Darius
"I'm still waiting. If you've got nothing better to talk about, then I have something better doing with my time."
The room had been dead silent since I almost strangled an elder. They all look scared, scared not to say anything that might cause me to flare up like that again.
"Your Highness…" one started, clearing his throat while looking round the table at the others before his eyes finally settled on me. "You should understand our concerns. We are concerned for the people and their trust in us. If they all end up dead because of lack of negligence, who would you rule?"
I was silent for a few seconds as I held his gaze. He's brave, I'd dice him that.
"Your point exactly?" I asked again and this time another one took it from him.
"As Helene said earlier," he started, referring to the female elder that spoke earlier. "The council of elders exist to give advice to the alpha king. We're only here to lay our concerns and give you advice."
My finger tapped on the side of my head as I listened to him, seeing every reason he was giving. Until another opened his mouth and thwarted the whole thing.
"We crowned you because you believed you were capable of leading the packs collectively as a strong leader. If we feel like our people's safety is threatened, then that threatens your crown also."
Murmurs rang through the walls of the throne room as I gritted my teeth, my chest heaving heavily in pure anger.
"Eugene…" one tried to caution the big mouth bastard, but he only cut him off.
"What? If you're all scared to say it, then I will. We are the council of elders, we have that right over the throne. We've seen centuries of kings before him, wars that he's never seen. He has no right to address us as though we were his pups!"
His anger was clear in his words, even clearer in the veins that popped on his head and neck when he spoke.
"Why don't you come take it and put it on instead?"
My tone came off low but when I spoke, the whole room went quiet and the weight of my words pressed heavily on the room. I reached towards the stool close to the throne that held the crown and picked it up, stretching it towards Elder Eugene.
"What? You just realised heavy lies the head that wears the crown? If it was that easy of a position to maintain, why don't one of you occupy the seat?"
As I spoke, my anger rolled off heavily in a condescending aura and I could do nothing to hold it back.
"You all might have seen centuries I never saw, but that doesn't change the fact that you answer to me! It doesn't change the fact that I'm the best fit for the throne and I've done it for decades! Successfully!"
I stood up, every eye in the room following my movements. I could smell the fear in the room as they all kept their gaze locked on me, following my every move.
"First, you call a meeting, in my own throne room, in my own house, without my knowledge. And now you tell me I'm incapable, unfit for the same seat you all begged me to take?..." I scoffed, shaking my head as I trailed my legs behind their seats. "Fucking hypocrites.." I whispered loud enough for those close to me to hear.
I continued walking, until I stopped at the seat that held Elder Eugene. Placing my hand at the top of his chest, I leaned forward.
"You're all lucky I'm in a disposable mood this afternoon. Get out of my house. And the next time someone questions my capability, I'll have their heads for treason."
As I said my last words, I turned to look at him, and his eyes met mine. Fear coated his pupils, but he was quick to mask it.
Without another word, I turned around and walked out of the throne room, Rafe's footsteps sounding closely behind mine.
"Alpha.." Rafe spoke, drawing my attention the moment we were in the four walls of my study.
"What do you want?"
The hostility in my tone was too visible to miss. So instead of giving me a straight answer, he cleared his throat, bowed his head and asked softly.
"Permission to speak freely?"
I held his gaze for a few seconds while trying to guess what was going on in his head. To no avail.
"Permission granted."
"You know they're right…" he said more like a statement than a question. But I was in no mood for the game he was pitching to play.
"Get straight to the point, Rafe, I'm tired of having pointless conversations today."
"People are dying, Darius, all the scouts we've sent to sort out the problem all come back dead and we're yet to find a solution. The people are beginning to lose trust in their king and Seraphine is not helping matters either."
Rafe only called me by my name when he wanted to pull the "friend" card. Rafe and I were really close, we grew up together. He was one of the reasons why I didn't bother choosing a delta. He was able to do both jobs without having a hitch.
"They're not wrong to be worried, even I am worried. We need a solution, we need you to act as our king or these rogues would keep pushing into our territories and killing our loved ones."
I let out a sigh, gnashing my teeth in frustration. It was only now did I see how desperate the situation was. I ran my fingers through my hair, thinking of a possible solution to the problem that has been eating me for weeks.
I finally came up with one solution as I leaned onto my desk to give out the instruction
s.
"Send out scouts again, this time not to fight, but to invite. Let's meet with this 'silver queen's."