Protect Me, Alpha King - Chapter 154: Chapter 154

Squeezed
"Your Highness, please calm down," William requested.
Acting as if I was unbothered, I seconded, "Yeah. You should be calm, Your Highness. Your presence alone is enough to scare the servants. Besides, I am only telling you the truth. Nothing else." The alpha king inhaled deeply, attempting to control his anger, and sat down. "I. Am. Not. Jealous."
I smirked. "Yeah. Yeah. No one is forcing you to say otherwise."
"No one is taking the woman away from you. Not even my son."
While we were in the middle of our discussion, Alpha Raphael glanced at the servants and in an instant, they stepped out of the dining room and shut the door behind us..
My brows furrowed. What was happening?
All our eyes went to him. He was the only one capable of mind-linking all his pack members. For what purpose?
Alpha Raphael pulled himself together. "Your Highness, Alpha King Maxxwell, Gavin, and Father. May I have your attention, please?"
"You all have our attention, Master Raphael."
"Stop calling him your master, River. I don't like it."
"It's not my problem anymore, Your Highness," I replied. To Alpha Raphael, I muttered, "What do you want to say, Master Raphael?" I repeated the word master once again, to annoy the alpha king.
I smiled victoriously when his fist trembled and he hid it under the table. Annoying him was a piece of cake.
While the alpha debated on what he would say, I finished off my food on the table. After that, I drank the juice on the table and focused on the alpha.
"If I succeed in annihilating the threat to my pack, Your Highness, please accept my plan on stepping down from my position and allow my second-in-command, Beta Gavin to replace me as the alpha of Riverside Pack. Beta Gavin has proven countless times that he is dependable and can be trusted. The pack will do well under his leadership."
William stood in shock and looked at his son in disbelief. The beta was kind of expecting what the alpha would say and was not even shocked about it.
However, Beta Gavin gritted his teeth and stabbed the meat in his plate a couple of times. His decision was still the same. He did not want the shift of positions.
"What are you saying, Son?" William asked. "You never told me about this."
The alpha's expression softened as he watched his father. "Father. I told you about it, but you would never listen to me. The pack affairs are suffocating me." "Suffocating?" William asked, in disbelief. "What suffocating are you saying? It is your beta who always fixes everything for you because you are busy traveling!" he growled. William's nostrils flared. Maybe if the alpha king was not here, he had beaten Alpha Raphael to a pulp.
I flinched back and moved my chair a little further away from the alpha. Meddling to their arguments would never be a wise move, to begin with.
"That is why I am transferring the position to Gavin, Father. Please understand that. Even you can attest Gavin is best fitted to the alpha position compared to me."
William bared his teeth.
"You!" William clutched his chest. He squinted. "You always disappoint me. You are always the irresponsible type. If only your siblings did not die when they were young, I would never have chosen you to be my successor."
The old man onto his chair.
Pain crossed the alpha's eyes, but he disregarded it.
I tilted my head to the side.
Alpha Raphael's shoulders drooped. "How cruel of you to bring the dead to this discussion, Father. Leave my siblings out of this. All I am asking is your approval of my decision. But I promise you. I will not go unless I solve these killings in our pack."
"Bullshit!" William roared. A vein popped on his neck. "Does it ease my mind?"
Seeing him like this was scary.
"It should be?" Alpha Raphael replied. "Father. Why can't you accept my decision? I would never be happy if I stayed here."
"You will never be happy because you favored those whores you meet in the clubs and beer houses. You are always hungry for the softness of women. I know every single thing you did while you were out traveling, Raphael. I know. The day I feared the future of the pack has come. Your mother loved this pack so much, yet you never wanted it."
William looked at the alpha king. "Your Highness, will you put some sense in his thick skull? I don't know what I will do with him. I felt like a failure as his father."
He sank into his chair deeper.
"I am out of this father and son affair. All I wanted was for the killer to be captured."
"My apologies. but please excuse me. Your Highness." the beta announced
The alpha king waved his hand, allowing the beta to excuse himself.
"Why are you always giving me problems, Son?"
The alpha hung his head low. "I'm sorry to disappoint you, Father. All I am asking for is my freedom."
"Freedom? You make me laugh, Son. You are always running away from your responsibilities. Please excuse me also, Your Highness. My heart is aching at Raphael's announcement."
The alpha king heaved a sigh and allowed William.
When it was only the three of us, Alpha Raphael looked at the ceiling and back at us. "Oh, great. I messed up."
