Chapter Twenty-Five

My hands fidgeted nervously in front of me as we sat in the same car that I had been in when I first arrived at Luke's, but instead this time we were going to the kingdom to meet his mother for the first time, and I was more nervous than I had ever been.

"Oh god, I think I might actually be sick." My fingers intertwined with each other. "Yeah, I really do think that I will, I'm definitely going to."

"Clover." Luke, who was sat next to me, placed a comforting hand over mine. "There is nothing for you to worry about. She's going to love you just as much as I do." He paused, winking at me. "Well, maybe not as much as I do, because that would be weird, but very close."

"Not helping!" I cried out.

"Sorry" He shook his head. "What I mean is that she knows you're coming, and I've told her about you before so there's zero need to feel scared or worried. Okay princess?"

"What if she judges me for being from a poor family? Or if she judges me for once being an Omega...or worse, what if she—"

A kiss from Luke stopped me from rambling and I thanked him. The car ride in total was a few hours long due to the packs being so far away from each other and spread out, so that didn't help matters that I had this whole time to stress out and spiral. The windows of the car were small and tinted so I didn't get the chance to see much, but Luke had assured me that later on in the year we would get a chance to visit each pack as a couple, so I was excited for that. It would be interesting to see what was fiction and what was actually real.

The stones under the car changed and I took in a deep breath. We were here.

"You'll be fine." He leant down and kissed me gently. "She's waiting for us inside."

Coming to a stop outside the Kingdom, I braced myself as my door was opened, I instantly gazed up at the giant building in front of me. It was unlike anything I had ever seen before, but I could imagine it was somewhere that a Queen would live, and Queen Sybil was the highest of the highest.

"Madam," the guard nodded at me, and I couldn't help but think back to when I was led out of one blindfolded and tied up. How times had changed.

"Thank you." I stepped outside onto the stones and walked around to the door where Luke was already stood waiting for me. The door itself was magnificent and oak, it was about 10 feet tall. "This is insane," I whispered, leaning into him for support.

"I know. My mother has always been a bit eccentric with the decorations, I apologise."

"Don't apologise." I pulled his hand into my own as we walked through the doors, my eyes scanned all over the place at the giant chandeliers, fur rugs, marble floors and real gold and silver details everywhere, then landing right on a woman who was standing with open arms. She looked too young to have children of her own, let alone children who were in their 20s.

"This must be Clover!" She walked towards us and pulled me into a tight hug. "I've been looking forward to meeting you ever since I heard about you all those weeks ago! My name is Sybil. It's lovely to meet you"

Queen Sybil herself, hugging me, of all people.

"Oh god!" I cried out. "Likewise, I've admired you for so many years and now to finally meet you is very overwhelming. Thank you for all that you do for the pack and the people. It doesn't go unrecognized."

"Hush, child." She smiled at me. "Come in, both of you, please. I'm afraid we don't have very long today to catch up as I'm due in Alpha Theo's pack for a meeting, but soon we will need to have dinner, all of us."

"Yes," I nodded. "That would be great."

Luke hugged his mother before we all sat down at a small couch with tea and cakes in the middle of the table. She motioned to them as she took a cup of tea herself and started politely sipping.

"And are you both doing well?" Her eyebrows raised. "Clover, I can imagine this is a bit of a shock to the system for you, but rest assured you'll get used to it very soon. I remember when I met Luke's father, God rest his soul, and I was taken aback by how quickly things happened. It will all be very fast, then it'll suddenly stop, and you can both enjoy your new life together."

Leaning forward and taking a cup myself, I chuckled with relief. "That's good to hear, especially since you've been through the same thing and know how strange it is."

"I've been helping her quite a lot." Luke took my hand again. "She's done a great job actually."

"Thank you." I smiled at him. "I've been surrounded by the best people that only have my interests at heart, so it's not been a hard process at all. I'm sure there’s still to come when I officially meet the pack."

"Yes," she nodded. "When is that again?"

"Two days from now," Luke smiled. "We're going to do a television appearance to get her more comfortable speaking in the public eye, but we plan on visiting the packs individually, so that Clover can meet my brothers and pay her respects to each of the packs."

The thought of going round all the packs made my stomach whirl, but the thought of meeting his brothers made me want to jump out the window right here right now.

A guard walked into the room and leant into Queen Sybil, whispering in her ear. She quickly nodded and placed her cup down on the table, clasping her hands together.

"I am awfully sorry about how short this visit has been, but my car is waiting outside to take me to Theo, I'm sure you can understand how hard it can be sometimes" She pulled a face and I smiled at her, nodding in agreement. "It was so lovely to meet you Clover, please don't hesitate to visit again or give me a call. You will, after all, be my daughter in law soon and I love my family very much"

I stood up with her and pulled her into a hug, thanking her. "Don't worry, I will. Thank you for meeting us on such short notice today too. I’m very glad to finally have been graced by your presence."

"Likewise." Her head bowed to me as she said goodbye to Luke and walked off with the guard.

After a moment, I turned to Luke. "That went well I think, don't you?"

"It went very well," he smiled. "I told you that she'd absolutely love you."

"I have to admit I’m very much not looking forward to the dinner with your brothers." I let out a laugh. "I think they scare me more than you do."

"Is that so?" He cocked his eyebrow and stalked towards me. "I'd like to think I’m the scariest of them all."

"Hmm," I pretended to think for a moment. "You'll need to find a way to show me exactly how scary you can be."

"I can definitely do that," he purred in my ear before picking me up and throwing me over his shoulder and stalking towards a grand set of stairs.

I laughed as we walked up the stairs and down the hallway into a separate room with a bed. Setting me down, he looked around the room and smiled. "You like?"

Upon closer inspection, the room boasted pictures and different awards from across the years. I spun around to him. "Is this your old room?"

"Bingo." His eyebrows rose. "This is the room where I grew up. Not too bad, I think."

"Definitely not too bad." It was bigger than my bedroom and bathroom combined. Fit for a king, I suppose. "And are we going to christen your room?"

"Not yet," he laughed. "First, I have a gift for my future queen. Stay here for a moment and I'll have a guard bring it in."

"Exciting," I said, taking a seat on the bed, and watching as he slipped out of the room. I wondered what he could've gotten me that was so grand that a guard had to bring it in.

After a few moments there was a knock at the door. "Come in."

I sat forward as a guard opened the door and came inside. To my surprise he was holding nothing. "Oh," I mused.

The guard caught my eye, and I immediately knew who he was as he stalked over and wrapped his hands around my throat, choking me. "Hades," I croaked out. "Stop." My hands clawed at his as they gripped tighter and tighter.

"My parents disowned me after Luke pulled me off you. I kept telling them nothing happened, but they didn't believe me," he grunted. "And now you'll pay the price."

"Please, stop." I could barely breathe and my vision getting darker and darker.

Suddenly, Hades was thrown off me and against the wall as Luke stood in his place, chest rising up and down in anger. He turned to me, taking my face in his hands.

"My love, are you alright?"

"Yes," I breathed out, staring at Hades who was slumped against the wall almost unconscious. "Get that son of a bitch."

Nodding, he smirked as he whipped around and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and dragged him out the room. I could hear cries of pain and fear echoing down the hallways as they got further and further away but it only made me smile. Hades would be sentenced to the Marshlands to die for what he did, and if Luke didn't agree then I would sentence him myself.