Chapter 31
· King Soren ·
Her eyes roll into the back of her head and her body goes limp against my calling.
Some part of me feels guilty for using it against her, but in her frantic state she is unpredictable, dangerous.
I need her to calm down before she loses control completely.
As her body careens forward, I catch her before she crumbles to the ground in a heap.
Gazing down at her, her lips parted, and her face slack.
I sigh heavily as I scoop her up and place her on the bed, rearranging her so she is comfortable.
I’ve just set her down before a faint knock on the door grabs my attention as it creaks open.
Glancing at the door, I find it is my mother, looking rather disheveled for a woman who usually has a solid resting bitch face, her eyes find me in seconds and I rise from tucking Aubrey into bed.
“Is she alright?” my mother asks as she steps into the room, closing the door behind her. I glance at Aubrey, she will be now that she has calmed down, though whatever state she wakes in is yet to be seen. I just need to hope she forgives me for knocking her out.
“Yeah, she’s fine. Where is Max?”
“With your father, they’re feeding the koi fish.
” She wanders closer, and brushes a piece of Aubrey’s hair from her face before adjusting the pillows like I hadn’t just done the same thing.
At least my father has managed to distract Max, though I doubt he truly understands the danger he was in when she started to hunt him.
“She gave Max quite the scare…” my mother adds.
“If you’ve come to warn me of the dangers—”
She shakes her head. “Of course not, she has some adjusting to get used to. I just came to check on you both,” she says softly and I run my fingers through my hair and sit on the edge of the bed.
“It will get easier, son.”
“I’m not worried about Aubrey… Well, I am but I’m more concerned about the Supernatural Council, and Rhett coming back for her. The bond is severed between them. I can only imagine the agony he is in.”
“You’re worried he’ll come for her?”
I nod, knowing he won’t have a choice. What I failed to tell Aubrey is their bond will be severed but now he’ll be forced to take another or kill her to end that pain. We have Bianca so he can’t mark her, and I won’t let him kill Aubrey. I plan to end him long before he can try.
“What are your plans for the council?” She moves to sit in the armchair by the window.
It feels strange having my mother ask about political stuff; she is a smart woman but mostly leaves that sort of stuff to me and my father.
However, I know she’s worried for Aubrey and the ramifications of me marking her.
The council is another issue. My late wife had her suspicions, and after learning from Aubrey, I know one of the council members was behind her death, making me wonder if he worked alone, or alongside Rhett.
“I have a plan,” I admit glancing over at her to gauge her reaction. “But first I need to have her calm enough to handle being surrounded by people.” My mother tilts her head slightly, observing Aubrey asleep beside me.
“Care to share this plan?”
“We are going to send out invites to hold a council meeting here at the castle. We also need to invite the Vampire King. I want the entire council present and news crews; we can say it’s to address the issue of Aubrey’s deception and the feud between packs.”
“You want to hold it here? The council is already aware of everything, it’s been blasted all over the news,” she says confused, knowing these things are rarely done outside the council chambers.
“Yes, but they don’t know what became of Aubrey; they don’t know she has been changed or that I’m still taking her as my queen. They probably assume I had her killed, so for now I need them to believe it.”
“That’s why you had the remaining staff commanded not to mention her or her change.”
I nod. So far it’s worked, though Bianca has been trickier, and is commanded not to contact anyone. Still Rhett would know she is alive. She is one of his pack members and would have felt her death.
“And this meeting?”
“It won’t be a meeting, it will be our wedding. I want to make sure everyone knows I don’t care about whatever crimes she is accused of, that she has immunity because she is mine.”
“You’re going to ambush them, aren’t you?” she laughs softly. ”Are you sure Aubrey will want her wedding turned into a circus?”
“The ambushing will come at the end, once she is safely tucked away. Then I plan on taking down the council.”
“And King Alaric?”
“Will be no more.”
“So what do you need me to do?”
“Help plan the wedding, of course.”
“I do have previous preparations organized so I can reach out to the caters—”
“No, I don’t want word getting out. We’ll organize it here.
We have enough staff to organize an event this size, but I need Aubrey to be safe around them.
I’ll organize Damian to rescreen all staff.
We’ll select those we need, I don’t want to run the risk of word getting out.
About her condition or the wedding before I’m ready this time. ”
My mother flicks her long hair over her shoulder and rises. “I suppose I better organize it myself, then. We have lots of planning to do.” Then she leaves through the door.
Feeling the bed move slightly, I see Aubrey squirm and I sigh when I notice her ears sticking up on her head, her claws coming out in her sleep hooking into the mattress.
I gently tug one of her ears, wondering how long it will take for her to get the shifting under control.
She purrs, leaning into my touch, making me laugh as I caress her ear between two fingers.
I massage her pointy ears only for the blanket to lift slightly.
Lifting it, I peer under the blanket to find her tail is thumping under the blanket excitedly.
Whatever she is dreaming about has her excited as it swishes under the blanket or maybe it’s my touch that is causing the reaction.
I drop the blanket and push her over slightly so I can climb in next to her.
The moment I do, the bond senses me and she wriggles closer until she is practically laying on top of me.
I stroke her hair and her pointy little ears.