A Wolf's Duty (19 page)

Finally,
his inner wolf
groaned.

He could feel himself
hardening with each movement her tongue made against his own and he
rocked his hips against hers, desire and desperation making them
both oblivious to their surroundings. His lips abruptly left hers
and she groaned, instantly feeling deprived at the loss of contact.
Staring down at her he smiled, immeasurably proud at his work.
Easing forward, he placed a string of warm kisses to her neck,
nipping lightly at the skin to re-mark her. Closing her eyes to
better savour the sensation, Alex felt her hands rising of their
own volition to run though his hair and keep him in
place.

The sound of tearing
material was the only warning she received before the warm rays of
the sun were touching her exposed chest. Her eyes flew open and she
began to blush furiously beneath Tobias’ intense gaze. Resisting
the urge to cover herself, she allowed him to look his fill, her
nipples tightening painfully under his scrutiny. A fingertip ran
lightly over the exposed skin of her breast above the cup of her
bra and she felt her entire body shiver at the teasing touch, the
area between her thighs growing increasingly damp.

“Perfect,” he muttered
before his head descended and he captured a straining nipple
between his lips, sucking it into the warmth of his mouth. Despite
the layer of thin material that separated them, Alex groaned at the
sensation and he sucked harder in response. Nails lengthened into
claws as Tobias prepared to remove the offending garment from her
body despite their location, his inner wolf gaining dominance
within his mind.

“Your
highness!”

A masculine voice floated
to his ears and he felt his entire body tense in preparation for an
attack. His eyes flew open at the sound of an intruder’s voice, his
mouth leaving Alex’s flesh he turned to snarl at the voice, using
his larger body to shield Alex’s state of undress from the man’s
gaze.

Kill
him,
his wolf demanded, angry with the
unwanted intruder.

I might just
have to take your advice on that.

The dark haired Council
member trembled at the rage directed at him from his prince, but
stood his ground while studiously avoiding even glancing at his
prince’s mate. “Your highness, you’re needed in the Audience
chamber.”

“I’m busy Charles,” Tobias
snarled, surprised that he could even remember the man’s name in
his condition. His refusal to expose Alex to Charles’ gaze saving
him from having his throat ripped out.

“I can see
that.”

“You can see what?” Tobias
roared, his anger increasing at the mere suggestion.

“Nothing your highness, I
can’t see anything!” Charles backpedalled furiously. “What I meant
is that I’m aware that you’re occupied at the moment, but you
really are needed in the audience chamber to make a
judgement.”

“Go find my father
instead, have him do it.”

“He’s not on the grounds
at the moment, I’m sorry your highness but there’s no one
else.”

“It’s okay Tobias, you can
go.” Alex’s quiet statement caused him to turn instantly and regard
her with curious eyes. “We shouldn’t have been doing
this.”

He frowned. “You regret
forgiving me? Accepting my touch?”

“No, that’s not it Tobias,
what I meant is that we shouldn’t have been doing this here, it’s a
public place after all.”

“No, it’s not, this is a
private garden Xandria. It’s for you alone, no one else should be
here.”

“This is mine?” she
gasped, Charles fast becoming a distant concern.

“Of course, you can do
whatever you want to it. It was mine once and now I want you to
have it, you’ll get more joy out of it that I will.”

“Tobias,” she choked,
becoming increasingly emotional she lifted her hands to put them
around his neck and hold him in a warm embrace.

They lay there still for a
moment before Charles once again interrupted. “Your highnesses,” he
coughed.

Tobias groaned before
turning to face the man once more, his anger less evident than it
had previously been.

“Go Tobias, they clearly
need you for something.”

If I leave her
now, she might think up something else to be mad at me for, my
female’s mind works in strange ways.
“Come
with me,” he suggested.

“I can’t, you ripped my
shirt remember?”

How could I
forget?
He smiled to himself, allowing his
eyes to wander to the soft skin of her bosom. “Charles look
somewhere else.” He commanded, smiling down at Alex, reluctant to
leave the warmth of her body.

“Your highness?” Charles
inquired curiously.

“You aren’t deaf, I said
avert your damn gaze!”

Hearing the iron in
Tobias’ voice Charles was quick to follow his instructions, turning
on his heel to face the ivy covered wall.

Standing quickly, Tobias
helped Alex to her feet inwardly groaning as she gathered the torn
edges of her simple shirt to cover her chest. Removing his own
shirt he handed it to her. Momentarily shocked at the movement,
Alex found herself staring at the developed state of his golden
chest. A light layer of dark hair covered his chest, trailing off
into a heavier layer of hair that bisected his abs before
disappearing into his trousers. She felt herself growing warm at
the sight, the ache between her legs multiplying.

“Xandria?” Tobias’
concerned voice broke through the haze of desire and she found
herself taking the offered t-shirt and shrugging into it. As
expected the material swamped her, but at least she was covered
now, her body hidden from unwanted eyes.

“Your highness, may I turn
around now?” Charles inquired.

“Yes, but whatever you
interrupted me for had better be damn well important,” Tobias
grumbled, taking Alex’s hand within his and moving towards the
Audience chamber.

Chapter
Eighteen

Standing behind his seat
in the audience chamber, clothed thanks to a generous guard who had
given up his own shirt rather than allow his Prince to have an
audience shirtless, Tobias allowed his hands to rest lightly on
Alex’s shoulders concerned as to what her first real glimpse into
his world would bring. The twelve Council members sat in a
semi-circle around his larger chair, six to the left and six to the
right.

