Althena

50. Royal Party

People clear out quickly. Dad crosses his arms. "What the hell was that?"

"He beats his woman." Clayton pulls up a seat. "We were on the balcony."

"I felt the aura's in here."

"That was me. I knocked him on his ass."

"Damn near threw me off the balcony." Chris sits by Clayton.

"What did he do?"

Mary smiles. "We already know the 2 of you have history. And by the way today played out, we know he wants you back."

Mike nods. "He's not going to get her back, and it pissed him off. He came after me saying I wouldn't get her. I knocked him on his ass, took off my jacket, and told him to try again. He ran away like a little bitch."

Dad nods. "He came in here and started beating his girlfriend instead."

I grab a cracker. "Why?"

"He won't win against Mike. So, he went after someone he could win against. I fear for your safety."

I can't help but laugh. "He doesn't stand a chance against me."

Dad leans on the table. "He is a future king."

I shrug my shoulders. "Doesn't matter."

He rubs his eyes. "Bullets fly fast."

Mike nods. "You're not bulletproof."

I throw my hands up. "I'll work on it."

Conner stands up. "You have already been taken and nearly beaten to death once. We're not doing that again."

"They snuck up on me."

He slams a plate down. "We witnessed him beating his own fiance. Do you think he is going to play fair? Do you think he won't try to sneak up on you? Use your head."

Storm puts his hand up. "Sit down. Nobody get mad. She needs extra protection while he's here. And the man hasn't attempted to hurt her. He only went after Mike."

I look at my hand. "Go." The ladybug flies away.

"What was that?"

"I summoned the person who has protected me for 17 years. I'm still here. You want me to have protection, it wouldn't be right to not include her."

Dad, Mary, Storm, Drogon, and Clayton jump up. A chandelier falls beside the table. I stretch my neck and turn around. "Phira."

"Sorry sweetie, old habits die hard." She looks at my dad. "I hate you."

He nods.

"What's the problem, sweetie?" She bounces my hair. Then swats the ladybug.

I hold my hand out and it lands. "They can tell you."

They go through the whole thing. Then Phira laughs because he's no match for me.

Dad rubs his face. "Bullets fly fast."

"I suppose they do." Dad's hair turns red and he grows black horns. "We'll work on making you bulletproof, sweetie."

Conner runs his hands through his hair. "Can you offer anything for now? He's in the city now."

"Well, I could make the windows bulletproof, but you don't have any. I can put enhancements on locks and walls. I can have your paintings tell you when he's close. Does he know where she lives?" Dad goes back to normal.

"No."

"That may be enough to keep him away. Make sure that it stays secret. He wouldn't dare step foot in the Mystic District. The others may be friendly with him, but we are not. The magicians stand with the future queen. He will be killed if he enters our district."

"You can't kill him for visiting." Drogon stares at her.

"Don't worry. They've been killing my father for 18 years."

Phira puts her arm around me. "Sweetie, I want so desperately to kill the man who destroyed Aurel. For 18 years, that hate has built in me. But I see you. So brave, strong, and true. I can't kill your father. I can't do that to you, no matter how much I want to. You deserve 1 parent at least. I'm only sad it's the wrong one. But I see your mother in you. I see her influence. She's still here." Then she turns to Drogon. "He will die if he steps inside the Mystic District. You have no say. No one here does. But as a favor to you, we'll make it look like an accident." Then she walks out the door.

"I guess that's what she had to say."

She yells. "GET SOME WINDOWS." Then I hear the door slam.

Everyone sits down and I rub my face. "Did I miss any drama at the party? Or was it all me?"

Clayton points at Drogon and falls off his chair laughing.

I clap. "Nice job with the chair."

Storm shakes his head. "Boy, what did you do?"

"Nothing, dad."

Then Chris loses it. "Nobody even noticed when the entire champagne tower disappeared."

"How did you make it disappear?"

Clayton climbs back up in his chair laughing. "He knocked the whole damn table over."

Chris has to stand up and collect himself. "BUT NOBODY NOTICED."

Clayton takes a deep breath. "He just walked away slowly."

Storm rubs his eyes. "We'll pay for the glasses to be replaced."

Mary smiles. "Don't worry about it. We lost a lot of glass today."

"Sorry about the tower, ma'am." Drogon stares at the table. He is embarrassed. He's a little pink. It's cute.

"I'm sorry about the windows."

Dad nods. "Will you be offering to pay for those?"

Mike shakes his head. "No."

"I didn't figure."

I smile. "You can bill them to King Dark."

"I've been meaning to tell you. You have an account. Stop billing everything directly to me. I have an entire table of people who go over expenses. They all wanted to know why I spent $600 on my hair."

I laugh so hard I have to stand up. "I NEED TO GO BUY TAMPONS NOW."

Mary spits out her drink and laughs. "They're going to be asking him why he needs 300 boxes of tampons at the meeting."

Storm looks at dad. "You have been kind of cranky lately."

Then they crack up laughing.

Mary winks at me. Then she looks at dad. "Just out of curiosity, how much are we given per month for tampons?"

"$2,000."

Mike, Conner, and Chris burst out laughing.

I shake my head. "That's way too low."

"How much would be sufficient?"

"Like $4,000. But there are other things girls need too. Like $600 was only the hair on my head."

"STOP." Dad puts his hands up. "Would 10,000 be ok?"

"Monthly. That should be fine."

"I'll increase it to $10,000 monthly for each of you. That's perfectly fine. We don't have to discuss it."

Storm nods. "I'm sure that's reasonable."

Mary is doing her best not to laugh. She's staring out the window. I have to lay my head down so I don't die laughing. The servants run back to the kitchen.

Clayton sits up. "I have hair too."

"Boy, buy a razor. They cost $4."

