"The hardest battles aren't fought on battlefields, they're fought in silence, between loyalty, desire, and the weight of duty."
Marcus's pov
The trouble with being the "responsible one" was that you never got a proper holiday from headaches. Especially when the headache had a name. Or, in my case, several.
Alaric, Luna Seraphine, and lastly Beta Juno. I had just gotten the final report from my sources, and it was worse than I had feared. The guards tailing us were not just boring spies or curious mercenaries; they were from Luna Seraphine herself. The northern wolf queen wanted eyes on Alaric, and worse, she wanted to know where he had disappeared to. That never meant good things. Alaric sprawled across a couch in the villa's sitting room, sipping wine with all the serenity of a man who had never once been on anyone's most-wanted list and he glanced up at me lazily, his golden hair slightly mussed, and raised his glass.
"Marcus. You have that face again." He pointed it out.
"What face?" I asked flatly, dropping into the armchair opposite him.
"The one that says you've got news that will ruin my night." He tilted his head, lips quirking. "Well? Go on. Let us get it over with."
I exhaled. "The guards were not random, your Majesty. Luna Seraphine sent them. She is looking for you and wonders why you are no longer in the kingdom."
Alaric hummed like I had just told him it might rain tomorrow. "And?"
"And? That is it. She is sniffing around, and if she finds you, it will not be to send flowers and chocolates, and we need to leave before her people circle closer, your Majesty."
"Mm." He set his glass aside, and I could practically see the mischief brewing before he even opened his mouth. "Of course, you are right, we should leave. Tonight, even."
Suspiciously easy. I narrowed my eyes. "What's the catch?"
Alaric leaned back, stretching like a cat. "Before we go, I need to visit Elias Blackthorne as I have a few words that I need to have with him, and this cannot wait. It has to be done."
I blinked. "You what?"
"Visit. Elias." He said it slowly, as though speaking to a particularly dense child. "It's important."
"No."
"Yes, Marcus, and that's final." He snapped.
"We are talking about Seraphine's guards on our tail, and you want to go make eyes at Blackthorne?"
"It's not about making eyes," Alaric said smoothly. Then, with a little smirk, "Though if that happens, well… bonus."
I pinched the bridge of my nose. "You're going to get us both in trouble with the council, your Majesty."
"Marcus," he said in that infuriating kingly voice that always made me want to throw something, "you're very good at what you do, so be good at it now and cover for me."
Before I could lodge further protest, the bastard had already risen, kissed his ring for dramatic flair, and slipped out the villa door with the stealth of a fox in the henhouse, and I was left alone. Alone with my thoughts. Unfortunately, they were not about how best to fend off Seraphine's hounds or how to devise an escape plan. No, my traitorous brain decided now was the perfect time to reply to every single second I had spent in Blackthorne Security earlier today. Specifically, every single second involves Beta Juno. The man had walked into the room, offered a handshake, and my sanity had packed its bags and left me for dead. That smile was sharp but easy. Those shoulders are broad enough to build a house on. The way he had looked me up and down like he had already taken my measure and was impressed. God help me, I had stood there with the world's most serious face while inside I was combusting like kindling.
"Pull yourself together, Marcus," I muttered into the silence. "You are a strategist, the Beta of the Alpha king, and the royal advisor. Not some moon-eyed idiot."
Except, I was. Because the more I thought about Juno, the more distracted I became. What would it be like to spar with him? To hear him laugh. To have him in my arms. Nope, this was how chaos started. I paced the length of the villa, muttering to myself like a man possessed. Every so often, I would glance at the door, half-hoping Alaric would come back before I lost the last of my composure.
Hours ticked by. Finally, the door creaked open, and Alaric slipped back in, looking far too smug for someone who had just risked his life.
"Don't, your Majesty," I said immediately.
"Don't what?" He smirked.
"Do not tell me what you did, do not tell me what he smelled like, do not tell me what color his damn eyes are when he is glaring at you. Just do not, your majesty. The less I know, the better, " Marcus asserted.
Alaric's grin was wicked. "Oh, Marcus. You wound me, trust me I was not going to say any of that."
"Good, you do realize you are shameless, your Majesty."
"I was going to say his lips taste like—"
I groaned loudly, throwing my hands up. "I'm leaving your Majesty; I'm walking out that door and never returning, and you can find another Beta to guard you and be your second in command. "
He laughed, far too pleased with himself. "Relax, old friend. We will be gone soon enough. Gather your things and get ready to leave."
The royal guards arrived not long after, silent and watchful in the moonlight. We slipped out of the villa under the cover of night, shadows trailing us, whispers of danger pressing close. As I mounted the car tight in my grip, I cast one last glance back at the villa we had occupied. It felt like a chapter closing. Seraphine's hounds are at our heels. Blackthorne Security in the middle, and I was stuck between loyalty to my king and this ridiculous, maddening distraction that was Juno.
Saints preserve me because if Alaric kept playing with fire, I was starting to suspect I might too.