Ravenna: She who struck back

Chapter 9: Mate or threat

/-Mael-/

"Did she say she would stay?" Korrick asked.

He had found me on my way back to the inner keep and fell into pace beside me.

I nodded once without adding anything else.

My mind was pretty much occupied and it wasn't the words that she said that I could not get out of my brain but the look that accompanied that statement of hers.

There was no surrender, no relief, just a frost.

Her gaze was measured, almost calculating.

I wanted to ask her what it meant and tried to feel through the bond for an answer but I got nothing.

Even till now, I didn't know her name.

I should have asked, could have asked but I didn't. A part of me wanted her to tell me herself and I listened to that part.

Now, I could only comfort myself with the thought that she was staying back in my fortress and I could keep her within sight and that at least bought me time until I could figure out certain things.

'Like the curse and her role in...' I gave up that thought and let out an airy sigh, reaching a hand out to massage my neck instead.

"I had her escorted to a chamber," I said to Korrick, still walking ahead.

"Post two sentries at her door but make it discreet. Do not keep her under lock and no shackles either."

"Understood."

All of the council members were already present by the time I got to the council room.

My gaze landed on Eldrich first, he was one of the oldest council members next to Magnus and was also one of my Father's old companions who sought now to have his daughter be my Luna.

I expected the most opposition from him this time around.

Next to him was Magnus, good old Magnus.

Without bothering to hide the blood that stained my sleeves, I took my position on the high seat, overlooking each of them.

"My Lord," Magnus greeted after I was seated. His face lowered to my sleeves and then back to my face without much change in his expression, "Congratulations on eradicating a fraction of the rogues."

"Thank you, Magnus," I answered without much interest.

"Alpha Mael," Eldrich leaned forward, hands stretched out on the crescent table, "We heard you brought back someone from the rogue infested woodlands."

"Words travel fast."

The smile he gave me was tight-lipped, "Ears abound in Aeloria and the people are quite concerned with regards to your unmarried status."

"I take it as the truth then, that she is a rogue?" He added.

I didn't reply immediately and the silence that preceded my words pressed on, almost to a discomfiting state before my words pervaded the air, "She is a lone wolf, not a rogue."

"Forgive me Alpha," Alanna, the only female on the council interrupted, rising to her feet, "Based on my little knowledge, a lone wolf is still a wolf without a Pack. And this female you brought back, she was found in the woods, alone, that is still a rogue, is it not?"

"I strongly believe otherwise," Magnus was the one to reply to her. "I heard from the lieutenant that the king was the one to save her from the rogues. If she was prey to them, that means she is no rogue."

"How do we know that is true? What if they turned on each other?" Eldrich countered.

"She is my mate," I announced.

The room experienced a shift almost instantly.

"I'm sure some of you already know that but in case you didn't, the supposed rogue, the female that was brought back...is my mate."

"I trust you all know what this means."

"I see," Eldrich intoned after a long moment of silence where the air seemed to have dropped a few degrees, "That makes things more complicated."

"It makes nothing complicated," I corrected. "Here is the woman I have been searching for...for a really long while. The mark on my neck is enough proof of that," I pointed inwardly at the crescent shaped mark that no longer held a glow.

It had stopped, ever since I stepped away from her and that helped me determine that the mark would only glow when I was next to her.

"What happens now?" Alanna asked. "Will she be formally presented to the court and the people? Is she prepared to assume her duties as Luna?"

"She is still recovering," I answered, quite sharply.

"But she is within the fortress walls, in your chamber, there will be whispers..."

"I don't care what is being whispered Eldrich," I growled in a low tone. He was working up my nerves and I was starting to lose my grip on my emotions.

I took a deep breath to restrain them, then with a gaze solely fixated on him, I said, "Unless you are accusing my mate of a treacherous crime, mind your tone, Eldrich."

He cleared his throat and looked away and many others did the same.

Magnus knocked a fist on the table, "If I may remind us all, we are not here to discuss the arrival of the Alpha's mate and what his intentions towards her are, we are here to discuss our next move with the rogue. Alpha Mael led a direct attack on them himself and he discovered a critical fact, one we all ignored."

"The rogues are uniting," Damris finished for him, "We all know that but the issue of who will stand next to our Alpha as Luna is also critical."

"The bloodline needs to be preserved and we need to know if she will be a threat to the crown. Her strength also needs to be determined..."

"That's enough," My voice cut through his words crisply, my eyes blazing.

"She is no threat and even if she is, I will deal with it. She is under my roof now and I demand that she be accorded respect and if anyone thinks otherwise, they can voice their disagreements now."

No one spoke and the silence that followed was laced with caution.

I let out a low grunt, “Thought as much.”