Queen Ascending (Ace of Queens #2)

Chapter 11

Chapter 11

For the rest of the afternoon, everyone at the palace buzzed around like bees. Their first and only priority was to locate and retrieve the objects before Azazel did.

Gemma hovered around Lafayette as he made plants for Iceland. He haggled over the phone with someone over setting up a date with the Vikings. She watched him as his anger and frustration grew.

When he was distracted, she slipped away and wandered over to Exton's office. He was in deep conversation with Basil and his father when she entered the room.

"I'm sorry," she said hastily and she began to exit the room.

"No, no. Please." Xavier stopped her. "Come in, Gemma."

He then turned to Basil and Exton, "See what you can do about Ivan. Keep me posted. I'm going to go help Arion with the elves."

Both men nodded before Basil and Xavier left the room. They both gave Gemma a polite smile as they passed her in the doorway.

Once they left, Exton pulled her into his office and locked the door behind her. His arms wrapped around her in an instant and his face was buried in her neck. Gemma's skin danced with sparks as his touch.

"Is he gone?" Exton asked, his voice muffled.

Gemma nodded. "Yeah, he left shortly after the meeting."

"I hate seeing him touch you," Exton pulled back to look at her eyes. "I wanted to snap every bone in his body today."

Gemma tried to hide a smile. "I don't want to talk about Tobias right now."

"What do you want to talk about?" Exton smiled lazily at her.

Gemma suddenly grew shy. She shrugged as Exton watched her blush.

"I'm enchanted by you," Exton whispered as he ran a finger along the side of her face.

Gemma's blush deepened as her body swayed to his touch.

"What were you talking about before I came in?" Gemma asked changing the subject. She moved her hands into Exton's hair at the base of his neck and played with the curls.

Exton sighed as his body relaxed. "Just some pack stuff."

"Everything okay?" Gemma asked. "You all seemed very serious."

"We are providing extra protection to all the packs, but some are being difficult...well just on in particular."

"Who?" Gemma's hands moved upwards. Her head rubs were doing wonders to Exton's stress levels.

"Ivan Radacovick...he has the largest pack in Russia. He's not the biggest fan of my family."

Gemma frowned. "What happened?"

Exton sighed again. His eyes closed as his head rolled back. "His grandfather had challenged my dad for the throne...needless to say my dad won and kept his title. But the Radacovick family are still bitter about it."

"Power invites challenge," Gemma said sadly. "And challenge creates chaos."

Exton opened his eyes and smiled down at his mate, "I only have you in my arms for a short period of time. I don't want to spend it talking about politics."

"What do you want to talk about?" Gemma echoed his words from earlier.

"Oh I'm not thinking about talking," Exton grinned. "My plans are something else entirely."

Gemma's heart did flips from his words. She bit down on her bottom lip as she watched Exton's green eyes darken.

He leaned forward slowly as Gemma's heart slammed against her chest. But before she could feel them brush her, Exton pulled away with a scowl.