Royal Wolf Box Set by Haley Weir
Chapter Four
The next day, Aeron and Cassandra held a meeting in the throne room of the castle. All of the pack leaders had come to the city under the pretense of being royal dignitaries from neighboring kingdoms to meet with Aeron and discuss his new role and reign over Grenvich. With Aeron in charge of the human city, it opened up the possibility of new treaties between the kingdom and the surrounding packs in the forest.
Cassandra was anxious. Previously, there had not been much interaction between shifters and humans, and for good reason. The humans weren’t trusted. They were an easily frightened and triggered people that would be more prone to reacting with aggression out of fear than compassion and mutual understanding. For this reason, Aeron’s predecessor had kept the two worlds markedly separate. Aeron agreed that shifters should never reveal their true identity to the humans, but he saw no reason why they couldn’t try to interact with them more. He thought that by promoting further co-mingling of the species, it would open up the possibility for bartering and a safer and more secure future for the packs. Not everyone agreed with his point of view, though.
“It’s simply a bad idea,” Rubius said, speaking his mind to Aeron at the table which was filled with several other pack leaders. “They cannot be trusted. We would risk the humans will find out what we are, and the dark past of hunting shifters will once again become something to fear.”
Rubius spoke not to be disrespectful or to challenge Aeron’s leadership over the packs, but to protect his own pack members and their people in general. Even though he, himself, frequented the human city more than most of the other wolf shifters, it was risky and dangerous to walk among them.
“How can we ever expect to have a true and lasting peace if we don’t extend a hand to try and bring our races together?” Aeron posed the question to the group. Then he turned to Rubius in particular. “I understand your concerns,” he said. “And they are valid ones. But I want to give it a try. If it doesn’t work, then we will go back to the way things were.”
“What if there is no way to go back to, once we have failed?” Rubius asked.
Cassandra was sitting next to her husband at the long oval table. She was just slightly off-center from Rubius across the table, and when Rubius spoke, she felt the pace of her heart quicken slightly within her chest. Rubius, too, was not immune to her presence. She tried not to glance at him, but whenever her eyes happened to fall on him, he quickly caught her gaze and had to struggle with himself not to linger on her eyes long enough that it would be noticeable. Fortunately, Aeron was too focused on the discussions to notice Cassandra and Rubius acting awkwardly around each other.
“We won’t know unless we try,” Aeron said with the kind of optimistic hope that comprises the constitution of great rulers. “Tomorrow, I will arrange a hunting party in the woods. Both pack leaders and some of the delegate humans from the city will all attend together.”
“In our forests?” one of the other pack members asked.
“Yes,” Aeron answered calmly. “There is nothing to be alarmed about. We won’t venture far into the forest, just enough to enjoy a hunt together as a gesture of comradery. I will tell the humans that it is an event to bolster friendships and allegiances between neighboring reigns, and we will keep it small, less than a dozen people in total. Even Cassandra and our son, Theo, will join us for the hunt.”
“What exactly will the humans be hunting?” Rubius asked.
Cassandra could tell by the sharp and hesitant edge to his voice that he was not at all fond of this idea.
“The same things that we will be – deer, rabbits, small game. Make sure you bring hunting weapons that you can use in your human forms. Bows and arrows, hunting knives, and the like should do the trick,” Aeron answered.
As the pack leaders began to talk amongst themselves about which of them would attend tomorrow’s hunt and what precautions should be taken, Cassandra spotted Theo loitering in the hallway outside of the meeting room. If nothing else, Theo was always found his way into some sort of mischief or trouble. She put her hands on the arms of her chair to get up and see what her son was up to, but she waited for one moment longer as Aeron took a count of which pack leaders would participate tomorrow. Rubius glanced quickly up at her when he told Aeron that he would join the hunt merely to keep an eye on things should they get out of control.
Once Cassandra had heard that Rubius would be there tomorrow, her curiosity was satisfied, and she left the meeting room to go tend to Theo.
Rubius watched her as she left, and she could feel his gaze boring into her back. Tomorrow would be the first time that she and Rubius would both be at a small event. Up until now, they had only crossed paths in large pack gatherings and moon celebrations that were filled with a sea of faces and furs. This time, with the exception only of the brief and accidental encounter at the market a few days ago, would be the closest that she’d ever been to spending time with Rubius. The thought of it thrilled her more than it probably should have.
“Rubius,” Aeron said. "Pay attention."
He had let his mind wander to the way that Cassandra had looked with nothing covering her but the translucence of water running down her naked body. He swallowed hard to regain his composure and then looked back at Aeron.
“Yes?” he said with a calmness that made it seem as if he had simply been deep in thought about the matters being discussed instead of fantasizing about putting his cock in Aeron’s wife.
“I asked you if you would relay the information to the others tonight,” Aeron repeated. “Just tell them all to stay to the far side of the forest tomorrow until sundown. That should avoid any accidental confrontations until the hunting party pulls out from the woods.”
Rubius nodded his head in compliance. He agreed at least that keeping the others further back from where the humans would be was a good idea. But he still didn’t like the idea of bringing the humans into the woods at all. At least he would get to see Cassandra tomorrow. He had so much admiration for the way she balanced her elegance with her wild side, what a kind mother she was, her curiosity. It seemed, as the days and nights continued to pass, that he had more and more trouble getting her out of his head.