Chapter 191

[Third-Person’s POV]

“Sir, you know I’ve rarely ever doubted your judgment,” Oliver began. “But are you truly certain that this is a good idea?”

Alexander couldn’t keep himself from smiling as he stared down at the written summons that had come in that morning.

Much like he had already suspected, the newspapers were filled with nothing but the recent triumph of his and Evelyn’s win in court. The reporters had stayed good on their reputations to print only what Evelyn had truly said after the hearing.

And sure enough, they ended up printing Alexander’s cryptic message as well.

He knew it was only a matter of time before the King would request another meeting. Although, he was fairly certain that this particular summons was going to be far less formal than the last one.

Gregory had all but threatened Alexander to come to the palace anytime before noon. The Alpha knew that if he were to refuse such a high command he might as well have enacted a declaration of war. And that wasn’t exactly what Alexander wanted...At least, not yet.

If anything, he found himself amused by the King’s furious reaction to his backward comment. It wasn’t as though he gave any specific name when he first said it. The fact that Gregory was blatantly showing his true emotions only made him appear all the more guilty.

Alexander merely shrugged his shoulders back and smirked. “It would be rude to not accept the King’s invitation.”

He was not in the slightest bit intimidated by Gregory’s burning ire. In fact, Alexander was curious. He was so used to dealing with the Royal Family’s advances through secondary means, that he was interested to know what the King was actually capable of.

The man always seemed rather proud—too proud to get his hands dirty.

“Where’s Evelyn?”

Oliver glanced down at his watch. “She should still be in the middle of giving her interview.”

Alexander nodded and swiftly got up from behind his desk. “Good. I’ll head out then. Chances are I’ll be back before she even knows I’m gone.”

The Beta gave him a tempered look. “And by the off chance that Evelyn should finish her interview early, what am I to tell her?”

“Tell her that I had some business I needed to take care of. Keep it simple.”

Alexander noticed the look of hesitation in Oliver’s eyes. Without further delay, he headed out to the car and instructed the driver to head to the palace.

Upon his arrival, Alexander was met at the main doors by a pair of heavily armed guards. Neither one of them spoke as they guided him to a different part of the palace. Unlike the last time, Alexander wasn’t brought to the throne room. Instead, he was led to a large circular office.

Waiting behind an overly large desk was the King who appeared far too enthused to see him.

“Leave us.”

The guards nodded their heads and took their leave. Alexander couldn’t help but wonder if he treated everyone so coldly or if it was all due to the growing stress the older man was under.

For a long moment, the two remained in a deafening state of silence. Gregory took this time to observe Alexander as though he was searching for some kind of hidden weapon on his person.

“You called for me?”

“That I did,” Gregory confirmed. “Take a seat, Alexander.”

Alexander humored the man. He lowered himself into one of the available chairs and folded his legs.

“You’ve been very busy, Kingston,” he noted. “Two, technically three, court cases in just shy of two months.”

“What can I say? I suppose I just have a knack for uncovering the right evidence.”

“Makes me wonder where you find the time for such activities. For an Alpha such as yourself, who happens to operate and run a rather sizable pack, it’s truly a marvel,” he said dryly.

Alexander offered a courteous grin. “I cannot take all the credit. I happen to be married to one of the most remarkable women in the region—which I’m more than happy to remind you that it is all because of you that I have someone like Evelyn,” he said with slight taunting.

The King suppressed a vicious snarl as he narrowed his eyes.

“How is Evelyn by the way?” he questioned. Alexander was quick to pick up the tensing energy in the room. “To find out that it was your own doctor who carved her up must be absolutely devastating to deal with.”

Alexander hid the fact that his words struck him like a punch to the jaw. In truth, he never looked at the situation from that sort of angle before. Yes, Fiona had worked for him as his pack’s general physician. But Fiona had been dismissed before she had ever attacked Evelyn directly.

Perhaps that was why he never cared to make the connection before now...

“All things considered, Evelyn is doing well in her own way. It’s going to take considerable time for Evelyn to ever recover from the psychological damage that’s been done to her. However, she’s made considerable strides in the medicinal field with a serum that's been healing her scars.”

Another beat of silence passed. Alexander brought himself to the edge of his seat while glaring at the King directly.

“You didn’t call me here to talk to me about my wife,” he said. “Why don’t we cut the formalities back and simply get to the point? I take it that you’ve been reading the newspapers. Care to share any sort of an opinion?”

Gregory’s expression pinched with anger. “You think you have me all figured out, don’t you?”

“Yes, actually, I do,” he confirmed with a chuckle. “You’re not a very slick person when it comes to illegal business handlings.”

“And do you really think you have what it takes to bring someone like me down?” His voice dripped with sarcasm. “Do you really think you’ll be able to take me to court and hang me up on all the charges you and your little minions have uncovered? The public would never believe you, nor would they stand for it.”

“Clearly, you haven’t been reading the newspapers closely enough. If you weren’t so self-absorbed in your own shitty self-image, you would know that the public already has strong doubts over you. They’re wondering why on earth their own king has allowed three potential murderers to roam free while he sits back and does absolutely nothing,” Alexander remarked coldly.

The air was now crackling with lethal energy.

“I know you do not like me.” Alexander stood up from the chair. “More or less, you don’t like the fact that I’ve managed to grow my army to the size of your own. It threatens you—hell, I should say that it downright scares you, doesn’t it? To know that there’s someone who has the ability to take you and every last Royal down to their knees must really keep you awake at night.”

“I could have you killed for treason,” the King hissed under his breath.

“You tried that once before and look how that turned out. As you can see, I’m not an easy man to kill. I can assure you that I do, in fact, hold grudges and will always find a way to get even.”

Alexander made his way over to the doors and glanced back over his shoulder.

“Considering you’re the reason why I have Evelyn in my life, I’m going to give you a choice,” he said. “You will either denounce your position as Alpha King or I will take the throne after having exposed your crimes to the public. Understand?”

He didn’t need to look at the King to know that the man was utterly fuming.