Regina’s POV
“Gray…” I murmured.
Tears blurred my eyes again. I struggled to blink them away just to get a clear sight of him.
It was really him.
Those deep-set green eyes, that straight nose, that perfect jawline…Everything about him was exactly how I remembered him. He hadn’t changed a bit.
Yet he did become more formidable. I could see that Alpha aura in him even more clearly now than when I left home.
I knew girls at my age all thought that Nigel was the handsome one. But they were wrong. That was because they hadn’t met my brother.
My dear brother, Gray.
The current Alpha of Ever Moon Pack.
He was the most handsome man I had ever seen in my entire life.
“Regina…You are bleeding!”
He caught my hand and put it on his cheek. I could feel his whole-body trembling.
“I will kill that fucking bastard!” he hissed frantically, “I swear—I will thread him into a million pieces!”
I shivered and was intimidated by his burning rage. Just then a soldier ran close and cried, “Alpha! They are running back into the Shadow Valley territory! Should we pursue?”
Gray straightened his back at once and roared, “Hunt them down! I want them all tied up by my feet within an hour—”
“W—Wait!”
I grabbed him by his shirt and tugged. He immediately bent his back and caught my hand with his. A worried look appeared on his face, “Don’t move. You are injured. What do you need? I’m right here.”
“L—Let them go…”
I breath heavily while bearing with that throbbing pain on my leg.
“Don’t go into the Shadow Valley. It’ll raise territory issues. You are an Alpha now…You don’t want that…”
“I don’t care!” His iron grip tightened. And he snapped, “Look what he had done to you! I’ll start a war if that is what it takes to kill that bastard! So just tell me, Regina—is that what you want?”
Was it what I want?
Did I really want Nigel dead?
I didn’t know how to answer his question. My mind is a total blank.
All I could do now is to shake my head with tears in my eyes.
He stared at me. His jaw tightened. And after a long pause, he breathed out a heavy sigh.
“Fine…probably now today then.” Gray gritted and stood up with me in his arms, “But I am taking you home. There is no way I am letting you go back to that shithole.”
He carried me in princess-style and walked towards his car. From a peripheral look, I could see his warriors gathered nearby.
And they all bowed to us humbly as we walked by, “Alpha…Princess Regina.”
Princess Regina.
When was the last time I heard somebody called me that?
It was too long ago…I couldn’t even remember.
Gray gently set me down in the backseat and closed the car door. Pulling me into his arms, he whispered to me lowly, “We are going home.”
Home.
I was finally going home.
Feeling all my stress had been dislodged, I closed my eyes and leant against his shoulder, closing my eyes.
I hadn’t felt this safe for a very, very long time.
***
I slept all my way home.
After a very long time, I vaguely heard some noises in my sleep. It was like people were gasping in shock, yelling and running around. Then I heard Gray’s low and stern voice, telling people to keep quiet, and everything went back to silence.
I could feel him carrying me across a long hallway. Eventually, he set me down on a soft bed and tugged me in.
“Have a nice sleep.” He murmured by my ears, “I’ll be right here with you when you wake up.”
So I drifted into the darkness again as he said.
It was a long, sweet and dreamless sleep.
When I finally woke up again, I didn’t even know where I was. It took me a minute to remember what had happened before I fell asleep and finally realized that I was at home now.
Home.
I sat up on my bed and looked around the room.
This wasn’t my old bedroom. It didn’t have my pink walnut dresser, gauze curtains and four-posters bed with lace hangings.
But this room was as large and gorgeous as my old room. I was currently lying on huge King-sized bed. The mattress and beddings were soft as cottons. I hadn’t slept on something so soft in ages. All I got in Nigel’s house was a wooden board with a thin layer of cloth on top.
There was nobody here right now. I gently slipped off bed and walked to the window, drawing the closed curtain open.
Bright sunlight shone through, and I finally got to see the view outside.
I saw crystal clear sky and hills undulating in the distance like incoming tide. I could see garden underneath my window. It was rose season, so all flowers were at full blossom. I had no doubt that if I opened the window, I could smell fragrance of roses in the breeze. And there was also that water fountain at the center of the garden, where Gray and I used to have epic water fights during the summer when we were little.
This was the royal palace of Ever Moon Pack, the strongest pack in the world.
My home.
I tightened the clasp on the curtain as a strong wave of emotions washed me over. I felt an urge to cry, to laugh and to yell out loud to celebrate this long-lost moment.
Just then, the door opened up behind my back and a maid walked in.
“Princess Regina!” she cried in excitement when she saw me by the window, “You are awake!”
I turned around and saw her carrying a tray with food in it.
For a gut reaction, I stepped up and wanted to take the tray over from her. But she quickly dodged, and my hands froze.
