Marked Claws (Mystic Bonds #2) | COMPLETED

11. Xander/Cara

(Xander's P.O.V)

I belatedly realized that reminiscing about my night with Cara would do me no good when Advisor Allistar cleared his throat to bring back my attention.

It may have been one day and one night since then but the fact that we slept in the same room and same bed was imprinted in my mind like a royal seal on a message.

"Your Majesty, the females challenging your mate are eleven in number."

I clenched my jaw.

"I see."

Allistar was quite content with the Mate Challenge and it grated on my nerves.

Eleven females. And my female wouldn't be getting any rest. She would need to fight back to back as was custom.

Damn, stupid customs.

But I was powerless in the face of the public's power and beliefs.

The people were going about in the amphitheatre. It was as expected since the Amphitheatre was the location for the trials today. It could accommodate enough people by which I mean around two hundred.

I had already taken my place at the top of the dias where the Royals were meant to be seated.

Some of the courtiers were there as well including Advisor Alistair and my sister. I couldn't see Micah around but I was sure he would be attending to the smooth working of the challenge.

The reason was that Melida wouldn't be sitting here besides me unless someone else was going to be doing her work. He would be the announcer today, I was almost sure of it. I didn't bother with that because it was one of my sister's task and the only person I could think of that she would appoint as the announcer today was Micah.

Despite the redheaded Shapeshifter becoming a part of our court only  recently, he hadn't posed a threat so far. The main reason though was he was someone Melida brought and appointed straight away. Plus it seemed like they got along very well.

I'm not ashamed to say I've had my sister followed discreetly many times to keep tabs on her. I trusted her but after what happened to Seraphima, I was even more determined to not let anything pass no matter how much I trusted her.

She might be the older sister but she had declined the right to the throne which made me the next heir. Well, not really. I was the youngest of three but no one spoke of Karl and it had been centuries since we had last seen him. It wasn't like he was missed either.

I could also tell that she had secrets like Sera did. I'd observed Queen Kesla, Cara and Sera in the past months in my quest to take Cara. And it wasn't hard to figure out that the other three men had been kept in the dark. I would not let that happen in my court.

The number of challengers couldn't be determined until the challenge officially began since new entries would always occur. Or so I was told and had read in the ancient records of our history. Since I hadn't seen any Alpha Mate challenge take place with my own eyes, I was sad to say I'd have to go by the book in this case.

There was a cool breeze flowing and the sun was pleasantly warm. In just a few more minutes, perhaps thirty, the challenge would begin.

The trees around the arena were rust colored blending with subtle yellow shades with the onslaught of autumn. It almost looked magical.

"I'm honestly curious, Xander. I really will like to see your mate in action."

Callum–my beta–who had returned from Valeryn was sitting in one of the seats below and grinning at me. My enhanced hearing meant I heard him even as he whispered from the distance and in the over zealous cheering noises in the amphitheatre.