Chapter 153

The King was touched. His late parents would throw an unnecessary birthday party where he had to

mingle with people he didn’t even want to meet, let alone speak to. And when he reached a marital age,

his mother had the annoying habit of introducing him to every eligible and ‘acceptable’ bachelorette at

these parties.

When his parents both passed, Xandar immediately did away with the parties, and celebrated it with

Christian and Annie instead. Although it was a much smaller celebration compared to what his parents

did for him, he preferred spending the day with the people he loved and was close to as opposed to

guests he had to constantly watch his tongue, attitude and temper around.

Lucianne wanted to help the wolves set up the food but everyone just pushed her away, asking her to ‘sit

and wait while the rest of them did it. Frustrated, Lucianne muttered, “Stupid large-sized werewolves.”.

Literally no one took that as an offence because largeness in body size is actually a compliment for a

wolf and a Lycan. They simply smiled and chuckled like Lucianne wasn’t fuming right next to them. Juan

pressed back a smile at her remark and her reaction. Unless it was combat or sneaking around, his

sister’s size had always been a disadvantage. Always.

While Toby was arranging the paper plates, cups and plastic cutlery, he decided to entertain his friend so

h e said, “We could do worse, Lucy. We could ask your mate to carry you and put you in your seat right

there instead of letting you stand around us here.”

“Do NOT give him any ideas, Toby!” Lucianne’s eyes burned into his.

Xandar was helping out Luna Lovelace with the punch and soft drinks on the side when he heard that.

With a glint in his eye, he muttered, “And that’s my cue.” Before Lucianne had the chance to argue, he

scooped her up and placed her into her seat, pushing the chair deep in to make it more difficult for her to

get out.

“I’ll get you the food, sweetheart.”

“Xandar, I can walk. I’m fine! I’m not a baby!” Lucianne whined.

He pecked a kiss on her temple and uttered, “Don’t say that, my love. Everyone knows you’re my baby.”

Seeing that she went speechless and was starting to blush, Xandar smiled wider and pecked another

kiss on her cheek before he whispered, “Just let me, Lucy. Okay? I won’t take long. I’ll be right back.”

After the food and chat, everyone cleaned up (they let Lucianne help this time), and the birthday cake

and song followed. Xandar popped open the bottle of wine Christian brought, and poured it into

everyone’s glasses.

With a hand around his mate’s waist, Xandar raised his glass to make a birthday toast that everyone was

demanding from him. “I was never big on birthdays, and I’ve always found it uncomfortable despite my

late parents’ best intentions. I’ve never looked forward to this day because it’d be a night where I had to

be around guests who were unfamiliar, superficial and downright boring.” This sent a round of laughter,

especially from Christian, who remembered their mutual hate for the parties. 1

“I’ve done away with those shallow events long ago, and I was fortunate enough to have my best friend

and his mate accompany me on this day for the past eighteen years.” He nodded gratefully in Christian

and Annie’s way, who nodded with wide grins and glistening eyes in response.

He then continued, “But this year has been extraordinary. I got the best gift exactly fourteen days ago,

thanks to our Goddess.” Lucianne was already blushing and averting everyone’s eyes as Xandar

continued, “Never have I had someone try to shut me out even before an introduction, so imagine what I

felt when the first person who did it was my bonded mate.” Another found of laughter ensued, and Toby

almost choked from his loud chuckles.

“Fortunately for this beast, she gave me a chance, and for that I am eternally grateful.” When their eyes

met, Lucianne’s black orbs were already watering. He pecked a sweet kiss on her forehead before he

faced the alliance, “And along with her came the fiercest, strongest and noblest leaders and warriors,

whom I only wished I met sooner. I would’ve invited you all to those birthday parties Christian and I

wanted to skip so badly. Some of you may have been just teenagers but I gather we would have had a

better conversation than the ones I had to hold on those nights. At least in your presence, Christian and I

might have actually had a good time…or we could all complain in misery throughout the entire night

about the other Lycans.”