“It’s OK. I got this, my lady. You just sat done and rest,” she smiled giving me a curious look, probably wondering why I rushed to do a maid’s work.
She didn’t know that I had spent my last year in Nigel’s house as a slave. I was so used to serve people now. I had begun to forget how to be a princess.
This maid set the tray on the table and looked down at my bare feet, “Let me get your slippers, my lady. The doctor said you should keep warm.”
She ran to the bed and returned with my slippers. She crouched down and put on my slippers for me. I had to try very hard not to wince away from her.
“What’s your name?” I asked lowly. She didn’t look familiar to me.
“It’s Maya.” She beamed at me, “Alpha asked me to serve you by your side from now on.”
“From now on”?
I was stunned.
But I was married. I didn’t belong to this household anymore. I couldn’t stay here for long.
What was Gray thinking?
“Where is Gr—Where is Alpha?”
“The old Alpha summoned him,” Maya said. “They are in the counseling chamber right now.”
The old Alpha was my grandpa Vince, whom I missed very much as well.
I immediately asked Maya to help me get dressed. I wanted to go see grandpa right now.
20 minutes later, I was changed into elegant pink dress with my long hairs braided behind my back and traveled down the corridor with Maya.
We ran into many maids and servants on my way but none of them I had met before. They all bowed to me as I walked by, but nobody said anything to me.
“These are all new servants. They didn’t know who you are,” Maya explained. “Alpha hasn’t announced your return yet. So please excuse their rudeness.”
I smiled and shook my head.
Honestly, I didn’t care about these curtseys.
We arrived at the counseling chamber shortly after. Maya talked to the guards by the door and got us in.
The door to the inner room was shut. Yet when I walked closer, I could hear conversation from inside.
“…What were you thinking, Gray? Regina was married. She deserved to be with her husband. You couldn’t take her back like that!”
My heart sank. Then I heard Gray’s ice-cold voice, “I am the Alpha. I can do anything as I please.”
“Even so—”
“Regina is firstly my sister, the princess of Ever Moon Pack,” Gray said with a formidable tone. “If she isn’t happy elsewhere, she can come home anytime she wants. I won’t allow anyone to question this.”
Regina’s POVI covered my mouth with tears forming in my eyes.He said he was going to protect me no matter what and he kept his promise. I was married already and yet he was still defending me in front of the others.But I couldn’t let him do that by himself. I needed to stand by his side.Taking in a deep breath, I raised my hand and knocked on the door.An elderly voice answered, “Come in.”I pushed the door open and carefully stepped into the room.This inner room was very spacious and glamorous. It was designed for the Alpha to review documents and meet with his cabinet members. There was a huge floor-to-ceiling window overlooking the entire castle. And a large map was hung by the wall. With a quick peek, I saw a red circle marking Shadow Valley on the map.There were four people sitting and Gray was the only one standing in front of them with his hands behind his back.Seeing me walk in, he immediately turned to me and frowned, “What are you doing here, Regina? You need to rest.
Regina’s POVGray and grandpa came into the dining room half an hour later.Grandpa looked preoccupied. Didn’t his talk with Gray go well?I peeked at Gray as he sat down by my side. Contrary to grandpa, my brother seemed at ease.I wanted to know what they talked about. I would feel terrible if grandpa blamed Gray for bringing back.“Hey,” I lowered my voice and whispered with a voice only the two of us could hear. “What did you and grandpa—”“Regina.”Grandma called and interrupted me. Looking up, I found her smiling at me warmly and she pushed a plate of deserts towards me.“This is Chestnut Chocolate Cake, your favorite. Go ahead and have a try,” she encouraged.Grandpa frowned, “she shouldn’t have desert before the main course.”Yet grandma gave him a glare, “Regina can do anything she wants when she is at home.”“Grandma is right.” Gray agreed and handed me a dessert fork.I looked down hiding the stupid grin on my face and took a large bite. It was delicious, even more deliciou
Regina’s POVThe words “Shadow Valley” made me sway on my spot.What were people from Shadow Valley doing here? Did Nigel send them? Were they here to capture me back?But they couldn’t. Nigel didn’t know anything about who I really was. Unless…Unless he had found that out?“Regina.”A large hand grabbed my shoulder and helped me regain my balance.Gray looked down at me with a serious look on his face, “Don’t worry. Nobody can force you to do anything. You are home.”I stared back at him in a daze and gradually breathed out.He was right. This was Ever Moon Pack. Gray was the Alpha here. No one could force me to do anything I didn’t like.“You should go back to your room and have some rests,” Gray gently pushed a lock of hair out of my face and smiled. “How about we meet again for dinner?”I clenched my fists plucking up my courage and said, “No. I…I want to come with you.”“To meet the messenger from Shadow Valley?” Gray frowned, “I don’t think you will like what that person have go