“Ilyanna Beaumont of the
Northern clan is here to seek an audience with the Prince for the
remedy of a problem.” A loud booming voice announced the small
woman before she was ushered into the chamber, three small children
who looked no older than six years clutching at her long skirt. A
small baby lay within her arms, suckling the strands of her short
black hair. One glance told Alex that the woman must be exhausted
from taking care of the children or the journey to reach here and
the dark bags under her eyes told her that she was in desperate
need of sleep. Dark brown eyes met vibrant green and Alex found
herself smiling at the woman’s determination.

Her eyes flickered from
Alex to Tobias, confusion coming over her features at the
surprising seating arrangements. “Your highness?”

“Good afternoon Mrs.
Beaumont, you’re the first outside the royal clan to see my mate,
Princess Alexandria.”

“Ilyanna,” she corrected
automatically. “Your mate?” Her eyes wandered over Alex’s frame and
she had to resist the urge to fidget.

Tobias nodded his
confirmation of the fact and Ilyanna smiled widely, her exhaustion
momentarily abated. “It’s good to know that you’ve found her after
all these decades, we were beginning to worry for you your
highness.”

“I was beginning to worry
for myself.” He chuckled, before regarding her solemnly. “What has
brought you here Ilyanna?”

“I’m having some problems
within my clan.” She sighed, continuing on before Tobias could ask
her what the problem was, evidently having kept these problems to
herself, she was anxious to get them off her chest. “Well it’s not
really my clan so much as my husband’s, well it was his clan
anyway. He’s dead now.” She sniffed to herself, a hand
absentmindedly stroking the head of one of her children. “It’s been
a few years since he died and it’s gotten to a point that I just
can’t take it anymore. I don’t understand why but the nobles of the
clan seem to have turned against us. Where once I would have
considered them family, distant family,” she amended, “but family
nonetheless, now I just see them as banes to our existence. I
managed to deal with it when they were just making life difficult
for me but now they’re trying to make life harder for my children
and I won’t stand for it. I won’t!”

“Don’t get upset mummy,”
one of the children hovering around her legs pleaded.

“What they have been doing
to you?”

Ilyanna sighed but
ploughed on. “They’ve never physically harmed me…but they snub me
in the streets, make it difficult for us to access clan funds and
badmouth me. They’ve turned their children against mine and
children can be so cruel! I won’t have another day where my
children come back from school battered and bruised. Please help us
your highness, I don’t know what else to do. I’ve exhausted all my
ideas on how to solve this problem.”

“Denying other clan
members access to clan funds is a serious accusation.”

“I know it is and I stand
by what I’ve said, all of it is true.”

“I’m sure of that Ilyanna.
I knew your husband, we were friends when we were
younger.”

“I wasn’t aware of that
your highness.”

“We grew apart
after…”
My brother died.
Tobias trailed off, unwilling to discuss why they
had grown apart. “We grew apart but that doesn’t mean I’m unwilling
to help you especially in light of what you’ve told me.”

“What will you do your
highness?”

“I’ll have the Northern
clan investigated of course, but as for you…you will join the royal
clan.”

“Your highness, I would
never presume to join your clan,” Ilyanna spluttered.

“I’m aware of that
Ilyanna, but that’s what’s going to happen. You’re worthy of
joining this clan; you came here not knowing what I would say. I
could very well have chosen not to believe you and told the nobles
of your clan. My cousin is the leader of that clan after all, which
would only have made your life more difficult. Despite your loss,
you’re trying to do what’s best for your family. That shows
bravery, courage and determination, the exact traits members of the
royal clan should have. You will join us.”

“What shall I do here your
highness? I’m not royalty.”

Join the
club,
Alex thought silently, though the
strength of emotion in those three simple words allowed Tobias to
hear them as though she had spoken them aloud.

“That’s simple, as my mate
is new to the royal clan and our ways, you can learn it
together.”

“And what of my
children?”

“Well?” Tobias whispered
in Alex’s ear. “What do you think we should do with
them?”

“What kind of a question
is that?” Alex shrieked. “If Ilyanna gets to stay then her children
obviously stay with her. They can join the royal clan thingy
too.”

“Royal clan thingy?”
Tobias muttered to himself, amazed at her language and judging from
the looks of astonishment that were etched upon the face of every
council member they were too baffled by her terminology. “Well
there you have it Ilyanna, the children stay within the clan as
well. Is that all?”

She nodded dumbly, clearly
astounded by the turn of events. Holding a hand out to Alex, Tobias
waited for her to take it before pulling her out of the chair and
making her stand. “Well if that’s all then the Princess and I shall
be on our way, we have some unfinished business to take care of.”
He turned to Charles, grinning wildly.

“Well actually your
highness, we have some other issues to discuss.” A tall, wizened
man by the name of Samuel inserted.

“You’re kidding me right?”
Tobias groaned.

“No your highness, there
are quite a few things to take care of especially as your crowning
will be taking place soon enough.” He looked pointedly at
Alex.

Becoming uncomfortable
under the older man’s scrutiny, Alex extracted her hand from
Tobias’ and moved down the small flight of stares that separated
the Council and Royalty from those they had an audience with. “I’ll
just leave you to it Tobias, I think I’ll find Maria and show
Ilyanna and the kids to their rooms. I’ll see you later.” Grabbing
Ilyanna’s hand she fled from the room.

“Thanks for nothing
Samuel.”

“You’re soon to be our
King and you have duties that you have to complete.”

“I’m well aware of that
thank you very much. Let’s just get this over with so I can get
back to my mate.”

“Your highness,” Charles
inserted. “I’m aware that you have waited longer than any other for
your mate and judging from what I witnessed, you’re well on your
way to making up, but I should think that you don’t need to be
reminded of the tradition.”