Chapter Thirty-Two
“Are you ready for today?” Toya woke me up the next day, handing me a cup of coffee I wanted to kiss her for and a smile.
I nodded as I took my first sip. “I finished it at three in the morning. I also transferred it to my tablet.” I stretched. “Fuck my life. I’m exhausted.” But I felt my smile stretch across my face. “But it’s going to be worth it all.”
“What did he say?” Toya waited as I slipped my shoes on.
“He sent back one word. ‘Okay.’” I turned to her. “Like what the fuck is that?”
“Maybe someone is watching him?” She offered as a solution. I mean, she was probably right, but I’m just annoyed with it all.
“Do you know when the announcement will happen?” Toya turned to the door as a knock sounded. She opened it to find everyone else there holding tablets.
“What’s going on?” I took another shot of caffeine and cracked my neck as I settled on my sofa.
“We wanted to help.” Micca walked in and handed me her tablet.
“Help?” I furrowed my brow and wiggled her tablet. “With what?”
“Toya had the idea last night while you shut yourself up in here.” Wendy handed me hers and Toya’s tablets and then sat down in my chair.
“What idea?”
The girls turned to Toya, who just smirked.
“I was thinking, instead of having just your tablet, what if we had a table of five tablets? All with the same application and system to forward the emailed forms directly to Rowan.” She wiggled her dark brows.
“It will go five times faster and honestly, we can streamline the whole process. That way, if there is a deadline for applications of a few hours…we can maximize the amount we can put in.”
The idea was perfect. “You are a genius.” I jumped up and ran to my computer. I started the install of the program I created on the tablets and then had the girls log in to their emails. Once everything was set up, we stood. “Let’s go eat.” I smiled, but then my phone rang. “Hello?”
“Hey Amy.”
“Hey Sterling. What can I do for you?”
There was a hesitant pause. “I have an Alpha Brandon waiting down here for you. He said he is here to help with today…” Sterling trailed off and I pulled my phone away from my ear.
“Um. Sure. We were just heading down, anyway.” I answered as I ended the call.
“What’s wrong?” Wendy slid up next to me.
“Brandon is here to ‘help’ with today…” I looked at the girls and then down to my phone. “Well, let’s go see what this ‘help’ is, ladies.”
We reached the ground floor. Brandon was leaning against the wall with a roll of brown paper against his leg. Confusion was the only thing in my mind as his smile stretched across his face. “Good morning.”
“Good morning Brandon.” I pointed to the roll. “What’s that?”
He smiled bigger. “I know you didn’t need my help with your plan for today, but I wanted to.” He looked at me hesitantly before turning to Sterling. “Can you help me with this?”
Sterling looked at me and I gave a tiny nod before he walked around the desk and grabbed one end of the roll. Together, the two unrolled a banner that was obviously handmade, but it made a huge smile break across all our faces. “You didn’t.”
Brandon’s face took on a little bit of a predatory smile as he turned back to face me.
“I did. I figured you guys were busy figuring out the logistics of how to do the tech stuff, that you wouldn’t think of something to pull people to you.
I thought this might help.” The words were bold, black with golden highlights made of thick paint.
The words Royal Mate Applications were written in clear legible letters across a ten-foot span.
“I already moved a table from the cafeteria into the main building hallway and I have a ladder waiting for us to slap this on the wall behind it.” Sterling’s eyes bulged out of his head as he read it, but Brandon was already rolling it back up.
“This should attract everyone to you…right?”
“It’s perfect.” I bounced up to him and nudged his shoulder. “Thank you.”
He sniffed a few times and I could see a little sadness flash across his face.
“You are welcome.” I waited for Megan’s reaction to being this close to Brandon, but there was none.
And I felt my face fall. “What’s wrong?” He leaned into me and I had to stop myself from pulling away. Allowing him to get close.
“Nothing.” I lied. Then my stomach growled, and I smiled, thanking my body for saving me.
I pulled away and turned to the girls. “I don’t know about you.
I am starving.” I wiggled my now empty coffee cup.
“And I need another shot of caffeine before the mayhem of today begins.” Because we all knew today was about to be the biggest shit show of the century.
We ate quickly, then made our way to the hallway. Brandon went up the ladder, but I held him back. “What’s up?”