Regina’s POVI felt hurt and betrayed more than ever.Was that how Nigel thought of me always—lowly house slave that he and Melany could boss around?Nigel was my first love. I left my family, I gave up the comfortable life I had, I even broke my brother Gray’s heart just to be with him.But was it true that he had never taken me as his wife?I couldn’t let this go. I had to confront him face to face. I needed to know what I was in his heart.Taking in a deep breath, I turned to Gray and said, “Can you summon Nigel here? I want to have a word with him.”Gray seemed furious.“Why do you still want to meet with that bastard?” he snapped, “I won’t allow it! Especially since I know now what he has done to you!”I knew he was concerned.And I tried to talk peacefully with him, “Don’t worry, Gray. I just need to talk to Nigel and ask him what he meant when—”“Why do you still need that?!” Gray grabbed me by my shoulder, his voice getting louder, “I saw them chasing you in the woods. I saw a
Regina’s POV“Regina?!” he asked again just to be sure. And he took a few steps towards me with an astonished look on his face, “Fuck…it’s really you! Where the hell have you been?”I stood on my stop stiffly.I wasn’t ready to see him just yet.I thought I would be surrounded by people I knew—Gray or at least my maid Maya—when Nigel and I met again. That way I would be perfectly safe, and Nigel wouldn’t dare to hurt me.Yet here I was, cornered by him alone at the outside with no one to back me up.“I asked you a question. Didn’t you hear me?”Nigel started to get impatient and reached out to grab me. A chill was sent down my spine when his hand caught my wrist. And at that moment, all my miserable memories from the last one year flashed back to me.“L…Let go…of me…please…”I stuttered and tried to break free from him. But my body betrayed me. Every fiber of my body was shivering in fear. I couldn’t act normally around Nigel.With Nigel, I was no longer the princes of Ever Moon Pack;
Regina’s POV“You—You stupid bitch!” Nigel gasped besides my ear.He seemed horrified when Gray turned his gaze towards us and was now trying to drag me behind his back to stop people from staring.My sculp hurt so much and I couldn’t help but cried out again:“Gray…Help me!”A series of urgent footsteps came behind my back. And a pair of large hands rescued me from Nigel’s iron grip.“Alpha Gray—” I heard Nigel stammered in panic. But Gray lifted a foot before he could finish and kicked harshly on Nigel’s chest!Nigel was sent flying backwards and landed directly on that champagne tower. The tower crushed, glasses broke, and wine spilled, making a series of huge noises that echoed across the room. People screamed and run in horror while turning their heads around to see what had happened.Nigel was rolling around on a floor of broken glasses, holding his bleeding arm and shoulder while screaming like a pig getting slaughtered. Blood streamed down his face. And I felt my legs turned s
Regina’s POV“What on earth are you doing!” Lady Connie cried again and rushed forward to separate us.Gray’s hand dropped from my cheek to his body side. And the next second, I was dragged away from him by Connie.A surge of panic seized my heart.What were we doing? I honestly didn’t know.Was Gray trying to kiss me? Maybe I was wrong, and he simply wanted to kiss me on the forehead like he always did. But was I trying to kiss him back? God, what was I thinking? He was my brother for Christ’s sake!Lady Connie’s eyes traveled back and forth between Gray and I and she asked warily, “Were you two—”“NO!” I quickly denied.Gray glanced at me without saying anything. There was a sullen look on his face when he turned to look at Lady Connie and asked, “What are you doing here? I didn’t remember inviting you here.”Lady Connie seemed offended. She drew herself up and challenged back, “I am Barnie’s wife. I don’t need an invitation to be here. And I have heard everything that happened in t
Regina’s POVI take a quick step back because Nigel’s appearance had really shocked me.His handsome face had swelled to three of its original size. And there were bruises and bleeding scars everywhere on his face. He could hardly open his eyes because they were severely swollen.“N—Nigel!” I gasped, “What happened?”Nigel shook the iron bar abruptly and there was a desperate look on his face, “Regina! Regina, my love! You have to get me out of here! Alpha Gray he is—is crazy! He has 3 solders beat me from day to night! I can’t take it anymore! You have to save me from that monster!”I clenched my fists in silence.I didn’t like Nigel calling Gray a monster.Yes, I was shocked by Nigel’s swollen face and Gray probably shouldn’t have beaten him so hard. But Gray did this for a reason. He was avenging me. If Nigel hadn’t tortured me in the first place, Gray would have never done such thing!“Nigel, do you know why Alpha Gray did that to you?” I asked with a stern voice, “Because you hav