The Perfect Luna by Marissa Gilbert

Chapter 76
“Explain this!” Gideon growled at the Beta as he uploaded the video on the big
screen.
Maya watched it calmly, her face vacant of any emotions.
“What exactly should I explain?” she asked lazily, only fuelling his anger.
He rewound the video back to when she was fighting Roxanne and pointed at Riannon standing not far from them.
“She was there! And you saw her!” he was playing those seconds again and again, making her watch this. “You didn’t even move
to help her. I want to know why!
“I did not notice her!” Maya turned away and he just knew that she was lying through her teeth.
“I am not buying this!” he growled. He could feel how his own Beta, Ried, was trying to reach him via the mind link. He was
worried sick about his mate, and it was one of the reasons why he couldn’t kill her on the spot.
Yet she was too calm. A traitor who was just caught couldn’t possibly be this
serene!
“Maya,” he said through clenched teeth, “what do you know that I don’t? You clearly saw each other. Ria didn’t even fight that
damn fox when he caught her!”
She averted his gaze and he knew that he was on the right path.
“You have to tell me!” he growled and it suddenly became harder to breathe in the room. He never used his royal lycan power. It
was dangerous. And not only for others, for him as well. Because unleashing that pressing darkness within him could have
consequences beyond repairing. There was a reason why only the royal lycans had the second battle form now. Only they could
shift into wolf-like feral beasts who
could walk on their feet. Common lycians could die if they tried that.

The blood of royals was the purest and they were the only ones who had enough strength to channel and control true beasts.
Those beasts were giving them power beyond imaginable, but that came with a price. The longer they stayed in that form, the
less they wanted to come back to being human. It was too tempting, too
wolf, hence they were saving it for the worst battles. When they were becoming true lycans, all emotions were gone. Only
instincts stayed. And every time Gideon had to use any part of his feral powers, he knew that once he reached a certain point, he
had to stop and go back to being human.
That form was making him stronger and any other shifter could sense his power from afar. Right now he only let it out a bit but
Maya already lowered her head
in submission. This was something out of her control now.
“What. Happened. There?” Gideon demanded in a firm menacing tone and she gulped, trying to fight it. But it was useless.
“I can’t,” she whispered desperately.
“I am your king,” Gideon insisted, letting her know that he would make her if she didn’t do it herself.
“You might be my king but she is my Alpha,” Maya’s voice was faint but she faced him with a determination which he couldn’t not
respect.
He didn’t even need more details. It was clear what had happened back in the woods now. And he wanted to crush things, break
them, destroy...
“Just tell me why she did it,” he used all his strength to get the beast to back down, so that he could return to his senses and so
that the girl in front of him could stop suffocating. It was her first time experiencing something like this. Most would probably have
already fainted.
Maya took a deep breath as soon as the power stopped pressing down on her. She hesitated... but looking at him panting as
well, she gave up. There was no point hiding anything anymore. She stalled him as much as she could. Just like her friend
wanted.
“She said that he would not hurt her. She was certain of it.” The Beta sighed,
her voice bleak, as he snapped his head in her direction.

“He drugged her to make her pass out!” the king growled. “He could do anything to her while she is helpless.”
“Riannon is blessed by the Moon Goddess.” The Beta said firmly. “She is never
“When?” Gideon stopped her with a gesture, because he did not want to hear those explanations. He just needed facts. “When
did she make the decision?”
“Right before all this,” Maya confessed. “She told me via the mind link and then she rejected my every protest. She was sure that
we would be able to win the war only if we got enough intel. And the only way to get it was to get inside their lair. Ria said that
there were too many secrets and no way to find out whom we can trust. She wanted to fix that problem. She was sure that
Castiel would be co.cky enough to try and get her. And she told me to make sure that it happens if he tries.”
“And what about her?” Gideon pointed at the siren/fox behind the glass.
“It was my initiative,” Maya admitted, “I thought everything was over. I saw Riannon and Castiel behind Roxanne. But when he
attacked and covered her face with that cloth, I knew that it was exactly what she wanted. This was why I played with Roxy
longer and waited for him to be gone. As a Beta, I cannot disobey my Alpha.”
“You could have followed them!” He reproached her.
“I would be noticed,” the woman stated honestly and firmly. “She ordered not to do it. And also...”
She went to her little cross-body bag and got out a little note. Riannon’s scent hit his nostrils and he got instantly calmer. Maya
handed him the little folded piece of paper and he secretly took another breath just to feel closer to her.
“She left this for you,” the girl stepped away to give him space.
He unfolded the note carefully as if it was some kind of treasure. Trust me. I trust you to find me.
He was really hoping to see more. But these words... these words were exactly what he needed right now. She trusted him. She
needed him to trust her. And she needed him to find a way to get her back. All while she was risking her life to help him win the
war.
Gideon closed his eyes, pain rippling through his body, tearing him apart.
But she needed him.

