His Forsaken Luna-Chapter 97: Overprotective

"Is this what I should expect if you take my sister to Sun and Fury? An uncontrollable wolf!" Alaric’s voice rumbled through the chamber, stilling me at his rage. "Should I expect her corpse within six months?!"

Eryx growled and stood before my brother, bristling, shoulders rising and falling. I was so used to his size that I forgot how much he made even Alaric appear small.

"Alaric," I hiss. "Enough."

I tumble from the sheets of the bed and almost eat stone, but Kharis catches me before I do. I huff, annoyed at the covers tangled in my feet and the wave of dizziness that went through me. Eryx’s head whipped around at my state, glared at Alaric and returned to my side, kneeling beside me to help me.

"Does it not concern you, Ida?" Alaric stepped closer, pushing Eryx and his naked form away, hissing, "Put on some clothes before you permanently hurt my sister’s eyesight."

"Believe me, I doubt she would say that," Eryx winked at me. Winked at me and said that in front of my brother!

My cheeks heated, and I looked to Kharis—the wrong person to look for a distraction from my embarrassment. His shoulders were shaking as he held back a laugh. He definitely thought the same as me. I give him a warning glare.

His shoulders still continue to shake as he helps me to my feet.

The twinkle in Eryx’s eyes hardened when he remembered the first part of what Alaric said. "She has nothing to fear from me," Eryx growled as he caught the shirt tossed at him by Rykan, who appeared out of nowhere. The aide must have appeared to grab the Alpha King’s attention.

"Yes, because that was a great show of restraint and control over that beast of yours," Alaric clips dryly, turning away from Eryx with disgust to see what Rykan wants.

Eryx pulled over the shirt that managed to cover his groin, barely reaching mid-thigh. His wolf must have shifted, and Eryx’s clothes were torn to shreds. My gaze drops to the shredded material a few feet away from the bed. Eryx lost control of his beast there, and he must have leapt onto the bed from there, causing mayhem.

I’m surprised my brother didn’t try to attack him. I freeze, slowly sitting back down on the bed, feeling both lethargic and drained of energy. That was a good point. Why hadn’t my brother attacked him?

I scan him from head to toe. Alaric still wears the pristine clothes I saw him in earlier today, and there are no signs of a fight. Yet he was acting like a protective big brother. It didn’t add up.

I know Alaric. He wouldn’t have let this go, no matter the size of Eryx’s wolf. My gaze flicks to the Alpha Prince, and there is nothing to indicate that he was at least scratched.

Ignoring my manners, I interrupted my brother’s discussion with his aide. "I already told you... He was protecting me."

Alaric’s head whipped back to stare at me incredulously.

Eryx’s brows shot up as he looked at me. What? I cocked my head to the side, and he grinned back at me. It was absolutely beaming. I’m pretty sure I forgot how to-

"Breathe," Kharis whispered into my ear, and I coughed, pushing his head away from me. "Honestly, he’s not all that."

Eryx shot him a glare.

"Ida needs her rest," Alaric stated after nodding once at Rykan. His aide bowed his head and backed away, exiting through the door.

"We aren’t leaving her side," Eryx crossed his arms. "She may rest, and we will protect her."

Alaric strode toward him, head tilting back slightly the closer he got to hold Eryx’s stare. "You don’t have any breeches on," he drawled, then mirrored the Alpha Prince, crossing his arms. "She is in the safest place in the palace."

"Lia also told me she would be fine meeting with the Queen Mother. Yet here we are," Eryx clipped icily, and I felt it trickle down my spine, and the fine hairs on my arms stood on end to the goosebumps rippling across my skin. The temperature had dropped as tension grew thick as the ice on the lake between Eryx and my brother.

"Deyanira-"

"Should be punished," Eryx interrupted Alaric. "But you are too soft because she is your mother."

The Alpha Prince walked away from Alaric, who watched him with a hardened gaze and a twitch in his nose. That is not a good sign. I was about to stand, but Kharis handed Eryx some leather trousers and pinned me with a look: Stay out of it.

