Arthur's POV
Xavier was partially shifted, lost in a territorial rage. My own wolf wasn't much better, because this alpha was pushing his luck in my kingdom, in my home. Worst of all, he was putting my mate in danger with his reckless aggression.
Anne stopped squirming in my arms. She hadn't been pleased when I'd stopped her from rushing forward to aid her sister, but Lucas was better equipped to handle the situation than my untrained mate. I'd intended to offer that she receive proper training, but she'd been so busy I hadn't wanted to add more to her already packed schedule.
But Xavier had just moved it to the top of the priority list.
Both Lucas and Xavier were huffing as stared at each other. Lucas was in a defensive position, watching for Xavier's next move, while Xavier's canny eyes were searching for an opening. He growled, frustrated at the lack of opportunity.
Then he lunged towards Lucas.
"Xavier!" Fleur screamed. "Stop this at once!"
Xavier ceased his attack. Only partially shifted, his vocal cords were barely intact enough to rasp out, "You cheated on me. With who? I'll kill him!"
"I didn't cheat on you, you monster! I meant the baby is mine. Just mine. You're too dangerous to be near it. Just look at you now, you're acting like a monster!" Fleur's voice rose with every word.
By this time, every person from the oldest alpha to the youngest server were all frozen and gaping at the unfolding scene, if they weren't moving closer for a better view or to help. Brandon joined Lucas in ensuring Xavier would stay back, but Xavier showed no signs of backing down, his chest rising and falling roughly with each breath. I released my mate and stepped forward. Maybe the prince would be enough to make him see reason, before my father had to step in.
Unfortunately, Anne did not stay put when I released her, instead joining her gaping sister where she was closer to the luna of the dangerous alpha.
{Anne, please get further away.}
{I need to convince Ellen to do that first.}
I inhaled deeply. She could have tried to do that over the mind link, her change of location was almost certainly her protectiveness of her family. It was a wonderful trait, except that I wanted her to be safe.
For the millionth time, I reminded myself and my wolf that we couldn't just wrap her in bubble wrap and lock her in a room. The only solution to Anne being free was to make sure everywhere was safe for her. I turned my attention to the current threat.
Xavier lunged, pushing through Lucas and Brandon. They grabbed him, but he was right in Fleur's face. Which meant my mate and her sister were only a stride further away. Fleur was cowering, and Anne looked nervous, but also angry. I circled around to get closer to her. If Anne refused to leave, she'd have to deal with me right beside her.
Before I reached her side, she spoke. "Stop." Maria's power was in her tone, much like an alpha command.
Xavier gave my mate an evil look that sent fear shooting into my heart. Why was she challenging a serious threat? Two more strides brought me to her side, but she'd already opened her mouth again. While it didn't affect me, Maria's power rang out clearly. "I told you to back down. Stop looming over your mate like that."
I readied myself to intercept his attack, but to my shock, he stopped struggling against Lucas's and Brandon's grips. He was now scowling at Anne, and Pierce had enough.
{Kill him, or I'll do it.}
The suggestion was beautiful, but we couldn't. {First we should see what she does. You don't want to get in Maria's way, do you?}
{No,} he agreed, clearly irked.
The angry alpha opened his lips, displaying his sharp canines. "She's mine, and they're keeping her from me against my will, Princess."
"But more importantly, is it against her will? I don't know what happened, but from what I understand your mate willingly chose to flee here. Why did she do that?" She stared straight back at him expectantly.
"Because she's reckless and selfish," he said.
Fleur finally straightened her back at his words. "Because I'm reckless and selfish? Or maybe it was because you growled and yelled, and then you locked me in a tower!"
The accusation rang throughout the room. Most people were sympathetic, although I suspected there were more than a few alphas uncomfortable with the accusation because they had done something very similar to their own mates at some point. There probably wasn't even one alpha in the room who couldn't sympathize with the urge to overprotect their mate. Pierce would love to keep Anne's physical form locked up somewhere safe.
Xavier's gaze swung back to Fleur. "You were going to leave me!" he snapped.
"Because you're a controlling monster! You isolated me, and threatened me—"
"When did I ever threaten you?" he asked, his temper heating again.
"'If you don't stop trying to leave you'll never see the light of day again'? 'If you want to see your sister...' 'If you think you can...'"
