Bound

Breakfast

ALEXI POV

"If the international delegations hear you are in town and haven't seen your pretty face, then all my hard work with their eggshell ego's will be cracked wide open." Claire wound her hand behind Xavier's neck and brought him down to her level, but he scooped her up and lifted that lithe body into a princess carry for the betterment of ravishing her lips.

We stood on an unmarked road that barely had the right to call itself as such. The stretch of barely packed earth cutting through the forest was the most direct route back to the highway. An arrogant SUV barely fit on the dusty access road. It probably had never seen any real off road driving. The perfectly reflective black surfaces mirrored the brilliant greens and blue of the summer sky in a shimmering streak.

"Technically I'm not in town. I'm here. Which is an entirely different council area at least, maybe even a different state!" Xavier said into the crook of her neck, blowing raspberries and making her squeal.

I don't like it either, but this is the price of power no? We can no longer follow every delicious whimsy during office hours. The windchime voice drifted through my head as well as Xaviers. Once again, I had to stuff the green monster of jealousy into a chained box rattling behind my heart. She had never spoken to me like that. But this was a good thing. Xavier being back was a great thing. With the rate my own relationship was developing with Claire, it may have taken a decade of cutting through suspicions to arrive at that tone of voice.

I should have insisted on the position of Consort. Xavier linked back, face twisted into a wry smile.

The girl in the coffee shop may have even accepted the idea of being an accessory to your crown. Claire patted him on the face in a nostalgic manner, before kissing him on the forehead and raising an eyebrow that said 'Now put me down and let me rule' in no uncertain terms.

The compendium of expression she managed with that one eyebrow was magnificent.

"I'll teach you if you ask nicely." Claire said absentmindedly, facing away from me.

"Teach who what?" Xavier asked, puzzled. The expression mirrored my own. I hadn't said that last bit out loud.

"Alexi want's to learn highbrow majesty. Didn't you hear...?" She turned to me "Didn't you say...?"

Her eyebrows knitted together, deep in a thought she decided not to share, as Xavier and I exchanged our own wide eyed wordless communication.

Eventually he piled into the extravagant black SUV with the other owls and they drove away slowly. Their mesmerising automobile was followed by an entourage of scruffy teenage wolves yipping at the tires of their dream car. Bathing themselves in the dust kicked up by the grind of the tyres.

Claire sighed, and I felt the whimsical facade of the morning drop to her feet with no great ceremony. Mate hat off, Alpha hat on. I was intimately acquainted with the feeling.

"Are you up for a necessary discussion that will not be enjoyable for anyone involved?" Claire asked me.

Well that didn't sound good. I was still sporting a mild ache in my jaw from the last one of those. Since mating with this woman, my face had sustained an inordinate amount of abuse.

Her statement had sounded like a question, right down to the upward inflection at the end of the sentence. But it was really an illusion of choice, a courtesy statement to let me think I still had control. Letting me weigh the pros and cons, and eventually alite on the correct decision. I should know. I used the tactic often enough with my own pack.

I eyed the retreating SUV speculatively and wondered if it was too far away for me to catch up and dive in. Probably. Also the fallout with Claire after a stunt like that would not be worth avoiding whatever unpleasantness awaited me here.