“Let’s wait until the announcement happens.” I smirked at him, and he nodded. We got chairs and Brandon tracked down a few long extension cords for us. We plugged in the tablets and we waited.
“What’s going on here?” A random few people stopped and asked us, but we just smiled.
“There is going to be a big announcement today, and we are just getting ready to help the students here.” I smiled up at one girl that stopped in front of the table.
“Okay…” she trailed off as she turned, but I called out to the students hanging around.
“I can’t tell you what the announcement is going to be, but when it happens. Remember, we are here to help streamline the process.” Everyone giggled as the confused students moved away from us.
“They probably think we are crazy.” Hanna tossed her hair, and I nodded. I grabbed a lock and twirled it around my finger.
“Your hair has grown so much since we met.” I still remember the short-haired bird framed girl I scared in the bathroom. “You have grown so much.”
She flexed her arm, making the firm muscle jump there. “I know. It’s crazy how much we have all changed. Well, everyone but you and Toya.”
Toya grinned and flexed her arms, making her thin looking arms look huge. “I changed. It’s just less noticeable because I trained before.”
Brandon stared at all of us, flexing with a weird smile. “I never knew any girls who enjoyed being this…”
“Strong?” Toya lifted her brow.
“Fit?” Wendy offered.
“Muscled.” Brandon finished. “It’s weird. But not in a bad way.” He waved his hands as he watched everyone’s face darken.
I laughed. “Our bodies are our weapons and we have to keep our weapons honed so that we can protect our packs, our friends,” I let tears spring to my eyes as I met his and allowed one slip down my cheek as I finished my thought. “Our families.”
He winced as I said it. The stark reminder that he had something to do with the supposed death of my father’s pack. And I could see he wanted to feel guilty. There was a tiny glint of it in his eyes, but behind the guilt was something far more menacing.
Pride.
He opened his mouth to say something, but then all of our phones dinged at the same time. We all pulled them out and clicked the link that was being broadcast from the Royal House. Show time.
Rowan stood there in all his glory, and I had to look away.
He was perfection. His tousled hair was still pulled away in a topknot.
There was a new slash that cut down his face, which meant the attack he just fought in was bad.
For it to not fully heal before he came up to do an announcement meant it was deep, or it was tainted with wolfsbane.
“Good morning everyone. Now I know what you are wondering. Why am I holding a press conference this early that is being pushed out to everyone?” There were a few laughs from the press there.
This was going to be seen on every wolf broadcast around the world.
He continued, but I put my phone down and looked over at the girls to find Brandon staring at me.
His eyes had flashed to the dark black of his wolf and there was a possessive look in his eyes.
But as soon as I put my phone down, he caught my eye, shook himself and he was back to normal.
“You okay?” I played dumb, pretending I didn’t just catch him freaking out at me watching the king.
He choked a little and then cleared his throat. “Yeah, I’m fine.”
I stood, still hearing Rowan’s dark, delicious voice, and I turned to the banner, pointing at it. “Wanna get it up now?”
Brandon had to force himself to look away from me, which wasn’t a good sign. He got up the ladder and started to tape up his banner as I fed it to him, but I turned my thoughts inward. I searched for whatever could cause this and after a few moments; I found it.
Deep in my clearing, my candle, the only thing keeping Brandon from knowing I was his mate, was flickering. It had burned down to nothing and was about to go out. I nearly screamed in frustration. Enough is enough.
I closed my eyes and pictured a full candle, focusing on keeping the flame strong. And I opened my eyes. The candle before was gone, leaving the one I changed it with in its place.
But I had made a decision. Whatever was going on with my wolves? It ended today.
Once the banner was up, I sat back down to find Rowan was just getting to the point. I watched Brandon out of the corner of my eye, but he seemed like he settled down, thankfully.
“What are you saying, my king?” One of the reporters was frustrated at his long-winded explanation. You could see it in her face. The girls giggled.
“What?” I turned to them and Micca leaned over.
“The reporter knows what the announcement is, but she can’t say anything until Rowan says the words. She is frustrated.”
I turned back to my phone. “Who is she?”
“I can’t remember her name, but she is always at these press conferences. Look.” Micca nodded towards her phone. “Every time she is on the screen, her face is full of need. She has wanted the king since he first came into power and she was new on the circuit.”
“Ew.” He was a child.