Alex went back into the bathroom and finger-combed his wet hair. He felt way better after the shower, yet he only had his used clothes, and they were dirty from crawling around on the floor and ground while escaping the burning club. But a smile tugged because he actually wanted to go naked. He wanted to show off what he had because the collar around his neck secured him in ways he wanted.
Did that make him weak? No! He shoved the thought away along with the imprinted notion that a man was the strong one. A man was the one who took care of business and didn’t let himself get pushed around. Kaydon would lie in Alex’s arms to be the one held, shielded, and protected. Like women always did in movies, yet Kaydon didn’t feel any less of not just a big and strong man, but he didn’t feel any less a fierce and capable warrior.
What did all that say about Alex? Other than the part about him being mentally fucked-up. But he had the chance to figure himself out, and he was so grateful for Daniel for that. So he left his room, feeling fresh and attractive, and he’d definitely feed someone if they wanted it, but if he were allowed to be picky about it, he’d only feed those who could fuck him right.
But Marcadon was full, and what was a Fountain? There was no doubt that he had more to learn, but he didn’t want to feel stressed out about it. He was back, and he was going to have another cup of coffee with the Cubi King.
Alex entered the kitchen where Daniel was once again making coffee. Five people were in the kitchen now, and the King was making them coffee. The notion made Alex smile.
Seldon looked up, an expression of profound relief on his face. “Alex?”
“Sire…Lord.”
Seldon left his high chair to hug Alex, and Alex held on. When Seldon finally let go, he steered Alex with him, and Caledon moved over a spot for Alex to sit between them. The House Lord smiled, caressing Alex’s arm as he sat.
“The optional clothing choice, is that because what you were wearing was dirty?” Daniel asked, grinning as he placed a fresh cup in front of Alex.
“No. I hoped you’d appreciate the view.”
“Oh, we do!” Levidon said. “I’ve heard a bit more about you, and yes, a breeder is allowed in a Fountain’s bed as long as no one but the dosing Royal has dosed him for a month. As a Harem Lord, I’m not allowed around other doses, either.”
Alex gaped at the title. A harem?
“If you choose to take someone on, I’ll be the one dosing you,” Daniel said. “And if that Cubus doses you, you have to let me know.”
“And Kaydon?” Alex asked, because he got doses from everyone at the moment, and Alex wanted to be there for him as soon as he was able again.
“It just means Marcadon can’t fuck you. I can, though,” Levidon said, bobbing his brows.
“And I can watch,” Marcadon said, leaning over the table, propping up his head. “That could be…uhh.”
“Alex is allowed to choose if he wants to and when,” Daniel said, placing more coffee with artistic foam on the high table. “His main priority is Kaydon.”
“Aw!” Levidon whined. “You reveal an ass who can take me on, and he’s off limits.”
“Hey, my ass not enough for you?” Marcadon asked, knitting his brows at Levidon.
“Oh it is, cub, it is, but a human who can take me on…that’s happened like…three times in my lifetime.”
Marcadon chuckled.
“I know one thing for sure,” Caledon said. “My ass can’t take Marcadon on.”
Marcadon winched. “Sorry.”
Alex wondered why Caledon would if he was the lover of Seldon now as Daniel had explained, but he guessed it was the whole Fountain thing and strict rules he didn’t get. All he cared about was that he was off limits because of other Cubi’s doses.
Daniel finished his coffee making and hopped up across from Alex. “I’ll find you a few sets of clothes so you can be dressed when going to Kaydon. If you want to sleep in his room, you can, I’d just like to know where you are. You can always tell a guard.” He looked at Levidon. “With a black ring.” Levidon held up his fist to let Alex see it.
“I will.” Alex looked at Seldon’s hand, and it had a gold ring on it with a green gem. So did Caledon’s, except the gold ring had a purple gem in it. Marcadon’s was silver with a red stone. He couldn’t see Daniel’s other hand and stretched to peer behind the cup. Daniel smiled and held out his hand, showing a gold ring with a red gem. Other than eye color, Alex didn’t get the silver or gold references, but black was apparently Guard Lords and Ladies. “What will my chores be around here?”
