Once Rejected, Thrice Accepted
Chapter 19

The King was more laid back than I had imagined. He treated the few men that were with him with respect and kindness. He even had a few he laughed and teased with like old friends. I knew my foster parents, still working on a better name for them in my head other than cunt face and asshat, were wrong in their descriptions of him when speaking with the Luna and Alpha. They said he was ugly, fat, useless, mean as a snake, and had no respect for anyone. He proved all that wrong in the first five minutes of meeting him. "King Charles, were you able to help the pack you were visiting?" I asked him as we waited for our food. The cooking crew pulled out all the stops and made sure we had a few courses. "I am sorry if we interrupted anything."

The guard he had sitting beside him waved his hand at me. "Oh no. They wanted to see the guard and get some tips on training but apparently the head guard can't go anywhere without his sidekick."

King Charles shoved his shoulder with a laugh. "Please. They were just being polite. They wanted to talk over packs who would be the best allies and to show off their unmated females for me to take a chosen mate."

"Are you mateless?" I heard a gasp from somewhere after asking, but everyone here was just staring. I bet the kitchen staff was listening in. I would be to if I wasn't the one making a fool of myself." Should I not have asked that? I'm sorry." The king gave me a sad smile. "No, you are fine. I am surprised you haven't heard the story."

"Umm... Well my old pack didn't cover you in school very much and I paid more attention to any scrap of information they had on humans." I shrugged my shoulders. "I had planned on running once I turned eighteen to live among them. Sorry." "You would live with humans rather than your own kind?" The head guard said humans with such disgust it had me second guessing if he was a good guy or not.

Duncan replied before I could. "There are reasons for it and those can be discussed later. I'd rather her not have to go through it all again if you don't mind, King."

"It is fine." He gave a quick stern look to the guard before looking back over at me. "My wife was killed by humans about ten years ago. They took her when she was on her way to another pack and killed her as some sort of sacrifice." "Oh...I am so sorry." I needed to learn to keep my mouth shut but I never learned that quickly. "What was her name?" That story sounded familiar but I couldn't place it. "Katherine."

"Wait, did she have long, wavy red hair with freckled all over her face?"

Charles turned serious. "How do you know what she looks like if you didn't study us?"

All the guards that were in the room turned their looks onto me and I knew when a predator was looking at his prey. They all had that same look. My heartbeat sped up. My fight or flight kicked in. I started looking for exits not realizing my mates had turned on the Kings warriors with their own anger.

"Stop!" Lucas yelled throwing his chair back and coming to stand behind me with his hands resting on my shoulders. "Call off your guards now before I remove my mate without giving you an answer."

Charles took a second to consider staring at me but got his men to calm down in the end. It helped bring some of my anxiety down and the pressure in my chest lesson but all my brain wanted to do was think about worst-case scenarios and continue to scare the living shit out of me.

"OK, they are calm. Please explain to me how you know of my mate." Charles looked like he was barely containing his emotions. I knew my story wouldn't help but he deserved the truth.

"Ok, so umm..." I took a big sip of my drink and cleared my throat. This had to be one of my worst memories of the Luna and Alpha. "I was punished by the Luna for not doing her son's homework. My punishment was doing three nights in the dungeon." Lucas had stayed standing behind me through all of it. His presence was slowly calming me down even with the glares I was getting from the Kings side of the room.

"And? Quit stalling." The head guard jerk off growled.

Duncan let out an answering growl sending shivers down my spine. They were the good kind where I would be showing him how much I meant to him in the shower and out. Jerk off shut his trap.

"The first night was rough between all the gross, perverted cat calls from the other cells and the shit food they served. It wasn't until the next morning I noticed someone lying on the cot in the cell next to me." I looked at Charles and grimaced. He knew what was coming. "She was super skinny, pale colored, and couldn't hold a decent conversation because of all her spacing out. She must have been down there awhile. It took all day to get her name. It was..." "Katherine." Charles whispered in horror.

I nodded and finally let myself cry. "This was about eight years ago, so she must have been down there two years. I did my best to protect her while I was down there since she had been nice to me but at ten years old I could only do so much." I closed my eyes and ripped off the band aid. "My last night there the guards came for her. Their smiles told me something bad was going to happen. I yelled and beat on the cell doors. I insulted them, their wolves, and their families until they left her alone and came after me. That night the Luna got a taste of beating someone underage and part of her pack. She liked it."

"And Katherine?" One of the guards asked.

"She was left alone all night but I should have known they would have something up their sleeve." I shuddered. "They took us both the next morning and made me watch as they killed her using her blood as a sacrifice. I threw up on the guard's shoes." Charles stood and walked out the door. Half the guard went with him and the others shocked into statues.

"I am sorry." I looked at Leo and sniffled. "I ruined the dinner. I am so sorry."

"You didn't ruin anything. You were honest and know he got some real closer." Leo replied with a smile.

"What now?" The kitchen staff took that moment to come out and fill our plates with a delicious looking salad.

"I say we eat and see if they come back." Lucas looked at the guards. "That sound good to you guys?"

They nodded and dug in. They still had a look of complete devastation which showed me she really was a great Queen and mate. I wish there had been something else I could have done to help her.

I decided to go with the flow and ate dinner as soon as each plate hit the table. It was all amazing. Moonlight especially loved the meat and made a few dirty comments about it.

The guards and King never came back during dinner. They sent word that they wanted to meet in the morning for some training and to discuss the real issue we called them about. It also mentioned that they would prefer if I didn't come. Charles wanted to talk with me after everything. He needed time to think about it all and mourn her all over again. I got that. I just hated that it was my old packs fault and that I was too young to do anything about it.

"Well, since dinner is over and they cancelled on us I saw we head home for some snuggles and alone time." Leo suggested holding his hand out for mine.

I almost forgot that I was going to mark them tonight. I looked over at Duncan and he just smirked. Lets see how big that smirk was when he was in his bedroom all alone while I was with the twins learning every curve of their bodies.

"I already talked to Duncan but I would love some alone time with you guys." I suddenly felt all shy and scared to even be alone with them. "If that is ok with you two?"

They didn't even think about it. They screamed hell ya, picked me up on Leo's shoulder, and ran for the house with Duncan trailing behind us laughing. Maybe I should have thought this whole do the twins together thing through a bit more.

"You boys are lucky you are cute or id be kicking your big booties all over the place." I growled out causing them to laugh even more. Thank goodness the cabin wasn't too far from the pack house.

Lucas opened the door for us. "Which room?" He wasn't asking me. He was asking his brother. He didn't even voice his answer before running off to the big room, my room, and throwing me on the bed.

I just laid there as they ran off to get drinks, pick out a movie, and run back with even more blankets. They each took a side of me and laid down. I felt dizzy just from watching them.

"Now what?" They asked in unison.

"Umm..." Geez, time to be brave. "I think you both should get naked and teach me a few things on pleasing you. All my first were with Duncan, such as kissing, oral, and s*x, but I'd love some firsts with you both." They stared at me before ditching their clothes in less than ten seconds. Both were instantly hard showing me that Duncan may be bigger in length but these boys were all girth. I couldn't wait.