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48. Scheme

The room was completely silent for a while while Xavier kept looking at her with his undivided attention. 

"But why did you snarl at Kon for him, Saoirse? Why would you hurt your own mate for him?" Xavier's expression changed. It went from loving to painful with a hint of anger. He lowered his hand to her neck while muttering, "You absolutely cannot do that again if you want that boy to live, my love."

All of a sudden, Saoirse raised her head and bit his hand sharply! Blood oozed from his fingers. 

Saoirse saw Xavier turn furious. His veins had made themselves visible on his neck as he clenched his jaw. His eye color had darkened and she knew Kon was surfacing. She waited for him to retaliate. 

Xavier was now breathing heavily. He raised his hand and examined it closely with a furious gaze. He slowly dropped the hand, red blood dripping from it and staining the white carpet. He then closed his eyes and when he opened them, his whole rage seemed to have vanished as Saoirse saw him smile instead. 

"You're hungry, it seems. But don't eat me, darling." He chuckled. "I shall hunt for you myself." 

Saoirse watched as he turned his back on her and started walking towards the door. She was utterly confused by his attitude.

As if sensing her bewilderment, he stopped and replied, "Do not fret, Ariana. You are the one and only who shall never face my wrath upon any circumstance possible."

Saying that, he walked away.

                                                                                          **~~~**

 Sean returned to Nate's chamber and started banging on the door. "Are you crying from relief that some dude didn't bang your girl, huh Astor? Is it why you're not opening the door? Fucking pathetic."

The door opened immediately. 

"What the fuck did you just say?!" roared Nate.

"Gotchu." Sean smiled in victory. "Let's go see Ari."

Nate looked at him in shock. "Have you gone crazy?"

"Let's go see Ari." Sean repeated.

Nate shook his head and chuckled bitterly. "Let me explain your delusional self. Ariana is in the Imperial Wing guarded by His Majesty, bastard Xavier, whose wolf will eat you for breakfast if you go near her."

"But you're supposed to be an Alpha, Astor. Don't you have some power or authority?" Sean taunted.  

Nate eyed him from head to toe in dismay. "Sean, I know you're reckless sometimes but you aren't this reckless. Are you high or something?"

"Ladder! Arrange for a ladder. You said she's in second floor. I will go through balcony. You distract the guards. Let's do it Romeo-Juliet style." Sean replied with enthusiasm.

"Does she even love you?" Nate tried to discourage him.

"I think she does. Let's go." Sean did not waver a bit.

"Fine." Nate gave in. "Even though this is a stupid plan, I want to see that bastard suffer. I want him to lose his mate. And also, I don't want to think about what she said tonight. So, let's go."

They started walking towards the Imperial Wing. When they were near, Nate paused and said, "I'll scout first and call you if it's safe. You stay here."

All the guards outside the Imperial Wing bowed as Nate emerged in front of them. He looked around and saw that more guards had been added than before.

"Why are there so many of you?" He asked.

"They are the King's guards, my lord. Duchess Lily said that His Majesty shall be staying here from now onwards. Hence, they all are guarding this wing instead of the Heir's chamber." Commander Rafael, who had been taking care of the arrangements regarding this shift,  informed. 

"Any urgent reason for my lord's visit at this hour?" Commander Rafael asked.

"Not at all, commander. I only wanted to check on Lady Ariana, who is inside at the moment."

Commander nodded his head in understanding but didn't say anything.

"Curious, isn't it?" Nate continued. "How His Majesty has Lady Ariana inside the Imperial Wing and decided to shift here all of a sudden when he never did so with the former Queen?

"If I may?" Commander Rafael asked as he stepped closer to Nate. He nodded, giving permission.

"It is strange, indeed. My lord, I was shocked when His Majesty lost control during the celebration as he is a very composed man. On top of that, the Alpha Wolf lowered his head and whimpered in front of Lady Ariana's wolf. He whimpered. What the fuck!" Commander Rafael was completely frantic as he finished speaking.

"Language, Commander." Nate berated.

"My apologies, Alpha." Commander Rafael composed himself. "I always thought His Majesty is a very simple man. But no. He has his fair share of secrets. Why did I expect else? He is a royal after all."

"I also thought you were a stern man, like a horse with blinkers." Nate commented. 

"No no, my lord. Do not get me wrong. I am very loyal to His Majesty. But like you said, everyone is just curious." Commander rectified. 

"You and I shall get along very well, Commander." Nate said before leaving. He returned to Sean shortly.

"Yeah we can't go." He informed.

"What? Why?!" asked Sean, who had been waiting for him with little patience. 

"There are too many guards and the commander. I can enter but they won't let you do you the cringe scene that you were planning to do."

"My plan was fine. You distract, I go see her. We can still do that." said Sean.

"No, we can't."

"You are an Alpha, Nate. You can use your powers."

"And do what, Sean? Kill all the King's guards? Call for a council complaining the King won't let me bring a person in his bedroom? You've come from a land of democracy, but this is monarchy, my friend. Doing things against the wishes of King is considered treason."

"And why do you care about being called a traitor, Nate? It's like you're a different person here. Like a person who will sing 'God save the King' or shit like that."

"Because it seems like you forgot but I'm a werewolf. So is Ariana. Submitting to hierarchy is in our nature. This is the Kingdom of Wicref and it runs on power, politics and conspiracies. You either let it ruin you or you thrive on the chaos. Bastard Xavier can literally have your head on a spike. You need a reality check and I'm giving it you."