Page 7 of The Bodyguard and the Alpha
Bastien
I didn’t see Electra again until she was ready to escort me to the Debate Chamber where the day’s negotiations would take place. Beast quivered inside my mind when he sensed her approach. He pushed power at me, and my senses expanded. She smelled of flowers and soap. She had washed my scent off her body. Beast snarled. Her expression was calm and serene. Her heartbeat regular. She’d locked all that emotion down again, behind the wall. The wall that I’d caused.
The way she’d run from me at breakfast brought up my own self-loathing about what I’d done. Some bright spark on my staff had decided to call her the ‘Ice Queen’. Probably she’d turned him down when he’d come onto her. The label was completely wrong for her. There was nothing cold about her at all. My little Electra was full of fire. But she hid it under a mask.
I could have shut the nickname down. I should have. But I didn’t. I had thought it would be an advantage if she got a reputation as cold.
So, I didn’t just fail to shut it down. I went one step further. I used it. In front of her. I used it with the Consul from Venezuela who was a total creep, but a creep I needed, who waseye-fucking my mate. And I had no public claim on her. If we’d bonded, if she had my bite or even if I had a public Declaration of Intent, he wouldn’t have dared make such a comment about her.
I could have done the sane thing. Tell him that talking about my staff, hell, any woman that way, was fucking unacceptable. But I didn’t take the sane route. No, I drove off the highway and over a cliff. Fucking moron that I was. In a fit of temper, insanity, I dunno what to call it, I shut him down by saying that she was an Ice Queen and wasn’t interested. It was an asshole move. Not just to her, but to any woman and it was absolutely contrary to what I believed in. Of course, I regretted it the moment the words left my mouth. Especially when I heard the gasp of breath behind me. Beast was thrashing inside his cage, roaring at me tofix it, to turn around and take her. Fuck the alliance I needed with Venezuela, my mate was more important.
But, like I always did, I tightened my defences and shut him down. Even though he was right.
I shoved the memories aside as I waited for Electra to come to my side. My Shifter bodyguards took their positions in front and behind. Her power was so rare that there were no protocols in place for a pre-cog guard, so I’d used my position as her employer to demand that she stand beside me, unless that wasn’t possible. In fact, after that clusterfuck of a dinner with the Venezuelan slimeball, I’d demanded that she be seated beside me at official functions. Having her stand behind me, while I ate and drank, scraped my insides like a blade. It was my duty to worship her, not have her stand behind me, missing meals while I feasted. I’d used the excuse that she needed to be right by my side. The closer she was to me, the better her pre-cog attuned to me.
The only thing I wanted to feast on was her.
The Debate Chamber was a large circular room with a decorated ceiling, wood panelling and red carpet. Apart from the useful feature of bullet-proof windows, the rest of the Chamber was ridiculous and pretentious. We could have had this Summit in somewhere less grand but with the position came the trappings of power. Many of the people who would be speaking today would consider a less ostentatious venue to be an insult. It served its purpose to put them in a good mood.
We took our seats. My VP, Sonya Schumacher, who was giving the first speech of the day, was already striding to the podium. I knew every word of her speech. I looked around the room, recognising most of the delegates. If Luc’s intel was correct, there was going to be a terrorist attack sometime in the next couple of days. We didn’t know if one of the delegates was involved. Of course, everyone had been screened for weapons, but that didn’t remove the threat of a magical attack. And with the theft of the journal, a magical attack was most likely. Palace security, both Shifter and Mage, were positioned around the room, ready to respond to any sign of threat.
I focused on each delegate, listening to their heartbeats. Some of the younger delegates had elevated pulses, but that could easily be explained by their excitement at being at a Summit. That excitement would soon wane. On the other hand, when I turned my attention to Max Veder, the leader of Humans First, I got no tells whatsoever. His pulse was calm, his expression almost bored. If he was behind the plans, I didn’t want to see his poker face.
My survey of the room was over well before Sonya’s speech finished, and my attention turned back to this morning and my mate.
