Chapter 433

“It’s all of this Alpha bullshit!” Maryam nearly shouts, casting out a frustrated hand. “An entire culture of men who believe that because they’re physically bigger, and stronger, and can shift into the body of a lethal predator that it gives them the right to go out into the outlying towns and take what they want from them!? It’s –“

“Is that what Alphas really think?” Ella asks, her interruption smooth and calm, her own steady command slicing neatly through Maryam’s louder voice.

“Do not misinterpret me, highness,” Maryam replies, a bit between her teeth. “The issue is not with the men themselves, but with the ideology in which Alpha wolves are raised.”

“Well, you have two Alphas here,” Ella says, gesturing towards Mark and Rafe. “Why don’t you ask them what their own impulses are? What rights they believe they have to claim our bodies and possessions simply because either of them could kill any of the rest of us with barely an effort?”

Rafe sighs long and slow through his nose as he closes his eyes.

Mark sits straight and looks around, worried. Because he…very much does not want to enter this debate. Not that he’d ever – ever – have the impulse to rape or maim or hurt anyone ever – and certainly not because he’s stronger. He just…kind of has the feeling that Maryam would eat him for breakfast, logically, were he ever to attempt to go toe to toe with her in a battle of wits.

Silence reins in the room for a moment as Maryam looks at the two young Alphas on the couch, her eyes slipping over them, the haughty upward tilt of her chin suggesting that she is unimpressed. “Well, these two certainly seem to fit the reputation for being strong and silent,” she says, her voice a condescending coo.

A little growl rumbles in Rafe’s chest as he slowly opens his eyes and turns them on the girl he now knows to be his mate.

She raises an eyebrow at him, daring him to take her on.

Inwardly, Rafe’s wolf leaps excitedly at the challenge, but he grabs his wolf’s fur tight in his hand, forcing him to calm down.

“Your own rather…tame Alpha sons aside,” Maryam continues, turning away from Mark and Rafe in a clear dismissal that makes Rafe’s wolf howl with rage and want as she focuses again on the Queen. “The issue is one of education. Your administration has suffered the growth of a cult in its northern climes which tells powerful young men not only that their Alpha bodies give them dominion over their world and community, but further gives them no critical education by which they might begin to rethink that education. It’s incredibly dangerous, highness – and forgive me, but while you and your family are resting peacefully in your palace? Your northern citizens – particularly the humans – are suffering from the results of that educational neglect.”

Ella flashes her teeth, just a for moment. “I’d urge you to consider that we are not necessarily resting in comfort, young lady – especially as two of my daughters have been kidnapped by foes who, by my understanding, do far less for the rights of the common people than my mate and I.”

Maryam clenches her jaw for a moment, hating to concede a point, but then nods sharply. Just once.

“That aside,” Ella continues, smiling a little at the girl and then turning her attention back to Hank. “Her point is well made. Do you consider that further education would help to fix the issues we’re having in the North?”

“My daughter is as passionate as she is impetuous,” Hank says on a sigh, shifting his gaze to glare at his daughter, who doesn’t budge an inch. “She over-states her argument because she’s pissed off and wishes to be right. At the detriment to her argument, she has grossly over-simplified the problem.”

Maryam’s mouth pops open with an appalled little squeak that has Rafe’s wolf howling and turning in an eager circle.

She’s so cute, his wolf huffs. Look how pretty she is when she’s mad – oh my god – oh my GOD – she’s so great – move closer. What can we say to piss her off? I want to see her all squeaky again -

Rafe groans inwardly and again grabs his wolf by the scruff, urging him to calm the hell down.

“I am not over-simplifying,” Maryam says, pressing a hand to her chest.

“You are,” Hank replies, dry, glaring hard at her. “And while I will tolerate you being rude and obnoxious to your host and your sovereign, as it is your right to make an absolute fool out of yourself if you wish it, Maryam – I will not tolerate a poorly constructed argument. I educated you better than that.”

Maryam scowls and clenches her jaw, leaning back against the cushions of the couch and glaring down at her knees. Rafe raises his eyebrows, surprised. Because of all things, he didn’t think it would be the accusation of a poorly made argument that stopped Maryam in her tracks.

God, but Hank’s intellectual family is…very different than his own.

But Maryam…she’s his family now, right?

…Right?

Rafe takes a moment, while Maryam is distracted in her anger, to study this girl – his mate. His mate. God, how had he never known it before?

Because it’s not the first time they’ve met – no, Maryam and her little sister were fairly frequent visitors to the palace when they were children, always accompanying their parents when Hank and Sarah came down to the city. Rafe and the other Sinclair children had always played with them, but…well. They really always had seemed so incredibly delicate –

And it’s not even that they were girls – Ariel and Juniper could always keep up in a way that Maryam and Annabell couldn’t. Their human bodies simply weren’t as responsive and strong as a wolf’s. They had done their best to adjust the games, but…well, they were kids. It had been hard to be fair.

Once, even, Jesse had been attempting to play a prank on Maryam and she fallen hard on her knees, scraping them deeply. She had burst into tears. Rafe had helped Maryam to her feet and done his best to comfort her, but she hadn’t spoken to him – to any of them – for the rest of her trip.

Rafe turns his head to the side realizing that…actually, that that’s maybe the last time he talked to Maryam…ever. God, has it really been that long?

He wouldn’t be surprised if her apparent hatred for Alphas had started on that very day. God damn Jesse, being too rough.

“If I could have a minute, Ella?” Hank asks, his tone becoming even more serious and drawing Rafe’s attention back to the present. Rafe refocuses his gaze to the doctor as Hank begins to push himself up out of his hair. “I wanted to have a conversation with you about Jackson.”

“Jacks?” Ella says, going a bit still in her chair, her teacup balanced primly on its saucer. “What…what’s wrong with Jacks?”

“Nothing’s wrong with Jacks,” Hank says with a shrug, getting to his feet. “Is he here? There have been some…developments, in the Community. He asked me to do some research for him and it’s yielded some rather strange results.”

“What results?” Ella asks, fascinated, hastily putting her teacup down and getting to her feet, looking at Hank with a mix of shock and interest. “Jackson’s not here – he’s…well, he’s rather on a solo mission, trying to get Ariel back.”

“More Alpha macho bullshit,” Maryam grumbles. “One guy, alone, thinking he’s the whole solution to the problem and doesn’t need any help.”

“Are you…are you talking about Jackson?” Mark asks her, a big smile spreading across his face.

Maryam shifts her gaze to Mark. “If he’s the one on the solo mission to defy an entire nation and get the captive princess, then yes, I am.”

“Oh man,” Mark says, shaking his head at the girl. “I mean, I get all of your Alpha hate for the vast majority of guys out there. But Jacks? The world’s sweetest guy, Alpha or not?” Mark laughs. “You’re going to have to adjust your algorithm for that one, Maryam. Jacks is huge and powerful but he has the least ego of anyone I’ve ever met.”

Maryam just rolls her eyes like she doubts it and looks away.

“Do you have any idea of when Jackson will be back?” Hank asks, grimacing a little. Rafe frowns, turning his eyes away from his brother and his mate, focusing again on Hank. Because the man looks…very anxious to tell Jackson his news.

What the hell could be so pressing?

“I’m sorry,” Ella says, stepping closer to Hank. “We have no idea –“

“Highness!” a page shouts, bursting through the door, a phone held high in his hand. “Highness, oh, please!”