Next to him, Juan, who was laughing, even patted him on the shoulder at that remark. Xandar then said,

more seriously, “In your own ways, you’ve all taught me so much about combat, rogues, and even

leadership. A leader should always fight with its people, defending them at all costs. Having met all of

you, and being bonded to this over-responsible mate of mine, I’m determined to join you in any battles to

come.”

“I’ve never said this but I do look up to each and every one of you, and I hope to have your guidance

even after this collaboration. After the corruption scandal among four of our ministers and an ethical

problem o fone, if not more, the government needs help. I need help. Annie and Lucy are great additions

but I’m afraid we need more hands on deck. Capable hands, those which we can trust to lead with the

best interest of the people at heart.”

Lucianne, Christian and Annie were already waiting to see the wolves reaction with what Xandar was

about to say next. With a gracious smile, the King announced, “It would be an honour, if those of you

named would help us on a temporary basis, and it’d be even better if we can turn that help into a

permanent one, with Gamma Tobias as our Defence Minister; Luna Lovelace as Finance Minister; Alpha

Tate as Deputy Finance Minister; and Luna Hale as Minister of Health and Welfare.”

The shock looks of the werewolves in the room were absolutely precious! Lucianne held back her

laughter as she got out her phone to take a photo of their stunned expressions before starting to chuckle

hard. She then muttered to herself with a wide grin, “This is going to make one great pack-to-pack

Christmas card.”

Toby was the first to recover when he said, “As the new Defence Minister, my Queen, I must ask that you

delete that photo for national security reasons.” 1

“Hah! Never!” Lucianne exclaimed.

As his excited mate forwarded the picture to the alliance members and a few friends back in Blue

Crescent, Xandar thrusted a hand in the Gamma’s way as he nodded gratefully, “Thank you, Toby.”

Luna Lovelace had a teasing smirk when she shook the King’s hand next and uttered, “About damn time,

my King. Thank you. On behalf of my people, I thank you.”

Luna Hale was so touched that her eyes glistened when she shook Xandar’s hand, “You have no idea

what this means to us, your Highness. Thank you, from the very bottom of our hearts.”

All eyes were on Tate now, who seemed hesitant. He glanced at Lucianne, who was still busy on her

phone, before the Alpha locked eyes with Xandar and asked doubtfully, “Are you sure, your Highness?”

Everyone knew what he meant, except for Lucianne, whose head snapped up from her phone in

bewilderment when she heard what he said. Tate avoided looking at her as he waited for the King to

respond

Xandar’s thumb was stroking Lucianne’s waist as he said, “If you wanted to do something, you would

have done it by now.” He then thrusted out his free hand in Tate’s way and said with a smile, “I trust you.”

Tate was surprised to hear that Xandar knew he wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize the King’s

relationship with Lucianne. Tate knew that Lucianne was happy with Xandar, and he already promised

Juan that he wouldn’t do something to tear them apart. With a grateful smile, Tate shook Xandar’s hand

and said, “Thank you for the appointment, your Highness.”

“I think it’s only fitting for me to be thanking all of you for accepting my offer on such a short notice. And

it’s just ‘Xandar’ from now on.” He said as he looked at each and every alliance member before adding,

“If w e could also do away with the bowing when we’re not around the other ministers, that’d be better.”

Zelena placed the back of her hand over her forehead, and leaned into Zeke in a dramatic pose as she

said, “Ah, I feel like a royal.”

Zeke was getting embarrassed with everyone laughing so he said, “Zel, seriously. Stand straight, will

ya?”

After the laughter died down, Xandar raised his glass and made a toast, “Here’s to a better future, where

our species rule as one.”

“As one.” Everyone chimed with enthusiasm and drank from their glasses.

When that small party was over, everyone got back to work. The theory they have was that Jake and

Greg could’ve been business partners, and Greg surrendering evidence to Lucianne could be the result

of a falling out between the Duke and the former Alpha. That was their best guess at the moment.

They kept an open mind for a third player in the game they might not know about yet but seeing that

none of the clues and evidence they have could point them to this anonymous person, if there was one

at all, they decided to move on to the next thing on the agenda: locating the corporation.