“Kaydon,” Daniel said. “Tend to Kaydon. Once he’s ready to be moved out of the hospital, he’ll be moved to either this apartment or in with Elakdon. If the latter is the case, you may follow him there and help out there.”
Alex smiled. “Yes, My King.” He liked the King of North, mainly because he was so tentative toward Kaydon, and he really was as kind and respect-worthy as Kaydon had said. And Daniel was a lot like him. He wondered if Royals were just that much more down to earth than…Seldon had been a prick sometimes, but now he was the right-hand of a King. Did that change anything?
A tablet on the table pinged, and Seldon pulled it closer, flicking through the contents while drinking his coffee. “That’s the project manager. I have to go see to stuff there.”
“When will they be leaving?” Daniel asked.
Seldon grinned. “You don’t like having a cave full of humans here?”
“No, that’s not it. I want my House finished so I have room for my people, and I just asked for a boatload of humans to be collected and shipped here.”
Alex gaped before he managed to school his expression.
“If it’s on schedule, fine, if not, let me know,” Daniel continued. “We have a council meeting at four.”
Seldon looked at the clock. “I’ll get cracking then.” He emptied his cup and left the table.
“Need a hand, Dad?”
“Sure, get dressed.”
Marcadon and Levidon left the kitchen with Seldon, and Alex cleared the table, putting the cups away in the dishwasher. When he turned, he found Daniel smiling at him.
“And this is why I don’t give you a list of chores. You’re good at taking the initiative. You’ll know if you’re needed.”
Alex smiled, feeling his ears burn at the praise. His boss at the store had never given him credit for taking the initiative, and Alex was thrilled to be back.
Chapter Twenty-five
Seldon jogged through the halls to make it to the council meeting in time. The project was somewhat on schedule, and Seldon had learned that if he wanted things done, he had to go around Mr. Bale and talk to Jerry. It would subsequently mean that Mr. Bale would throw a fit, blame it all on Jerry, and Seldon would have to mediate as diplomatically as he could. It wasn’t working well, but it was faster than waiting for Mr. Bale to go through his process.
Sometimes, Seldon missed just being head of Training. He’d felt competent there.
He made it through the doors, and the big clock on the wall behind Daniel said he was five minutes late. “I apologize for being late.”
“Is Mr. Bale still wanting to measure dicks with you?” Caledon asked.
“Yeah, and when I win, he insists on trying out ten other measuring tapes.”
Daniel snickered.
“May I suggest that this figurative way of establishing power between the two of you be made literal?” Elakdon asked. “And I’d love to be there when you whip it out and tell him to do the same.”
Judging by the cheers from the Grand Council and Royals, the old King wasn’t the only one who thought that a great idea.
“Good thing I’m a shower, huh?” Seldon said.
They spent the next few minutes coming up with other fun ways to put the human in his place, but none of the ideas were to be taken seriously. At least the mood lowered Seldon’s guilty conscience for being late.
“Should we attempt something serious now?” Daniel asked, s
till grinning.
“Yes!” Geodin said, sitting forward, her eyes twinkling from amusement.
The rest quickly fell quiet, and Grand Lord Ildon cleared his throat. “As it was one of my clubs getting attacked, I’ve been as hands on the situation as possible since the news came in. Our King and Nol-Elakdon showed great ability to work together and fast, and it’s all pretty much under control. I have gotten emails and calls from the other clubs under my House, and they’re asking whether they’re to conduct business as usual or make ready to close.”
All gazes went to Daniel, who looked contemplative as he stared at the table in front of him. “We agreed that the fact that humans would frequent the clubs would keep the military from moving in and doing something stupid since there was a big risk that they’d take humans as well as Minglers if they tried that. The clubs’ successes would be what keeps them safe.” Daniel looked at Elakdon. “With what we’re going to go through with tonight, though…will we be pushing our luck?”
