Chapter 53

Chapter 53
Falkor pov. 
“I’ll be right back.” I whisper in Hydra’s ear as I feel my phone vibrating in my pocket. She gives me a thumbs up and a wave as I step out of the conference room, smiling when I can still hear the excitement of my clan even when the door is closed behind me. Pulling out my phone, I frown when I recognize the council number displayed on the screen. “King Hutting, good evening.” 
“King Hutting, you are hereby summoned to the council building with immediate effect.” The woman’s diplomatic voice rings through the line. 
“In relation to what exactly?” I ask as I watch my clan celebrate through the glass door, hoping they didn’t make any mistake in the ranking and now is expecting me to clean it up for them. 
“I am afraid it cannot be discussed over the phone. We’ll see you soon King Hutting.” The line goes dead before I can say anything else and with a frustrated sigh I make my way to the main chalet, grabbing my car keys and rushing toward the council building. As I make my way towards the door it opens and a attendant leads me through the hallways, all the way inside an office where Kiros and Lance are already waiting for me. 
“Ah, King Hutting, punctual as always.” Kiros smiles, rising from his seat as he motions for me to take mine. I bow my head before doing so, looking at both men with a frown. 
“I apologize if I’m being too direct, my Lords, but is this not something that could have waited until a better hour?” I question, already itching to get back to my clan. 
“I too would have liked this to wait, but I am afraid it cannot.” Lance says as he slides a tablet in my direction. I frown, picking up the device and reading over the document. 
“You cannot be serious.” I look at them with hard eyes, dropping the device as if it burned me. 
“I can assure you; this is not a matter we take lightly. I will give you tomorrow to gather your evidence for a hearing the day after.” Lance says as the tablet lay between us, mocking me with the words on it. 
“You must know this is a power play. He can’t just request a merger. A forced one at that.” I tell them, knowing full well that I can’t dispute this. He filed this with the council, knowing I wouldn’t even entertain the idea of our clans merging. 
“He can, King Hutting. He can and he did.” Kiros drawls. “Despite what we may speculate, there is procedures to follow. I trust you will gather your evidence as needed and the trail will go on as scheduled.” I nod, because there is nothing else for me to do. At their dismissal I leave the council building in a daze, sitting in my car for a while before I finally get the courage to drive back to our chalet. It’s quiet when I arrive, not a soul in sight and when I see it’s nearly eleven I leave my car with a heavy sigh and head to my room. 
A knock on my door comes as I’m drying my hair and I open it to find Hydra’s big tired brown eyes looking up at me. I open the door wider, stepping out of the way to let her in, glad she’s here. She sits on the edge of the bed as I dry my hair, our eyes meeting through the bathroom mirror every now and again. When I’m done, I join her on the bed, my body relaxing as I lay my head on her stomach, my arms wrapped around her in a tight hug, letting out a pleased groan as she starts running her fingers through my hair. 
“Sewell put in a request for a forced merger of our clans.” I finally tell her when my mind has cleared from thinking up brutal ways, I can kill my brother and make it look like an accident. Her hands still in my hair so I nuzzle her stomach until she continues.
“Is that why you disappeared earlier?” I nod, telling her about the council summons and my meeting with Kiros and Lance. “We have the files; that’s not a problem.” She whispers after a long while of silence after my explanation. “Why would he do this?” 
“Because he’s a greedy selfish bastard that will do anything to take away what it mine.” The answer isn’t a difficult one to come up with. 
“But he’s your brother.” She breathes, disbelief clear in her tone, at me or the situation? I have no idea. 
“That doesn’t make it any less true, the person you met it exactly the person he is. He’s never liked to share the spotlight with his younger siblings. When our uncle left the clan to me, he fought tooth and nail against it. Tried for months to convince me to let him take the role as King, told me I wouldn’t be up for it and after I left, he tried to get me to come back. Threw a fit when Kayla chose to come with me, told me I was tearing the family apart, that we’d faced enough loss after my dad died, but I just couldn’t…” I bury my face in her stomach with a groan, far from the helpless teenager I was back then but still hurting for him. 
“I can’t even imagine hating Hayden like that.” She finally breathes. “No one should have to go through that.” I sigh, rubbing my thumb back and forth on the sliver of skin that got exposed from her shirt rising a little. Enjoying the goosebumps that form there. 
“Hayden is a good big brother; I’d kill to have one like him.” Her fingers move down to rub the back of my neck and my entire body shivers from the contact. It’s the first time she’s touched me there and I can’t help but sit up and claim her lips with mine. Tasting her until I’ve had my fill and even after because I’m greedy when it comes to her and I will not deny it. 
“Falkor.” She says my name as if she’s begging for something more, something I can’t give her in this moment and it kills me. I rest my head against hers, staring into her glazed eyes before softly kissing her between her them. 
“Soon.” I promise, laying back and taking her with me. Her warm breath tickles my skin as she snuggles up closer to me and in this moment, nothing can bother me. Not the tournament, not her bond to another man, not my brother’s schemes. It’s me and her and I’d wage war against anyone that tries to come between that.