Althena Book 2

63. Stuck In Formal

I wake up on Saturday morning and feel around bed. I'm alone. Mike got up already. I take a long shower before I make my way downstairs. The boys are lying all over the sitting room. "Good morning."

Drogon winks at me. "You look rested."

"I feel a lot better. What did we get my brother?"

Conner sits up. "I'm taking him skydiving. He'll love it. He's a thrill seeker."

"So are you, sexy."

He smiles and looks all cute.

Drogon holds open his arms for me. "We got him a private concert with his favorite band. He'll have to schedule it, but we made it happen."

"He'll love that." I sit on his lap and snuggle. "That was a good idea."

"We thought so too. Conner just had to be different."

"I'm giving it to him at the after party. Relax. It's just something extra. It doesn't even cost that much."

"I love it. And I'm sure he'll love it. That's a good gift." I wink at him.

"Let's go get some breakfast for you, babygirl."

Mike and Drogon sit at the table with me while I eat.

Lila comes running in. "Do you want to get your nails done? We're going right now."

"OK." I jump up and grab some shoes. I hop into the dining room on one foot trying to get my other shoe on. "Love you, boys. Getting my nails done. Be back soon."

"Have fun, babygirl."

I get my shoe on and run for the door. Cyrus comes in and catches me. "Careful."

I nod and kiss him. "Getting nails done. Love you. Bye." I finally run out with Lila.

We strap ourselves into her car, then she looks at me and cracks up laughing. "You kissed Cyrus and told him you loved him."

I start laughing. "I did it in front of Mike and Drogon too. I didn't even notice."

"Should we go in and make sure he's still alive?"

"He's fine. They would throw him out the window."

"The window's not broken. We're good."

She picks up Amber, then the 3 of us get our nails done. They drop me back off at 1 and keep going. I have to get ready for the royal party.

The boys help me, and we make it to the palace at 4. There are a few helicopters flying around, but mine doesn't wait to land. Drogon helps me out of the helicopter and flashes start going off.

He pulls me against him. "It's like a fashion show. They want to know who's here." He waves at a few photographers and I smile.

"At least I'm fancy."

"You're beautiful, babygirl." He leads me into the ballroom.

The place is packed full of people in the fanciest clothes. The men are in suits and the women are in designer dresses. "Maybe I'm not dressed up enough."

"People are trying to impress us, woman. Let them." He kisses my head.

"This is supposed to be about Clayton."

"Nothing is ever what it seems. People always have agendas. They use anything they can as a reason to get close to us. Even a kids' birthday party."

"I'm sure he won't mind. He'll get extra presents."

Drogon smirks. "And he'll remember the people who give the best gifts. He may do favors for them after he takes the throne. That's what they're hoping, anyway."

"That's ridiculous."

"That's the way this works, baby."

"King Winter. Lovely to see you. Have you thought anymore about the grant for the fire department in the Religion District?"

Drogon shakes his head. "Not today. Today is for Clayton."

"Of course." The man roams away.

I snuggle into his side. "He didn't even try to hide it."

"Some won't. Some will. Some are just trying to get us to remember them. If we remember them, we're more likely to acknowledge them in the future."

"You're getting good at this."

"Sink or swim." He kisses my head.

"Queen Sage, I love those shoes."

"Thank you..."

"I'm Luna Nesba Chatt from the Ash Pack in the Docks District."

"It's lovely to meet you, Luna Chatt."

"Oh please, call me Nesba." She grabs a couple glasses of champagne from a waiter and hands me one. "Have you seen the docks yet?"

"No, I have not. There are so many places I haven't seen yet. I would like to do that sometime."

"Every month, on the third Thursday, there is the monthly yacht show. People sail in from everywhere. The boats are beautiful. There is a floating stage, and we put on live entertainment. It is phenomenal. Everyone loves it."

"We'll have to come check that out. It sounds like fun."

"It is. Let me know when you arrive. We have VIP seating for everything, of course."

"Thank you. I will."

She smiles and walks away.

Drogon kisses my head. "They're trying to get money for the docks."

"Would still be neat to see the show."

He smiles and nods. "And if the queen wants to give them money to improve something, the king will surely give in."

I smirk. "Well, yea. The queen gets what the queen wants."

"Exactly. Alpha Chatt has sent his mate to capture the queen's attention. He'll make his move for money at a later time. Hopefully, you bring it up when we visit."

I giggle. "These people are smart."

"Yep. They didn't get here by being stupid. We have to be 1 step ahead though."

"Boy." Drogon's dad runs up to us. "Your mother went out and bought you a present. I told her not here. Do not let her give it to you here. This is not your birthday party. If she tries, do not open it. That woman spent a massive amount of money on it. I can't believe she did that. She didn't even ask what I thought." He stomps off before Drogon says anything.

