Chapter 18

KIAN 

The grand hall was the formal dining hall, where he wine and dine with the most important members of his pack, like the delta wolves, the council, his Beta when he had one. After Malia's death, any desire to socialize died with her, so he stopped coming to the dining hall until tonight…

He walked into the room with Xavie attached to his side, having seen how repulsed she was with the idea of pretending to be in love with him, he couldn’t wait for dinner to be over so she wouldn’t have to suffer any more of his presence. 

Everyone in the room seemed to pause once they became aware of their presence. They stood up as a sign of respect and acknowledgement, he pulled out a chair for Xavie then went to settle down next to her. Once they were seated, everyone took their seat too, he could hear the hushed conversations being whispered but pretend not to. 

Tint came in after them, after greeting everyone on the table, she sat down, her eyes moving back and forth from me to Xavie and back again. He developed the sudden urge to stab himself with his folk as an excuse to leave but he smooths the violence impulse by dishing out his food instead. 

When Xavie reached for one of the bowls to dish her own food, he stopped her by placing his hand above hers. He took the bowl instead and dished it for her, waiting until she motioned for him to stop. They smiled at each other, from the corner of his eyes he glimpsed several eyes on them and cleared his throat. He wanted to growl at them, to command them to stop looking at him but then their plan depends on getting attention from the household. 

Fucking great! 

“We are pleased you’ve decided to join us Alpha, we were right in the middle of discussing when the next Beta challenge is going to take place. Whether the war with Alpha Thane is going to happen or not, it’s high time you have a Beta again.” One member from the council side of the table spoke and even the delta wolves nodded their head in agreement. 

He could sense another pressure coming, this time he doubts he would have any foot to stand on since they are using the war as an excuse. He signed his response however, leaving Tint to translate to the others. 

“Very well, the Beta challenge can take place in my absence with my wife being the judge of the event. I will be away for a few days, attending the peace negotiations with the High council.” 

He briefly glanced at Xavie to see her eyes had even gotten bigger on her small face, his inside shook with laughter and he quickly inserted another mouthful of food into his mouth before she notices and gets even more offended. 

“Oh Kian…that’s… a very big responsibility, I have my Luna duties to worry about. Are you sure you don’t want one of the councils taking care of it?” She asked, doing the unthinkable by brushing a strand of hair out of his face. 

He jolted, like he had been shot by the unexpected gesture. He looked at Tint, leaving it to her to come up with a response because he refused to admit he lost the train of his thoughts by the unexpected gesture. Why would she do that? His gut tightened with annoyance. 

“Don’t be so humble Luna, Alpha says he trusts you to handle the challenge well in his absence.” She added a very unnecessary wink at the end of her words. 

“You make me flush.” Xavie remarks, leaning into him. 

He didn’t know what she was about to do next or care to find out because he carefully avoided it by reaching for another bowl of food. 

“Very well Alpha, the challenge shall take place whenever Luna wishes it.” The council agreed and the conversation around the table shifted. 

Xavie glanced around, probably making sure that no one around the table was paying attention to us. I guess she didn’t mind the way the servants were occasionally looking in our direction as if we were their favorite celebrity couple and they were deciding whether to approach or not. 

She brought out a journal of her own, I watched as her hand moved on the paper before she pushed it over to my side. “What the hell was that about? I don’t know the first two things about judging, I mean… look at me! My life is currently messed up because I’m not a good judge of character.” 

His mouth quivered at her words, Xavie was funny, he noted. He wrote back, “It wouldn’t look very loving if I can’t trust my wife to take care of things while I’m away, people expect you to. Luckily, the challenge isn’t only about character but fighting skills, you will be fine.” 

He made the mistake of looking at her as he passed the book back to her, Xavie was glaring at him. He had to admit, he did set her up there. Why must he suffer alone? If he’s made to do something he doesn’t like for both their sake then she should also take one for the team. Besides, he was offering her less of her presence. 

If he doesn’t go out of town by then, they will be forced to judge the events together meaning they will have to play pretend again in front of hundreds of people coming to watch the challenge. He was doing her a favour, he leaned over to grab another bowl but she seemed to misunderstand him cause she flinched back. 

Hopefully, no one saw that. 

She wrote back. “Looks like I have no choice, tell me everything I need to know about this challenge.” 

He frowned at the note, wondering how come she doesn’t know anything about the Beta challenge. The fight to determine the second in command of any pack is as old as time. He was writing back when Tint said something that made him pause. 

“Look at you two love birds, writing notes to each other at the dinner table.” She gushed loudly, bringing everyone's attention back to them. 

Kill me now! 

Xavie stood up, smiling forcefully at everyone at the table. “If you will excuse me, I’ll like to retire.” 

He also stood up, he offered Xavie his elbow and led her out of the room. She didn’t say anything until they were back in their bedroom. 

“Wow! That was tense.” She puffed, removing the accessories she had worn to dinner. 

He writes down his response then shows it to her. “Tell me about it, although I think we pulled it off. Goodnight.” 

She nodded after reading it. “You’re right, we did pull it off. And goodnight too.”

He stepped out of the bedroom after that on his way to the guest room where he usually sleeps, he bumped into Tint, guarding the door like hellhounds guarding the gate of hell. 

“Sleeping in separate bedrooms is probably what started this rumour in the first place.” She said, her voice filled with disapproval. 

She sure was taking the whole thing seriously. “I like my space, I’ll not have it intruded on by a stranger.” He signed. 

“By a stranger? You think people care? To everyone in this household and outside of it, she is your wife, your soulmate and Luna. Perhaps if you spend more time with this stranger, her presence might feel less intruding.” She shooed him back in the direction of the room he just walked out of. 

Xavie was surprised to see him but when Tint walked in after him, the surprise seemed to turn into confusion. 

“You have to share a room, I mean you shared a room on your mating night right? You should be able to do it again… for a while.” 

He looked down at Xavie' hands, she was fumbling with it nervously just like he suspected she would. He felt no need to correct Tint that they never shared the room, at least they tried to but couldn’t get any sleep until he left to the guest room, only then was he able to fall asleep. 

“Thank you Tint, we will take it from here, goodnight.” He signed, dismissing her. 

Once she was gone, he wrote to Xavie, dismissing whatever fear she had. “If we must share the bedroom then take the bed and I’ll take the floor.” 

She was still reading it when he came back with some blankets and started spreading it on the floor, she watched him silently for a while. 

“Are you sure? I have already taken your room, do you want me to take your bed too? I can sleep on the floor, believe me I’ve had lots of practice.” She chuckled. 

He didn’t know if she meant that to be funny or… regardless, he shook his head, not having the strength to write anything down. He was suddenly tired, so he grabbed one pillow from the bed and got comfortable on the floor, which seemed impossible because comfort and floor didn’t seem to fit well together. 

He heard the rustling sound of her getting under the cover, the light in the room dimmed, allowing more moonlight to reflect through the window. The room was silent, the only sound that could be heard was coming from outside, from a distance, wolves howl into the night. 

“Thank you.” He heard her say, at first he couldn’t pinpoint why she was thanking him but then he realised it might be because of the bed… Well, sleeping on the floor suddenly didn’t seem all that bad!