Chasing His Kickass Luna Back Chapter 371

Karl

As I walk up to the small, discreet cafe on the city block, I take a deep, shuddering breath. The phone call that I finally made a few days ago after weeks of dragging my feet has finally led me here—to speak with Reginald, the strangely familiar king.

I still don’t know why he wants to meet with me, and the last words that he spoke to me after Abby’s deposition still echo in my mind.

“I knew we would meet.”

None of it makes sense. But I guess I’m about to find out what he meant.

Before I push open the door, I pause, glancing through the window. I feel my heart skip when I see none other than Reginald sitting at a table, calmly sipping a cup of coffee.

This is it; the link to my missing life. I’m sure of it.

Finally, I walk into the cafe.

Reginald looks up from his coffee as I approach and stands, holding his hand out to me to shake.

He’s still just as large and imposing as I remember him, although now, in the dim light of the cafe, I can see that he’s just a regular man. The lines on his face are pronounced, especially on his forehead and between his eyebrows, indicating a serious life. His salt-and-pepper hair is neatly combed to the side, and he wears a tidy suit.

“Karl,” he says. “I’m glad you came.”

“Reginald.” I shake his hand, noting the strength of his grip. We both sit, and he pushes a cup of coffee toward me.

“I hope you don’t mind that I took the liberty of ordering for you.”

“Not at all.” I lean forward and peer into the cup; black and bitter, just the way I like it. A quick glance in Reginald’s cup tells me that he likes it the same way.

“Now then,” he says. “I suppose we should get straight to business, shouldn’t we? After all, I’m sure you have a lot of questions and there are only so many hours in the day to answer them all.”

“Yes.” I swallow and stare down at my coffee cup for a moment, formulating my swirling thoughts, before I look back up at Reginald. “I felt something at the deposition,” I say. “My wolf felt it, too. A sense of familiarity with you.”

Reginald raises an eyebrow, although he doesn’t actually look all that surprised. “I figured as much. Tell me, Karl—what do you know of your lineage?”

“Nothing,” I admit. “I was adopted as a baby. Left on my adoptive family’s doorstep.”

“Mm.” Reginald leans back in his chair, folding his enormous arms across his chest. “So I see, after all these years, they kept the story just as we had planned.”

I feel my heart flip in my chest. “Sorry?” I ask.

Reginald pauses for a moment. As he regards me from across the table, his eyes seem to flicker with something I can’t quite read.

“I don’t think I need to clarify,” he says softly. “You know me, Karl.”

I swallow once again. Looking at this man now, sitting in a beam of sunlight across from me, I can see it—I can feel it. Not only the familiarity in appearance, but in blood as well. My wolf stirs inside of me, something primal awakening within him.

“You’re my father.”

For a few moments after I utter those three words, Reginald just continues to look at me—almost with a hint of amusement in his eyes. Then, he merely nods.

“Wait, so…” I shake my head in disbelief, averting my gaze down to the untouched cup of coffee in front of me again. “All these years, I was the son of a… of a king? Why did you leave me? Why did no one tell me?”

Reginald sighs and leans forward with his elbows on the table. “That, my boy, is where things get complicated. Let me explain.”

I lift my gaze again to meet his. “Go on.”

“You were born to me and my first wife, Alessandra,” Reginald begins. “Our only son. Our heir. We adored you, Karl. She adored you. But, unfortunately, your mother, she…” He pauses, swallowing hard as though the memory pains him. “She passed when you were only an infant.”

My eyes widen slightly. For a moment, I guess I had some sort of hope that I would not only regain a father, but a mother as well.

But she’s gone, and I never even got to know her.

“As the king, I had no choice but to remarry,” he continues. “For political purposes, I married a princess of a foreign kingdom; Julia. I do not like to speak her name for multiple reasons, one of them being that she gave me the son who you met—Damon, your half-brother.”

There’s a slight pause, but I don’t dare to speak. I’m on the edge of my seat, gripping my coffee cup tightly now.

“When Julia was found to be pregnant,” Reginald says, “my closest advisor warned me that his spies had heard whisperings of her intent to kill you and leave Damon as the sole heir. You must understand, Karl, that I could not let my son—the last flicker of Alessandra left in this cruel world, and my entire heart—die.”

“So you abandoned me,” I whisper, unsure of whether I want to feel relieved or angry at this revelation.

“If you wish to call it abandonment, yes,” he says softly. “But I knew your adoptive family well, Karl; your parents were old friends of mine. Close friends. They did not hesitate to take you in as their ward.”

It feels as if the world is tilting beneath my chair. “All these years… I thought I was left on their doorstep,” I whisper. “But you—”

“The original plan was for your adoptive parents to care for you until you turned eighteen, at which time you would be informed of your true lineage and would return to your rightful home. But, alas, the genetic disease that took your parents also took the truth along with them.”

“But you never came for me,” I say as anger begins to bubble up inside of me. All this time, and I was alone—my family, the only family I ever knew, was dying off one by one. Meanwhile, my true father was nowhere to be found. “They died years ago, Reginald. You never came.”

For several moments, Reginald is silent. I watch as he stares down at his coffee cup, and for the briefest second, I think that maybe a look of embarrassment flashes through his eyes.

“I have no excuse,” he finally says, drawing in a deep breath. “Julia and I eventually divorced, I tightened my security to keep you safe upon your return, but at the end of the day I, um… I could not face you. You have your mother’s smile, and I… I grew weak, Karl.”

There’s another long silence. I realize that I can’t stay mad at him; and without entirely meaning to, more so out of instinct, I slowly reach across the table and touch his hand.

He almost seems to wince at my touch, his eyes snapping up to meet mine. But I hold steady there, and as our gazes meet, I can see a softness that wasn’t there before.

“I’ll forgive you,” I say. “In time.”

And then I pull my hand away.

Reginald takes in another shaking breath and nods. “That is all I can ask for.”

“So,” I say, straightening a bit. I’m still in completely dumbfounded awe, but it feels as though the Alpha side of me has taken over, helping me to keep my composure. “What happens now? With Damon in prison…”

“Yes. That is precisely why I was hoping to speak with you. I have been away for long enough now, and I must return to my kingdom tomorrow morning.” Reginald straightens as well and offers me a kind smile.

“I would like you to come to my island, where my palace resides, for a visit,” he continues. “Of course, bring Miss Abby as well. There, I believe I can answer whatever other questions you may have; and perhaps we can also speak about the future.”

As though moving on autopilot, I nod stiffly.

“I would be honored, Reginald.”