The Gentle Maiden and Five Lustful Brothers-Chapter 209: You can’t mean that

"Lets get one thing straight. Shifters do not follow the same moral code of conduct vampires or witches do. We have our own laws and ways of doing things. I am the Alpha King, my word is the final word, inside the walls of this city, what I say goes. The vampires are my guests but you four," Ambrose pointed to the magic users in the room "Are crashing this party and are lucky I don’t have you thrown in prison for trespassing."

"Alright, Ambrose, enough. This is my family, not a band of rogue criminals." Odette finally spoke. She was in shock that everyone was here, even faces she hasn’t seen since her last birthday. And two face’s she’s never seen before.

"How about we all take a seat and start over?" Odette suggested attempting to ease the tension in the room.

Ambrose immediately softened at Odette’s request, but only enough to sit down a little more relaxed.

"Are you guys hungry?" Odette asked.

"Starved, little princess, how about you get your favorite uncle some dinner." Oliver chimed in, his usual comedic self, making the air in the room lighter.

"Uncle Oliver!" She shouted excitedly.

Ambrose had gotten in his packs channel chat and ordered Hector to have Emalea bring a late dinner to this room, he didn’t trust other servants the way he trusted his closer ones. And Emalea was Odette’s friend and ally. He could trust her to bring the food and see a room full of vampires and not run off and gossip.

Ambrose had sealed off parts of his mansion, only allowing a few trusted guards and servants in. Which had upset the elders, but Ambrose being Ambrose, didn’t care for the rhetoric of cranky out of touch old men. 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

Odette was stuck in her feelings, trying hard to sooth her racing hard and keep her nerves under control.

Her fiancé was in the same room as her fated mate, the tension was so thick it couldn’t be cut with a steak knife.

It had been months since she’s seen any of their faces and was overwhelmed with feelings of grief and longing. She was surprised to see her father so composed and at ease being inside enemy territory. Was this the same man that raised her? The same man who would rage over the smallest slights against him? She was trying to sort all this out while a smile sat with a collected and cool look on her face.

She wondered when she told them about the truth him being her fated mate, would they still maintain the same demeanor.

Her composure cracked for just a moment after having that thought.

"Let’s get down to business." Ambrose led the conversation with dominance and power "We are here for a new treaty and allyship, I don’t see a reason to waste time dancing around this part." Ambrose bit down, clenching his jaw for saying this next part "I’m sure you all wish to have time with Princess Odette." The sheer idea of letting her out of his sight with her family here terrified him. He was afraid they would try and steal her back. And that orange hair freak being in the same room as Odette and without him, just hit him wrong.

This pleased the Ash, he thought he might be a reasonable king. And that this alliance would go smoothly.

This started off the conversation Ash and Ambrose. Odette, however interjected "Father, I know you know there’s a darkness growing in power and numbers, and the shifters, they can’t beat them alone, I need your help."

"You’ve kept the biggest secret from me my whole life, lying to me at every turn, controlling my every minute." She started tearing up as she spoke. "I know who I am, what I am, and where I belong. I know the path I will take and that the journey that lies ahead is one filled with terror and hardship, but I will forgive you for your lies and manipulation, if you agree to join me."

She paused, steading her hands, regaining the control of her breath. "The alliance cannot be weak like the one that was broken in the past, it must equal in strength of the first pact. I intend to marry Alpha King Ambrose and seal the alliance with marriage as the binding. With this confession I announce I am the fated mate of the first wolf and that at the Eclipse Gala I plan to accept the bond and obtain the status of Luna Queen. And he will mark me."

Odette spoke with all the strength and confidence of a queen. The vampires all sat in shock hearing this.

Processing this information was almost as hard as digesting it.

Jeremy stood up and lost it. "Absolutely not, you cannot marry into the family that assaulted your mother, your queen. You can’t be serious! This is insult to her and to us!" Jeremy was still the stiff prejudice man he’s always been. Even after marrying someone with only half blood, he still never changed his ways.

This pissed off Ambrose he was ready to rip this vampire’s tongue, but Odette snapped first instead.

"I am the MoonChild, the daughter of Artemis Goddess of the Moon. And I will not have my order defied."

Her voice had changed, vibrating with raw power, it shook the room and carried the echo of an ancient entity, the air in the room stilled and the cold blood in the vampires froze.

This was indeed a different woman sitting in the room with them. She was no longer their little princess; she was a queen.

"Please allow us some time to consider your proposal and resonate with the information you told us." Ash cut through the silence that was settling in the room.

Kalvin was shaking with anger. ’She’s my fiancé, who is this dog to take my woman?’ He was raging inside, his fury boiling over. Until it exploded.

"No, this is bullshit, you can’t be with him, you’re my fiancé, we’ve been together for years, we are childhood sweethearts who were just in love months ago, you can’t mean this?"

Odette felt the guilt slap her in her stomach. She’d spent years trying to convince herself she loved him. And she did, but not romantically. She never did romantically. Being with him just made sense. But she felt real love now, she knew what she felt for Kalvin wasn’t real love.

Ambrose was steaming with fury, barely controlling his wolf

"Kalvin, I had hoped to talk to you personally, but I guess here will have to do." Odette started "Kalvin, we have never been in love, and I know that now, because I know what love feels like. I realized with time away, you also didn’t love me. You loved the idea of me."