FULL NOVELXO Chapter 38
Chapter 38
The minister's voice was nervous and apologetic, “I apologize for bothering you right now, your Highness. But a lot of wolves are asking me whether the complaint can be made against the sons of government officials who've attended the collaboration with their parents. Should I tell them that those would be a separate complaint since the sons are technically not government officials, or can we just include them with what we're doing now?”
“Include them.”Xandar said without hesitation but he was pinching the bridge of his nose. Those good-for-nothing idiots actually used their collaborations to hit on females?! This is a government function, not a nightclub for goodness sake!
“Alright. Thank you, your Highness. I'll let them know. Have a goodnight.”
"You too, Yarrington. Thank you for your assistance in this matter.”
The minister was undoubtedly shocked that the King was expressing his gratitude when he literally exploded less than thirty minutes ago. So Yarrington uttered, “Well, it's always a pleasure to serve, my King. And give my best to the Queen.”
“Will do. Goodnight, Yarrington.” He hung up.
Lucianne had stopped typing but her eyes were still focused on the screen. Xandar got up and walked to her. He stood behind her and started caressing her shoulders as she scrutinized her written work with a serious look.
Xandar then bent down and kissed her cheek from the side before whispering into her ear,” Yarrington sends his regards. We're now expanding the net to include the sons of ministers.”
Her focused eyes suddenly blinked, and she looked at Xandar and exclaimed, “Really? That's great!” She then turned back to her screen and muttered, “Let me just add those in.”
Xandar's hands stopped moving on her shoulders and his grip tightened as his body stiffened. His mate was harassed by more than one male Lycan?! Goddess, no wonder the wolves hated them! Even he hated his own species after knowing about this.
As he continued thinking about it, his grip on Lucianne’s shoulders tightened more and more. Lucianne had to stop typing, and her hands reached out to stroke his hands as she said, “Xandar, darling, breathe. Just breathe, okay? Breathe.”
It was only when Xandar loosened his hold on her did he realize he was applying too much pressure on her shoulders. When Lucianne began typing again, he bent down to peck a kiss o n both her shoulders before returning to the couch to wait. It felt like an eternity later when she said, "Here, have a read. You can submit it after you're done.”
He was at her side even before Lucianne got out of her chair completely. She stood next to him, and Xandar held her close to his body as he read the words on the screen. Lucianne stroked his shoulder gently, trying to keep him as calm as possible.
When he read until the end, he asked, “You sure that's everyone? Is there anyone else?”
“No. It's just three of them. I'm sure.” She then pecked a kiss on his cheek, and Xandar swiftly put her on his lap before skimming through the document one more time and clicking’ Submit’. Lucianne then turned off her laptop and snuggled into Xandar's chest. She listened t o his heartbeat, and was relieved that it wasn't as rapid as how it was when he lost control in the dining hall.
She then asked, “Have Ellia and the others settled in yet? Did Christian say anything?”
Xandar's eyes widened. He completely forgot about that! He kissed her forehead before saying, “Hold on, baby. Just give me a minute. Let me ask him.”
He then mind-linked his cousin, “Christian, how are the families? Have they moved in yet?"
'Cuz...h-how did you do that?! The car literally just entered through the gates! Seriously, how did you time that?
Xandar sheepishly said, “I actually...forgot. Lucy got me to ask.’
There was a pause at Christians end before his voice of disbelief came through the mind link, “You forgot? How is that possible? Did something happen over dinner?’
You have no idea.’
“Wait, seriously? How is the Queen? Is she okay? Are you?’
“She's handling it way better than I am, as she always does, despite being the one subjected to another round of injustice.’
Christian sighed in despair, “Why do these things keep finding their way to her? What is it this time?”
Xandar's pissed-off voice was loud and clear, “Did you know we have ministers and their sons using these collaborations to hit on females like it was a brothel? I almost exploded...no, scratch that. I completely exploded in the dining hall when I found out!
"WHAT?! WHO ARE THEY?!"
“Lucy named three: Caunterberg, and the twin sons of Marie Martin from Finance. That's only Lucy! Imagine who we'll be getting when we receive complaints from all the other werewolves and Lycans.’