"Those aren't threats," he protested. And the worst part was, it seemed like he really believed it. I didn't have to imagine what my mate was thinking, just looking at her furrowed brows demonstrated how ridiculous she thought he was.
She took a stop forward and my hands twitched to drag her back to safety. "Okay, enough of this. Fleur, are you going to end your relationship with Alpha Xavier?"
Xavier's growl was so loud in response to my mate's question, Fleur's soft denial was barely audible. I scowled at Xavier for daring to growl at Anne. Had he no respect? Pierce's growl leaked out of my own mouth.
Anne's soft had touched my arm. {Let me handle this. I think I can get through to him.}
{I'm stepping in if it gets too dangerous, Anne.}
{Of course.}
"If everything were good, would you like to be with Alpha Xavier?"
Fleur nodded. "I love him."
She smiled encouragingly at Fleur. "Then why aren't you with him, now?"
She just looked at Anne helplessly. "It's just, everything, you know?"
"I really don't."
"It's this. He scares me."
"I wouldn't hurt you," he protested vehemently.
Anne turned back to the heaving alpha. "Okay, Alpha Xavier. I believe you would never want to hurt Fleur. But, look at this situation. Your mate doesn't want to reject you, and for some reason, she also doesn't want to live with you. That's sort of odd, isn't it? But then, she says she's scared, even if you wouldn't hurt her. Why do you think that might be?"
He blinked at my mate blankly, like she was speaking a language he couldn't understand.
Anne met his eyes, beseeching him to hear what she was saying. "Maybe if she was not scared, you two could talk things out and fix whatever the problem is. Can you think of anything you could maybe change that might help her feel less scared?"
Lucas and Brandon hadn't let go of his arms, but I could see that they didn't have to struggle as hard to control him. His brow furrowed in concentration.
"Maybe shift back so you don't look like a monster?" someone in the crowd suggested after another ten seconds of silence.
I gave the busybody a sharp look for interfering in Anne's lesson. This dominant side of her was hot, and more importantly, she was managing the raging wolf surprisingly well.
"Shift back?" he finally said in that nails across a chalkboard rasp.
Anne nodded encouragingly. Xavier took a few deep breaths, and after a clear struggle, he returned to fully human.
"And what else?" she prompted.
"And...don't lock my mate in a tower?"
She nodded. "Yes, exactly that. Anything else?"
He seemed to be thinking really hard, and finally after long moments, Anne had pity on him. "You could talk to her about how you're feeling instead of growling at her."
"How I'm feeling?" His face scrunched up even more. He looked so much less threatening like that that even my wolf calmed down slightly.
Anne continued, "And you could listen to how she's feeling, too."
"I do listen," he protested.
"And take her words seriously. She's not just your mate, she's an individual with her own thoughts and feelings. And they matter. Because, I'm going to guess that chasing down your unwilling mate is not how you want to spend the rest of your lives."
Xavier nodded. Brandon released him, but Lucas's grip stayed firm. If my wolf weren't still agitated, I would have found that interesting, because usually Brandon was the more serious of the two.
Anne looked over to me. {Could we, I don't know, send some guards with them to let them talk somewhere more private?}
{I'll make it happen.} The best part of this new plan was how Anne would be further away from the unhinged alpha. Xavier was not known for thinking first by any means. But maybe she had gotten through to him. I could only hope. While it didn't bother me that Fleur was living in the palace under my parent's protection, if they reconciled it would probably settle him down a bit.
I texted the lead guard on shift, and moments later, four guards were at our sides. Xavier eyed them suspiciously, tensing again.
Anne leaned close to Fleur to whisper. Xavier was too far to hear, but I could. "If you really don't want to reject him, then that means you do want to be his mate. You need to be honest about what you want and actually speak up for yourself. Figure out your boundaries and make them clear."
Fleur nodded.
I moved closer and gave Xavier a serious look, although I also tried not to work him up again by making him feel threatened. A delicate balance. "This is an order. You are not allowed to do anything Fleur doesn't want you to do. No abductions, no violence—"
He dared to interrupt me, looking quite offended. "I wouldn't hurt Fleur." I'd give him credit for his nerve if my wolf wasn't snapping to bite into him for the disrespect.
I just held myself back and continued, allowing Pierce's power to compliment my words, "no violence against anyone, no growling, no shifting, no yelling, and you have to listen to her. If you have a civilized conversation, I'll extend you privileges to visit her here."
