The Tears of a Prince

Cecilia had been pretty sure that things with her son and Loyd would not go well. The next morning as she began getting ready the only thing she could think of for a while was that Xan would have to meet face to face with the man that had tried to kill his lover. She hoped he would be able to restrain himself, kill him in secret if he really had to because the palace was already a mess, she couldn't handle another diplomatic disaster. 

She caught her hair up, a strict ponytail falling straight and when she was done she turned around, looking at the man who was sleeping in her bed. A sigh escaped her painted red lips as she walked away, she wasn't going to wake him up, for some reason he liked his peaceful expression as he slept, the way his lose hair framed his handsome face, it was an image she recalled often to calm her mind, seeing it live had some power over her, calming her. 

The doors of the meeting room were open, only Xan, Lun and Kai waiting inside. The wolves were still not present. It was good, she would have some time to talk to Xan and calm his nerves so he wouldn't create another unnecessary ruckus. 

"Xan let me talk to you for a second" Cecilia told him, taking her son a little bit further. Kai and Lun had already been seated, talking about something. 

"What is it mother?" her son asked her, a strict look on his face. It was obvious that he was tense, the way his eyes were stuck at the opened door, staring at the corridor. He was waiting, he was waiting for Loyd to come.

"I wanted to talk to you about how you should act when Loyd comes here." she said and his eyes widened slightly. He didn't seem pleased that his mother had caught up to his plan so easily, after all he wanted to use the element of surprise. Grab that bastard and humiliate him in front of everyone for what he did, make sure he was in pain as he killed him. 

"What do you mean?" Xan asked, trying to look confused but his mother simply shook her head, seeing easily through him. 

"Don't try anything stupid. At least not now. Wait for them to sign the treaties. Then kill him for all I care" 

"He shouldn't be able to walk in here as if he did nothing."

"But he did nothing. He is a guest here, an Alpha and Lun, well, he might mean a lot to you and Kai, he might be powerful here but the bitter truth is that between them he is no one. They don't care if a simple vampire dies." The queen told him, making him frown. Even though he knew what she was talking about, being perfectly aware of the meaning of her words he didn't like hearing it. 

"Fine, I won't do anything." Her son told her, making her give him a faint smile. 

"Let's just get over this stupidity, kick them out and then focus on the most important matters." She suggested. The most important matters were the Nightshades, this organization filled with lunatics, preparing to destroy everything his family had worked for all these years. This should be in all of their minds, making it hard for them to sleep, this should be their main problem but Xan just couldn't focus, especially now that he caught the werewolves coming with his blue eyes.

And then there were three. Three packs had remained now that the Blood Fangs had managed to escape right underneath their noses. Moonshine, Wolfdom, Bloodmoon. She would have to sign the treaties with them and eventually manage to get some of them on her side, she needed them to look for Alloy, they were the only ones who could help. 

"Good morning everyone, please take your seats." She told them, her tone strict but not hostile. Everyone picked a seat, members of the same pack sitting close to each other while Philip sat next to Kai, smiling at him brightly. "Things have seemed to have taken a very bad turn and as it seems we are not the bad guys here like some of you assumed." Cecilia announced, her green eyes landing on Loyd's pack. The alpha did not speak, he didn't apologize, making Xan grip the end of his chair, annoyed. "Alloy and her pack, they have been plotting against us with an organization in BloodBound. They are planning to destroy the kingdom and we will need your help."

"Why should we help you?" Joey, the Alpha of Wolfdom asked her.

"Do you want thousands of angry vampires at your doorsteps? With the creation of BloodBound we had achieved peace for thousands of years. We managed to limit the confrontation between our species but also got rid of most of the witches meddling with us and most importantly the fact that there are no big confrontations saved us from having hunters knowing where we are. If BloodBound gets destroyed, all of us will go back to how things were thousands years ago. I do believe no one wants that." she explained. 

Everyone in the room seemed skeptical. She had made a point, reminding them of the disaster their cursed lives used to be a long time ago. The bloodshed, the hate, the constant running. No one wished for that. Vampires and werewolves, both of them were beasts, monsters but after years of fighting their natures they had managed to tame themselves, live normal lives but someone wished to change that. 

"We will help you." Loyd announced. 

"We shall help too." Philip said, holding Kai's hand. "My pack will be with you, whatever you need." 

"I have a plan." Cecilia said, drawing everyone's attention. "Sadly we have no idea about the Nightshades, especially now that their leader seems to have changed. The truth is that they are more of urban legends in BloodBound…"

"Well…" Kai mumbled, tilting his head to the side and Cecilia stared at him, silently telling him to shut up.

"As I was saying, we don't know where they are, how many of them are…the only lead we have is Alloy and her pack. She has escaped to the human world with their help, that I am quite sure of. We will need to cooperate with a pack, to be able to capture them. You are the ones who know how werewolves operate, so we need to try this together, as disturbing as it sounds" she told them her plan.

"The pack that was closests to Alloy's after their move was Moonshine." Joey told them. "We are too far away, it would be impossible to have our people move, we would also waste precious time but we are willing to help if things get difficult."

"It is the same with us" Loyd added. "We can offer some help, weapons, supplies but…"

"Yeah" Xan interrupted him. "The only thing you know how to do is try to sneakily kill people for things they didn't do, not to mention that you can't even apologize. Quite the Alpha you are." he insulted him. Loyd was shocked by his words, blinking a few times. "What?" 

"Don't…I am fine." Lun whispered at him, placing his hand on his thigh. Xan shook his head, mumbling something to himself that the rest didn't hear. 

"I think the plan is clear here." Kai stepped in, wanting to ease the tension. "I will gather some people, get to Moonshine and from there we will go after Alloy. John, Ash, Soran and Lun…maybe I should bring Olivia too, a healer would be useful, while you will work on the defenses of the kingdom. Keep things in check and make sure that if an attack happens we will be ready."

"I will come too." Xan announced. 

"What?" The queen asked, surprised. 

"Wasn't I clear? Have to be sure I won't be letting more people like you get off the hook so easily." he said, obviously talking to Loyd. The Alpha though simply ignored him. This was one of the things he hated about authority, the fact that you never had to take responsibility for your actions, it was disgusting. 

"Xan…" His mother called his name.

"Don't even say anything." he told her, not looking at her. 

"Well, Xan will come too." Kai said. 

"As it seems" Cecilia mumbled. "Let's sign the treaties tomorrow. With everything that has happened I am sure you understand why we need to speed things up. Get some rest and let's have a last dinner all together, for the formalities." The queen announced, leaving the room quite distressed.

Slowly after her everyone returned to their quarters, leaving Philip and Kai alone. The younger prince looked at his lover, a chuckle escaping his lips. 

"What was that for?" Philip asked him, his smile being contagious. 

"As it seems I will be coming back to your territory." Kai announced. "Are you able to take the lead?" He asked him, a cheeky grin on his face and the Alpha scoffed, walking closer to him and wrapping his arms around his waist. 

"Is that even a question you should be asking? You know very well I know how to lead." he whispered, biting the lobe of his ear, making the prince shiver. 

"We will see about that, times change." 

"They do. But our love, it will always remain the same" Philip said, making Kai smile. 

"Always."