The Alpha King's Wrath

45 Little Things...

Chris

"This is a mistake," Barron warns, leaning over the table covered in files. We've been trapped in his office for hours trying to nail down the last details for the coronation and housing all of the guests.

"That's your perspective," I reply with a shrug. He's been trying to change my mind since I named my regent but I fully expected this from him.

The day he stops second guessing my decision, hell must have frozen over.

"With all due respect, reconsider. This one perhaps, Alpha Eric of Crimson Dawn?" Barron says, sliding the file with Eric's name over to me.

"No."

"It's asking for problems appointing him," Barron complains gesturing to the Crescent Falls folder. The red cover stands out amongst the sea of brown along with one other... Still Waters.

"You'll have to trust me on this, the last thing that man wants is to be King," I laugh, picturing Kane dealing with this bullshit and bureaucracy.

'Forget Mira burning it down, he would have locked everyone inside and struck the match himself,' Cyrus snickers.

All morning we've been combing through the guest list and arrangements, not to mention the security protocols.

Mitch will be here with added council guards to supplement the Palace guards and Guardians. Aiden assures me that his warriors are up to the task and Mitch's warriors aren't needed but surprisingly Barron agrees that more security is better.

Soft knocks sound at the door, followed by Jess walking in at Barron's request. The mere sight of her makes me sigh in relief.

"I trust your preparations went better than ours?" Barron asks, raising a brow at her. Jess gracefully tucks against my side, her contact soothing Cyrus in a way I could never manage.

"Very, we're all done. Rebecca is quite the planner," Jess replies, diplomatically about Barron's mate.

'Is that your story?' I chide through our link as I place a soft kiss on her temple.

'Well, it was that or power-hungry mean girl and I didn't think he'd appreciate that,' she links back with a laugh.

"What's all this?" she asks, gesturing to the table.

"Pack information and intel for guest lists and the like," I murmur. Jess slips away, her fingers lightly brushing across the various piles before settling on Crescent Falls' red cover.

"They're all brown but these?" she lifts her golden-brown gaze to mine.

"Those are... umm," I stumble, struggling to come up with an answer that won't upset her.

"High risk," Barron offers, saying the exact wrong thing. "Yellow are medium threats, mostly rogues."

"But this is Kane and Willow's pack," she contests, furrowing her brows as she picks up the other folder and reads Still Waters. "This is our pack!" Her eyes light up as her temper rises at his assessment.

"Don't worry baby, I've already set the record straight," I assure her. But already her hackles are up as she quickly leafs through the file.

"You've been spying on us?!" she hisses, eyes locked on Barron. The air shifts as Ember claws her way to the surface, clearly considering him a threat.

"Baby, calm down," I whisper, wrapping my arms around her waist. "It's their job to keep an eye on all of the packs and watch for threats to the throne."