His One and Only

Chapter 35

Dead silence. It took a bit for everyone to process this scenario as it had never happened before.

"This is a joke right?" King Magnus finally spoke.

"No my King. It is not a joke-"

King Magnus slammed his hand down on the table before him. His Queen flinched slightly and everyone froze. "What the HELL are you doing? Are you mad? This is FORBIDDEN and wrong on every level!!! What a disgusting disgrace!!! I WILL NOT ALLOW THIS!!!." He roared and his voice echoed through the Great Hall.

Xander stood there calm and silent. He waited for the echo in the room to stop before he spoke. "In the Book of Old...there is no mention of which being we are allowed to take as our One and Only." The Book of Old, it was their historical book with all the traditions of their Clan. It held their history, culture, and stories of the great and terrible. It was the only word that King Magnus would ever value more than his own in this world.

King Magnus froze and his fists balled up in anger. He had always taken great pride in following their culture and traditions religiously. He could never go against their Book of Old no matter how furious it made him. "What-what did you just say!?!?! Your One and Only!?!?! How dare you!!" His face was red and he was so angry he could hardly speak.

"What the young Commander says is true." One of the oldest Nobles spoke up. "There is no law in the Book of Old about choosing a specific being as our One and Only."

A few other Nobles who knew their traditional book well nodded and agreed with him. Others who didn't know kept silent and watched the scene unfurl.

"However, that does remove the atrocity and disgrace in choosing this one." The same Noble spoke again and this time the room fully and loudly agreed with him.

"It's more than a disgrace. It is the worst decision you could ever make, Commander and I cannot allow this. What would ever possess you to choose that dog? Is that it? Are you possessed? Hundreds of years are in your genealogy to procure the best of the best Grizzlies and you are going to throw away everything for what?!?!?" King Magnus ranted.

"I choose her...because I love her." Xander kept his voice smooth and steady despite his very first love confession was in front of a bunch of judgmental Grizzlies.

Silence. It took some time for them to come to terms with this. Among the Nobles and the Royal Family, love was on the back burner of importance. Creating strong bloodlines and keeping themselves pure from weaker genes were first and foremost. Choosing a One and Only out of love was quite uncommon and was considered a poor thing to do. Not to mention the shock of hearing that the quiet, stoic, and always working Commander was 'in love.' Everyone sat there with an incredulous look of disbelief.

"If I may, I would like to speak to the...wolf, directly." Queen Alasie spoke and broke the stale air. It was one of the rare times she had ever spoken in a public setting. Her voice was soft and carried a hint of a foreign accent due to her being a Polar Bear.

King Magnus looked slightly miffed that she was speaking but gestured with his hand that she may move forward with her request.

Xander looked down at Mira and spoke quietly. "The Queen wants to speak to you."

Mira looked up at him and blinked. What? She had no clue what was going on and everyone was looking super pissed. She concluded it must be about their relationship since he had laced their fingers together and now out of the blue the Queen herself wants to talk to her? Xander nodded with his head signaling to her to take a few steps forward.