My mate kissed me and I was her first kiss. Did you hear that, my mate kissed me! Holly shit, that was the best thing happened to me in this whole decade. It never really mattered to me whether I was her first or not but I intended to be her last. And when she said that I was her first, I felt like flying.

I am one lucky bastard.

My mate didn't promise me and it's fine too, her kiss conveyed everything she intended to say. I trust my mate and I trust her that she'll tell me the truth of why she is running from me when she feels like it.

We have a whole lot of time with us now.

A part of me wanted to tell her the truth that I am the vampire king but that only will make the situation more complicated. I want her to trust me and let me inside her secret world, I wanted her to understand that I can protect her from anyone from this world.

What a mate I am when I cannot even protect my wallflower?

More than the kiss, what shocked me to the core was her age. She was just twenty, still a kid and I have no freaking clue why is my little mate running away from the king.

I just hope that I'll get to know that from Victor and if not, I trust my mate to tell me about it by the end of her vacation.

Now that I think about it, I don't understand what she means by the thirty-day vacation. How can a person go on a vacation if she is running away from someone? And not to forget how close she was to the vampire territory.

If she is hiding from someone then why is she carefree and staying in a same place?

A part of me tells me that there's more to the picture than she lets me know and that she's lying about something. But I wanted to trust my mate, there is no relationship without trust. So, I decided to let it go.

When we went downstairs, Carter gave us a small smile arranging the table.

"Carter, you are Luke's friend too," my mate gushed talking my hands and walking towards the dining table.

I want her to be always happy life this. Hell, when did I became such a lovesick puppy? Not that I mind.

His face widened at my mate calling me by the name which I officially banned everyone from calling. "My queen," he bowed to her making me hiss lowly at his action.

Before I could scold him, he realized his mistake and recovered from it.

"Hush, stop making fun of me," Luna giggled as we sat on the dining table.

Luckily, she thinks he is playful instead of dwelling deeper into the comment. I don't want her to know the truth about my identity, not yet.

After their reunion, we started eating while discussing some random stuffs about vampires. That is when I realized that I still don't know who kidnapped Luna.

"Who the hell kidnapped you?" I snapped out before I realized what I have done.

My mate started someone's name but before she could tell their name, she started chocking holding her neck like someone hurting her there.

"Shit, Luna what happened?" I held her before she could fall on the ground. She whimpered on my hold pain.

What the hell is happening?

Gently placing her on the floor, I helped her drink some water. She looked like she'll faint any moment.

"The person," she started and again before she could tell their name she started screaming in pain.

"Loyalty mark," Carter growled looking at the place Luna was clutching her hands at.

"What?" my fangs came out in anger. Who the hell dares to put a mark on my mate?

"Luna, just breath and don't talk about anything okay?" I rubbed her back waiting for the pain to subside.

A few minutes later, Luna's breath evened out as she leaned on my shoulders all tired and drained out. When she removed her hand, there was a tiny black mark that was almost invisible. Thanks to my vampire sight.

"A witch's loyal burn," I nodded my head to what Carter said previously.

A mark like that hooded guy, which basically prohibits you from talking about the person who put this mark on you. And when you try to break it by speaking about them, it'll drain your energy forcing you to shut down so you won't be able to talk about it.

A loyalty mark was supposed to be put with consent not without permission, I fisted my hands at how they manhandled my mate. Whoever they are, they'll pay for what they did to my mate.

"What is that?" my mate asked bringing me back.

"A mark which prohibits you from speaking about the person who put this on you, in your case it's your kidnapper."

She frowned at the thought and nodded her head which is still on my shoulders, she's tired, the mark drained out her energy. I took the watermelon juice Carter brought and asked my mate to drink it.

I never asked her why she's a vegetarian. Remind me to ask her when she's fine.

Few sips later, she shook her head and kept it aside. Even though it's not enough, I nodded my head not wanting to argue with her draining more of her energy out. Taking my mate in my arms, I carried her back to her room.

The room looked as new it was before she left. After her kidnapping, I never came here since I don't want our memories together to mock me at how waste of a mate I am.

By the time I tucked her inside her bed, she was long asleep. Giving her a small peck on her forehead, I came downstairs to a very angry Cater pacing up and down.

"How dare they do this to our queen," he hissed in a quiet way making sure that he didn't wake Luna.

"I know, I want to meet Sandra, the head witch who has the powers to remove this mark."

"Already called her, she was with the wolves, she won't be available for the next few weeks."

Shit, now I have to wait till she's back.

Sandra was one of the oldest witches to ever exist. In fact, she and another witch are the one's who took care of the first golden wolf. Their best friend's daughter. While I was researching about the curses, I get to know a lot about True love's curse. How the golden wolf used it to protect her bloodline.

But after that nobody knew what happened to their bloodline, some believe that they died due to the curse and others believe they are hiding in secret due to the curse. Whatever it is, I don't care.

I have way too many things in my bucket to give a crap about other's business. I have a traitor inside my own kingdom, then there is this cult trying to destroy us with all these killings and not to mention the problem with some unknown people targeting Luna.

I have to figure these things out before it's too late.

"Carter, I want one of us to be with Luna all the times. We still don't know who the kidnapper is and now that she's here with us, they'll be searching for her. I want her safe at all costs and no word should spread out about me having a mate."

He nodded, "Lucas, if you don't mind can I say something?"

I frowned at his words, he never asked me permission to speak his mind and why is he asking it now?

What's the matter with him?

"Go ahead."

"I'm thinking of bringing Samantha here so our queen won't feel alone and she can tell our queen more about the bond and everything," he looked as if he's waiting for me to burst out in anger.

Why would I be when what he suggested was such an amazing idea.

"That will be great but make sure that she won't blabber out about my own identity to Luna and I appreciate your respect for my mate but make sure that she doesn't know about me being the king and everything."

His faced lightened up at my words as he nodded his head.

"On it, she'll be here as soon as possible."

I chuckled, this guy. I hope Luna doesn't mind as his mate since Samantha can be a little overwhelming. And now it's time for me to go back to the kingdom to kill that traitor before they create more problems. 

A/N: Ding... Ding... Ding... Sandra's name, does it rings any bell?

And if you want to know more about True love's Curse, checkout my other book True love's Curse.

What do you think will happen in Samantha and Luna's encounter?

P.S: I miss Sara and Noah... My lovelies...