The Luna Choosing Game

Chapter 0278

Nicholas

My mind would not let me rest at all that night. My body was at rest, finding comfort in knowing Piper was safe and within reach. But my thoughts constantly reminded me that soon, when the competition ended, Piper would be gone from my side.

Soon, I wouldn’t be able to protect her.

Tonight had just been a shadow of that future. I had very nearly been too late. If Julian hadn’t given Piper that pendant… If she hadn’t been able to press it…

How close we came to disaster.

A pendent like that wouldn’t matter soon enough. When Piper was gone from the palace, neither Julian nor I would be able to come to her rescue.

I had to make sure she was in a position to properly defend herself. I had promised to help restore her wolf to her, which would help her defend herself. But I had to do one better.

I had to take down Terry, to make sure he would never be able to hurt Piper or anyone else ever again.

All night, I stayed up and plotted. We had the letter that implicated Terry was directly connected to the underground organization. But that might not be enough.

Before I went to the King, I needed as much evidence as possible.

At the first sight of the approaching dawn, I carefully rolled Piper away from me and slipped out of bed. With luck, I would complete my task and be back before she would wake. She had a long day the day before. I imagined she would sleep for a long time.

I quickly dressed then left my rooms. I walked down the hallways to where I knew the camera crews and producers gathered each morning. I asked Mark to meet me on the way.

Mark was exhausted, but obliged. He left Elva’s protection in the hands of our most trusted guards and met me in the hallway.

I had text him updates sporadically the night before. From that, and our friendship, I had no doubt he could discern the seriousness of the situation.

When we met, he didn’t say anything, didn’t even greet me. He just nodded. I nodded in return, and we continued on together.

We entered the crew’s room without knocking. Everyone startled, seeing me, and rushed to bow and show deference.

I waved away their concerns. “I’m looking for the footage from last night.”

One of the producers helped me. They had set up a series of monitors in the corner of the room where they always reviewed the previous night’s footage the next day. Most of the event was shown live to the public, but they were collecting the best moments to be released in a future compilation.

Unfortunately, they had not collected footage of Terry’s private tour with Piper.

“Terry had very specific rules about what we were allowed to film,” the producer said. “I felt we were walking on eggshells all night.”

you have footage of the

scrolled through the timeline, skipping back to the dinner, where there was direct evidence of Terry’s excessive flirtations with both Piper

toward Piper, but I had failed to mention Susie’s

usually quiet and reserved. I had never seen

Mark looked at me, searching. Whatever he saw in me helped calm him down. My sincerity,

need a copy of

rushed to comply.

flash drive. Then I split with Mark and walked to

King and Queen were sitting at their table, eating breakfast.

he saw me. “You look like

him and showed

it all with a

beyond inappropriate,” I said. “He made Piper, Susie, and many of the other girls uncomfortable.”

scoffed. “He’s always been a flirt, Nicholas. You know that.

to keep my voice steady and calm.

footage of that?”

of the camera angles caught Terry’s movements under the table. I grit my teeth, holding in my anger.

“Piper said ”

word of a commoner over that of nobility?” the Luna

of the chair I stood behind. Anything to keep me from throwing something

across the room.

I said, gesturing to my cell phone still in the King’s hands. ” The footage shows – ”

And this other girl, Susie, was it?” The Luna cut into her breakfast so hard her knife scraped across the plate. “She’s that quiet

lowering despite my best efforts. “Terry tried

lowered her cutlery abruptly, making a clatter. “Don’t you dare bring such vulgarities to

a breath. To me, he said, “That is quite the accusation, Nicholas. Do

shackle marks marring Piper’s wrists and ankles speak for themselves. And I saw

gaze. “It was consensual, no doubt. But when you caught them in the act, she

my hands began to splinter. “That is not true.”

Luna said. “You are conspiring with

said again,

gaze back to her

“You must know that I need more than this to accuse my wife’s

all he has done,” I said. “This is only

“Oh?”

into my jacket pocket and produced the letter from Hawk to Terry. I passed it to him. My mother

the letter and read through it. His gaze

it say?”

it, he passed it to my