Calamity Falls | Wattys 2019

XXVI

A short, slim woman stomped her way into the room and over to the throne where Leopold sat. A buff, and very tall, man followed her quietly.

"You ungrateful child! How dare you not tell us you had a mate!" She yelled as she approached faster.

"Lucretia, please calm down," called the former king unsuccessfully.

She marched up and slapped Leopold square across the face. His head swung to the side, but he was otherwise unaffected. He had expected this much.

"And where is she?" She shouted whipping her head from side to side. When she finally spotted the only female demon in the room, she huffed a breath from her nose. "What is your name?" She stomped over to Calamity.

"My name is Calamity, Your Highness." She bowed; her indifferent façade didn't break in the least.

"Why are you here?" She demanded.

"I am the Head General of the human army. I have come to train your pack, Milady."'

"Why did you assault my son when you arrived?" She questioned.

"I am afraid that the reasoning behind our disagreement was personal," Calamity dodged.

"There was nothing personal about it! It was in front of the entire kingdom!" Lucretia exclaimed.

"I can not deny that. However, His Highness was aware of my discomfort with the topic that he chose to brooch in front of the entire kingdom. That argument has already been dissolved," Calamity informed.

"You mean about being queen? You are his mate, correct?"

"Yes, I am."

"Then you are to be queen. Plain and simple. You are to give up your previous position with the human army. You have new priorities now."

Calamity's eye twitched. "I'm afraid that is impossible. I have pledged my life to King Reinard. My loyalty lies with him and him alone." She shook her head solemnly.

"Then you have no place among us. You will not have my approval."

Leopold's eyes went wide. "Mother!" He shouted.

"It's a good thing that I don't need nor care about your permission," Calamity stated coldly.

"Calamity!" Leopold yelled in exasperation.

Lucretia swung her palm against Calamity's cheek.

"Mother!" Leopold roared. He leapt from his seat on the throne and sprinted to Calamity's side. He gripped his mother's upper arm and pushed her towards his father. "Get her out of my sight! How dare she?"

He turned back to Calamity and cradled her face in his hands. He just happened to see her eyes fade from black to red. He rarely saw her get seriously angry. If his mother had continued her tirade, there was a chance she could have wound up decapitated. Although, Calamity rarely lost her cool.

Calamity swatted his hands off her face. She was still angry with him, and getting slapped by his mad mother wouldn't change that. "I'm fine," she stated simply, looking away from him.

Leopold put his hands to his sides and looked at her sadly before sighing. He turned around to face the rest of the room. "You're dismissed!" He boomed to the room's inhabitants. Everyone scurried out immediately.

Reinard started to leave and Calamity began to follow. She walked past Leopold without even a glance. He couldn't take it anymore.

Leopold reached both hands forward quickly and caught Calamity's waist just as Reinard crossed the threshold and wrapped his arms tightly around her abdomen.

Calamity frowned. "King Leopold, please unhand me."

Leopold put his head in the crook of her neck. "Why?"

Calamity only sighed in response.

"Why do we keep doing this? We keep fighting. I keep making you mad. I'm sorry, Calamity. Why do I keep screwing this up?" Leopold mumbled into her shoulder.

Calamity grasped Leopold's hands in her own and pried them off of her. She turned around to face Leopold.

"I just can't forgive you as easily as I have before this time. You tried to kill my only friend--out of petty jealousy. Not to mention, he's gay anyway. You act too impulsively. You need to learn restraint before I can forgive you. Otherwise, you'll just keep pulling the same stuff over and over again," Calamity explained.

She wasn't going to let a few gentle caresses and desperate words sway her so easily this time. If he wanted her forgiveness he would have to earn it.

"What can I do? How can I prove to you that I won't hurt the people that you love?" Leopold wondered quietly.

Calamity thought for a few moments before tilting her head to the side. "Tomorrow, at practice, we will fight in front of the entire pack. The way that you can show your restraint is by letting go of it. You will fight me with your full power, including all of your wolf abilities. You will shift too at some point. You will be the example I need to show the severity of the situation to your people. I, too, will use whatever means needed to beat you. Your people need to know the difference in power. Times of peace have made your people weak."

Leopold dropped his head and sighed. "Everything has to be political with you, doesn't it?"

A half-smile spread across her face. "Of course. That's all there is to this world."

Leopold looked at her in slight awe. He smiled bright at her. "Truer words have never been spoken."

Even if it was small and incomplete, Leopold couldn't help but notice that he had finally made his mate form some semblance of a smile.

And that simple fact alone made him ecstatic.

~~~

Leopold couldn't catch much sleep that night. After sleeping with his mate the night before, it was nearly impossible to find a wink. He probably wouldn't ever be able to get a good night's sleep without her beside him again.

At some point he couldn't take it anymore. He didn't know what time it was nor did he care. All he could do was follow his mate's scent to her room. He had intentionally had her placed close to him, but she still felt too far.

He didn't dare knock on her door or try to enter her room. All he could do was curl up against the frame of her door and be thankful that he could be so close to her. He rested his head against the door and felt a sense of calm wash over him knowing that his mate was near. He fell asleep against his mate's bedroom door, thinking of nothing but her.

Calamity felt his proximity through the bond before she heard him settle by her door. She walked to the door without a sound. She knelt down and reached her hand out to the door, right where Leopold's head rested. She opened the door and his huddled body came crashing down her. She caught herself on her forearms quickly. He instantly snuggled into her. His head nuzzled into her chest, and his arms unconsciously wrapped around her torso. The majority of his body still laid on the floor, inbetween her legs.

Calamity reached her hand up hesitantly before caressing his face gently. She ran her fingers through his hair delicately. What he didn't know wouldn't hurt him.

"Calamity..." She heard him mutter in his sleep. He was already deep enough to be dreaming.

She looked intently at his face before she noticed. Her keen eyes picked it up even through the darkness enshrouding the entire room. He had a boner.

She quickly shoved him off of her and stood, not wanting to feed whatever fantasy he was currently conducting in his dream. She sighed, seeing his huddled mass on the floor.

Calamity had no choice but to drag him back to his room. She tucked him into his bed gingerly. She watched him for a minute before leaving and heading back to her own room.