“It would be an obvious place to retaliate, yet that the Cubi are so public and with humans, I still think it would keep them from being a direct target by the military.”
“What about military playing idiots like the ones going at the club in Baltimore?” Geodin asked.
“Not every club has a Viking with a broadsword to defend them,” Neardon said, smiling, and Elakdon looked proud.
“A Viking who will be trained for a spot in my Royal Guard,” Daniel announced, and the Council clapped their hands while the old King looked even more proud.
“I fear that the clubs will be too tempting after tonight,” Nol-Plydon said.
Apparently, more agreed.
“I’m sorry if this was mentioned before I got here, but…what’s happening tonight?” Seldon asked.
Daniel sat forward, looking way too serious for a nineteen-year-old, but for a King with bad news, he looked capable. “In simultaneous strikes, warriors from all Kingdoms will collect the rogue officers’ family and take down the two facilities these rogue groups have worked from. Our objective is to take possession of all Cubi related research and retaliate against the rogue officers breaching the Grand House of Dahlidin and killing cubs. We will trade the families’ freedom for the rogues to give themselves over to stand trial. If they refuse, the families will be marked labor slaves, and the children raised as Untouchable slaves either here or in the other Kingdoms.”
Seldon sat back and looked at the King he’d helped raise to become one who could see something like that through. He had to look at least as proud as Elakdon did at the mention of his Viking protecting Grand Lord Ildon’s club.
“I’m sorry if we neglected to tell you. You were in recovery when this was decided,” Caledon said. “I’ll get you the meeting transcript if you want since this is your table as Lokil-Nol.”
“Thank you.” But what Seldon wanted to know the most was what Daniel had had to say about it. A tablet scooted across the table, and Seldon caught it, finding the transcript. To his surprise, Daniel had come up with it, and Seldon felt proud of his boy. “When will it be executed?”
“At twenty-three hundred hours,” Elakdon answered.
Seldon looked through another transcript from around that time, but his thoughts kept going back to the clubs.
Grand Lord Ildon posed the question, though. “After what happened, and considering what we’re about to do, do we keep the clubs?”
“Warriors have been shipped here through Canada since our arrival,” Elakdon said. “At the present moment, we have roughly twenty thousand armed and able warriors. Cubs and families are protected in discreet housings, and we have warriors being moved to the clubs since we can’t evacuate them. Keeping them open for business will be the safest since they’ll then be full of humans, too.”
“Agree,” several members said, raising their hands.
Seldon hated that he wasn’t equipped to make a stand because of his downtime after the rape and the cold, yet he believed Elakdon as his Kingdom’s closest ally to be the one most capable of assessing the situation.
“Considering most movies that come out of the States the past fifteen years are self-important shoot-em-up movies with a hint of patriotism bordering brainwashing, I don’t believe the rouges will stand down,” Nil-Sundin said.
Daniel gaped. “Is that how Hollywood movies are seen by outside Cubi people?”
“Oh, not just Cubi nations, young King, everybody outside the US sees it that way.”
Daniel didn’t look too pleased by that. Why would he? Until a few months ago, he’d been a proud American boy who’d probably never had to think about his place in the grander picture of the world. Seldon thought Nil-Sundin was laying it on pretty thick, too, painting the entirety of the shared nation with one big evil brush. Even though Seldon had lived a pretty secluded life in the House of Dahlidin, he’d had his share of connection with the outside world. Not just via his daughter being a Mingler, but through the many humans taken in to become breeders.
Remembering that Nil-Sundin’s shared nations were at war with the US, he understood that her opinions might be more negative due to those nations’ view of the States than other Kingdoms’ shared nations would think.
“The best plans should be the backup plans, right?” Daniel asked, looking at Elakdon. The old King nodded, smiling. “Do you have one in mind?”
