The Lunar Queen Chapter 86

Cole POV

When I walk out of the mansion, all of my wolves are kneeled outside. The sight hits heavier than it should rows of loyalty, heads bowed, waiting and instead of pride, it just sits in my chest because she’s not here to see it.

“The bears have a new King, and a peace treaty will be in the works once we bring our Queen and the royal heirs home,” I say, and they all howl once. The sound rolls through the air, strong, unified, but it doesn’t settle anything in me. Not yet.

“And any bear caught working against the King and Queen will be considered a traitor and dealt with as such,” James says, walking out behind me. His brother is standing off to the side with the bears, smiling. I turn to him. “Until next time,” I say, clapping his shoulder. My grip lingers a second longer than necessary—silent acknowledgment before everything shifts again.

I shift into Zeus and run through the wolves back toward home, and everyone follows behind me.

When we get back to the palace, my parents are standing outside with Aria and Moonveil’s Luna. The moment I see them, something tightens in my chest because I already know what this is about, and I don’t have the patience for it. I shift back.

“If this is about Mason, it can wait,” I say, walking past them.

“Cole, he is my mate,” Aria says.

I growl at her. It slips out low and immediate, before I even think about it.

“Your mate who is challenging me, questioning me, trying to plant doubt, speaking about MY MATE like he still has a claim to her,” I snarl in her face.

My father grabs my arm. “Cole, she is pregnant, calm down,” he says.

I snatch my arm from his grasp. His touch barely registers before I’m pulling away, heat already rising under my skin.

“If you want me to be calm, don’t talk to me about Mason,” I snap at him.

Alpha Liam walks over to stand next to his mate.

“I hope you two have a backup for Alpha because your son is no longer stable enough to lead,” I say to them. I don’t soften it. There’s too much riding on this to pretend otherwise.

Liam nods. “Yes, Alpha, I am aware,” he says solemnly.

“If Aria is having a boy, you can choose to remain Alpha until he is old enough to take over. Hell, even if it’s a girl, that pup is next in line,” I say.

“Cole,” Aria says softly.

I turn to her. “I’m sorry that you are going through this, but your mate isn’t coming out of there until my mate is home safely, and if anybody goes against that, I will kill them,” I say, meaning every word. No exaggeration. No bluff. The line is already drawn in my head.

“I will not risk my mate or my pups because you can’t control your fucking mate,” I say, walking past them and into the palace.

Okay, I know that was harsh, but fuck that. He is a liability, and nobody is more important than them. Until she is in my arms, he stays put.

“If I see his face, he will die,” Zeus snarls in my head, pacing, pressing at the edges of me again. He’s been there all day—restless, building, waiting for an excuse.

Tobias, Tabitha, and Dominic follow me into my office.

“You think you could have been a little nicer about it?” Tobias asks, smiling.

“No, asshole, I couldn’t, because Mason is a fucking pain in my ass,” I say. The irritation is still there, sitting just under the surface.

He laughs. “Yeah, I can tell,” he says.

“Tabitha, can you unlock the faction magic?” I ask her.

Trying to focus on anything else except Mason.

Her eyes go wide. “You know where it is? It’s actually real?” she asks.

I chuckle slightly. “Yes, it is real. I’m surprised your father didn’t tell you, or the bear who raised him, because she was part of the faction,” I say.

“My father always made it sound like a myth when he told us stories about our grandparents, like he altered the truth to make it seem more like a bedtime story,” she says.

“Okay, so now that you know it’s real, since you are a part of that bloodline, that means you can unlock it, right?” I ask.

“I mean, yes, that is true, but why?” she asks.

“I think we should recreate the council, but instead of a council for the werewolf world, it can be a supernatural council. Each species picks a representative, and we divide the magic between the representatives, but with limits,” I say, thinking about killing my entire council the night Lyric was taken. That can’t happen again. That memory sits heavy—quiet, final, something I don’t let myself look at too long.

“What are you thinking?” Tobias asks.

“Let’s say they try to act against the council or any of the species represented—their power gets stripped, but it kills them after it’s taken,” I say, not even knowing if the thought makes sense.

“That may work, considering they are being gifted the powers and they aren’t coming with the power,” Tabitha says.

“But why me and not Lyric?” she asks.

