Chapter 21
Sagan
The call with the Alphas went well. Not so much that people all completely agreed with how Dray and I wanted to handle it… But no one had a better idea or was brave enough to go against us. Especially for something that had never been done before.
Basically, only Dray and I had the balls big enough to sign our names on the line for this.
And I didn’t have any so… Should some of these fools really be Alpha?
“Let them be submissive to you,” Treena reminded me under her breath when the call was over. “And Father wants to talk to you about your miracle teams of truth dragon and tiger interrogator. He’s willing to make a deal with Protesia if you’re open to it.”
“For your family or Bodach?” I checked, nodding when she didn’t answer, but it was all in her eyes. It was to keep her family alive. “Let me get with Belinda a bit but worse case, send whoever to be interrogated here and we’ll do it with the tigers.”
She studied me a moment. “What aren’t you telling me?”
“Something you’d have to tell your father and it’s not for him to know,” I answered honestly.
Namely, that truth dragons were incredibly vulnerable when they used their powers. Like… Couldn’t fight off a fly when they did, which is why a lot of them did anything other than use their powers professionally.
It was dangerous. Just like anything else powerful that people wanted to get their hands on.
I listened to Dray, Vex, and four other Alphas go round and round for almost an hour after the call. Myriam handed me my phone and mumbled that it should improve my mood.
I knew better than to ask and put in my earbud as well when she offered it.
And was very, very glad for the interruption.
Onyx sent me a plank-to-fail video that was popular on Instagram… But only I got to see his sexy body instead of him posting it. He grunted and panted as he struggled to keep going and fuck, was it hot.
And impressive. He—I couldn’t hold a plank that long.
Could I?
Would it be as sexy to him if I did?
“What do you think, Your Majesty?” one of the Alphas asked me.
“About what?” I mumbled, still completely fixated on Onyx’s half naked body.
Then I remembered what I was supposed to be doing and hurried to pull my earbud out, clearing my throat as I sat up.
“I can’t. Fuck, it burns. I can’t go anymore, even for you, baby girl,” Onyx groaned from my phone now that my earbud was disconnected.
Everyone in the room froze.
“Is that my broth—” Vex started to ask.
“No,” I lied through my teeth as I flung my phone at Myriam’s head across the room. “No, who—what were we—”
“You’re lucky my reflexes are that good,” Myriam hissed. “I barely grabbed it before it went into a vase that looks worth more than my life, Sagan.”
“Well, don’t give me stuff like that during meetings,” I growled.
“Well, learn to use Bluetooth better, you idiot,” she threw right back. “You have to put the earbuds in the case or they disconnect. Hit pause first next time.”
“I’m really going to be the first wolf who gets heartburn,” Treena grumbled. “I just—break the rule and import the wine we like or I quit, Sagan. I can’t—we need the good wine.”
“Oh yeah, that helps,” I drawled. “The fact you three keep pressing me to break our embargo and you just announced it in front of six Alphas.”
“I could have it here tomorrow and you would have nothing to do with it,” Myriam reminded me.
“You could have the severed hands of her cheating…” Velle started to say but then winced. “Oh, my bad. I really need to sit with Raquel and learn who everyone is. One of them is his dad, right?”
Vex glanced between us like he didn’t know what to do or how to even react before he gave a half-assed bow to me and Treena and went for the door.
“Okay, that was actually funny,” one of the Alphas muttered. “And he deserves it.”
I was glad when the others agreed because I did too.
“So you and Onyx?” Dray asked me.
“We’re not friends, Dray,” I warned, my amusement gone and my voice cold. “You’re not braiding my hair and we’re not talking boys. Ever. Savvy?”
The four remaining Alphas glanced at each other and burst out laughing. Like fall into each other laughing and at least Dray had the good grace to look a bit embarrassed.
“Onyx says if Andra wants to quickly put something together for him to wear for your dinner intro tomorrow since you’ll be photographed and it will be good PR for your deal to have her measure Dray since they’re about the same size and Vex is too small,” Myriam called over.
“I’m so glad he wasn’t here to hear that,” I muttered as all the Alphas laughed this time.
“Though I think it’s a good idea that all the Alphas get at least one outfit they’re seen in from her since proceeds are going to charity and she’s pledged to pay her employees double the minimum wage instead of like the fashion sweatshops. ”
“Keeping them all in Thovudin instead of having factories out of the country to get around that?” one of the Alphas asked, looking impressed when we said Darren put it in the contract. “He was a smart choice for advisor but well done.”
“It was my idea,” Treena purred, accepting the praise but giving Darren the credit for the ironclad wording.
I was glad when the Alphas all agreed to support it and would make sure others would as well. There was no reason not to besides being petty or they wanted more power.
So everything that was bad for Thovudin and was stupid of them given I was dedicated to making Thovudin better.
Vex was less than thrilled when the Alphas ribbed him when he got back and Andra was called to fit Dray. He made a comment about the Alpha Heirs getting involved, and faster than anyone could track, I was dragging the man out of the room, completely over his shit.