He scowled but didn't argue.
"My mate has ever so graciously allowed you an opportunity to work through your difficulties, so I suggest you take advantage of her good grace. Guards."
The quartet of guards led Fleur and Xavier off to hopefully have a productive conversation. I wasn't hopeful, but perhaps Anne's unorthodox methods might be more effective than what we'd been doing up until now. She might be against abusing her power, but clearly she had zero concerns about using her wolf's authority to force people to talk things out.
My mate turned and hugged her sister. "You shouldn't be so close to an infuriated alpha. You know that I just want you to be safe, right?"
Ellen rolled her eyes, and even though Anne couldn't see it while she clutched her sibling, I suspected that she knew. "I could say the same thing for you. Do you think I just came here to the capital to get away from Desert Night?"
I smiled at her. She was so freaking beautiful, and while she'd scared years off my life, the way she had handled the alpha had been incredibly attractive. It had been a perfect demonstration of just how glorious I knew she would be in her future role.
I was distracted from admiring my mate by Serenity, who had come up to her mate. He was smiling at her, but he also looked wary.
"I hate how you always run headfirst into danger," she said, wrapping her arm around his lovingly.
"Lucas needed help, Serenity," he said defensively.
She released his arm and faced him. His wariness increased, like he knew he was approaching a minefield, as she opened her mouth. "It's always someone who needs help, isn't it?"
"Serenity, please..."
"I hope you were listening to what Lady Anne was saying, because she totally knows what she's talking about."
Brandon frowned. "She does know. So I hope you were also listening."
She narrowed her eyes at him. "Are you implying that I'm not a good mate?"
"Stop putting words in my mouth. I'm implying that maybe a little more listening and a little less talk—"
"Are you saying everything is my fault?"
"No, what I'm saying is that—"
"I can't even with you!"
"Serenity!"
"Why are you yelling at me?" she shrieked, looking hurt. She spun around, and dramatically flounced away.
Brandon called her name as he chased after her until she disappeared into the woman's washroom. He looked around like he was going to punch the wall, but then he spun around and leaned against it for a moment. Then, after a moment of consideration, he pushed off the wall and stormed off to the bar.
Anne had followed my gaze. "They're fighting again?"
"No. Because that implies they stopped at some point."
She chuckled at my response, and it made me feel like the greatest comedian. Then she looked up at me with adoring eyes that made my heart pound. "Can we take a break somewhere? Anywhere? I just need five minutes of no drama."
"Of course," I agreed.
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I led her back to the thrones beside my parents. My father's authority, which was still greater than mine, made our subjects less likely to approach so it seemed like the best place to take a breather.
My mother's analyzing blue gaze followed my mate as we approached, and I began to second guess myself.
"I saw your performance, Lady Anne."
Anne cringed a smile. "Really? Sorry about that."
"No need to apologize. It was most fascinating."
"Oh, well, thanks?"
My mother smiled. "I think you'll do well when you take my place, Anne."
Anne really did smile. "Thank you." She performed a curtsy, and it was technically perfect. She was mastering everything, just as I knew she would.
We took our thrones again, Anne breathing a sigh as she rested against the back.
"I've been thinking perhaps you should have some self-defence training. You should never have to use it, but it wouldn't hurt to have it, just as a last line of defence."
"I was actually thinking that myself," she said. "I really don't want to be abducted."
"We can agree on that."
She paused. "Actually, I had another idea. What if the guards around here, or at least certain guards, had some kind of conflict deescalation training? Like imagine if a guard had found out what Alpha Xavier was here for before he'd come barging in?"
"That's not a bad idea," I said. I'd run it past my parents at our next meeting.
She smiled at me. "You know, your mother intimidated me when I first met her, but now I can't help but admire her. She was exactly right, this night is a lot like managing angry toddlers with weapons. Tantrums get thrown, people get hurt, and no one really wants to listen. I'm exhausted."
I didn't point out to her we were only an hour into the celebration. There was still plenty of time for things to go wrong, if past Alpha-Luna Balls were any indication.
"Instead of having a Alpha-Luna Ball, we should have alpha-luna communication classes."
"No one would come. Unless we made it mandatory. Or is that another abuse of power?"
"I'm afraid reeducation camp is another abuse, yes." She smiled teasingly. "Tempting, though."
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