“It’s not that I don’t think she can do it. It’s because I know she will want to, even after being held captive for three weeks,” I say. And I won’t let her carry everything alone. Not after this.

She smiles. “We can do it together. It will be better if she does it because she is a goddess. She can put the fail-safe in the gifted powers,” she says.

“And if I’m correct, her powers are limitless,” she says.

I nod. “That works, as long as she is not doing it by herself,” I say.

“Okay, so let’s talk more about this pup because, seemingly, it’s a big issue,” Tobias says, and Dominic scoffs at that.

“It’s only a big issue because he can’t let go and he is hurting his mate,” Dominic says.

Zeus growls low. The sound stays in my chest, steady, not fading.

“Aria needs to just reject him,” I snarl.

“You know she isn’t,” Dom says.

“He has been hurting her since they met, Cole,” he says.

“You think I don’t know that, Dominic? But what am I supposed to do? If she rejects him now, she risks hurting the pup, and I can’t force her to reject him,” I say, just as a knock sounds at the door.

“Come in,” I say, and my parents walk in. I roll my eyes because I already know what they want.

“What?” I snap.

“You may be King, Cole, but I am still your mother,” my mother says.

“I know that, Mother, but I do not want to talk about Mason,” I snap.

“Fine, then we will talk about your little sister. She needs her mate,” she says.

“Well, her mate should have thought about that before he attacked me about my mate,” I say, my voice dropping. The words come out quieter, but they land harder.

“If he is out, he risks fucking something up and getting in the way of me getting my mate back, and I can’t afford that right now,” I say.

“Okay, so release him to his pack,” Dad says.

“I tried that after the coronation, and he camped outside the palace with Hunter because he wouldn’t fucking leave,” I snarl.

“He isn’t letting her go. His obsession with her is unhealthy and toxic, and it’s going to get him killed,” I say.

“If Tobias didn’t get here when he did earlier, Zeus would have killed him. Are you aware of that?” I ask.

They both remain silent. That silence stretches a second too long—thick, loaded, like there’s more they’re not saying.

“He’s so far gone he can’t even fucking take over the pack he’s been training his entire life to take over. He spent a fucking YEAR here for NOTHING,” I snap.

“Wait a minute, so he did Alpha training and everything and then found Aria?” Tobias says.

It’s like Mom finally registers who is in the room. “Oh my God, Toby, I didn’t even realize you were here,” she says, running over and hugging him.

He smiles and laughs. “It’s okay, Aunt Leah. Emotions are running high right now,” he says.

She brings her hands to her mouth in shock, and tears stream down her face. “I know you’re not my Lyric, but how?” she says, looking at Tabitha.

“Hello, Luna Leah, my name is Tabitha, and I am Toby’s mate. Lyric is basically my cousin,” she says, smiling.

“You look more like her than Iris, and they are twins,” Mom says.

“Oh, can I meet her? I would actually like to meet all of her siblings if that is possible,” she says.

“Of course it is, but maybe tomorrow?” I say.

“Yes, of course,” she says.

“Dad, we need to talk,” I say.

“What’s going on, son?” he says.

“In private,” I say.

My mother’s brows furrow. “Whatever you have to say to me, you can say in front of your mother,” he says.

“It’s about Freya,” I say, and they both go silent. Not confusion. Not hesitation. Recognition—instant, sharp—and something in my chest tightens because I already know what that means. Zeus stills completely, listening.

“Um, what about her?” he says, clearing his throat.

“Why did she leave?” I ask.

They both look at each other. That look isn’t quick. It lingers just enough to confirm it—this isn’t something they forgot. This is something they buried.

“She said she wanted to try finding her fated mate, and she left right before Xavier was born,” Dad says.

Lying to my face. It lands before I even think it through—instinct, immediate, something in me rejecting it outright. My jaw tightens, fingers curling slightly at my sides. Zeus reacts with it, a low pressure building under my skin.

“So you weren’t having an affair with her?” I ask.

His eyes go wide in surprise. “What did you just say?” he says.

“Were you having an affair with her?” I ask more firmly, a small command behind it.

“Yes, I was,” he says, and my mother’s tears begin to fall.

“Did she leave because of you, Mother?” I ask.

She shakes her head, tears falling, but I see the guilt written across her face. It’s there, clear, undeniable—and it pushes something sharper through my chest.

