The evening after the Minister's funeral, Dario called a meeting between all the leaders, and we found ourselves waiting miserably for him in the conference room.

There was an awkward tension in the air as we all stared at the table, deep in our own thoughts. Alrik would occasionally rub a circle in my palm to comfort me, but other than that no one made any sudden movements.

It was almost as if we were afraid to.

There was a soft knock on the door, and everyone raised their heads as Dario marched in confidently. He settled in the seat at the end of the table beside Alrik and nodded at everyone politely, "Leaders, we have an issue on our hands. Are you all up to date on what has occurred?"

There was a series of affirmative responses, and Dario raised his eyebrows curiously, "So is it safe to assume that all hands are on deck now? I am well aware that the only people who have been involved since the beginning are Ms. Jaslynn and Alpha Alrik, and just recently Mr. Daxton had joined in."

Wilbur muttered what seemed to be a rude comment under his breath that I tried to ignore, but it caught Alrik and Dario's attention immediately.

"Mr. Wilbur, do you have something to say?" Dario asked, a warning undertone in his voice.

The griffin sneered, "Nothing, Minister Dario. I was just acknowledging how all of this could have been avoided," he directed his glare at me.

I remained expressionless, but under the table, my hand was clasping Alrik's tightly in an attempt to calm him down as his rage started to bubble.

Dario narrowed his eyes, glancing at me briefly before returning his gaze to Wilbur, "How do you think that, Mr. Wilbur?"

"Jaslynn is the reason we are in this position."

"I would tread carefully if I were you," Alrik hissed, his voice coming out as a snarl near the end.

Wilbur pursed his lips at the threat, "All I mean to say is that if Jaslynn had kept her legs closed for a few more days, the Minister would have been al–"

He was cut off as Alrik lunged for his throat with a deadly growl, and I jumped out of my seat after him, "Alrik, don't!"

While I had expected some subtle backlash over the Minister's death since all of us were in still in a deep state of grief, I didn't think it would escalate to the point where I would have to hold Alrik back as he defended me.

I circled my arms around him from behind and hugged him, praying that he could feel me under the fog of his anger. After a few moments, his body relaxed, and he loosened his grip on Wilbur's throat and allowed Dario and Daxton to pull him away.

Wilbur was gasping for breath but glaring murderously at Alrik as Regan tugged him away from the table and held him down so he would not launch himself at us.

I moved around to face Alrik and cupped his face, caressing his jaw with my thumbs, "Alrik, look at me."

He turned his harsh gaze to me, and I shook my head slowly, "I know you want to rise to my defense, but you can't fling yourself at everyone who talks shit about me. Let me handle it, please."

"Kroshka," he started, but I sent him a knowing glance.

"We can talk about this later," I said, pecking his lips briefly before releasing him to face the rest of the group. Dario was pinching the area between his eyebrows, Regan looked completely uncomfortable, Wilbur was rubbing his neck, and Daxton just seemed pissed off.

"Wilbur," I called politely, maintaining a cold tone, "Regardless of what disagreements we may have, we still have to come together to face Malcolm and all his allies. So I ask that you keep your judgments to yourself, seeing as you clearly do not know the whole story, and give constructive comments that will help us create a solid plan."

He was silent, and I took that as a sign of his surrender.

Alrik was still trembling a little as I put my hand on his chest and coaxed him to sit down, and I knew at that moment that if we were anywhere else, Wilbur would probably have been unconscious or even dead by now.

Once we had plopped back into our seats, Dario stared at us expectantly, "So what do we know about Malcolm? We know he has the rogue dragons on his side so there's a possibility he's holding the book in his hands right at this moment."

"Even if he has it, he can't do anything just yet. The portal only opens on a full moon," I said, recalling the bare information I knew.

"And can he open it anywhere?"

"I believe so. I still need to translate the few pages I have, and hopefully, it will mention where the portal could be opened. Otherwise, we'll have to rush to his location and figure out where he went from there."

"And your two prisoners haven't revealed anything?"

Alrik spoke up for the first time, "My Beta is working on it. It's taking longer to extract information because they've gotten used the pain."

"Not to mention, they've run out of fingers and toes so we've moved onto limbs," he added under his breath, making me wince at the thought.

Dario scratched his chin, "The full moon is in exactly a week. I say that we come back tomorrow, and hopefully, we'll have more information. Until then, Jaslynn, I would like you to translate those pages by tomorrow. We need to move as quickly as possible so I want every other leader to prepare their warriors to move at any time. Are we clear?"

There was an uneasy silence, and Dario sighed, "We'll meet tomorrow at noon. Meeting adjourned."

Wilbur stormed out of the room with Regan on his heels, causing Dario to roll his eyes at his behavior before he rotated in his chair to face me.

"In any other situation, I would have thrown a few punches at him for how he spoke to you, but I'm supposed to be the neutral party here," Dario stated, giving me an apologetic smile.

I shook my head and leaned over to hug him, "I didn't take him seriously. Don't worry about it. Besides, I'm pretty sure the handprints on his neck will make him hold his tongue next time."

He smiled half-heartedly and stood up, "Well, I need to finish the last of the funeral rites. My father had asked that his ashes be scattered across his favorite meadow so I have to do that before sundown."

I swallowed hard and stepped forward, giving him a proper hug to convey my silent condolences.

After experiencing so many losses in my life, I knew the last words he wanted to hear were, 'I'm sorry for your loss.' Those words were spoken by people who were awkwardly trying to bridge the gap and show their empathy.

And even though they meant well, it was a line that lost its meaning once thousands of other people have robotically recited it as well.

Dario patted my back and pecked my cheek, and I stepped aside to let him shake hands with Alrik and Daxton.

***

Alrik and I returned to the cabin we were residing in to give the Minister's family privacy, and as soon as I unlocked the front door, Alrik stormed inside and yanked his coat off.

I followed him inside quietly and stared as he tried to keep soothe his anger, "Alrik, we should talk about what happened."

"I fucked up, I know," he muttered, running a hand through his hair, "But he was out of line, and as your mate, my first primal instinct is to protect you."

"I appreciate it, Alrik, but you can't forget that Wilbur is a leader as well. You could have gotten into serious trouble for attacking him. He was close to the Minister so it is normal for him to lash out and cast the blame through his grief."

"Dario was affected more than anyone at that meeting, but you don't see him implying that you're a whore," he pointed out with exasperation, "Kroshka, you can't expect me to stay calm when you are disrespected."

"I know, Alrik, and I would feel the same if you were insulted," I said, moving closer to him and placing my arms around his neck, "But in an environment like that where both of our roles are leaders, I don't want you compromising your reputation for my sake. It will hurt you in the long run. I know how to stand up for myself, and unless I look to you for back up, I don't want you getting involved."

"Fuck my reputation, it's already ruined. In fact, standing up for you probably gave me brownie points."

I sighed, "I can't change your mind about this, can I?"

He shook his head, "You've changed my mind about a lot of things, but this is not one of them. I will always have your back, whether you like it or not. No one should hurt the woman I love and live to see the ne–"

His mouth clamped shut.

The woman he loved.