Chapter 216

Three days after my fight with Andrew, I sat at my dining table at 3 p.m. with a bowl of cereal in front of me. My robe hung limply around me, and my pajamas had become like a second skin. I could use a shower, but I didn’t care; I didn’t care about a lot lately.

I hadn’t talked to anyone since my last text to Lily. I had ignored text after text, call after call, and I knew that I had worried a lot of people, but I couldn’t find it in me to return any of their messages. My heart hurt too much.

I spooned the cold cereal into my mouth. It tasted bland on my tongue, and I almost wanted to gag. All I had eaten since the fight was cereal and peanut butter sandwiches, but I could not get myself to make anything else; the very thought of food repulsed me.

I forced myself to eat more. I knew that I had to eat for my health, but I did not want to. I did not want to do much of anything.

“Crystal?” Jeffrey asked as he approached the table.

He had insisted on keeping his rounds inside the house since the fight. I supposed that with the way I had been behaving that I didn’t blame him. Still, I wished that I could just be alone.

“Yes?” I asked, reluctantly looking up at him.

“Don’t you think that it’s time that you reached out to Andrew and talked to him about what happened?”

I shook my head and turned back to my cereal.

“Why not?”

“He cheated on me, Jeffrey. I don’t want anything to do with him.” My heart ached even as I said this.

“I don’t think that he cheated on you,” Jeffrey said. “I think it was all just a big misunderstanding.”

My grip on my spoon tightened.

“Of course, you would think that. He’s your boss and your friend.”

Jeffrey hesitated.

“Yes, but you’re my friend, too.”

A single tear trickled down my cheek. I was not accustomed to Jeffrey calling me his friend.

“I care about you just as I care about Andrew, and I can’t stand to see you this way.”

“Then take your rounds back outside.”

“I’m needed in here most right now.”

I slammed my spoon on the table and turned to face him.

“Why?” I snapped. “I didn’t ask you to come in here! I certainly didn’t ask you to butt into my personal life!”

Jeffrey seemed momentarily taken aback, but he did not back down.

“You need to talk to Andrew,” he insisted. “Your relationship isn’t irreparable.”

I sniffled and wiped my eyes with the back of my hand.

“You didn’t see what I saw, Jeffrey. You didn’t see how close they were or when Andrew took off his shirt…”

Jeffrey held his hands up placatingly and shook his head.

“No, I didn’t see any of that. I don’t know the entire situation. However, I do know that you love Andrew and that Andrew loves you.”

His eyes met mine with an oddly gentle intensity that I had never seen in him before.

“Isn’t that worth fighting for?”

My mind whirled with conflicting emotions. My hand clenched into a fist, and I turned my head away from Jeffrey.

“I can’t,” I said. “I just…can’t.”

I ran off to my bedroom and slammed the door behind me.

Andrew had been working from home for the past few days, anything to avoid face-to-face contact with his advisors and the Werewolf Council. After his fight with Crystal, he didn’t want to see any of the people who had helped weaken his relationship. He much preferred the peace and solitude of his home office.

Unfortunately, he could not escape the outside world even there.

A knock on the door broke through his reverie. His spine stiffened, and he momentarily considered sending whoever it was away. Then he remembered his duties as Alpha King and sighed.

“Come in,” Andrew called out reluctantly.

Parker opened the door. Behind him followed Head Wolf/Beta Antoine and Andrew’s top advisor Michael.

“Your Highness, Head Wolf Antoine and your head advisor Michael are here to see you,” Parker announced.

Andrew’s eyes landed on Head Wolf Antoine and Michael briefly. Then he looked at Parker and nodded.

“Let them in,” he said. “Make sure that we are not disturbed.”

“Of course, Your Highness.”

Parker bowed first to Andrew, then to Head Wolf Antoine and Michael before leaving the room, closing the door behind him.

Andrew’s gaze settled on Head Wolf Antoine and Michael. He gestured for them to take a seat opposite him.

“Please, have a seat,” he said, trying to remain as cordial as possible.

“Thank you, Your Highness,” Michael said as Head Wolf Antoine gave a nod of agreement.

The two werewolves took their seats.

“So, why have you graced me with your presence today?” Andrew asked. He twined his fingers together on the desk, waiting their response.

Head Wolf Antoine glanced at Michael, indicating for him to begin.

“Well, Your Highness, we heard about your unfortunate disagreement with Crystal Blanchard,” Michael began. “We thought that now might be a good time for us to revisit the option in which you cut ties with Crystal—“

“I told you, I am not breaking up with Crystal,” Andrew growled through clenched teeth, trying his best to not lose his temper.

“It would be in everyone’s best interest,” Michael insisted, “and with Princess Aurora showing promise as a marriage candidate—“

‘Princess Aurora is nothing of the sort to me!”

“Well, neither is Crystal!” Headl Wolf Antoine challenged, his hand digging into the arm of his chair. “She is certainly not Luna material!”

Andrew’s neck and jaw tensed. His brows furrowed, and he sneered at Head Wolf Antoine maliciously.

“What exactly do you mean by that? She is Luna material if I say that she is.”

If Head Wolf Antoine was intimidated by Andrew, he did not show it. Instead, he held himself straighter and looked Andrew straight in the eye. He matched Andrew’s sneer with one of his own and did not appear ready to back down any time soon.

“You’re blinded by infatuation,” Head Wolf Antoine said through gritted teeth. “Crystal has a criminal record. She nearly destroyed your reelection campaign, she got your son-in-law arrested for a crime that she might have committed, and she’s distracted you from your duties since the day that you met.”

Andrew huffed an angry breath out through his nose but did not say a thing.

“On top of it all, she’s a seductress with multiple men on the line. I don’t know how many different ways we have to warn you about her, but this is the last straw. You have a much more suitable Luna candidate right here begging you to have her, and you won’t do anything about it.”

Head Wolf Antoine shook his head.

“All for this…trollop.”

Andrew’s face grew scarlet. His arm muscles tensed as he lifted his hands up and slammed them back down on the desk. He jumped to his feet, glaring at Head Wolf Antoine and Michael.

“How dare you!” he exclaimed. “Crystal is a wonderful woman, and you two are blinded by prejudice for not seeing that.”

He stomped over to the double doors of his office and pushed them open.

“Now, I want you both out of here at once!”

“But, Your Highness,” Michael began, “Crystal—“

“Now!”

Andrew’s voice echoed through the home office and down the hall, causing several servants to stick their heads out of various doors. Parker motioned for them to go back to their duties, and they silently obeyed.

At the sound of Andrew’s commanding voice, Michael rushed out the door. Head Wolf Antoine, on the other hand, slowly stood up and strolled toward the door, his gaze never leaving Andrew’s.

“Mark my word, Andrew, Crystal will be the end of your political career,” Head Wolf Antoine said as he passed by the Alpha King.

Andrew closed the door behind Head Wolf Antoine and returned to his desk. He sat down in his chair, his forehead in his hand, as he thought over Head Wolf Antoine’s final words.

Maybe that’s what I want, he thought.