"I wonder what she got you."

"Who knows? We'll find out soon enough."

"King Winter. Nice to see you again."

Drogon shakes a man's hand.

Then I wiggle and try not to jump up and down. "What, baby?"

"They gave me the Crystal Fiction tickets."

The man and his mate laugh. She smiles at me. "Yes, those were from us. We saw footage of you on the news. It seemed like you had fun."

"I did, thank you. That was the best present. I loved that. It was so much fun." I hug Drogon and smile.

Drogon nods. "Alpha Armad from the Wraith Division correct?"

"Yes, sir."

"Could you come into my office on Monday morning?"

"Of course. I'll be there."

"Thank you."

Drogon leads me towards Clayton. "What's the Wraith Division?"

"Packs have their own hierarchy set up. Alpha, beta, delta, and so on. The throne is different. It's not set up like a pack. We have our own security, police, informants, advisors, lawyers, the throne has its own everything. The Wraith Division is the police of the throne. They do normal police things."

"Like my security guards?"

"No. That's a different division. Security and bodyguards are our special forces division."

"Sounds confusing."

"It's not so bad once you see it on paper. There are 15 divisions. Each of them handles their own things."

"Why do you need him in your office?"

"The chairman of the Wraith Division is going to announce his retirement soon. I need to replace him."

"Chairman?"

"Advisor. Armad is the obvious choice to replace him. He's run a large part of the Wraith Division in Darkburn for the last 10 years. I want to talk to him and see what he thinks about becoming the chairman of the division."

"So, all your advisors are chairmen of a certain division?"

"Yes."

"That's really smart."

He chuckles. "Yea, your father was a smart man. He set it up like that. He also has the beta and delta of Darkmoon as advisors."

"Who are they?"

"Beta Seako. The Delta is Clayton. When your dad died, Conner placed Clayton as Delta. It wasn't supposed to happen until he was 18, but it gives him rank status in Darkmoon, and he can be at all the advisor meetings this way. Since he's the future king, we don't want him left out or not knowing what is going on. We don't give him any real work to do. He needs to finish school too."

"That makes sense. And he can watch and learn from you guys."

"Exactly. Your dad didn't really include him in the day-to-day operations, so he's still learning a lot by doing it this way."

We finally make it up to Clayton and Mary hugs me. "So lovely you could join us."

"I couldn't skip it. He's my brother."

Mary laughs. "Sorry, I'm stuck in formal mode."

Drogon nods. "Same. I was about to tell you how lovely the place looks."

Clayton rubs his face. "I wish I could skip it."

"I'm sorry you have to sit through all this." I shrug my shoulders. "At least you're getting presents."

"Oh yeah, I got the VIP box for a concert in a couple of months. I want to go shopping again. Can you make Chris come?"

"I can't make Chris do s**t. I'll ask and see what he says."

Drogon puts his arm around me. "If it's in the summer, he'll probably be here."

"I think it's in June. We need some damn drama here. Go kiss someone or something."

I look at Cyrus and Drogon holds me tighter. "Don't even."

Clayton laughs. "Oh, I told people they could go to the boat at 6. Monte said he'd be there."

"That's fine."

Mary comes back and smiles. "He has to talk to other people now."

Clayton cracks up laughing. "You might want to turn the formal back on, mom."

"Happy Birthday Clayton. We'll get out of your way." Drogon pulls me with him.

"Did we give him his present?"

"Some people hand them to him. Most sit them on the table. I don't know what Mike did. He has it."

"He can figure it out then. I have to pee."

He laughs and kisses my head. "I love you, woman. The girls' washroom is over there."

I feel like I pee for 2 minutes straight. I really had to go. Then I hear someone crying. I step out and Luna Armad is trying to pull it together at the mirror. "What's wrong?"

"Is my mate getting fired for the docks incident? I can't think of another reason the king would need to speak to him. He's put his life into this job. I can't..."

"No. The chairman of the Wraith Division is planning his retirement. Drogon wants to get your mates' thoughts about taking the spot. He said Alpha Armad is the obvious choice to replace him."

She stares at me with her mouth open while I wash my hands.

"Don't say anything. He hasn't announced his retirement yet. And Drogon is just getting his thoughts together. It's not a job offer yet either. They're just going to talk."

"Of course." That seems to snap her out of it. "Thank you. I was so worried."

"Glad I could help." I step out, and a woman dressed like a million dollars compliments my necklace. The next one compliments my shoes. Then I finally get back to Drogon. "Next time, be closer to the bathroom."

He chuckles and puts his arm around me. We spend the next hour letting people try to get our attention. Then we have a nice dinner. Finally, Clayton makes a speech, and thanks everyone for coming.