Alpha Nocturne’s Contracted Mate by A E Randell
Chapter 187 I’m So Lucky to Have You
As soon as the door was shut behind them, Ann erupted as she paced furiously.
“How could they be so irresponsible! These are the lives of our people! The blatant disregard forthe safety and wellbeing…” Ann froze mid-sentence and swore internally as her eyes landed on the terrified face of Coral peeking out from the study that her bed had been set up in.
She took a few calming breaths as Adam rubbed her arms gently, and she allowed the soothing effect that his presence had on her to wash over her and calm her raging spirit.
“I’m sorry Coral. Things have been a little difficult today. You didn’t need to see that.” Ann said wearily as she sank onto the edge of her bed.
Coral blinked at her and visibly gulped as she took a tentative step into the bedroom area, clasping her arms around herself protectively.
“It’s okay, your highness. There’s no need to apologize to me. I can stay in another room if you need to vent. I shouldn’t really be in here anyway.”
“Nonsense.” Ann replied quickly, “At least this way, we all know that you’re safe. I’m sorry I startled you.” Coral smiled awkwardly and stood there for a few seconds, the silence seeming to extend for what seemed like an eternity before she cleared her throat and excused herself. Returning to the office space and closing the partition door behind her.
Ann groaned loudly and threw herself backward on the bed.
“I’m such an i*dio*t. I can’t believe I forgot Coral was in here.”
“Ann, its really not a big deal. I’m sure she’s seen much worse than someone venting after a stressful day.” Adam soothed, “Why don’t I run you a bath, hmm? It’ll help relax you and then we can get settled and talk over anything that you need to, okay?”
Ann sat up with a sigh and placed her hands on his cheeks, staring up at him with adoration in her eyes. “I’m so lucky to have you, you know?” she whispered.
“I know.” He chuckled, leaning forward and planting a tender kiss on her lips, “Let me run you that bath.” Ann grinned at him as he turned and made his way into the bathroom, with Ann following behind him only moments later.
She stripped off under his hungry gaze and looked across at him coyly as she slipped into the soothing water
“You’ll have to reign that lust of yours in tonight, Alpha. We have a guest in the next room.” She chuckled. “I swear you do these things just to torment me,” he grumbled sulkily.
“I most certainly do.” She teased as he went back into the bedroom to gather her nightwear. By the time they had settled into bed, Ann’s anger had subsided significantly. She no longer felt like exploding, it was more of a cool, collected anger that promised to fuel her quest for justice, no matter the cost. “Penny for your thoughts?” Adam murmured into her hair as she snuggled up against his chest. “I know I should have expected this, but honestly, I’m surprised at just how incompetent my father was in his final years. Do you think I could have put a stop to this sooner?”
Adam’s hand paused in its soft stroking motions as she felt the weight of his stare on her.
“You can’t blame yourself, Ann. There’s no way that you could have known how deep the negligence ran.” “No, but perhaps I could have stopped Narcissa sooner, maybe shaken a little sense to my father…” “Ann, stop it. There’s no way that anything would have changed even if you had acted sooner. Yourfather refused to listen for years until it was too late. It took the Royal Enclave turning against him for him to finally see sense.” Ann hummed in reply, although she didn’t fully believe the words of rea*s*surance.
‘Adam’s right. Stop being a whiny little pup.’ Maeve yawned sleepily as she curled around herself. ‘You can’t
change the past, so it’s pointless dwelling on it. You can, however, make things right moving forward.’ Ann snorted inwardly as she enjoyed the soothing touch of Adam’s fingers against her skin. ‘Since when did you get so wise?1 Ann chuckled.
‘Since forever. We are Alpha’s, Ann. We are the Royals. It is our job to put right everything that our father allowed Narcissa to ruin. I’m positive that in some way, Linus will be connected to Narcissa and her cronies.’
‘Do you really think so?’
‘If she didn’t allow your father to make an example of him, then yes. Whatever he was doing worked in her favor, or he was of some use to her in some way. Anyway, enough talking. I’m done thinking for today. Go to sleep.’ Maeve replied with another tremendous yawn.
‘Goodnight, Maeve. Thank you.’ Ann replied softly but only the sounds of her soft snoring could be heard in reply.
“Maeve thinks that Linus and Narcissa were entangled in some way,” Ann said softly as she snuggled herself deeper into his arms.
“It makes sense.” Adam frowned, “I’ll speak with Allen to see what he can learn about Linus and his connections in the morning. Do you have any idea how you plan to handle this?”
Ann pursed her lips as she thought.
“Other than confronting them directly, there really isn’t much else that we can do. If there are any failings on the Elder’s part, then we’ll vote on appropriate punishments tomorrow, but what else can I do? What if the intel never went further than my father and Narcissa?”
It was Adam’s turn to snort this time.
“Don’t be ridiculous. Even if the communications never made it to the Elders through official channels, they’re so well connected that there’s no way that at least one of them didn’t know about the issues at the border.”
Ann chewed her lip thoughtfully as the heavy feeling of anxiety settled over her stomach. “Try not to think about it anymore, my queen. You should try to sleep.” Adam said, wrapping his arms around her tightly as she smiled against his skin.
If only all their problems could be solved in an instant by falling asleep wrapped tightly in his arms.