"Totally. So what's your plan? The beta and your Father are not even happy about it. I don't believe there will ever be a time that they will accept your choice. It is not too late to tell them you made a mistake." "Never. I already told them my plans. There is no way I will retrieve my words."
Just as I will answer the alpha, the alpha king had spoken. "River. I want you to fix my bed," he suddenly ordered.
I whipped my head in his direction and scratched my forehead. "May I remind you, Your Highness, that I am no longer your slave?"
To the alpha, the alpha king reminded, "Alpha Raphael. Tell your slave that I owned all your servants and that includes her."
The alpha gave me a reassuring smile. "Woman. That is true. All of us are under the alpha king's leadership. Do what the alpha king wants as a sign of the pack's hospitality to our guests."
I put my arms in front of my chest. "I don't want to."
"You will. Or do you want me to serve the alpha king, instead? Then what about you? What will you do? I bought you back at the auction house. I saved you from those dirty bastards who wanted to use you as a way of avenging themselves for what the alpha king had done to them."
"I get it. You don't have to sound bitchy and make me look as if I don't owe you. Besides, I did everything to my best ability at whatever I was doing." I stood and glanced over my shoulder, saying, "Tell me where your room is, Your Highness and I will do everything to make your stay here as comfortable as possible, Your Highness," I uttered with sarcasm. "After all, I cannot let down Master Raphael." "That's what I am looking forward to. I'll join you."
Wiping the smudges of crumbs on the corner of his mouth using a piece of cloth, Maxxwell stood.
We were silent along the way. The alpha king was ahead of me, leading me to his quarters. I did not even bother to make conversation with him. What for?
As if he could no longer bear the silence, the alpha king quipped, "How is your stay in the pack? Are they treating you right?"
Trusting my chest out, I answered, "Better than how you handled me. They behaved towards me as if I were the queen. They respected me. They are showing me as if I am some sort of porcelain glass which is easy to break," I exaggerated even I some of them were not true. There were instances in which some pack members showed their hostility, but I could handle it fine.
"Which you are supposed to be treated. I'm satisfied."
"Don't be. It's the only pack and place that knows my worth. I want to stay here. I wanted to tell you about it since they keep on telling me to return with you back. Release me, Your Highness. I don't want anything to do with you anymore."
The alpha king's steps faltered. "I can't..."
My heart hardened. "Why is that? We are no longer mates. I am no longer your personal attendant. You can choose your own woman. You have a lot of slaves waiting for your attention. You have Nora." "They are not you."
I scoffed. "Oh, please. You cannot fool me with those words."
The alpha king stopped in front of a door that was adjacent to mine. The guest room. "We are here."
My brows furrowed. "Your Highness. We already cleaned this room. I made sure that all the vacant rooms will be cleaned, anticipating that some guests will want to rest before they go back." I faced him and glared at him. "If this is your way of "
"Step inside and you will see the room needs to be cleaned," he declared, cutting off my words.
Rolling my eyes at him, I muttered, "Fine. But if I see that-"
He kicked the door open. "See?"
And the clothes loitering on the floor and pillows welcomed my eyes. Everything was chaotic.
"You are hopeless without your servants."
The alpha king smiled sheepishly and for one moment, he looked younger. "I don't know what to do without you. I mean...without all of you. I was not trained in any household work."
Of course. He was trained in how to fight and led his future people.
My heart jumped with joy at the sight of his real smile. This time, it reached his eyes.
I cleared my throat.
I will never get affected by that charming smile. Never!
I stepped inside his chamber. His smell hit my nose and knocked on me for a moment.
The alpha king, sensing my discomfort, was instantly at my side. "Is there something wrong?"
Shaking my head, I said, "Nothing. Everything is fine. Step aside and I will do it faster. The next thing you know everything is back to normal."
"I changed my mind. You don't have to clean it."
I puffed out some air of annoyance. "Are you kidding me, Maxxwell? You made me look as if I was not taking my work seriously in front of my master." His expression turned serious.
Oh no.
Something was telling me that he was up to no good.
I backed away in the corner.
"Don't you dare, Maxxwell."
He moved forward. "Dare what, River?"
"Don't do the things you are planning right now."
He strolled towards me.
Then, he closed the distance between us and pulled me into a tight embrace.
My eyes widened and I froze against his hold.
"What are you doing, Your Highness? I did not come here to be taken advantage of."
The alpha king squeezed me tighter. I felt as if I could no longer hear my surroundings at the fast pounding of my heart. "I miss you so much," he whispered against my ears.