The Ice Queen label had turned out to be a huge mistake. Not just because I’d hurt Electra’s feelings. That I could undo,even if it took time. The real headache was that every fucker who learned of it thought he could be the one to make her break. Not that she ever did anything but shut down any jerk hitting on her. Just as she’d shut me down when I’d asked her to have dinner with me on the day she’d taken the job as my guard. She’d stiffened. “I’ve worked towards this job my whole life,” she’d said. “I can’t put it at risk.”
And because I respected her skills and the point she was making—that for someone with her talents this was the pinnacle of her career—I hadn’t pushed it. I understood that because she was human, and a young woman, it was important to her that she made her own way in her career. Her pride and professionalism showed integrity and I applauded her for her standards.
But I was still a possessive asshole. All I knew was that I couldn’t have her until she said yes. And she didn’t understand that she was my mate. My attempt to give her time, to let her fall in love with me, backfired. Spectacularly. Other men thought she was available. But I wouldn’t…couldn’t… let anyone else have her either. The idiots who thought to ‘melt the Ice Queen’ didn’t deserve her. Because she rejected all of them, I didn’t have to step in. But when she went on dates outside the Palace…that was a different matter. I made sure that anyone Electra dated was taken out of the picture. Not permanently, the way Beast wanted—I wasn’t a monster— but they were encouraged not to follow up on their dates. Financial persuasion worked on all of them. Except for one. Daniel bloody Fitzpatrick. He had taken the news of his sudden return to active duty very badly. Especially when he found out that he’d been posted to Bumfuck Nowhere. He shouldn’t have touched my mate. Shouldn’t have twirled her hair in his fingers. Shouldn’t have kissed her.
He'd been unhappier when his phone was infected with a virus and all his data was corrupted. Even the stuff that was saved to the cloud. Especially her phone number.
Beast had wanted to pluck his eyes out for looking at her body, so I figure he got off easy.
There would be no more dates. It was time for my little Pixie to know that she was mine. To know that she wouldalwaysbe mine, had been mine since the moment her scent had hit my nostrils. It was time for her to wear my mark.
“Bas.” Luc’s whisper brought me back to my surroundings. “You’re growling,” he said under his breath. “Cut it out. You’re scaring the humans.”
I brought my attention back to the room. Shuffling feet. Averted eyes. The stink of fear sweat. Fuck. I had to get it together. Forcing my face into neutral lines, I projected the image of the urbane, polished politician they expected.
Heart rates slowed down. The air conditioning cleared the acrid scent of fear from the room. The faltering debate rekindled. Humans First demanded more space for development. The Shifter Nation party retaliated, arguing for reclamation of more urban land to become wilderness. It was a debate we had every time. And as always, we reached a stalemate when my Moderates party voted for no change.
Four more days of this. Why hadn’t I run off to join the circus as a child?
Although, now that I thought of it... running away presented certain possibilities. Civilised methods hadn’t worked. Perhaps it was time I took a new approach with my mate.
Lunchtime was called after the vote. Delegates filed out to the antechamber with visible relief. The space was largeenough for the hundred participants to mingle and talk strategy while servers circulated with food. Electra moved with me into the space, within arm’s reach, as always, but she could have been on the moon for how remote she’d become. Her posture was rigid. Her expression remote and impassive.
Kidnapping was starting to look good.
Out of the corner of my eye, I watched the servers move through the room offering bite-size appetisers from trays. The only advantage of being President during one of these functions when it was held in the Palace was that I could control the menu. Electra had no idea, but I’d personally approved the meal plan. If I couldn’t feed her myself as her Alpha, the least I could do was ensure that she was provided with all her favourites. There was enough food to feed an army and every single dish was one that I knew Elie liked. But she waved away the beef skewers. The mushroom arancini. The fucking smoked salmon.
On my right, Norman Somebody, I had no fucking idea of his last name, was droning on about who the fuck knows what. Even if I had been trying to pay attention, his nasally voice would have made me want to end the conversation as quickly as I could. But I smiled and listened, gritting my teeth, remembering that I needed human support for our alliance to work. Today, though. No. Just no.
“Don’t you agree, Mr President?” the man asked.
A server stopped in front of my little Pixie, offering her a selection of hot pastries.Take one. Eat something.Elie waved the server away. Beast wailed inside my head, his agony sharp like claws, raking my insides. Why wasn’t she eating? She had already skipped breakfast. She had to be hungry.
