Child of Prophecy {#Multimedia}

Chapter 14

^^Anita

Chapter 14

Keenan links his fingers with mine and gives my hand a reassuring squeeze. I shoot him a wobbly smile and he opens the door for me. We just barely step through the door when I find myself standing behind a crouched and snarling Keenan. Caught off guard by my sudden change in position, I see that he is holding a very sharp letter opener in between his fingers, as if he just caught it. His fury is practically palpable and he is focused solely on his desk. When I look over at his desk, I see the seven Elders, each smiling calmly in the face of his anger. A spike of surprise runs through me when I see that the Elders are not old and wrinkled like I thought they would be, in fact, some of them look just barely older than my father. I guess it makes since though, considering this High Council just took over for the last one a decade or two ago.

"What. The. Hell," Keenan snaps out, clearly seconds from shifting. I would like to know what the hell just happened as well.

"Nothing to worry about, Keenan. Just proving a disputed fact," one of the Elders, Anele, the only woman on the board, responds with a slight shrug.

"Some of us were wondering if you two were actually mates," Rodan adds.

"So to test this, you try to kill her," Keenan spits, growing angrier by the second.

"We were seeing what your automatic reaction was," Sterling explains.

"There was no possible way you could have seen that opener in time," Normani interjects.

"You would have had to sense the danger," Luther clarifies.

"And to do that," Odin finishes, "you would have to have a mate bond."

I frown deeply. "And if he didn't, I would have found myself with a letter opener stuck in my brain?" Keenan growls at the thought of it, still not relaxing his protective position in front of me.

"Oh no, dear," Bruni assures me shooting me a kind smile that manages to relax me, but only slightly. "We instructed Lorenzo to stand by the door. He would have caught the opener if Keenan had not."

Keenan turns his sights on an apologetic-looking Lorenzo and growls lowly at him. Lorenzo holds his hands up in surrender. "They made me, man. I wasn't any happier about it."

"Honestly, Keenan," Anele begins, "you can calm yourself now. We proved that you two are in fact mated and we will not be testing anything else."

"Why did you doubt it in the first place?" he snarls out, though he does straighten. He still won't let me step around him, letting me out from behind him only far enough to see the Elders. Now that no sharp objects are being thrown at me, I can take in my surroundings. Keenan's office has been completely turned around from the way it looked the first time I was in here. The desk now has seven chairs around it, the cabinet has been pushed against the far right wall to create room for a bunch of other chairs. These chairs are filled with unfamiliar faces––the standing members of the regular Council. Then, standing around the edge of the room are the alphas, lunas, and betas of the individual packs. It's a little cramped, having nearly thirty people in Keenan's office, but it's not as bad as I would have expected. Probably because most of them are sitting or standing against the wall leaving an empty circle smack-dab in the middle of the room. I imagine that that was supposed to be our place. I can't see Keenan moving me any further away from the door now though.

"It's been centuries since there was an interpack mating," Anele explains matter-of-factly, "and after we discovered Farrah's family situation, we questioned whether or not this was like last time." Keenan stiffens and so do I because I know that they are talking about the brunette I saw in his memories. His first love. This is not the only time he has stood in front of the Council announcing his 'mate'. The hurt and jealousy all comes rushing back and I try to repress the thoughts because I know that it won't help right now. I also know that Keenan will feel that and I would prefer he didn't.