I didn’t like that, but there wasn’t much a weakling like myself could do besides say a few scolding words.

Eryx buttoned up the trousers, purposely keeping his back to Alaric, revealing he did not deem my brother as a threat or a dangerous one at that. "Don’t you think it is about time you choose between your beloved sister and Her Majesty?" Eryx looked over his shoulder and held Alaric’s gaze.

Before Alaric could answer, Eryx strode past him and flopped down on the sofa, his back now to me. "Lia will soon be my mate. Do not believe you are the only man who worries over her safety," he said quietly yet those words shook the floor and to my very core.

He meant it. I gulped, staring at his back. Or he was playing his part as my ’chosen mate’.

"This is part of the treaty," Eryx reminded Alaric as he flopped his head back against the sofa cushion, closing his eyes.

"Fine," Alaric muttered then looked to me. "Two guards are already posted outside of your door. If you need assistance, call out to them."

I nodded then blinked in surprise as Kharis began fluffing my pillows and wiping away any leftover fur on my sheets as Alaric strode away with a furrowed brow. He looked stressed the more he drew closer to the door, and I know it has nothing to do with my safety.

I had Eryx and Kharis here and the two guards outside my door. My gaze did not leave Alaric’s back, remembering Rykan speaking in a hushed tone. He didn’t mind-link him I realise.

"What did Rykan say to Alaric?" I asked both Southern Weres.

They glanced at me, and amusement flickered in Eryx’s gaze. "You don’t miss anything..." His smile sobered. "Deyanira has requested his audience. She is in his study."

"And that is the real reason Alaric agreed to you staying in here... To keep you... tame." Eryx growled at my choice of words, but I waved it off, uncaring if the floor and bed were vibrating from it.

"Rest now," Kharis murmured, patting the pillow behind me.

But I couldn’t help but sit straight, even with the effects of the poison still in my system. "You said there was nothing to worry about meeting with Deyanira," Eryx growled, his eyes sharp on me, and commanded, "Rest."

I couldn’t. Deyanira was down the hallway.

Something’s not right. That’s what my brother said.

"I will once I have relieved myself." I stand abruptly and feigned going to the water closet.

Eryx and Kharis watch me suspiciously. They should. I slipped out of the door and waved at the guards before tiptoeing down the hallway to skid to a stop outside my brother’s study. Rykan sighed, arching an eyebrow.

I place my hands to my lips then motion for him to move aside. He sharply shakes his head. I lean closer just as I notice Eryx marching towards me and Kharis kept the guards distracted by annoying them.

"If you don’t let me listen, then you won’t have any chance with Margarette." Rykan stilled at my threat. I thought Rykan’s crush had been pointless information months ago, but I put it to good use now.

Rykan shook his head. "You cannot blackmail me, Princess."

I arched an eyebrow, this time exactly when Eryx’s hand wrapped around my arm. His presence alone made Rykan shrink. "Fine!"

I huff, staring up at Eryx, who didn’t even say a word but was a huge giant. He was about to drag me away, but I placed my hand on his chest.

"Please." I tried to look innocently at him.

He lowered his face so close to mine that my lips parted on instinct. "That won’t work on me, Princess," he breathed against me. I’m not sure if my knees went weak from him or because of the poison in my system. It’s probably the poison.

I bit my lip. "Please."

"She put your life in danger... She...." Eryx trailed off, and something dark and mischievous danced in his eyes. His ire vanished, and he said cockily, "What will you bargain for it?"

"What... I..." I looked at the doors and went back to him. I just wanted to listen to their conversation, but was it really worth bargaining with this devil?

"Tick tock," he whispered in my ear, and his scent wrapped around me like a vice.

"What do you want?" I whisper back, my gaze moving from those sinuous lips and up to those darkening green eyes.

He smirked. "I’ll tell you after." He patted my backside. "You better go before you miss what is said."

"Pig," I hiss back, smacking his hand away from me.