Chapter Thirty-Four
“ I see our queen has welcomed you into the pack, Bedivere,” I said to the alpha dryly the next morning when he reported to my office to help with the ledgers.
The man wore her honeysuckle scent like the most enticing perfume to ever exist, and for a brief moment, I felt a twinge of jealousy for the alpha that was quickly replaced by my happiness of having one of my oldest friends join my pack.
“She has, your majesty,” Bedivere replied, his tone even and professional as he handed me a stack of papers.
But now I knew just how happy Bedivere felt. It seemed to swell off of the alpha in waves, echoing down the faint bond that I now shared with him.
He had been one of my closest friends since I was but a babe, but he had lost himself the day that he had lost his hand and it had hurt me to see him so isolated.
Now, the man seemed to glow as he continued to assist me as if everything had not changed the night before.
“Will you finally call me Arthur in private?” I asked, keeping my voice light as I used my seal to approve castle expenditures and the purchasing from the other territories that would allow us to plan for the upcoming seasons.
“No, your majesty,” Bedivere said, though I saw his lips flash up into the ghost of a smile before it was gone again. “I am still your advisor.”
“You have always been more than that and you know it,” I reminded him, but let it lie. It was not worth it to argue on such an auspicious day.
“Where is my wife anyway?” I asked, glancing out the window to find the sky outside had darkened to the color of pitch. A storm was approaching.
“Out at her archery lesson with Sir Lancelot.”
“Ah,” I said, thinking of the moody knight. “And does he still have his head firmly lodged up his arse?”
Truth be told, I had avoided the other alpha just as much as he had avoided me.
It was clear to me that he was attracted to my wife and I knew he was meant to be a part of my pack because my inner alpha seemed to already accept him as such. When Guinevere had returned smelling of tart citrus a few nights ago, it had surprised me given that the man typically seemed to fortify his defenses towards her.
“I could not comment on such things, your majesty,” Bedivere said simply as he got to work organizing the documents that I had just approved. They would need to be delivered to their rightful owners so that they could get to work on them.
“I am asking your opinion as someone who was formerly very firmly in the same camp as the man.”
Bedivere sighed heavily, finally seeming to let down his guard. “Lancelot and I are very different individuals. He has his own reasons for being reticent about our pack and I do not blame him.”
I leaned back in my seat, contemplating the man’s words. Lancelot, despite being a part of my round table for several years, was even harder to read than Bedivere.
King Ban of Benoic was my least favorite of the territorial kings, so I had held his son at an arm’s length for quite a long time before finally accepting him into my inner circle. He was a loyal knight—that of which I could never doubt—but that did not help bring him into our pack if he did not wish for it.
My time was running out—the hazy dreams that I had seen were growing closer as we approached Beltane and I was anxious to secure my pack before that happened.
I did not know specifically what was going to occur, my dreams were never so clear as to tell me out right, but I knew that something dire would happen and it would affect Guinevere and Lancelot the most.
Our entire pack would need to be together to overcome it and that now, I realized, included Merlin.
His presence in my dreams had originally confused me as he had never appeared in them before, but now whenever his face danced through them I felt completely suffocated, as if I was being pressed between two heavy stones with no way out.
“Do you think he does not wish for Guinevere as you and I do?” I asked suddenly, pushing such dreary thoughts from my mind. Our pack was making quick progress, and now we were three. Stronger together.
Bedivere’s face pinched as he shook his head. “Can such a thing be possible?”
“No,” I told the other alpha honestly. It seemed impossible to resist Guinevere’s quick wit and sweet scent. I had fallen to it quickly and had never looked back and I knew now that Gawain and Bedivere were the same. So why was Lancelot resisting so heavily?
I huffed a frustrated sigh and scrubbed a hand over my tired face.
Bedivere sat down heavily in the plush chair across from my desk, his expression serious. “Your majesty, if I may?”
I waved a hand, telling him to go on.
“I do not believe you will need to prod either of them—they will come together as the gods foretold—but they may need more time than you think.”
“How much time am I to give? You know as well as I that Guinevere’s heat approaches. You must have smelled it in her scent last night.”
Guinevere’s honeysuckle scent had begun to deepen and swell more than usual and I had noticed her body running light fevers whilst she slept in my arms over the past week or so.
The urge to cloister her in our chambers had also grown in me and I had to force myself to allow her to go about her duties within the castle, just glad that most of my servants were betas and that the alphas in the barracks would not dare to sniff after my wife.
“I did,” Bedivere admitted. “How will we handle such a thing?”
I knew of which he was referring. It would be nigh impossible to hide our pack once Guinevere’s heat started. Ideally all four of us would be present and Merlin too if he so wished.
Never had I considered the wizard having a lover before, but somehow it made sense that he and Guinevere, two magical beings, would be drawn to each other.
Though, every time I ventured up to his rectory to speak to him about it he seemed to have vanished into thin air.
I was uncertain whether Merlin felt embarrassed to talk to me, or if he was afraid I would be angry with him, but regardless I still wished to speak to him.
Still mulling over the complicated nature of Guinevere’s first heat, I almost did not hear the door to my study burst open and the wizard who had just been the subject of my thoughts stumble inside.
