Unexpected: Forever His (Book 1)

Chapter 20: A Challenge and My Best Friend's Mate

I shifted in my seat again as I felt Aiden's gaze conspicuously looking at me from my head to my toes. I despised him already, but his blatant disrespect for an Alpha...the King of Alphas at that...on his own land was pushing my anger almost to the brink. "Alpha Aiden, there are certain rules that must be followed and you are treading the edge of them dangerously close. I suggest that you do not test Lord Alpha Dante too much. I would hate to see you not even offered the shred of a chance." I almost laughed as I spoke the words.

He stood and looked down on me and before I knew it Xavon and Noveah were in front of me. "You will watch your actions when you are directing them to the Queen of Queens."

"She is no queen. She is the lowest ranked member of my pack! I disgraced her! Your Alpha wants a disgraced Luna. How does that make you feel about respect?!?"

The door opened and I stood up behind Xavon and Noveah as Dante stepped into the parlor. Alexander followed and he eyed me once before he surveyed the room. When his eyes landed on Aiden, he wasted no time before he took his place in front of me as well.

Dante stepped behind them and wrapped his arms around my waist. "I smell your distaste, Kayla. Do you want me to handle this situation now or wait for the formality of the challenge in front of the Ancients?"

I glanced behind him at Alexander and even though I wanted to tell Dante the opposite, I shook my head, but Alexander was the one who spoke. "The Ancients demand his blood for his disregard for Kayla. You will only have their approval if they are there to bear witness." He turned his attention back to Aiden. "You do realize that when you opened your mouth and requested a challenge for the Queen of Queens that you requested your own death?"

The other person in the room finally stood and stepped around Aiden and I felt a pang of regret in my heart when I saw his eyes fixed on me. "Kayla? Why do they refer to you as the Queen of Queens?" His eyes seemed to grow bigger than possible and he immediately fell to his knees. "I beg your forgiveness, Kayla. Our Alpha is a foolish man to have ever let you go. I chose wrong when I chose him. I..." His eyes fell to the floor and I realized he was crying. I stepped around Dante and placed my hand on Alexander's arm so that he would allow me to pass. He did, but he stepped forward with me until I stopped right in front of Mark.

"You know who I am?"

He nodded but didn't lift his gaze. Instead he scooted closer to me, still on his knees and wrapped his arms around my legs. "You are the Queen of the Great Prophecies. The one most of our kind has forgotten about and lost hope would come. You will save us from the darkness that will try to overtake the whole world. With your Protector by your side, you will be the Queen that every creature, supernatural and mortal alike will bow to in total reverence. Just as I bow to you now. But my heart aches for the sacrifice that you will have to give for that right to reign sovereign."

"You weak old man! No man in Redwood will bow to a woman! This is why I disgraced Kayla. A vampire tried to make her his queen! My mate! His queen! I don't want any woman to make me weak! That's why I chose Ashley for my mate. She's young and naïve and she follows my orders like a puppet on a string. It wasn't hard to make her despise you, Kayla. All I had to do was make her believe you were the one who pushed Mark to convince me to claim you."

A gasp came from the door way and I looked up as Ashley's slim figure stepped further into the room. I turned to her as Mark stood and glanced sadly over at her. I stepped over to her and she looked up at me with tears filling her eyes. Before I could speak, someone else did. "Forgive me, Queen of Queens." Xavon came and stood by my side but his gaze was fixated on Ashley. "You are to be no man's weakness anymore, for you are my strength." He turned and looked up at me and Ashley unknowingly took a step towards him. "This woman is my mate."