Chapter 196

Hannah

“My mate…” Scott says as he steps further into the palace and toward Caroline. I could hear Caroline’s heart beating so fast that I thought it was going to jump out of her chest. She couldn’t take her eyes away from Scott.

Sebastian and I exchanged questioning looks. In the underworld, I had no idea that they were mates. But maybe it was because they couldn’t recognize each other due to Xander’s control. He must have had more control over them than they thought. But that would explain why they became such great friends and why Scott cared about her so deeply while she was in the underworld. Even when he still stayed at the palace and worked for Xander, he seemed to still care for Caroline.

Now that I think of it, I’m not sure when or how Scott even ended up in the underworld. But it must have been around this time. Caroline and Scott must have gotten there around the same time for him to be here right now.

“This is why my wolf was so adamant about me coming here right now. He could sense you,” Scott breathes. “I didn’t even think I had a mate.”

Caroline wasn’t sure what to say, that much was obvious. Her entire face was growing red, and she couldn’t keep her eyes off him. Sebastian stepped beside me.

“You are free to stay in the palace for as long as you’d like,” Sebastian says to him. “You can join the gammas in the morning. Meet the head gamma in the fighting arena at 8 am and show them what you can do.”

Scott bows his head to Sebastian. It’s obvious that Scott has no memories of his time in the underworld; neither did Caroline. Which was good. It’s better this way.

“Thank you, your majesty,” he says, keeping his head bowed. “I promise I won’t let you down.”

“I know you won’t,” Sebastian says with a fond smile.

This was a new side of Sebastian that I didn’t recognize and I kind of loved it. Later when I asked about it, Sebastian just shrugged and said, “I’m a hopeless romantic.”

The next morning, I went into the fighting arena because I was curious about how Scott would do on his first day. The first day has always been very important because that’s the day they need to prove their worth to the other gammas. I knew Scott was going to kick ass because I knew what he was capable of from our time in the underworld. But since he technically hasn’t been to the underworld, I wanted to see for myself if anything has changed fighting-wise.

Caroline was sitting in one of the chairs on the far side of the room, staring admiringly at Scott as he proved to the others that he was a good fighter. I sat beside her, and she looked surprised to see me for a moment.

“I’m sorry; I just wanted to see him in action,” she says, her face reddening like I just caught her doing something naughty.

I can’t help the smile that tugs at my lips.

“You don’t need to apologize,” I say to her in return. “I understand. You can stay and watch. I just wanted to join you. I too am a bit curious.”

“I never thought I would find my mate,” Caroline says, staring down at her hands. “It doesn’t feel real.”

“This is a good thing, Caroline,” I said, reaching over and grabbing her hand, holding it in mine. “You finally have someone to share your life with. This is incredible news.”

“I know,” she breathes. “I just never thought it could happen to someone like me…”

“Someone like you?” I asked, raising my brows.

“A maid…”

I look at her puzzled for a long while, unsure of what she means by that. Sebastian has always given his servants freedom; they aren’t prisoners here. But then again, they spent so long fearing him, maybe they thought they were prisoners. Maybe Magnolia treated them like prisoners. But Caroline is a beautiful young woman and the thought of her thinking she’s not good enough for a mate is surprising to me.

“I told you; you are more capable than what you give yourself credit for,” I tell her, nudging her shoulder with mine.

She smiles sweetly and nudges me back playfully.

“I’m glad you can see my potential,” she says with a chuckle.

“I can and someday, you will too,” I say in return.

She looks back at Scott who is currently kicking gamma ass. I’m shocked at how flawlessly he can fight without ever going to the underworld. He was very skilled. No wonder Xander targeted him to be one of his palace guards.

“How did you know his name?” Caroline asked, still staring over at Scott but now she has a small frown on her lips.

“What?” I ask, trying to keep the nerves out of my tone. She glances back over at me, keeping a frown on her face.

“When he arrived at the palace yesterday, you said, ‘Scott.’ How did you know that was his name?”

I was hoping she didn’t hear me when I said his name; it kind of just slipped out of my mouth. I needed to come up with an excuse quickly.

“I saw him at the market the other day. He was very kind and I asked what his name was,” I told her with a shrug, keeping my eyes locked on hers. “It was a very brief exchange. He probably doesn’t even remember.”

She kept staring at me questionably for a moment before she nodded and turned back to the gammas.

“I see,” she says thoughtfully. I can’t tell if she bought it or not. But she doesn’t say anything else on the matter.

“You should give it a try,” I say to her, changing the subject. She looks so fascinated by the gammas and their techniques. Like she’s studying them. “You look interested.”

She raises her brows at me, confused by my words.

“Give what a try?”

“Fighting,” I say with a laugh. “You should give fighting a try. Maybe Scott can help get you started.”

She stares at me for a long moment with an expression I can’t read. For a moment, I thought to myself maybe I had gone too far. Now she’s going to know something is up and she’s going to ask about it. I wished I could take back my statement and just keep my mouth shut.

Then, she did something I wasn’t expecting.

She laughed.

Like a real laugh, tears were coming out of her eyes as she laughed. She held onto her stomach which began causing her pain and she continued to laugh. Her laugh made me laugh. I didn’t find my statement funny because I was being serious, but her laughter was contagious.

“What’s the joke?” Scott calls over as he runs towards us. He’s shirtless and he had sweat pouring down his chest. Caroline instantly flushed when she saw him, but she continued to laugh.

“Nothing,” she says as she stands up. “Luna Queen Hannah is just full of jokes this morning.”

I wanted to tell her I wasn’t kidding, but I decided not to. If being a part of the gammas was her destiny, then it will happen in due time. I also wanted to tell her to not call me Luna Queen, but I decided not to do that either. I should get used to my title; I was the luna queen after all.

I leave the fighting arena and head into the kitchen. I’ve been planning on making a batch of cookies. When I explained that to the kitchen servants, they kept insisting that they make it for me.

“Honestly, I want to make them myself,” I keep saying to them. “It’s more personal if I do it.”

“But why Luna Queen?” The head chef asked. “This is what we are here for.”

“Because these cookies are meant to be a gift,” I told them with a kind smile. “A gift for someone special.”

“A gift?” One of the other servants asks, raising their brows like that was the craziest thing they’ve ever heard. “A gift for who?”