The Luna Trials by Marissa Gilbert

3. Set Up

Kai gave his sister a stern look. He was gone for just a month and only to come back and find all this

mess. His home was full of women he did not know and did not want to know. And he found out that

apparently he was supposed to marry one of them in the near future. This did not sit right with him and

he knew very well who to blame.“Brother!” the princess of the North chirped and ran in his direction to

give him a hug, but stopped halfway and scrunched her nose while scanning his outfit. “What

happened to you? You look like…”“We were attacked on our way back from the mountains,” he

motioned for her to stop talking and walked past her to his rightful seat behind the desk. The one that

she was clearly using all the time while he was gone. “I was lucky that this set of clothes survived the

fight as I didn’t have to shift this time.”“Lucky indeed,” his little sister did not look impressed.Kai loved

Elene. She was the only family he had left. But sometimes she was reckless and did not think about the

consequences of her actions. Especially when her childhood crush, the western king, was involved. He

knew that this was the case now. And that he would be the one dealing with everything in the end.“You

need to have some rest,” Elene tried to find an easy way out and was already at the door when he

growled loudly, making her stop.“Not so fast!” His wolf was angry as hell too. “I repeat my question,

Elle, what did you do?!”“You already know what,” she gave up quickly, because there was no point

pretending anymore. She knew that she would have to face the music sooner or later.“Luna Trials,” Kai

closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead. It was unbelievable that she dared to pull something like

that. “Just why did you do it?”“And what did you want to do?” His sister scoffed, folding her hands on

her chest and sat in the chair in front of him. “I saw how angry you were when their letter arrived

announcing that Savannah Stormhold graciously agreed to marry you since you begged so many

times!”He indeed wasn’t happy about that. In no way was that the plan. A few months ago, he met with

his old rival king Gideon from the Western Kingdom, because the latter was suddenly desperate for an

alliance between them. The sole reason why Kai even went to that meeting was that he needed a

certain piece of land that was in Gideon’s possession. A piece of land that was essential to his

kingdom. And since he had already asked for the princess’s hand in marriage before only to be refused

every single time, he was sure that nothing had changed. Gideon and he hated each other since school

and then university. But they weren’t just rivals, they actively despised each other.However, Kai

miscalculated this time. He asked for Savannah or the land in hopes that he would get the land. But

instead, a few months later, he received a letter of acceptance of his proposal and the date when his

future bride would arrive on his territory.Hating Gideon was one thing, but going to war with him was

another. Nevertheless, Kai never wanted to marry his sister. He didn’t even want this in the past. There

was always a different reason behind his proposals and usually, he was getting what he wanted. But

not this time.“Admit it, Kai,” Elene’s lips curled into a victorious smile, “I came up with the best solution.

The Luna Trials is an ancient tradition of the North. We will fail Savannah early on and will get rid of

her. We don’t need that alliance much anyway, right?”“I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” the king

relaxed his back into his chair and clenched his lips.“What’s that supposed to mean?” Elene furrowed

her blonde brows.“There is a lot of unusual activity in the white bears’ territory,” her brother took the

first folder out from a huge stack that piled up on his desk during his absence and started looking

through it.“What kind of activity?” The princess did not want to leave this matter alone. Not too many

species chose the North as their place of residence and there were some good reasons for that. Some

parts of the North were uninhabitable and, because of that, in the past, there were many wars between

the northern packs of shifters. The ones between the white bears and lycans were always the worst.

No one wanted that part of history to repeat itself.“It looks like they are up to something,” Kai muttered,

checking the latest budget. “So, it’s really not the time to piss Gideon off.” Elene pursed her lips. For

years she was dying to get at least a fraction of the western king’s attention. And now she suddenly

hated him because he dared to find his true mate.“You are not seriously thinking of marrying

Savannah!” The princess stood up and slammed her fists over his desk, almost leaving a dent.“God,

no!” Kai chuckled. “But we need to play it nicely. Gideon wanted this alliance very much if he was ready

for me to have his sister as a wife. You know how many times he rejected my proposals for her.”“As if

you’d wanted her!” Elene rolled her eyes and sat back in her chair. “I saw her today and, trust me, she

is nothing special. I don’t know what all the fuss is about.” The girl polished her well-manicured nails

and her brother sighed, placing the budget papers back into the pile. He had already found two

mistakes and that meant that he would have to go through them all over again, despite the fact that all

he wanted was a hot shower and some sleep.“But she is the least of my troubles thanks to you now,”

he reminded her. “Elle, I really did not plan to get married any time soon. And you set me up with this

big time.”“Don’t be dramatic!” his sister smiled innocently. “You need a Luna and you know it. But you

are not even meeting with anyone suitable. And now this is your chance. Just take a look at these girls

and who knows, maybe you will even find your true mate!”“Yeah… sure,” Kai snorted. A mate was the

last thing on his agenda. Although his annoying sibling did have a point – he needed a Luna. And a

capable one at that. Someone who could lead by his side and take care of things like budget and many

other tasks he had no time for. But something told him that this wasn’t the best way to find her. Not to

mention that his inner voice, aka his wolf Asgard, was insisting that simply taking a partner who wasn’t

their mate was out of the question.“Just give the poor girls a chance!” Elene quirked her brow.“It’s not

like I have a choice now, do I?” The northern king did the same. “And all thanks to you.”“No, all thanks

to Savannah Stormhold,” the Princess corrected him. “Anyway, if you don’t like anyone, we just fail

them all. Trust me on this one, I have prepared tasks that no one will be able to do. But who knows,

maybe closer to the end you wouldn’t want to let go of a certain girl.”“Why do I have a feeling that you

already have someone in mind?” Kai closed his eyes and rubbed the bridge of his nose.“No one in

particular,” Elene giggled, and this was how he knew that she was lying.“Who?” His voice sounded

much lower than usual because he was tired of controlling his emotions now.“A few contenders,” she

tried to straighten the creases on her dress.“Who?!” Kai was on the verge of letting Asgard handle all of

this for him.“Say what you want, but Penelope would make a great Luna for you!” His sister pouted her

lips.“Not this again!” He muttered in annoyance.“Just listen to me,” Elene got her mobile phone out and

handed it to her brother. “Look at what they have to do. Test her. You will see that she will handle all

that just perfectly. But no pressure. If you still don’t want her, then this is it.”He eyed his sister for a

while and then just nodded because he was too tired to argue.“Great!” She clapped her hands. “You

won’t regret it!”“I already do,” Kai retorted. “And don’t think that you are getting an easy way out. I want

to stop all that after a test or two. Got it?”“Deal!” Elene shrugged her shoulders. “It’s going to be

wonderful!”She said something else about Penelope, Savannah and the Trials but he didn’t listen

anymore. The exhaustion was catching up on him and he chose to dismiss her. He would have to

figure out how to get rid of all this mess on his own anyway.His sister was already at the door when she

turned and said, “ And, Kai, shave that awful beard! I can barely recognise you with it!”She ran away

before he could even growl at her. But looking at the list of the contenders in his hands and seeing who

was on it, he knew that she was right. He had to take care of his appearance and look presentable.But

first thing first. He needed to get everything he could find on The Luna Trials. He needed a loophole to

bring it all to an end. So, it meant that he would have to start in the library…***Savannah was reading

one of the many books she found in the library when suddenly she felt a sharp pain. It ripped through

her whole body and made it especially hard for her to breathe. Her wolf Athena was howling inside and

this could only mean one thing – her so-called mate was intimate with someone at that very moment…