ELRETH

Her hands shook with the repressed rage, fighting to unleash. Her beast within clawed at her ribs, snarling for release. But she held it all in as she looked first each of the elders, then Tobe and his companions in the eyes.

"I do not know why," she started quietly, "but someone has a desire to remove my Mate from his rightful position next to me. If that person is in this room, hear me: You will not succeed. Whether it be your prejudice for his disformation, your jealousy over my love for him, or a simple petty grievance, you put the entire Anima at risk when you bring such baseless and shallow concerns against the Queen and her Mate.

"I have tried—I have heard the elders concerns for the future, and for the comfort of the people, but I call you now to look at what caution and side-stepping have earned us—nothing but false petitions and suspicion."

She turned to Aaryn and let her eyes soften, but only a hair. He made a small huff in his throat that she thought he hadn't planned and she had to stifle a grin.

"My mate is the most admirable Alpha I have ever known. He demonstrates compassion alongside strength, intelligence alongside fearlessness, and patience to balance his ambition. He is an example to me, and yes, I will appoint him as my primary Advisor as soon as we have walked the Flames.

"For that reason, and for the theater we have all been forced to play in this morning, I no longer believe caution and a slow approach are the best way to face the issues within the Anima. It is clear to me that we only give a foothold to the enemy when we wait and hold back against what we know to be the best way forward—the necessary way.

"So, I will make a call to the people this morning. I will tell them if they have questions, concerns, or accusations they will bring them to me today and I will address them. Otherwise, Aaryn and I will walk the Flames and Smoke in three days.

"I have had enough of this petty, childish dancing at the edges of the future. Yes, my rule is new and different, and yes some may feel vulnerable as a result of that. But the only way I can show those Anima that they do not need to fear, is to allow them to walk into this new Dawn and see that I walk ahead of them, and that the Creator walks both before and behind me.

"I am not an empty-headed cub playing at being royal. I am the Queen. I am Dominant. There will be no more waiting."

"But—" Aaryn started, but she whirled on him, a fierce and glorious in her righteous anger.

"Do. Not. Argue with me." Her voice filled the room as if it hit the walls and bounced back to them all.

In that moment she planted her feet, and let her upper lip lift, to hint at the baring of her teeth. She let herself feel her certainty, feel her own determined wrath.

The Equines all dropped to a knee and clapped one arm across their chests, chin down and heads bowed. The elders, too, took their seats or bowed their heads. Even Aaryn quivered at the dominance she displayed, fighting the urge to submit, she thought.

But with no one else looking at her directly, she winked at him and his lips pulled up on one side.

"Three days," she said quietly. "Am I heard and understood?"

"As you have said, so it shall be," the elders recited and Elreth smiled for real. Then, with a quick glance at Aaryn to make sure he would follow, she turned on her heel and walked out of the building, blowing the scent of the Equines from her nostrils as she went.

Three days. They would walk the Flames and Smoke in three days.

About fucking time.

As soon as they were out of sight of the building, a set of warm, steel arms wrapped around her middle, and a honeyed voice whispered in her ear, "That was the hottest thing I think I've ever seen."

"It wasn't that big of a deal," she giggled, sounding exactly like the empty-headed cub she'd just claimed she would never be. But she didn't care.

She turned as Aaryn let go and darted ahead of her, then took her face in his hands and kissed her.

Her instinct was to stop him—they had to hide! But then she realized no… no they didn't. There would be no more hiding. That's what she'd just said, and what the other leaders had agreed. So instead, she fisted Aaryn's shirt and pulled him in, kissing him with enough passion that he groaned and pulled out of it, muttering about sex kittens who didn't know their own power.

While she laughed, he began walking backwards on the trail as he took her hands and lifted them to his lips, one by one.

"You are truly magnificent," he said, his startlingly blue eyes locked on hers from behind the tines of his silver-white hair. "I am blessed by the Creator to have you as mine."

"Stop," she said, but she couldn't fight the beaming smile that belied her words.

"I will never stop admiring you, Elreth," Aaryn said seriously. He stopped walking then so that she was forced to stop, or run into his chest.

The latter was tempting, but she was trying to be an adult. And climbing her mate like a tree in the middle of a main trail wasn't going to prove anything good to anyone that might happen along.

So, she stopped when she stepped between his toes, and twined their fingers. "Thank you for submitting back there," she said quietly. "Thank you for letting them see that. I know it isn't easy."

"I disagree, Elreth," he said, his voice husky with promise. "Honestly, it was incredibly easy. Rather, it was hard not to drop to the floor and bare my balls to you."

She tilted her head then and lifted one eyebrow. "Only three more days and you can," she quipped.

Aaryn threw back his head and laughed, then pulled her into another, searing kiss.

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