Chapter 137

A few hours later, Andrew and I lay in bed together, exhausted from our lovemaking. We both rested on our backs, Andrew’s arm protectively wrapped around me with his hand resting on my stomach. I laced my fingers through his, contentedly holding his hand.

“You always know how to make me feel better,” he said through his panting.

I grinned.

“Well, I’ve found that most men feel better after sex.”

Andrew chuckled.

“That’s not what I mean.”

“Then what?”

“I mean…you know exactly what to say to make feel better when I’m down. No one has ever really bothered to try doing that for me before.”

I blushed at his admission.

“I’m sure that’s not true.”

“It is. Everyone cares more about what I can do for them as Alpha King than how I am doing. Even Lisa, bless her heart, seems more concerned with her parties and all the social obligations of being a ‘princess’ than how her father is feeling.”

He threw his free arm over his eyes.

“She’s even chosen another potential Alpha King, one more likely to win, over her father. What does that say about what she thinks regarding my feelings?”

I ran my thumb over his in a soothing motion.

“I know that it might not feel like it, but in her own way, Lisa cares about you. She’s your daughter, after all. How hard she’s tried to break us up proves that.”

“If that were the measure of how much someone cares about me, then you could say that my advisors and the Werewolf Council care a lot about me, too.”

I rolled my eyes.

“I wouldn’t go that far.”

“Exactly. Neither would I.”

Andrew sighed and rubbed his chin.

“You know, my advisors and the Werewolf Council don’t think that I’m going to win the reelection.”

I shot up into a sitting position.

“What?”

Andrew sat up beside me, his back against the pillows and headboard.

“It’s true. Even if I break up with you, they think that my reputation has been damaged irreparably and that I’ll never catch up to Bob in the polls, especially after my admission about my three Lunas.”

Internally, I cringed. This was all my fault. Andrew could lose his title not only because we were dating but because he had taken my advice.

“I’m so sorry,” I said.

“I’m not. I’m not even sure if I want to win this election anymore.”

My eyebrows shot up.

“What? Why?”

“Look at everything that’s gone on in my life because I’m Alpha King. People won’t let me date the woman I love just because they don’t approve of her. The cause that I stand for the most has almost gotten us both killed.”

He scrubbed his hand over his face.

“Just running for reelection has widened the gap between my daughter and me. Why would I want to be put in a position that could either tear me apart from my loved ones or get them killed?”

I had to admit that Andrew had a point. When you put all that together, Alpha King sounded like the job from Hell.

A part of me wanted to tell him to just quit the race if the position made him so miserable. After all, what job was worth your sanity, your life, or the lives of the people you loved? It seemed like a raw deal, especially when people didn’t appreciate everything that you did.

Another part of me, though, knew that I couldn’t encourage him to give up on the position that he was practically born for. I certainly couldn’t let him bow out to let Bob win. I couldn’t imagine the kind of Alpha King that he would become.

I raised Andrew’s hand to my lips and kissed it gently.

“Andrew, you can’t give up. Not yet. You can still win.”

“Not if I quit.”

“You can’t quit on your constituents.”

Andrew huffed.

“Haven’t you seen my poll numbers? They’ve obviously quit on me.”

I ran my hand through my hair, trying to figure out what would get him to see what was right. Then an idea hit me.

“Remember that human terrorist attack? The one at the werewolf community center where I used to take self-defense classes?” I asked.

Andrew arched his brow at me.

“Yes, but why do you bring that up?”

“Do you honestly think that someone like Bob could handle a situation like that? Do you think that he could have gotten as many people out of that situation alive as you did? Do you think that he could disarm a terrorist, deescalate a riot, or save injured werewolves and hybrids like you have?”

“No, I suppose not.”

“Then who’s going to do that if Bob becomes Alpha King?”

“We have the Werewolf Council and the Lycanthrope Guard—”

“And how much blood do you think would be shed if they handled situations like that instead of you?”

Andrew stared off in front of him, deep in thought.

“The riots were a bloodbath by the time I got there,” he admitted, “and not all of the bloodshed was caused by the rioters. The Lycanthrope Guard, they ignored orders to handle things peacefully and to not hurt the rioters. A lot of rioters, especially the humans, were injured by the Lycanthrope Guard.”

He took a deep breath.

“If I hadn’t gotten there when I did and taken charge, I don’t know how many people would have ended up dead.”

I cupped his cheek in my hand, and he turned to face me. His eyes seemed sad, but his shield was not quite down. His pride would not allow that to happen.

“I am so sorry,” I said. “You shouldn’t have had to face that, but you salvaged that situation when no one else could have. Do you really want to something like that to happen again?”

“Of course not. No one in their right mind would.”

“Then you can’t leave the Alpha King position to anyone else. Only you have the vision, the compassion, and the authority to lead werewolf kind to a brighter future. You must be Alpha King, for our future.”

Andrew seemed to contemplate my words, then nodded firmly.

“You’re right, Crystal. As always.”

He stroked my hair affectionately, then sighed.

“I just wished that I could focus on my own needs for once. I wished that I could feel normal again, for just one night. Just one night when I could be with you and forget that I have all these responsibilities for a while.”

He rubbed his eyes with his thumb and forefinger.

“But I can’t. Not if I’m going to carry the future of werewolf kind.”

“You still deserve some time to yourself, sometimes. Everyone needs to recharge at some point, if for no other reason than to keep themselves sharp for the tasks that they have to face.”

“Some of us just can’t do that.”

I smiled.

“I don’t think that’s true.” I grabbed him by the hand and started pulling him out of bed, making him let out an oof. “What you need is to get some dinner out, just the two of us.”

I winked at him.

“We’ll leave the guards at home.”