(Ace)
Slamming down his fist, it splintered the wood of the table from the impact, the room grew quiet. Ace narrowed his eyes as he looked at his council, they had been arguing for the last half hour, throwing around blame at one another. "Enough." His voice was low, but it had the impact it needed. Sitting back down in his chair, Ace rested his cheek on the palm of his right hand, propping his elbow up on his armrest. "We are getting nowhere with these senseless accusations, none of you are to blame, the fault lies with me."
"What are you talking about Ace?" Rachel asked rolling her eyes, "How could you have known that this was going to happen?"
Ace shook his head, "It is my job to know Rachel." He sneered in her direction. "I have been getting lax and it has cost me dearly, my people are loosing their trust in me and I do not blame them one bit."
"No one is losing their trust Ace," Zach vowed, "You are the greatest ruler in the entire universe, let someone say different."
Ignoring Zach, Ace rubbed his chin deep in thought, "We need to figure out who hired Renee, I can almost guarantee it is Lord Stephon but without proof, there is no way that accusation will hold up."
"Unfortunately, there was no movement in the Eastern Region tonight, it was unusually quiet. Zach and I did not even see the routine transport of goods over the borderline tonight."
Ace nodded, "Covering all his tracks, making it impossible to point the blame in his direction, he can say that there was no coming or going from his region on the night in question."
Irritation was building in his chest, on top of the uneasiness that he was feeling being away from his mate so close to her heat. Leaving Alex while she was going through her first estrus cycle was hard on the Alpha also, his need to take care of his mate, and rut her through her whole cycle was almost an all-consuming thought. The timing could not be worse right now.
"I doubt that he will try again anytime soon, this attack was to test us, and we failed. Lord Stephon knows that we will double down and be expecting him next time." Damen stated.
Ace said in silence for too long, when he looked up, everyone was starring at him. Letting out a weary breath, he cracked his neck from side to side, trying to relieve some of the tension building up in his body. "I am going to be indisposed for five to seven days." He announced.
Rachel was the first to speak, her voice slightly pitched, "Do you really think this is the time to take a little hiatus from the world?"
A low growl erupted from his throat, a barely contained threat, "Do you really think that I would take a little hiatus, if I did not have to." He threw back in her face. "Alex is going through her first estrus cycle."
Everyone took a moment of stunned silence, then Rachel huffed out a breath folding her arms over her chest, slouching in her chair. "Perfect." She seethed.
Damon, Zach, and Fang grinned at him cheekily. Ace shook his head, "Alright enough," he stood up, "I would not be telling you all this if I did not need to but seeing as I will need to…attend to my Mate, I am going to need to be able to count on you guys to watch over things."
"Of course, you can count on us." Damen gave him a nod.
"Your little Mate is going to get us all killed." Rachel stated.
Ace grabbed her by the neck and pinned her down to the table, everyone stood, but made no move to interfere. "I have indulged your behavior long enough; do I need to remind you who is in charge around here?" he asked squeezing his fingers against her slim throat.
"N-no." she croaked out.
Ace held her down a moment longer, then released her, watching her straight up, he turned towards the door. "Alexis is going to be your Luna, she is my True Mate, that means that she is family. If any of you have a problem with that, then you can excuse yourself from my presence, and return to the Shadow Realm. I need people I can trust with my life, my Mates life, and my Regions security." Without looking back, he left the Chamber House quietly.
Upon entering the Manor, Ace was greeted by the chaotic footsteps of Miss Fanny, her bustling form came into view from around a corner. Raising a brow in faint amusement, Ace took in her devilish appearance, and immediately grabbed her up by the arms. "What has happened?" he asked.
Miss Franny collected a deep breath, her brown eyes full of worry and fear. "I went to your room sir, to deliver the clean clothes, but she was not there."
Ace's heart dropped into his stomach, "What do you mean she was not there?"
"I mean she is gone Sir. I have searched this entire manor, every square inch of it, and I can not find the Misses anywhere." Miss Fanny rambled out of breath. "I am so sorry Sir, so very sorry."
Letting the poor woman go, Ace found himself sprinting to his bedroom, crashing through his door. It bounced off the wall, breaking off the henges, but Ace barely took note of it. The room was empty, the faint smell of Alex's scent the only presence in the room. Walking out onto the balcony, Ace sniffed the air, he could still scent her, she was apart of his blood now. No matter where she went, he would be able to find her, she could not escape him that easily. White hot anger filled his body, what in the world would possess her to run off like that, especially after the danger they had experienced today? Did the little fool not realize how much risk she was exposing herself to being out on her own so close to her estrus cycle? Any Alpha within a mile of her scent would be hunting her, not to mention a druid that wanted them dead. Ace gritted his teeth in irritation, he was going to find his little mate, and bring her back kicking and screaming, if he did not throttle her first.