Chapter 246: Cute. And Late.
Four mates. One had just cut a deal over whiskey with her father. One was on the road to Greyhall Crossing. One was having a dragon tantrum meltdown because he’d seen a blade at her throat and there was no way to get to her. And one was parked outside her door after eavesdropping on her entire exit strategy and accepting the bad look. Their coordination, as it had been all day, was aggressively fucking terrible.
The door opened.
One of her men filled the doorway, young, broad, and visibly pissed about whoever had the balls to knock. The second his eyes hit Nicholas, his posture snapped from ’who the fuck is this’ to ’sir, yes sir.’ The kid’s spine straightened so fast Nicholas heard it crack.
Nicholas could tell immediately this group was a team of rookies. A couple had given off newbie energy earlier, but this sealed it. All of them were green as spring grass and twice as easy to step on.
They were meeting in her actual private chambers. Outside of his Beta and Gamma, even Nicholas’s men didn’t get invited into his private rooms. Not only that, they were sitting in her armchairs and the ottoman.
Every summit came with an extra room without a bed, designated specifically for packs to meet.
These people saw the proper meeting room and probably wondered why the fuck there was no bed in it.
Guinevere also just held a team vote live, which is a terrible idea every time in any situation. People raise their hands when they see other people raising hands so it’s always skewed towards the first option. That’s why you have a Beta take the temperature instead of turning strategy into a group project because if you go against it, it won’t feel personal.
She was running her pack like a book club and they were following her like she was a general. The dissonance was staggering and somehow working.
A possessive, territorial feeling surged through him that had nothing to do with the men being in her private space and everything to do with her having no mentor and selling that calm act in the chamber. Composure is just that: composure.
She was using a fake-it-until-you-make-it strategy at a continental summit with no playbook. She’d improvised the entire goddamn night and the room believed it including him.
"Alpha Shadowfell." The newbie warrior stepped aside because blocking a king’s entry was hostile and he wasn’t stupid.
Behind him, the Lunaris group reacted as one. Six men jumped out of their seats and locked into parade-rest between Nicholas and Guinevere like they’d rehearsed this exact scenario in the mirror.
Cute. And late. If Nicholas had actually attacked her, their prior lounging around would’ve left them fucked. They should’ve been in position the second the door opened if they thought there was any real danger.
That’s when he noticed her eyes were red-rimmed. Something cracked inside his chest. She was either mid-fight with tears or had already taken the hit and was still standing.
His wolf howled so loud inside his skull that his vision blurred for half a second.
Nicholas nodded at them politely because he wasn’t going to be a dick and tell them off. But he would be adding security to her team immediately.
"I’d like a word. If she’s willing," he said, voice calm.
Guinevere opened her mouth. Then she closed it again without producing a single sound, which was notable because earlier that same mouth had verbally kicked Tharos Stonehowl in the nuts.
Her Beta stepped into the gap before she could try a second time. Correct answer. That’s what a Beta should do.
One point to the rookies.
"With all due respect, Alpha Shadowfell, our princess is not going to be alone with any Alpha tonight. Whatever needs to be said can be said from where you’re standing."
His tone was polite. That was also the correct answer. Not the answer Nicholas wanted, but correct.
Two points then.
Nicholas accepted that without argument.
"I owe her an apology." He directed it past Gavyn, past the very green firing squad, straight to her. "The chamber was out of line and I should have shut it down immediately. I didn’t and that’s on me. I told them after you left that any Alpha who comes at you or threatens or disrespects your blood again is declaring war on Shadowfell. I meant it. I will enforce it."
She swallowed and said nothing.
Silence. The weapon women have been perfecting since the dawn of time. She wielded it like a professional and he walked right into it like an amateur because silence from her was the kind that felt like a judgment.
"I should have said it while you were still in the room. That should have never happened and there’s no excuse that it did. I have reasons but none of them are good and I’m not going to insult you by pretending they are."
He was aware he was rambling. It felt exactly like sliding on ice: watching his own mouth keep going while his brain sat in the passenger seat screaming. Reed would have facepalmed hard enough to leave a mark. Damon would have removed him from the hallway by force. His father would have come back from the dead and Alpha commanded him to shut up.
"—what I’m trying to say is I’m sorry that it happened and it will never happen again on my watch."
He stopped. Not because the speech was finished. Because the speech had run out of road and driven itself into a ditch. He was going to stand here and accept whatever came back because he had officially used every word available and none of them were the right ones.
After a second she found her voice, quiet, steady, and draped in a formality that fucked him up worse than ten of these council sessions.
"Alpha Shadowfell, that’s not necessary. Lunaris thanks you, but there is no need for Shadowfell to put itself at risk over this."
Alpha. She used the full title. The full, formal, diplomatic, ice-cold title. She might as well have addressed him as ’Dear Sir,’ cc’d the council, and sent a raven.
She didn’t remember him. He already fucking knew that. He wasn’t even sure she remembered his face from Kael’s room. That knowledge had been sitting in his chest all night like a splinter he couldn’t reach. Hearing her speak to him like a stranger drove it the rest of the way in.
No, that would be corrected immediately.