His gaze met Maya’s and there was this silent understanding between the two of them now. He knew that she would do anything
to get her best friend and Alpha back. All they needed was the location.
“So, what’s the plan?” the Beta girl asked, and he turned to look at the glass. Behind it the tiny fox was weeping again, trying to
fill the air around her with pheromones.
“For a start, make sure only females guard her,” Gideon said coldly. “We need to make sure that she loses any hope of ever
getting out of here. And when she does, we will break her. Part by part. Until she tells us what we want to know.”
Roxanne sat alone in that white room for goddess knew how long. She knew that they had not forgotten about her. She knew
that she was their only chance to get the information they needed.
She knew a lot indeed. But weighing her options, she was not going to share anything. She had two tasks now – to save her
baby and to get back to Castiel.
Roxy hoped that he would send someone to save her. He also knew that she was a valuable asset. So, she needed to hold on
until then. She could still play on Brayden’s fatherly feelings. It could still work if she tried hard enough...
She heard the sound of the lock and turned to see the doors opening. The ability to cry was lost to her as she had already
drained all the liquid out of herself. But the pheromones were in the air, all she needed now was to add some good acting to that.
But when she saw two women in black leather looking down at her, she couldn’t believe her eyes.
Women. Not men. This was bad. The worst-case scenario, no less. Her pheromones only worked on males!
“Seriously?” one of them chuckled, bringing in the tray with a paper plate and some food on it, as well as a water bottle. “This
ginger hobbit is the big bad criminal they asked us to guard? Couldn’t they do it themselves?”
on her chest. “They say she is vicious and can easily get under your skin.”
“Eat,” the one with bushy curly hair ordered and pointed to the chair. Roxy decided not to cause a scene and obeyed quietly.
“You are not wolves,” she stated calmly to test her theory.
“Neither are you,” the other one, with straight black hair reaching her shoulders pointed out.
“Who are you?” Roxy asked, prying for information.

“Werecats,” the first one answered, “Now, eat. We are not staying here forever. And nothing will be left for you in this room”
She started eating slowly, listening to their every word.
“I hope our Alpha arrives soon. I don’t want to hang here when the lycan king is this furious.” The two women whispered to each
other, not bothered with her presence.
“Yeah, I mean, I get it. He lost his queen and now she is captive. Who knows what the fox king is doing to her this very moment?
He did not contact the Union, he did not demand anything. It looks like he only wanted her and now he got that.”
Roxanne slammed her fist on the table, not caring that she attracted their
attention.
“What’s up?” one of the girls asked her with an indifferent expression.
“I am not hungry anymore,” the fox replied.
Without saying anything else, they gathered everything that they had brought and left her alone, locking her again.
Roxanne sat in the same place for a while, keeping her composure. But the images of Castiel and Riannon were flooding her
mind. She knew him the best and she knew far too well when he wanted a woman. He always had a harem, yes. But he had
consent from every girl inside of it, herself included. They all wanted to be there, craved it. And as far as she knew, it was the first
time that he had taken someone there against their will.
She had no doubt that he would take Riannon to his personal house and the
spend his first night with her? Did he like it?
The perfect Luna would be fighting it, there was no doubt about that as well. And deep inside she was really scared that he
would like her even more because of that.
Roxy tried to get rid of these thoughts. There were millions of perfectly sane explanations as to why he needed Riannon. She
was the lycan king’s mate and it would make so much sense to use her to weaken him.
She chose to believe in this one. It was easier and more comfortable this way.

She prohibited herself from going into the dangerous territory of imagining Riannon in his bed, of thinking about what he would
do to her and how he would take her. She knew everything that he liked, so imagining this scenario was easy.
But it was so painful. Too painful for her to bear. Hell, now she would gladly agree to Bridgit, her oldest rival, warming up
Castiel’s bed while she was absent. At least she knew that he wasn’t in love with her. She wasn’t so sure about Riannon. Could
Castiel even love? Just like that?
Her whole body was aching from sitting on the firm surfaces for hours and she decided to lie down on the floor to try and stretch
her sore muscles a bit.
Did it hurt Riannon that much when she was with her husband? To her, Brayden was never the prize and she took their mating
as a part of her job. It helped that he was good looking and could bring pleasure to a woman when he wanted to. But for
Roxanne, he wasn’t Castiel. All that she wished now was that she had never stepped her foot in this wretched place.
Hugging herself, she tried to rock herself to sleep.
***
Gideon wasn’t happy. Everything was going slowly. Too slowly for his liking. He knew he couldn’t push the fake omega too early.
And now, sadly, she was the only one who could give him any information. He sent Brayden in again to make it seem like this
was their plan – interrogation after interrogation. Of course, the Alpha was returning with no news. But this was something that
they expected.
he invited were already there.
“Are you sure that they can all be trusted?” Alpha Ramina asked him as she joined him earlier than others. She was the first one
he called from the Union.
“No,” Gideon replied honestly, “I can never be sure. But these ones seem to be
the most reliable.”
They went to the conference hall and greeted each Alpha as they came in and took their place. They would have to act as a
united front from now on. After all, it was their common war and their common enemy. The Summit helped them to understand
that.
“Looking gorgeous as always, Ramina,” Zack Morgan winked at the Alpha who was sitting opposite of him at the table.

“I know,” the cat flicked her long sleek hair to the back, looking clearly unimpressed with the compliment. “My Luna says it all the
time.”
“She has good taste,” Zack smirked and the woman rolled her eyes.
“Are we waiting for someone?” Alpha Caleb asked impatiently.
“My sister will be joining us too,” Gideon took his seat at the head of the table. Maya, Reid and Ash stayed behind him.
“What for?” Alpha Maddox knitted his brows. Not every pack even loved seeing females at such gatherings.
“She is bringing my warriors from the kingdom. And she will stay because she chose to take part in this fight,” the lycan king
replied emotionlessly.
He could already hear the cars pulling down right next to the mansion. In just a few seconds the doors opened, revealing
Savannah dressed in black head to toe, something that was unusual for her.
“I am sorry I am late,” she looked only at her brother when she felt it... This warm feeling, the scent, the myriads of overwhelming
sensations. She couldn’t take it for anything else as she looked around the room full of alphas.
“Mate!” a loud growl echoed through the house as everyone gasped in
disbelief.