Page 40 of Royal Protector

“Me too, cher,” says Jack, lifting her hand and kissing the back. “Me too.” I absolutely agree with both of them. This has been the longest, craziest week of my entire life, and I am ready to move past it all.

Jack pulls into the hotel parking lot and parks the car. Once we’re all out of the vehicle, he locks it and takes Anna’s hand in his again, bringing her close to him. Antoine pauses for a brief second and then takes my hand as well.

“Are you sure?” I ask pointedly. “We’re about to walk into a room of angry Alphas who are already going to be shocked about all of this. This will just rub it in their face.”

“I’m not letting you go again,” he says, and my heart twists at the slight anguish in his voice. “Not ever.”

“Then let’s do this.” I squeeze his fingers and follow Anna and Jack towards the hotel doors.

Just before we leave the parking lot, Bastien and Himari arrive in the borrowed BMW, which I’m pretty sure he hasn’t given back to Leo yet. Bastien helps a weakened Himari out of the passenger seat, and they make their way slowly to join us, Himari leaning on Bastien for support.

“Oh, Himari,” I say, giving her a gentle hug. When I let go of her, she gives me a tiny smile.

“I’m going to be fine,” she says, her voice shaky. “It’s just going to take a few days to be myself again. But I couldn’t miss this. I want to be present for a decision regarding my own future, for once in my life.”

I couldn’t agree more. The six of us walk into the hotel and the conference room together, heads held high. To my surprise, most of the Alpha werewolves are there, many with sheepish-looking expressions. They are mingling awkwardly with the vampires once more, igniting hope that not all our progress has been lost.

That is until everyone notices us walk in, and the room goes deathly silent.

“Oh, no, none of that,” warns Jack. “Everyone sit down, and we’re going to have a proper meeting, you hear?”

There’s enough of an Alpha growl in his voice that everyone listens, hurrying to their seat without argument. We return to the table at the front for the last time, Bastien taking a chair next to Himari on Leo’s side of the table.

“As you all know, things got a little crazy here last night,” Jack drawls, his eyes tracking over everyone in the room. “And some new things came to light that proves that a lot of you were very, very wrong about each other. From now on, we think through things as a unified group. Moving forward successfully means we have to work together, no matter your previous prejudices. Is that understood?”

A few head nods and grumbled. Yeses follow his proclamation. Jack nods with satisfaction and takes his seat. “Leo, the floor is yours.”

A weary but happy looking Leo begins to speak. “This isn’t going to take long. I know many of you have flights back home this afternoon, and I don’t want you to miss them. There are three items on the agenda for today. Number one, I propose that all changes to the peace treaty and various deals agreed upon prior to the attack at the banquet move forward as planned, with implementation set for as soon as possible. Everyone who agrees, say ‘Aye.’”

The room echoes with a chorus of ‘Ayes,’ which isn’t surprising. No one wants to sit through Ephram’s mineral rights speech again.

Leo nods, making a few notes on his laptop, and then continues. “Secondly, I propose that we continue any discussions that were canceled due to the past two day’s events at a new conference in two months’ time to be held—”

His voice is drowned out by the groans and complaints of everyone in the room, but he holds up a hand to silence them. “Let me finish. To be held in Honolulu, courtesy of Alpha David, who I spoke to about this earlier today.”

The groans immediately fade away, and I can’t help but laugh. Apparently, the way to calm a room full of Alphas is to offer them a week’s vacation in Hawaii.

Leo raises an eyebrow and flashes a wicked grin. “Yeah, I thought that would get you. Everyone who agrees, say ‘Aye.’”

Once again, the Ayes rumble through the room, and Leo taps his notes on the laptop. Then, he closes the computer, and stands. “The final issue is that of our Untouchables. So many things have come to light regarding the treatment of the two women in this role. And as you know, the perpetrator of the crimes this week was the advisor of our werewolf Untouchable. Not only that, but in a shocking turn of events, both Untouchables identified their True Mates.”

Gasps sound throughout the crowd, and I clutch Antoine’s hand tighter as Leo finishes. “We are in a position to inspire change here today, change that would affect not only the lives of Himari and Isabella, Antoine and Bastien but also the future women we would have assigned to this role without a thought to the consequences they would face. Therefore, I propose we move to abolish the role of Untouchable. While I know this room only contains the American Alphas, I believe that having our support will surely convince the Global Council of the importance of this matter. All in favor, say Aye.”

The room goes silent, a chilling silence that seems to last forever. Then, from the werewolf side, I hear Buck’s voice loud and clear as he whoops out an “Aye!”

A few more are called out, and then the entire room erupts in a chorus of happy Ayes and claps. Tears stream down my face at the sheer strength of their support.

I’m going to be able to run my life on my own for the first time. I’m going to make my own choices. And my first choice is to have Antoine Landry at my side for the rest of my very happy life.

“Well, that settles that,” says Leo. “This session is adjourned. Safe travels, everyone.”

It takes another hour for us to be able to leave the hotel, because everyone wanted to come up and congratulate us for capturing Martina, or to discuss the Untouchable ruling, or even to just congratulation Antoine and me for finding each other.

By the end, we all look exhausted, and Himari is visibly flagging. Antoine grins at me and pulls out his wallet, flashing me a sight of the keycard inside.

“I’ve still got the safe room upstairs,” he says, heat darkening his eyes. “Want to go celebrate?”

“More than anything,” I say, throwing my arms around his neck. “But first, kiss me, right here in front of everyone. I want everyone to know that we are Mates, and I’m never hiding it again.”

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