Page 53 of The Wolf King's Chosen

“It doesn’t.”

Stephen had been standing at the door, silent and stoic like many of his counterparts. He then held up his own phone, which was connected to every room in the palace on a technological notification system. “The cameras are triggered,” he said evenly. “The queen has awoken.”

Xander grunted, then handed Maureen her phone back. He held onto it when she tried to take it back, looking her dead in the eyes.

“You come with us. All of you. That’s an order.”

Stephen led them down the hall, with Xander rushing faster than ever in his life. He burst through the doorway with his enforcers and beta filtering into the bedroom behind him.

“Lexi.”

Her name fell out of his mouth like a stone falling down a well. So easy, so natural. She was stunning, sitting up in bed, looking a little fatigued but still graceful and captivating.

She gazed at him with a fragile smile, her gleaming eyes having returned to their usual lighthouse state. He came to her, fell to his knees, and took her hands into his as he peppered them with kisses.

“My beloved,” he crooned. “Thank God you’re all right.”

Xander lost himself in her for a moment, the way he often did, even when there were hundreds of people around them. But he hated to see her in any kind of pain, especially the kind inflicted on her by his own people.

Then, in his peripheral vision, he saw her turn to the people standing in the room looking at their king fawning over her, and she cocked a wonderfully triumphant eyebrow. If Xander hadn’t known it yet, it was at that moment that he knew, without a doubt, he was madly in love with her.

It was as if she was already wearing the crown of the queen on her beautiful head.

“It was the head healer who shot me. I saw her from the top of the tower right after the arrow struck.”

The room fell silent, and Xander raised his head from Lexi’s hands. His heart was ready to burst with pride but, at the same time, break from the sense of approaching fear.

“My darling, are you sure it was the healer?”

Lexi turned to him, all noble and proud, and smirked. Her eyes glistened with a knowing that made him weak with delight.

“I know it was. I spotted her just after she fired the arrow into me, and she was prepared to lose another. It’s good that she isn’t a professional archer.”

Lexi touched just above her left breast, where her wound had already begun to heal. Xander raised himself to sit on the bed, with one hand eternally in his queen’s, clutching tightly.

“Tell me, why would the healer want me dead, hmm?” Lexi inquired to the people gathered at the foot of the bed.

Xander remained silent, stroking her palm, waiting.

Stephen spoke up first. “The head healer at some point in time wanted to be queen if you can recall, My King. She added herself into contention when you first were awarded the throne. I will go see if I can locate her.”

“Do that, Stephen, but say nothing to her yet!”

Xander furrowed his brows, thinking back through all those years of grief and repressed pain. An image rose in his mind of several young women who were eager to become his bride, which all took place before the concept of merging kingdoms was approached by the Autumharts.

He recalled a woman, hair the color of dying leaves, seeming the most avid. He had rejected them all at that time based on the advice of Stephen, who had been his beta at the ripe age of seventeen.

Xander hadn’t made the connection with the healer nearly fifteen years later. He felt foolish for not noticing.

“I’ve decided that I’m going to challenge her in front of the pack and in front of the entire kingdom.”

“Lexi,” Harper said, approaching the bed. “I know you want to prove yourself to this new kingdom of yours. But not this way. Please.”

Harper’s face remained flushed from fear and likely guilt that she hadn’t been able to protect her best friend and future queen. Her lip trembled, pleading for her friend to take another path.

“There is no other option, I’m afraid. How else am I going to prove to her, to the kingdom, to all the people who think less of me because of my half-blood, beyond a battle of strength and skill?”

Xander knew, along with the two enforcers still in the room, that her mind would not be changed. The king loved her beyond words which made the fear in his heart all the more potent.

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