Page 45 of Knot Quite Ready

“Alpha Casemiro, although that title is heavily under question, you are to leave these lands immediately and await your punishment at your pack house, where you will be held accountable for your crimes. Although at this point, you may as well use that time to make peace with the Moon Goddess. Guards?” Harailt nods, and their guards, seemingly float out of thin air and escort the intruders out of the hall.

“Now that that unpleasantness is done, I move that we enjoy a meal together before the council announces our decision. We have been given a lot to consider, and we will discuss it amongst ourselves during our meal,” Harailt nods as he strides over to reclaim his seat. Calian smiles encouragingly at us, and I close my eyes briefly before I match his smile, nodding gratefully.

I turn to grab Aneiras’s hand and place our joined hands on her belly.

“Time for steak?” She asks, hopefully, and I laugh.

Feed the pregnant mate, then celebrate. I can do that.

Chapter23

Aneira

Aneira

Idescend on my food like a vegan osprey let loose in a meat factory- Scarily rabid. The Council’s eyes flick towards me in alarm as I growl at anyone who comes too close, except for the servers, they can keep coming. Storm sits down next to me with a sigh, “ How long are you going to be the Buffy to your steak?”

I don’t spare her a glance as I respond through bites, “As long as it takes you to swallow your Jockey’s Joy Javelin that you have the nerve to call a penis. We all know you require a wheelchair now and are using hay magic to walk upright. Calian should be brought up on charges. There is being dick whipped, and then there is being whipped by a dick.”

Calian’s eyes fly up, and he glares. Storm cackles.

“Stop talking about another man’s penis,” Casimir leans over with a scowl.

“She talked about my meat first!” I growl, “now back the fuck up or this will be the only meat near my mouth for the next few months.”

He rolls his eyes with a laugh, kissing my cheek before he turns back to Tristan, who is doing a poor job hiding his laughter.

“Thank god the worst is over, shit was stressful as fuck,” I shovel a piece of steak into my mouth and moan in appreciation.

“Jesus, if this is how you eat as a pregnant wolf, how much do you think ill eat when I eventually get pregnant?” Storm stares at me in awe.

I grab a cup of water to wash down the food in my mouth before I respond, “No idea but don’t worry, I’ll make sure we have plenty of grass for you to graze on.”

“Bitch, it better be quality grass,” she laughs, turning to her own food.

“I wonder why the other council members didn’t talk more during that cluster fuck. Although their faces said enough, they have shitty resting bitch faces,” she says around a mouthful of food. I laugh.

“Well, since Calian brought our formal introduction to the Council, and he is the head of this area, it falls to him to control the floor. Harailt, being that he is the wolf representative, would also share the responsibility, although I got the feeling that he was trying to control himself more than anything. He is having trouble with his self-control.” I frown as I looked over to their table, and the closer I look, the more I can pick up the signs of strain on Harailt’s face, the slight sag to his shoulders.

“I wonder why?” Storm asks.

Casimir leans closer to us, clearly listening in on our conversation, nosey ass. “About 25 or so years ago, Harailt lost his true mate. The fact that he didn’t succumb to depression and be put down is a fucking miracle. The stronger the shifter, the harder the fall, and that’s saying something. Even after all this time, the loss of a true mate will still affect a shifter. I think that finding out that so much has been happening under his nose, even more, so the abuse of Omega’s, doesn’t help his self-control. Then Casemiro insults a pregnant Luna, right in his face? Overall, tonight could have ended with a lot more bloodshed.”

“In all honesty, he was within his right to punish Casemiro publically, but the fact that he didn’t kill him despite his obvious blood lust was ridiculously impressive,” Tristan’s fixed gaze fell on Harialt, who was in deep discussion with the other council members. He forgets to blink for a few moments before he snaps out of it.

“You seem half in love there, Tristan,” I tease.

He rolls his eyes, “Bah…he wishes I liked men. No, I simply admire restraint in the face of adversity. It’s why I will always follow Casimir, despite his shitty father. One needs more than good fighting skills and pretty words in order to lead,” he shrugs.

Casimir smiles, “Stop flirting with me. I don’t like men either.”

“You wish I would warm your bed. I’ll have you know, my knot will change the world,” he snarks back.

Storm rolls her eyes, “Boys, boys. We all know my Alpha brings all the Mares to the yard, okay? So let’s not do this— It’s embarrassing. Back to the formalities,” she directs back at me, “if you call the meeting, the ball is in your pack. The shifter representative also has a say, then the council comes together, and they all make the final ruling. Genius, really, voices get heard instead of being drowned out, and shit gets accomplished.”

“Yeah, it was a method put in place by the Swiftwaters decades ago. Apparently, Calian’s great-grandfather lost his shit when everyone kept talking over each other and had a full-on trot attack. Since the Swiftwaters are the only original family on the council, what they say holds a lot of weight. You felt Calian’s power. Shit is unreal,” I shove Storm playfully, wiggling my eyebrows, and take another bite of my food. Okay, I shovel half a steak in my mouth and swallow with minimal chewing. Semantics.

“What the fuck ever. It just means more work for me to bring him down a peg. I admit, though, it is fucking hot,” she sighs wistfully, staring at Calian, who looks up briefly and winks at her.

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