The Alpha King's Claim novel Chapter 48

The Alpha King’s Claim chapter 48 by desirenovel

Aero

It was after lunch when I decided to return to the castle. I would have been earlier if it wasn’t for the constant ache on my wrist mark. It was aching last time I was in Ehnrelil and when I arrived in my manor too. The ache was tolerable then, but it was worse last night, enough that would hinder me from getting a good night’s sleep.

The ache however subsided now the closer I was to my castle, or to be more specific, the closer I was to her. This was indeed the same when we were far from each other for the whole month: me in Phanteon while she was on Earth.

That said, I was able to finally solve one of the mark’s mysteries and that would be its fucking purpose.

I got to hand it to whoever or whatever power created the marks on our wrists. It definitely made sure we, newlyweds, stay close. In short, avoiding each other was futile.

And hell, that was obviously a problem for me. Or at least, back then.

Was Elijah’s way of desensitizing me with women working? Using Serena to be more precise?

Hmm…

Could be. Maybe.

I thought of our many encounters these past few days and they were all…should I say…tolerable.

‘You mean, wonderful,’ my lycan side corrected. I had just materialized in a hallway near the throne room and the first thing I did was to hiss inwardly in response. Well, maybe, yes, wonderful, but I could never admit that out loud, especially to a woman—no, scratch that—to that woman.

“Your Majesty, welcome back,” someone said from behind me.

I turned around and found a male servant of the castle holding up to his chin a stack of folded blankets.

“Where are you going with those things?” I asked, my brow raised.

He gave me a short bow and then answered, “To the castle courtyard, Your Majesty. Her Highness, Queen Serena, needs these badly.”

I frowned and stared at the materials feeling confused.

“What does she need the blankets for?”

“To give to the fire victims, Your Majesty,” he answered, smiling.

“Fire victims?” my forehead creased. My manor was disconnected from the world outside unless I seek out updates from my generals or the Alphas themselves report to me, so to find out that a fire broke inside my kingdom somehow surprised me. What were they doing? Why weren’t they able to report such a situation to me? Something was definitely up and I wanted to find out what that was.

“Show me,” I told the servant, maintaining a poker face.

Dutifully, he led me to the courtyard, north of the castle. I let him continue on his way while I decided to stay and watch, leaning against a ceiling-high window on the second floor. There were a number of people forming in groups outside. At first glance, I thought it looked like a disoriented flea market, but upon continued inspection, I noticed an organized system existing within the crowd.

“What the fuck is happening here?” I asked myself. I tuned in my mind link and called the attention of the person best suited to answer my questions.

‘William, I need you with me. Stat.’

‘Right away, Your Majesty,’ he answered in an instant. Minutes later, he was standing in front of me and bowing his head.

“Your Majesty, you’re back,” he said with a neutral face. Considering the circumstances—the fire and not being able to report to me—he would have been feeling anxious already, but I couldn’t sense that from him, and again, I wanted to know why.

“What the fuck is happening here?” I asked with a sharp voice.

He didn’t flinch. He was calm and collected and in a way, filled with pride?

“There was a huge fire in the market of Crelles this morning, Your Majesty. We had to vacate the victims.”

“And whose idea was it to put the fire victims in the castle courtyard?” I snapped. As king, it was my duty to ease the plight of my people. The castle was open for all in cases of emergencies, but not when there were still other places they could be sheltered.

“Her Highness, Queen Serena, Your Majesty,” William answered. He held his head up high and I was taken aback when he animatedly enumerated her good deeds. “She helped a lot during this morning’s emergency. She organized all the people’s needs and helped with caring for the wounded. She was so calm under pressure. She was stern, but very understanding too. She knew exactly what to do, Your Majesty.”

My beta was obviously impressed by her and to think he was a man who was hard to impress.

“Why was she in the market in the first place?” I asked, deciding to pick a fact that was overlooked.

“Er… I, unfortunately, don’t know, Your Majesty,” he answered, looking somewhat sheepish. As my beta, he should be well-informed. Though I didn’t specifically assign him to take care of the queen’s security, he should have at least been well-aware of her movements.

“Never mind,” I sighed and chose to look at the crowd below. “Where is she now?”

William neared the window and pointed to a roofed booth just a few meters away from where we’re at.

“She was just right there the last time I saw her, Your Majesty.”

And indeed, she was. Focusing on the booth, Serena was busily handing out food packs with a genuine smile on her face. She was accompanied by other women with the same smile too, but hands down, she out-shined them.

“Shall I call for her, Your Majesty?” William asked, looking at me.

I shook my head.

“No, let her be.”

No matter how hard I tried, the warm feeling inside me grew as I watched her tend to my people. If this was what she meant by being ‘different’, then yes, I’d agree to her. She was acting like a true luna. This was exactly the reason why my beta and my other Alphas didn’t report to me. They were in good hands after all.