“Apparently, I have not been clear enough and my feelings mean nothing to you,” I bit out, letting him see just how close I was to blowing my temper.
“Keep your son out of my affairs and away from everything to do with me—including physically near me if you don’t want him harmed, savvy?
My dragon wants him dead. He cheated the whole relationship and abused me. ”
“Yes, well, that’s—” he started to stutter.
“I won’t confirm him, Vex,” I warned him.
“I’m not kidding. Stop trying to clean up his mess and focus on making him a better man instead of the trash he is.
He told so many lies and made messes for me—keep him away from me.
You’re lucky I didn’t take his head that night and controlled the others when I walked in on him screwing someone in my house! ”
He cleared his throat.
“And you never even thanked me for how I handled it. You made this all worse by ignoring it. I’m with Treena.
You ignored Father who tried to handle it quietly.
You ignored Darren when he tried—I’m done with you too, Vex.
We’re not allies anymore. You’re involved because you got one of the elders to investigate because we were allies. That’s it.
“I have no goodwill for your family anymore. Onyx has made it clear he’s separate from you all and practically done with you too after—I don’t even know.
He won’t tell me, but it must be bad because he seems pretty easygoing.
” I ignored when Vex snorted. “Fine, but he undoubtedly would put up with a lot for family and has.”
That noticeably landed and Vex flinched.
“Stop pushing or I will keep pushing back and I’m in the right.” I turned to leave. “Or I’ll stop holding Onyx back because he is at my request since I don’t want a bigger mess. I’m tired of holding all the bags of…”
Shit. Obviously, that was what I meant.
He cleared his throat again. “For how long?”
This mother fucker. For real. I glanced at him over my shoulder and bared my teeth at him.
“I don’t know? At least six months from the last article or interview of one of his affairs to start.
Let’s see how long that takes and go from there.
Maybe you can make him into a decent person over that time, but I doubt it. ”
I was childish and closed the door back in his face making it clear he should go for a walk. It was comforting to see the other Alphas actually agreed and gave disgusted looks at the door like they couldn’t believe how Vex was acting.
“You don’t even know the half of it,” I muttered as I went back to the notes for the press conference they were about to hold.
“Onyx handled it badly, but he made it clear the emotional abuse was bad,” one of the Alphas muttered.
“I suffered something similar when I was younger. We’re trained to accept so much to not stir up trouble that we’re not taught the line of when we need to recognize we’re in trouble.
It—I made sure my children never suffered the same. You will as well.”
I nodded that I heard him but was glad when they left it alone beyond that.
The press conference went well. Beyond well even from the questions and reception. It was hard not to be bitter how differently the press treated and responded to the male Alphas compared to when I spoke. I was there, but I let them all speak mostly because we needed this to go over well.
How pathetic was it that I couldn’t get involved for that to happen?
At least the reports later were that I was smart enough to know when I was in over my head and to outsource it to competent people. Yes, that was what was said.
Like I wasn’t competent enough to handle it.
And assumed I was in over my head. Not that I just delegated to my Alphas as the system was set up.
Fucking assholes. Even when I was “praised” they tore me down.
There were a few quips that I was being greedy demanding all of the elders’ wealth for myself and my family.
I was glad when people being interviewed immediately fought back on that saying I deserved what I deserved.
Even older males saying if elders got fat off my family, then that money and property were mine.
So in a sweeping declaration of unity against the elders, I now had twenty-five new properties in the capital… And everything in them. All mine. Plus, the millions I’d already taken from them for the cost of living so many years in the castle and sponging off my family. This was extra.
And the ones who facilitated the embezzling and stealing from my family that led to the neglect of the planes? I was bankrupting them. I was taking everything.
That wasn’t as popular, but a lot of people came out and said they’d do worse.
Oh, I planned to as well, but… It was a start.
Dray made a comment during the press conference that the families wouldn’t need the money anymore because it was clear they’d all be in prison anyways. Pretty much.
However, that was now twenty-five properties to handle. Do things with, and I doubted they were all in great shape when the elders had been living at the castle.
I was not that lucky. So really, it was more expense for me.
But there was only a handful more debts to be paid off.
However, they were the biggest ones… Though luckily with friends of my parents who had figured out something had truly been up and were very understanding.
They didn’t think the royal family had actually been broke but now assumed the elders had been tying my parents up in knots financially.
Like with the banks and using their influence to hold my parents’ money hostage as with so much else while they were busy running a country.
I honestly wondered if that was how things had started and just snowballed into the mess I inherited.
Either way, I lied and said that was exactly it when I talked to them directly.
That undoing it all would take just a bit longer with the estate passing to me, but Father had had it mostly handled before his death.
Why was I giving him the credit?
I really wasn’t sure. He didn’t deserve it. Maybe just to make sure there wasn’t a leak later after all the hard work I’d put in?
Myriam had asked me as well, but I’d shrugged it off and simply focused back on what I’d been doing.
Maybe, no matter how much I told myself I only saw my parents as my king and queen, I was just as full of shit as everyone else? Who knew.
Life was complicated like that.
More complicated for some of us than others.