Chapter 55

Daphne had been right. The first person she saw after leaving their room the day after their wedding had been Mamie. The woman had given her a knowing and teasing look and Daphne had nearly burst into flames with embarrassment. She had survived lunch and escaped the room, hoping to find something to occupy her time. She spent some time talking with the head maid and Tom about the duties expected of her and Arthur.

Her duties seemed to revolve around supporting Arthur in his duties. She hadn’t known how important that would be until she sat in on the first meeting. Two remote packs were in conflict with one another about water and land rights.

Daphne thought it made sense to share the resources, exchanging one for the other or working out some other arrangement, but the two alphas just wanted to maintain control and exclusive rights over each other or merge their packs under one leadership.

“I’m older and my family has been leading my pack since the time of His Majesty’s grandfather!” One alpha claimed. “We should merge under my banner.”

The other alpha scoffed, “That’s bullshit. You only got your position because the original family died out. Our territories were once under my family’s banner.”

Arthur let out a feral growl stopping them from bickering further. Daphne took his hand, squeezing it gently to calm him.

Arthur sat back in his chair looking at the two of them, “Your packs are too large to combine territories and you know it.”

He pulled out some parchment and set it down, “I went looking for your territories. Neither of you are descendants of the original alphas of the territories, but that doesn’t matter. The territories you have shrunk since the kingdom was established.”

The two of them frowned and looked at the map. Daphne looked at the map as well and smiled. The two territories would each have water sources via a river and land for farming if they took over the territory.

“What would it take for you to get your patrol forces up to patrolling the expanded area?”

Daphne smiled, listening to the rest of the conversation. When the alphas left with a list of things to do and an appointment to return and report on their progress, Arthur slumped in his chair.

“You did well,” Tom said. “I… hadn’t realized you went looking for the old maps.”

Arthur glanced at him, “I spent a lot of time thinking about taking on this position…”

Arthur sighed. He just never thought it would feel like he was dealing with many children. A knock sounded on the door and he sat up and looked at Daphne.

“Thank you for being here…”

She smiled, “I promise to help you keep calm. You’re doing great.”

Arthur smiled at her warmly before telling the next alpha to come in.

Weeks passed in a blur and the warmth of the summer began to give way to the cool fall. Mamie, Blade, and their son moved into the castle. Without the constant threat of rogues, Rex had agreed to part with Blade. Blade’s former position had gone to a younger woman who had no family and had been training with Blade for a long time.

Blade served as head of the castle guard and a military advisor for when Arthur wanted to implement training requirements for a pack who had fallen short. Mamie assisted Daphne with some of the initiatives she wanted to put forth like setting up schools for children in packs and setting up emergency stores that could be delivered to packs within a few days.

Mamie sighed leaning back in her seat, “It’s strange to think that it hasn’t even been a year since you and Arthur came to Sharp Armor.”

Daphne blinked and thought about it, “You’re right…”

It was a bit startling to realize how far they’d come from the time they met until now. Arthur was growing into his role as king more and more by the day. At the last meeting, he hadn’t lost his temper at all though the alphas were being immature about the increased requirements that Arthur put forth in exchange for extending their territories to the size they’d been before the fall of the royal family.

Things were going well on all fronts. Daphne looked out the window and she thought back to the man who had tried to kidnap her in the woods, worrying her lip. She tried to put the thought out of her mind, but the memory of seeing the man with her bag slung across his chest was burned in her mind.

“He wasn’t hostile,” Daphne said, lost in thought.

“What?” Mamie frowned, “Who are you talking about? Arthur?”

Daphne shook her head, “No. It’s nothing. Just babbling...”

Mamie looked at her suspiciously but nodded and handed her the parchment back, “Well, I think your plan is pretty solid, and just in time before winter comes. The harvest time will be soon.”

Daphne grinned, “Great. I’ll take it to Arthur.”

She took the parchment and went to find Arthur in his office. His head was lowered over his desk and he was grumbling to himself. His crown was tilted barely hanging onto his head. His curly hair seemed to stick up in several directions. He’d discarded the scarf and brooch around his neck and his eyes were flickering red.

He looked up and smiled, his eyes filling with relief. He dropped the pages on his desk and came around the table to pull her into her arms.

“Daphne,” he sighed. “I’m… so happy to see you.”

She chuckled, “You look at your wit’s end.”

Arthur growled and turned his head to breathe in her scent, shuddering as it calmed him. He was at his wit’s end. He’d felt his agitation start to take a violent turn just before she’d entered his study.

“Moon goddess be praised for you…”

Daphne chuckled and kissed his cheek, “Why don’t you talk to me about what’s going on? Maybe we can come up with a solution together?”

Arthur nodded and led her over to his desk. He ushered her into a chair and sat beside her pulling the pages to the other side of the table for her to see.

There was an issue with trade deliveries from the coast inland. Salt and other goods coming from the coast were being stolen or delayed by a band of thieves. The area the thieves roamed was in between three different packs and no one wanted to expand their jurisdiction to help cover the caravans coming from the coast. The alphas of those packs reported that none of their packs were big enough to expand their patrol to cover all the additional territory, but there was a town in between all three of them, but it was a human village. The alphas reported that there might be other human villages in the area as well.

“It’s incredible that they aren’t overrun with problems or haven’t moved.” Daphne said, tilting her head at the map, “Humans, in general, are terrified of werewolves and anything else that might be able to kill them easily.”

Arthur nodded, “I know, but what do you think?”

“Could you send an envoy or something to the human village?” Daphne shrugged, “I’m sure they’d appreciate a chance to have some sort of protection.”

Arthur frowned, he hadn’t thought about it since Daphne had seemed so terrified of him when they first met. She’d said so many times that entering a human village with him would cause problems for the people living there.

“Do you think they’d be receptive?”

Daphne wasn’t sure, but it was worth a shot. Humans might not be able to do much against the supernatural creatures or the thieves, but they might be agreeable to taking on some werewolves in their village for protection. There had to be wolves living in overcrowded packs that would be willing to relocate for a fresh start.

Arthur pondered it and nodded, “It’s a good idea, I think. I’ll ask Tom and the others what he thinks about it.”

He kissed her cheek, “Thanks, Daphne.”

She chuckled and removed his crown. She combed his hair with her fingers, forcing it to go in one direction before setting the crown on his head again.

“You’re welcome.”

Arthur grinned, “Is there any chance you could have lunch with—?”

Your Majesty! Arthur jolted at the sound of Blade’s voice in his mind. He had established several pack bonds since becoming king. Blade had been the first, but he’d it before. It was much different from his bond with Daphne and seemed to be flooding with anxiety.

“What’s wrong?” Daphne asked, seeing him jolt in his seat.

What’s wrong, Blade?

Vampires have attacked Sharp Armor!

Arthur opened the door and hurried down the hall.

Where are you?

In the foyer.

Daphne followed Arthur down the hall and the stairs as fast as she could until they reached where Blade was, holding the body of a young man, trying to staunch the bleeding as he lay on the floor.

“I’ve already sent for the doctor,” Blade said through a clenched jaw. “Just hold on!”

Daphne rushed forward, hearing the sound of other footsteps as the young man’s hand slipped from Blade’s shoulder to the ground.

“Jake? Jake!”

Daphne came to a stop as the last glimmer of light left the man’s eyes and he moved no more.