I fall off my chair laughing.

"Good job with the chair." Clayton claps for me.

Mike puts me back in the chair. Then he rubs his eyes. "That's enough talking about pubic hair. Let's move on."

Chris throws his hands up. "It is expensive to get waxed. They are not lying."

"Fine." Dad shakes his head. "$2,000 a month for boy things. I think that's ridiculous, but I'm not going to argue if you want to rip the hair out of your balls."

Storm nods. "Kids today are different. Drogon keeps..."

"DAD NO."

I wipe my eyes off. "I really wanted to hear that."

Conner smirks. "You can't start a thought and not finish it like that."

"Oh, I better not. Around a girl and all."

Dad nods. "Let's move on."

"Prince Cyrus Stone is here, sir."

"He can come in."

He comes in and sees us all. Then he smiles at me and takes my hand. "I don't mean to interrupt."

"You're not." He has the most amazing green eyes. Dad clears his throat. I blurt out. "We were just discussing how Clayton wants the hair ripped out of his balls. What did you need?"

The entire table bursts out laughing. He stares at me for a second. "We were wondering after earlier, are you ok?"

"I'm fine. Are you ok?"

He rubs his face. "Not really. I can't remember a damn thing. I was here for something."

Mary laughs. "Mike, you have got your work cut out for you now."

Cyrus smiles. "The girl. The one who got hurt. My mom was wondering if she was ok or if we could do anything?"

Mary says, "There is nothing we can do now. She is recovering in the hospital."

He stares at me like he's trying to memorize me.

I step closer to him. "She's recovering for now. Nothing can be done. She'll be ok."

He kisses my hand. "Let me know, please."

"Of course, sir." I give him a hug. He's so thoughtful.

He kisses my cheek and dad clears his throat.

"Goodbye, Thena."

"See you tomorrow, Cyrus."

He kisses my hand again before he leaves. I watch him walk out. Then I sit down on the floor.

I hear the applause start. "Nice job with the chair."

Conner puts me in the chair. "What is with you and princes?"

Chris stands up and yells, "HE'S PROBABLY ENGAGED."

I nod. He's probably right.

Mary hands me a glass of wine. "It's like none of us were here."

Conner nods. "He could be the 2nd. Mike didn't even try to kill him."

"2nd what?" Dad is staring at him.

My eyebrow pops up. "Did we forget that?"

Mike nods. "Apparently."

Conner answers, "She has 4 mates. Not 1. Mike is the only one who has surfaced so far. And by his reaction to her. It would make sense."

"She has 4 mates?"

"Yes."

"How can you be certain Mike is one of them?"

"I was shown a vision when she was 16. She has 4 mates. I am her mate. I do not know the other 3. They weren't shown to me clearly."

Storm shakes his head. "This is what you say."

I smile. "The magicians also have a blood test. If it comes back a certain way, the 2 being tested are soulmates. Mike is the only one who the test came back as a soulmate with so far."

"But the vision. You are taking his word on that."

"I would. But I'm not. I know the person who showed him the vision. She did verify it. She knows who they are but will not disclose it to anyone."

"Why?"

"She likes being a pain in my ass."

Mary smiles. "How did you figure out it was mike?"

"He always took care of me. He made sure I was ok. Even from the other side of the city, he would talk to me every day and make sure I was safe. Then one day, it clicked. He's mine."

"He took care of you?"

"Made sure I had everything I needed. Well, him and Conner. Mike would visit whenever he could. He's so much older than me though. It wouldn't have been good for him to try to claim me when I was 15. Conner had to do most everything. From making sure I got to the grocery store to going to my drivers' classes. Between the 2 of them, I made it." I laugh. "It was actually Conner who tracked down Mike and told him what was going on when I didn't have anything. Mike came and they fixed it. Conner tried to kill the alpha. Mike took his credit card." They chuckle.

Mary winks and takes a drink of wine.

I look at Conner and his silver eyes are on me. He's got tears in them. Then it clicks in my head. He didn't have to do what he did either. He did it because he cared. From the first day we met, he cared. He didn't like that I lived alone being so young. My entire life got fixed because of him. That kiss. I felt so amazing in his arms. His hands on me. His eyes on me. Those silver eyes, I love so much.

I go to him without realizing I'm moving. He stands up, and his lips touch mine. The tingles take over. I love this. I love him. When we break apart, I drag my fingers over his soft lips. "I didn't know."

"I didn't either, baby. We'll figure it out." He kisses me again. So soft and sweet.

Then I look at Mike. He's staring at us with an expression I don't understand. Then he throws his hands up. "It makes so much f*****g sense. You were as crazy as I was when she was in surgery. Every time she was hurt, you were insane. You did everything that needed to be done. Only called me if you had to. How the hell did I not realize that? You've always loved each other."

Dad shakes his head. "They were too young. They're still too young. You're going to want to verify it before they try to claim each other. Neither of them are adults."

"Yea." Mike takes my hand and pulls me to his side of the table. Then sits me in his lap. "We'll have breakfast or lunch with your grandma tomorrow. She can run the test again and make sure."

Conner smirks. "We can invite Darmon." That makes everyone laugh.

Storm stands up. "I want the test ran on Drogon."

Mike nods. "I'll send a helicopter when we get our s**t together tomorrow."

Conner looks at Drogon. "Wear workout clothes. You might end up in the mud pit."

I jump up. "WE CAN SHOW HIM THE WOLF PLAY PARK."

"That's the agility course for warrior wolves to train, baby." Mike pats my butt. "Close enough. We'll take you to the play park."

I pull on him. "LET'S GO. I NEED TO SLEEP FIRST."

Mary stands up. "Don't forget. Dinner tomorrow at 5. Dress fancy. Not royal."