Chapter 225

A growl rumbles from the back of Caleb’s throat. With his arm wrapped firmly around me, he leads me the rest of the way down the stairs where we approach Gladys directly.

“Ah, the guests of the hour,” Gladys says with a humored smirk. “Please, make yourselves at home. Do the rounds, meet the other guests. The main event will not begin until it is fully dark outside.”

“Harper cannot participate in a hunt,” Caleb growls.

Gladys glances at him in surprise. “Why ever not? All are welcome.”

“You know why not,” Caleb snaps quietly. “She is human.”

“Oh,” she says, almost in a bored kind of way. She looks at me with clear disdain. “I forgot.”

I don’t believe her and likely neither does Caleb.

“She will need to sit out this event, and I will sit out with her,” Caleb says.

“Nonsense,” Gladys replies. “She can still participate.”

“She’s human.”

“And you’ll protect you won’t you?” Gladys asks him, lifting one brow.

Caleb straightens a little. She clearly hit him where it hurts, questioning his ability to protect me.

Traipsing through a pitch-black forest in unfamiliar pack lands where many wolves are not loyal to Caleb does not sound like my idea of a good time. But, I do trust Caleb to keep me safe, even here, even surrounded by enemies.

I look at him, ready to defer to his judgement on the matter. With how tense his jawline is, I anticipate a rejection any moment now.

“Don’t decide right away,” Gladys says quickly, perhaps seeing it too. “Mingle. Have a drink or two and some hors d'oeuvres. Enjoy your evening, and this party for you. When it’s time for the hunt, you can decide what you will.”

A muscle on Caleb’s jaw ticked. His dislike of this scenario is clear, yet his manners win out. “Fine.”

Gladys smiles wider, pleased.

With his hand still around my waist, Caleb leads me away from our hostess and towards one corner of the room. His body remains tense, like he is preparing for someone to attack us.

At first the other guests look at us with curiosity but give us a wide berth, likely because of Caleb’s death glare. But then, slowly, those curious guests start to move closer and closer, until some come right up to us.

First are a pair of men, one thin and the other less so. The thin one was balding but the other had a head full of long hair.

The heavier man immediately dipped his head in respect toward Caleb and then toward me. “Alpha King. Consort. My name is Clint, and this is my brother Parker. It is a pleasure to meet you both.”

Parker did not bow, his dislike of Caleb and I clear on his face as he looked at us both. Caleb looked coolly back at him, while subtly pulling me a little closer to his side.

“You don’t often make visits out this way, King Caleb,” Parker says. “We were surprised to find that you would bother yourself to visit us at last.”

“Parker,” Clint shushes lightly.

Parker ignores his brother. “The people out here have come to think that you have forgotten about them.”

Caleb lifts his chin. “In the past, I have depended too much on the word of the pack Alphas and my advisors to convey to me the problems my people were suffering. Now, I prefer to see with my own eyes and hear with my own ears.”

“King Caleb has even started allowing commoners into the court,” I say, eager to defend the man I love.

“How magnanimous,” Parker says with obvious disgust.

“Parker,” Clint says more firmly.

“Whatever,” Parker huffs and turns away. It’s rude to storm away like that without offering acknowledgement to the King, but Parker doesn’t seem to care about decorum at all.

Clint, however, bows low. “Forgive him, King Caleb. He’s taken things hard since our father passed. He’s become far to entrenched in local politics. If you will excuse me.”

Clint hurries away.

With the pair of the brothers gone, a couple approaches. An older man introduces himself as Elmer and his wife Cherise. Cherise is obviously quite a few years younger than Elmer, but neither of the pair seem to mind.

“It’s good to see you finally coming out this way,” Elmer says. “Though you should have been here years ago.”

“I’m here now,” Caleb says.

“Too late,” Elmer says.

It’s strange to me, seeing these people express their open dislike of Caleb to his face. In court, everything is subterfuge and deception, never truly saying what you mean. Here, perhaps because the majority seem to dislike Caleb, they are more open in expressing their opinion.

“It might have been better for you to stay in your capital, King Caleb,” Elmer continues. “You will find few friends here. In fact, it would probably be best for you to take your… consort… away from here as soon as possible.”

“I will not be threatened,” Caleb says, his voice dropping dangerously low. “Nor will I allow any insult to besmirch my consort’s good name.”

“Then you truly have come to the wrong place,” Elmer says. “The only person in this room who does not hate you, other than the woman beside you, is Clint. Yet, when the time comes, even he will fall in line rather than turn on his family and friends.”

Caleb starts to growl.

“You are alone here, your highness. Do not forget it.” With that, Elmer turns his back on us, escorting his young wife away.

Caleb’s hands curl. He takes a step forward. Placing my hand on his chest, I hold him back. He could physically overpower me and do whatever he wants to these people. We both know that. Yet he holds himself back solely at my request.

This is a gift he gives me. The power of his love for me.

He will not just cast me aside.

“Not here,” I tell him.

“They deserve death,” Caleb replies.

Offending the king is a mortal offense. At least, it would be in the capital. But we are far from the capital, and unless we want an open bloodbath, Caleb needs to hold himself back and turn the other cheek this time.

My resolve hardens when I hear the chiming laughter of children. Turning my head, I see a group of them running circles around the drink table, each being lightly scolded by a mother or nanny. The children are ignoring her though, laughing and playing…

At first, I think they are playing tag. But perhaps they are mimicking the hunt.

“Not in front of the children,” I whisper.

He glances, following my gaze to the young pups playing. Marginally, his body starts to relax.

There’s another matter too. “Not before we’ve found Bethany.”

I am still filled with worry over her disappearance. Caleb might think she ran off for some fun with Cameron, but I’m not so sure. She wouldn’t just disappear, not without telling me where she was going.

Actually, “Perhaps the hunt is the perfect time for me to explore the library,” I say. “You can go with the others and distract them. While I’m here, I can –”

Caleb, glaring at me, immediately snaps, “I will not leave you alone.”