“Arthur!” Merlin gasped, forgetting all sense of decorum as he stood wheezing with his hands on his knees.
Nothing good could come of his reason for running to my study with such haste.
A sour pit began to form in the pit of my stomach.
“What is it?” I asked, standing from my chair.
“The Saxons! They approach—about a half-day’s ride away!” Merlin exclaimed, confirming my earlier unease.
It was not as if we had not ridden out to push the Saxons away from our borders before, but this was the first time that they were approaching Camelot with an omega—my omega—living within its walls.
“We must go out at once,” I said, reaching to where Excalibur was leaning against my desk.
“Yes, your majesty,” Bedivere began as somewhere a horn was blown for the knights to gather for battle.
I made my way to my chambers first and allowed my squire, Sir Kay’s eldest son, to help me dress in the leather tunic and chainmail that I always wore into battle. Some kings chose to wear full metal armor, but I always found it impaired my movement—my men did the same and it made us a deadly force to be reckoned with.
“Are you going to kill some Saxons, your majesty?” Thierry asked, his eyes big and round as he handed me my helmet.
I reached out to ruffle the boy’s hair. “Perhaps. Will you take care of your mother and siblings while we are gone?”
Thierry nodded his head vigorously, his brown curls bouncing back and forth. “Me an’ Henry will do a good job.”
I had nearly forgotten all about the little boy that Guinevere had pulled from the burning village that day. It felt as if ages had passed since then.
My foster-brother and his wife’s brood was always growing in size, so the silent little boy was easy to miss at times, though it seemed Thierry was fond of his new little brother.
“You two do that, man the walls if you must.”
“Yes, your majesty!” Thierry responded, thumping a little fist to his chest before scurrying off, probably to find his mother and relay my command to her.
By the time I made it to the courtyard, Guinevere was already there, her skirts floating behind her as she threw herself into my arms as she seemed to have a penchant for doing.
“You can’t go!” she whispered into my ear, her swell of panic evident down our shared bond.
“I must,” I told her softly once she had let me go. Her brown eyes were wide as she glanced from me to the men who were readying themselves around us. “But you will not be alone, little queen.”
Before she could ask what I meant, I raised my voice for all to hear. “Sirs Gawain, Lancelot, and Bedivere will remain at the castle to take care of my queen. Treat them as you would me.”
My declaration caused a ripple effect amongst the crowd of onlookers.
“What are you doing?” Guinevere asked quietly, hanging onto my arm as if to stop me. I could feel similar levels of astonishment from the other two alphas who were hidden amongst the people. Lancelot, who had been trailing behind Guinevere looked as if I had laid a physical blow to him as his eyes narrowed at me.
“We shall speak of it once I return, but I have decided, based on portents from the gods, to follow my fate and create the first pack in Logres.”
“Pack?” Someone asked from behind me. “What is a pack?”
“It will all be revealed once I return,” I boomed, cutting them off. “But for now, I must push these vile Saxons back away from our lands to keep Camelot pure from outside influences.”
As if my earlier words were forgotten completely, the crowd roared their approval as my knights lifted their shields high in the air.
“Your majesty,” Lancelot said, his voice low as the men began to get into formation. “You cannot go into battle without me.”
I would not deny his words completely, but I also knew that his place was here. I could feel it deep in my soul that he would need to remain here along with Bedivere and Gawain.
“Do not worry,” I said, nodding to Merlin who was pulling himself into his saddle. “I have Merlin and the rest of the knights with me. We will be back by tomorrow.”
Lancelot seemed as if he wanted to argue, but his gaze shifted from me to Guinevere who was still huddled beneath my arm.
Then the alpha just nodded once before turning to disappear back into the castle.
“I don’t like this at all,” Guinevere mumbled when I faced her for a kiss. Her lips tasted soft and I lingered longer than was probably decorous, but I wanted to savor this moment.
Cupping her face gently in my hands, I made sure her brown eyes were locked onto mine. “Just be true to yourself and remember that I love you.”
Guinevere’s dark brows rose as she seemed to realize that this was the first time I had uttered such a phrase. Then her brown eyes filled with tears that I quickly kissed away.
“Your majesty,” Sir Kay said from behind me, his wife and brood surrounding his legs. “It is time.”
“I will be back soon,” I promised with one last kiss.
“Wait,” Guinevere said as he dug in her little waist bag, pulling out a handkerchief and tying it around the hilt of Excalibur . “Andrivete said that this is what wives do when their husbands go away to war.”
The gesture made a purr rattle up my chest as I stared down at the crisp white fabric.
Guinevere pressed a hand to my chest, just over my heart. “Just make sure you come back in one piece, okay?”
I nodded, wanting nothing more than to carry her upstairs and make love to her until the moon was high in the sky.
But first, I needed to face the hazy future I had seen in my dreams.
Pulling myself up into Llamarei’s saddle, I turned to face Guinevere who was flanked by Lancelot, Gawain, and Bedivere. Just as I knew it should be.
“Are you ready, Arthur?” Merlin asked as he pulled his horse up next to mine.
With one last look at my wife and our pack, I nodded.
Lifting my voice so it could be heard by all in the courtyard. “Knights! Move out!”