack. Send men to the Stone Blood Pack!"

With her nose flaring and her body acting to shift, she summoned, "Call the doctor now!"

Heartbeats later, with Alpha Blaze and her son, the queen spoke to the doctor about the possibility of the king surviving the poison. She asked, "What are the chances that he will live? Will he eventually die even if he had not taken the last dose?" The doctor nodded, confirming, "The king is already weak, My Queen. He will eventually die unless -"

"What?" Alpha Blaze asked.

"Unless they can secure the fire root, the most potent medicinal plant found in Taplean. The said miracle root can only be found in the crater of Mount Nefarious," the doctor revealed.

The queen sat back in the seat, the same chair that belonged to the king. She turned to Alpha Blaze and then to her son, saying, "They will definitely seek this miracle root."

"If the king had been gone for two days all along, then yes, they might have figured the fire root is the only solution," the doctor suggested.

"I'll go," Caspian said. "I will take my men with me. It was my fault that my so-called father had disappeared from the palace. I will find whoever is seeking the fire root and destroy their chances of saving the king."

Helen and Alpha Blaze looked at each other before agreeing. Alpha Blaze said, "Then, go. Destroy all the fire root plants, son. Remember, if the king survives, you will not be king. The fire root stands in the way of your future crown." 'I will, father," Caspian affirmed.