Chapter 105: ¹⁰⁵: I will be there

I knew from experience that if I wanted Louis to become the Alpha after me in case something happened to me, it was really important for me to give him the heir tally in front of the whole council.

Because I, the official heir of my father, had to face so much backlash from my father’s own council members to prove my worth as the Alpha of this empire, simply because my father had not done this one thing I was doing today - giving the heir tally to the person he wanted to succeed him.

I remembered how hard I had to fight back then to prove myself and claim my rightful position as my father’s successor. The council, the deciding body in case an Alpha died without giving his tally to his successor - hadn’t thought a nineteen-year-old Kael Dreven was worthy of becoming the Alpha of the Starlight Empire.

Even though I had been my father’s rightful heir, that alone hadn’t been enough for them.

I still remembered the countless questions, the doubt in their eyes, and the way some of them had openly challenged my ability to rule simply because of my age. I had eventually forced them to acknowledge me, but I had no intention of putting Louis through the same thing.

"Alpha, what are you saying?" Louis whispered near me, his astonishment obvious in his voice. "You know I don’t want to do anything related to politics. I can’t stand these old people like you do. I don’t want to be the heir!"

The disbelief on his face was almost amusing. He looked as though he still expected me to laugh and tell him that I had only been joking.

"It is decided. No one here has the authority to go against my decision, and that includes you," I whispered back, keeping a smile on my face as I looked at the council members, who were still staring at both of us in shock over what had just happened.

Louis’s lips parted as if he wanted to argue again, but I didn’t give him the chance. "Now move forward with me and take the tally respectfully," I whispered again before taking my hand off his shoulder.

We both moved forward to stand in front of my throne, right where the Alpha should give the heir tally to his chosen one.

"Ryan, get me the tally," I said, not breaking my gaze from Louis, who was now standing in front of me, practically screaming through his eyes for me to reconsider.

"Yes, Alpha," Ryan replied, immediately moving to retrieve the tally.

The council remained unusually quiet while he left. I could feel everyone’s attention fixed on us, their curiosity almost tangible in the silence.

Within seconds, Ryan returned with the tally - an intricate emerald surrounded by the seal of our empire, presented in a red velvet-covered box that complemented the tally’s grandeur.

The emerald caught the light as Ryan approached, its familiar seal reminding everyone present of the authority attached to it.

I took the tally from the box amid the gazes of the entire council. I knew many of them did not agree with my decision today, and the expressions on some of their faces made that obvious. But they also knew they had no authority to question me on this.

My heir was my decision. And nobody had the authority to question it.

I turned toward Louis, who was still looking at me with that same stunned expression, before placing the tally against his chest.

"Salute!" Ryan shouted.

At once, everyone in the hall except Louis and me stood in ceremony, placing their hands against their chests and bowing respectfully toward the tally.

"Take care of yourself if you ever need to really use this tally," I said to Louis, keeping my voice low so that only he could hear the emotion behind my words.

"I promise you, I will never have to use this, brother," Louis said, not caring about the protocol, just as he always was. His expression had lost its earlier shock, replaced by a seriousness I rarely saw on him. "It would be me who takes the blow meant for you. I will never let you leave me alone in this world."

I smiled at him, feeling pride fill me as I looked at the determined expression on his face. For all his complaints about politics and the council, there was one thing I had never doubted about Louis - his loyalty to me.

"Don’t spout nonsense. You will always have to make sure you are safe!" I said to him, my voice carrying a firmness that left no room for argument.

I then turned toward the council, where all the members were still bowing with their hands against their chests.

"This event will be added to the royal seal tomorrow," I announced, marking the end of the short ceremony.

The council members finally raised their heads, returning to their normal postures.

"The meeting is over. You all can go back to your duties."

With that, I moved down the stairs, amidst of the stares of all the council members, some in awe, some in respect and some in disappointment, followed by Louis and Ryan.

The moment we stepped out of the hall, the heavy atmosphere of the council room seemed to fall away. Louis quickly caught up to me, his earlier confusion returning now that there were no council members around to hear him complain.

"When did you decide this, Alpha? And why so suddenly? Now I will have to deal with everyone’s protocol and all wherever I go!"

He gestured toward himself in frustration, as though he could already imagine all the formalities that would now follow him everywhere.

"You know what is happening in the pack these days. There is a huge security threat. Having you as the already determined heir is necessary," I replied to him while we kept walking toward the end of the hallway.

Louis continued walking beside me, clearly still dissatisfied with my answer. "But when did you even decide this? You should have at least told me this."

He paused in his steps as we reached my car, almost making me stop as well. "Is this the reason you called me in the middle of my classes?" he asked, his eyes widening as though he had just realized some huge, heartbreaking secret.

"Yeah." A small smile formed on my face as I looked at his offended expression. "What did you think?"

Louis stared at me for a moment before answering with complete seriousness. "I thought you must have been worried about me and missing me!"

I shook my head, unable to hold back my amusement at how confidently he had said it. "Come on now, don’t get too ahead of yourself! Me? Missing a dumbhead like you? Impossible!"

I said it while opening the back seat of my car and pulling a bag out. Louis was still looking at me with a pointed expression, clearly knowing I was teasing him.

"Okay, okay, missing you was also one reason. Now take this..." I threw the bag from my hands toward him. "And go with Ryan. He will drop you back home."

Louis caught the bag and immediately looked down at it, his brows furrowing as he felt its contents through the material.

"Where are you going?" he asked, looking back at me. "And what is in this?"

"I have some work and won’t come back tonight. These are some stupid supplements the doctor recommended to me," I said, opening the front door of my car.

"Supplements? Why do you need supplements?" The confusion in his voice made me glance at him again. In fact, his question was almost exactly what I had thought when Ryan had first mentioned them to me.

"They were forced on me by Ryan. You can ask him in the car. I am leaving."

I settled into the driver’s seat, reaching for the door as Louis continued standing there with the bag in his hands.

He looked like he wanted to ask me more questions, but after a moment, he simply nodded. "Fine." He turned around and walked toward Ryan, who was waiting nearby.

I watched him go for a moment before finally looking ahead. My expression slowly changed as I remembered where I was going. There was a particular reason I had decided not to return home tonight.

I pulled my phone out and opened my contacts. My thumb stopped over the name of the one person I wanted to have no contact with, yet despite everything, I was still going straight to.

Athena Moonvel.

I stared at her name for a few seconds. Just seeing it was enough to bring back the strange frustration I had been trying to ignore.

I closed my eyes briefly, trying to push those thoughts aside before clicking on her name.

The message window opened. I hesitated for a moment, my thumb hovering over the screen before I finally typed the short message.

I will be there tonight.