Queen, Alpha, Mate

Chapter 13

As I walk into the throne room, I see Rebecca standing there with her face in her hands, with her mother beside her. Face red from fury.

"How dare she demote MY daughter?" the mother screeches at the king. "Who does she even think she is?"

The king shoots her a bored look and waves me over. He ignores the Karen until I have properly joined the scene. The king turns to me.

"You weren't kidding when you told me this Rebecca was acting entitled, huh?"

I shrug and wait for them to say what they want from me. Up close, Rebecca looks more embarrassed than anything by her mother and keeps asking her under her breath to let it go and that she doesn't want more trouble. It seems she may have learned her lesson after all. The mother however, yikes. I didn't know people could scream for that long without losing their breath or voice. I know I couldn't. Her face is red and swollen, she reminds me ever so slightly of a toad.

Her gaze falls on me and with her voice high and finger raised, she storms at me. I raise an eyebrow as Marc and Marie appear and stand in front of me, keeping her at a safe distance. I still haven't spoken and look to my father.

"Beatrice, be quiet." He commands Mrs. DeCie and her voice stops in her throat. Angrily, she looks at the king. The king turns to me again.

"They've been here for an hour. Mrs. DeCie thinks it's unfair that young ms. Rebecca has been demoted to omega. Seeing as you made the decision, I'm going to let you handle it." The king rubs the skin in between his eyes and without a further word, leaves the throne room.

I make my way to the throne and sit down. I feel a little awkward up here and I'm not looking forward to dealing with this. Goodness, I wish I was back in bed cuddling with my mate.

"You have a minute to explain why you think my decision was unfair. After this minute, you stop talking and I make my decision. I'd choose my words carefully, if I were you." I tell Mrs. DeCie.

"You little brat. How dare you demote my daughter? Can't you see she's not suited for the servant lifestyle? And all because she was having a little innocent fun. I'm sure it was never her intention to harm you. She's a perfect lady and deserves only the best, not to be scrubbing dirty toilets. It's a disgrace! Besides, why are you keeping her from that handsome alpha? She deserves to be Luna of a pack of her own. She's more suited than you anyway." The woman screeches.

Her mouth zips shut, the minute is up. I turn to Rebecca. "And you? What do you think?"

She looks up at me and softly replies "I just don't want more trouble. I don't even want to be here."

Her mother looks like she's just been slapped and tries to argue with her, but of course she can't, because I'm using my alpha aura. I respond.

"You think trying to seduce my mate, calling me a bad name, spitting in my face and attacking me in the back in wolf form, while I'm in my human form, is innocent fun? The fact that you're even trying to argue with me about my decision is disgraceful. You should be happy she isn't banished or dead. At least your daughter seems to understand this. Lucky for you, I have a solution to decrease the minimum time she spends in this position. You may join her. It's your choice. Say yes and you're demoted to omega for the next one and a half month alongside your daughter. I'll revisit your roles in the castle after that time. You may also choose to let your daughter handle the consequences of her actions alone, in which case nothing changes. She will spend three months in the omega role, after which I will revisit her role in the castle. You have five minutes to decide. I do not reward entitled behaviour."

Mrs. DeCie looks at me with her face beet-red and her mouth agape. I have a feeling she didn't see this coming. This woman is used to getting her way with intimidation and screaming, but not today. I refuse to give in to that kind of childlike behaviour. The girl defied her future alpha and queen in the most blatant way possible and deserves to face some consequences nonetheless. I am very curious about what the mother will decide. I can see the wheels turning in her head. She gives me a sly glance and opens her mouth.

"I don't think so. I think we're both just going to stick to our roles as high members of the court, and there's nothing you can do about it." She says, looking mighty proud of what she just said.

I can't help it and I burst out laughing. "You do realize I actually, by birthright, get to make the decisions about who does what around here, right? The only thing I cannot do is banish you or sentence you to death, as that right remains only with my father."

I regain my composure and turn to her seriously again. "I've revised my decision. You're both to spend the next three months at least as omegas. It seems both of you need a good dose of humility and some relief of that painful sense of entitlement you both have going on. If you go against my decision, there's nothing else I can do to keep my father from banishing you and your family. Nobody wants to go rogue. You know that's the usual punishment for attempting to kill your leader, right?"

Mrs. DeCie turns even redder, but finally shuts her mouth. "Go report yourselves to Maggie for duty. Dismissed." I tell them and they walk out of the throne room with their figurative tail between their legs.

My dad walks back into the throne room, clearly, he's been observing the whole thing.

"You had that thing handled well, Diana. I'm proud of you!" I shoot him a smile accompanied by a vulgar gesture and he bursts out laughing. "I hope this will teach them some humility. They've been so incredibly rude and entitled lately. This will do them good."

My mate enters the throne room, still a little groggy. "What's all the screaming about? It woke me up. That lady was yelling obscenities at Maggie, so I told her to shut her face. Rebecca seemed pretty mellow though. Seems she learned something."

I smile at him and he wraps his arms around me.

"Now that you're both here" My father says, rubbing his hands together, "Let's talk about the mating ceremony!"