“I do. I would like to hear your ideas, though.”
Daniel smiled, but there was no real joy behind it. Considering the topic, Seldon could understand that.
“Our hope is that they’ll reach out to us after they see that we’re more than capable of doing covert missions like the one they did on our Grand House, right?” Daniel asked.
The Council confirmed.
“If they choose to retaliate instead and go after the Cubi people in hiding around the States, then I fear that there’s only one objective left.”
“Which is?” Elakdon asked.
“We take every government official from the President down to the House and Senate. All of them.”
“That will leave us exposed to the world, and every world leader would go against its Cubi population. I know my biggest shared nation will,” Plydon said, and considering that it was Putin, Seldon believed him.
“And all warriors were sent here?” Daniel asked.
Elakdon chuckled, shaking his head. “I think we underestimate the willingness of our youngest Royal to secure his people at all costs. But Beaudon, have you read Art of War?”
“No.”
“You should. My first war as a Royal was just around my two hundredth birthday. It was done through deals. Not a lot died, but my people came to live in the divided society it does today.”
“That was when we all made the parallel Cubi society,” Plydon said.
“And there, we’ve been able to gather a lot of power,” Geodin added.
“If we are to step forward again, then it must be on a global scale,” Plydon said.
“And it should be while the human society is in as much of an upheaval as possible,” Elakdon said. “It’s already brewing on many fronts. If we step forward and stop atrocities, then the humans will be kinder toward us than if we take over by force, and we will need the human’s cooperation unless we are to subjugate them.”
“Playing chicken with the American government will be ill-advised,” Geodin said.
“Oh, I agree, and I didn’t plan on playing chicken,” Daniel said. “Is this more like…who’s in our pocket to be a pawn placed where we need them in human government? ‘Cause I suck at Chess.”
Elakdon laughed loudly. “I’ll teach you to play Hnefatafl.”
Daniel blinked but looked like he looked forward to it. “So all clubs have warriors standing by?”
“Yes,” Plydon said.
“And the backup plan that I don’t have the necessary insight to form?” Daniel didn’t look like he felt incompetent for not being able to, and Seldon admired him for it. He wasn’
t too eager even though he’d been crowned early.
“We do it like any human enemy could do, too,” Elakdon said. “We take their money.”
“Like…the Federal Reserve?” Daniel asked.
“Yes, and Fort Knox. For one hundred Lords and Ladies, it doesn’t take long to lift gold.”
Daniel slumped back in his chair. “That’s going to take a lot of time to plan.”
“Where is Fort Knox located?” Geodin asked.
“I knew there was a reason I shouldn’t have been on Facebook that class,” Daniel said, slapping the table.
Seldon chuckled. “Kentucky.”
Daniel perked up. “You mean…”
“We mean we’ve prepared for this as a contingency plan since forever.”
Damn, that Grand Lady could look shrewd, but Seldon admired her for it.
“And the Federal Reserve?” Caledon asked, gaping.
“That, too,” Neardon said. “And a third that they keep pretty hidden. We’ve even made a few ourselves to use as bait for trust because no, we don’t trust humans and their monetary greed.”
“We have a vault somewhere?” Daniel asked.
“Yeah, they think it has your crown jewels in there. And a big gold throne we had made just for their twisted idea of power and prestige.”
Daniel laughed. “Oh wow, if only they knew my idea of showing off power was to make everybody come simultaneously, they’d be sorely disappointed.”
“Spoken like a true Royal,” Elakdon said.
“And the crown jewels?” Daniel bobbed his brows, looking every bit his young age.
Seldon’s dick rose at the memory of how electric the room had felt before he’d felt warm and like his very being was caressed by a hand of pure pleasure. Caledon shifted, one hand going under the table for a moment. Oh yeah, Daniel had power over his people.
“But seriously, I love that you test me and all, but I haven’t got a chance when I don’t know all the clever little things you’ve done over the past four hundred years to secure us.”
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