“Tell me the truth NOW,” I snap.

“I found out your father was having an affair with her right after I gave birth to Elias. I couldn’t understand what it was about her,” she says.

“She was my mate,” he says low.

Mate. The word doesn’t just land—it hits, heavy, knocking something loose in my chest. For a second everything goes too quiet, like my mind is trying to catch up and failing. Zeus goes completely still again, but this time it feels different—focused, locked in.

“So Mom isn’t your fated mate?” I ask.

“She is, but so was Freya,” he says.

“How?” I ask, my mind spinning.

“I have two wolves. My Alpha wolf is mated to your mother, and my Gamma wolf was mated to Freya,” he says.

“My mother was a gifted wolf…” he says.

“…and Selene wanted one of her pups to inherit her gifts, and although I wasn’t the oldest, she felt I was more worthy than my brother,” he says.

Two wolves. Two mates. The pieces don’t sit right. They don’t settle. They just stack on top of everything else I didn’t know, everything that was kept from me, and it starts to feel like there’s more underneath it still.

My mother looks at my father as if she is seeing him for the first time.

“She was your mate, and you let me run her out of the palace with what I thought was a bastard pup, when all along she was your mate!” she screams, slapping him and storming out of the office.

My father’s eyes blaze with fury.

“Why the fuck would you bring up old wounds?” he snarls.

I smirk. “Old wounds? That pup she was pregnant with is David’s Beta and currently the only reason why my mate is safe,” I snap at him. Each word lands heavier now because this isn’t the past anymore—it’s connected to her. To everything happening right now.

He moves to respond, but no words leave his mouth.

“You met him?” he says, his voice low, broken.

“Alpha, there is a rogue at the border gates. He says he won’t leave until he speaks with you,” Oliver links me.

“I will be there in a minute,” I link back.

“Speaking of the devil, he’s at the border,” I say.

His head snaps up at that.

“Alpha, he looks like he is in bad shape. We might need a doctor,” Oliver links me.

Something tightens immediately—not just concern, not just urgency—something heavier settling low in my chest before I even see him.

“On it,” I say.

“Go now,” Zeus pushes, already moving me before I think.

Everybody in the office follows me out.

When I get to the border, he smiles and drops to his knees. The moment I see him, everything in me goes still—not calm, not relaxed—just locked in. The blood, the way he’s standing, the way he drops—it doesn’t match the smile. It doesn’t match anything. My steps slow without me meaning to.

Tabitha gasps and rushes to him.

“I’m just going to stop the bleeding, okay?” she says as her tears fall.

“All of his wounds are silver wounds,” she says, pulling the silver out of his blood with magic.

Silver. That hits harder now, seeing it—deep cuts, deliberate. Not random. Not messy. Intentional.

“Who did this to him?” she asks.

My father walks slowly toward him. “Jonathan?” he says.

There’s hesitation in his voice. Small, but there—and I catch it.

Jonathan looks at him, then at Tabitha. “You look like Lyric. Are you Iris?” he asks.

Even now, barely holding himself up, that’s what he sees first—and something about that sits deeper than it should.

She smiles. “No, my name is Tabitha. I’m her cousin,” she says.

He finally acknowledges my father. “You know who I am?” he asks.

“I… I knew of you. Your mother stopped contact when you turned two,” he says so low we barely catch it.

His eyes roll back.

It happens fast. Too fast. One second he’s holding himself up, the next his weight gives—and there’s no fight left in it.

“Cole, he needs a doctor if we want to save him,” Tabitha yells.

“Put him on my back,” Dad says before shifting.

Tabitha climbs onto his back, and Tobias and I lift him onto Dad before he runs to the hospital. His body feels too light when we lift him. No resistance. No strength behind it. I don’t like that at all.

“So what does this mean for your mate?” Tobias asks.

“I don’t know, but I think things just got pushed up. We may need to take out the witch and get her out tomorrow,” I say as we all shift and run behind them. The plan is already shifting in my head before I finish the sentence. No time left to wait.

Whatever just happened after the Howling Moon attack put Lyric in more danger.

With Jonathan not there, she’s alone.

That lands deeper than anything else. No one between her and him now. No delay. No buffer. Just her.

Zeus growls low. Steady. Present. Not fading.

Tomorrow we get our mate back. There isn’t another outcome. Not anymore.