Christian groaned through the mind-link, "WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH THESE PEOPLE?! Wait, Caunterberg... welfare...uh cuz, if she named him..who's in charge now?’
I put Yarrington on it. I was hoping to rope you in as well. We haven't received all the complaints yet so I honestly don’t know who else to trust with the job other than the three of u s. Weaver has enough on his plate so I didn't include him.’
Yeah, yeah. I'll do it. You didn't even have to ask, cuz. So, uh...the Queen, has she submitted
her complaint yet?’
“Yeah, just did. So I take it that the families all arrived safely?’
I did a headcount. It seems everyone's here. And they looked fine. A little shaken but safe. My men are still unloading the audits from the car. And Annie is settling them in now so I better g o help her."
“Okay, thanks, Christian. Thank Annie for me as well.’
Will do. Night, cuz.’
When Xandar ended the mind-link, Lucianne was looking at him in anticipation. He smiled and pecked her on her lips as he said, “They're all there. They're safe.”
She let out a sigh of relief before muttering, “Thank Goddess.” Then she reached out to grab her purse from the table and looked for the folded note of names Ellia gave her before handing it over to Xandar. This was another thing he forgot. Lucianne leaned back into Xandar's chest as he unfolded the paper with his other hand to read the contents.
Marie Martin
Alfred Cummings.
Piere Whitlaw.
Patrick Dupont
Helena Tanner. 1
“Helena Tanner.” Xandar muttered. He didn’t know anyone by that name in his government.
Lucianne suggested in a whisper, “She's probably Ellia’s boss.”
Xandar took his phone and looked her up online and Lucianne was right. As he looked at the woman's face on the screen to imprint it into his memory, he asked his mate, “How did you know?”
She answered in an equal whisper, “Well, you'll have to collude with a person who has the most power in the place you are targeting. And besides, Ellia said “five names’ not “five ministers’. One of those names had to be her boss, the one who blackmailed her and her
assistants.”
He smiled. Beautiful. Smart Composed in the midst of anger. His anger. His eyebrows furrowed in guilt as he said, “Lucy, I'm sorry for exploding like that tonight. I didn't mean to cause so much fear.”
She was getting drowsy in his warm chest, “Hm, it happened with a good reason. Besides, it ended with hope, not fear. You gave us a way to do this. It doesn't matter if you exploded. What matters is you've found a good way to go about the..” she let out a cute yawn before she continued, “...the problem.”
Xandar chuckled at the sound. “Adorable’, he thought to himself as he watched his mate snuggled comfortably in his arms.
“Let's get you into bed.” he whispered.
She got out from his lap before he could carry her, and stretched a little before saying sleepily, “No. I have to change first. Let Christian know about the names, and...” Another yawn.”...and remember to tell Ben's boss about his absence.” The third thing Xandar forgot. Thank goddess he had already arranged bodyguards for the families while they were waiting t o see the doctor earlier, or he would have forgotten that as well.
He pecked a kiss on her forehead and said, “You're amazing, you know that?”
“I know you keep telling me that does that count?”
He chuckled, “I don’t care how long it takes. I will make you believe it one day. Goodnight, baby. I'll go see the hotel manager about Ben's issue now. Mind-link me if you need anything, okay?”
She nodded with a smile. Her eyelids were getting heavy as she closed the door after he left. After speaking to the manager, Xandar mind- linked Christian the five names, and went home to sleep with no difficulty.
Somewhere in the city, there was a mansion with three sports cars, two limousines and two other luxury cars, and a family of four lived in comfort without a care in the world, until tonight.
“What do you mean there's no one there?!” Helena Tanner yelled through the receiver from the landline telephone on her desk. After listening to the caller on the other end from her home office, she barked, “Of course this is the right address! If you think I'm an idiot then you're the idiot! There are three of them and you can't even find a single one? WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?! DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH I'M PAYIN-"
Her iPhone screen on her desk lit up, and she froze when she saw the caller ID. She then told her first caller, “I have to call you back.” After putting down the receiver, she took a deep breath before swiping across the screen, and muster as much calmness as she could when she said “Your Grace?”