Chapter 115 Appoint
Chapter 115 Appointment
VAN POV
The appointment hall started getting prepared three days after Zephyra's coronation.
All three days have been hard to watch.
So many things to do.
It's as though all the files and duties under this wolf world were dropped at her feet.
I want to scream at them all that she needs to rest. That she's tired and pregnant, but couldn't
So, I see to the preparation of the hall.
Assist her where I could before she falls down from burn out.
I watched the staff arrange it: the long central aisle, the raised dais where Zephyra's chair sits, the tiered seating on either side for the gathered Alphas and representatives who had traveled from seven territories to attend.
Some came out of obligation. Some out of curiosity. A few, I suspect, came to measure her.
By the third appointment, none of them are measuring anymore.l
"Do you, Kade, accept to serve and place your life in protection of your Wolf King?"
"I do, Alpha." Kade's left knee is on the ground, right foot planted, right elbow braced on his knee, head bowed. The posture of a man who has chosen this and means it. I trust him.
Finally My wolf mocks which I ignore. The guy have made it known he's not lying or after my wife.
He never was! Well, now I know.
"You are now appointed as part of the King's Warrior Guard." Zephyra's voice is steady.
She has been building it since the coronation.
And chosen this.
"I sound like I'm not a joke or a slave" She had said and I concurred.
It sounds Sure, Rich. Like it was always there in her and simply needed the right room.
Ronah steps forward and presents the sword. Kade receives it without looking up.
"Rise Warrior Kade" Ronah order, lifting Kade up with one arm.
I watch from my position by my wife's right. Listening to Cat for any discomfort. I wish i've started hearing the pups movement. To know when something is wring in advance.
A month ago, I would not have believed that watching my wife appoint her personal guard would be among the most satisfying things I have witnessed in my life. I believe it now.
The appointments continue in order.
Lord Fineasta: Alpha of the northern Border Pack, third generation, grey at the temples and unhurried in everything he does
"Do you promise to oversee the territory vacated by Morgan's collapse?"
He is composed, experienced, and has spent the last two years quietly cooperating with everything asked of the border councils without being requested to.
Also, Zephyra believes he means well even after the four am fiasco. Her reason was
"He banished Omega Raz from the council"
He kneels
"I Do! Wolf King" He receives his appointment and rises
"Thank you for the honour, Wolf King," he says
"Thank you for earning it," Zephyra replies.
Something shifts in the room at that. I see it - the slight adjustment in how the gathered Alphas hold themselves, the recalibration.
She is not simply distributing titles. She is making distinctions
Alpha Sera of the western pack is next.
Young for an Alpha, perhaps thirty.
But she was selexted because she have the particular attention of someone who has been underestimated frequently and has long since stopped minding
She oversees the largest concentration of omega settlements in our territory, and what happens in those settlements in the coming months will determine whether the anti-slavery law has teeth or only the appearance of them.
Zephyra had reviewed Sera's record herself. I watched her do it over two evenings at the war room table, reading with the focused stillness she brings to things that matter.
"Do you, Sera of the Western Reaches, accept the appointment as Regional Enforcer of the Wolf King's Protection Decree, with full authority to investigate, document, and refer all cases of unlawful captivity within your territory?"
Sera kneels cleanly.
"I do, Wolf King."
"Your territory has the highest concentration of unregistered omegas in our records," Zephyra says. Not as accusation, as acknowledgement.
"That ends under your watch."
"It ends under my watch," Sera confirms, and the steadiness in her voice matches Zephyra's exactly.
Next is happening even after my refuttal
"Do you Alpha Daria of Solam pack accept to serve the King with every information about lost packs and wolves?"
Daria true to herself kneels down
"I Do wolf King!"
"You're appointed as Head of Wolves security"
"I promise to serve with utmost sincerity" She assure and Zephyra lay the coat on her body.
Alpha Bryn of the Northern Mountain Pack is appointed to border security between our territory and the three outer packs whose cooperation we have not yet secured.
He is large, quiet, and has a reputation for negotiating through presence alone.
Arriving somewhere and simply waiting until the other party understands that the conversation will happen on his terms or not at all. Useful for borders. Useful for delivering the message that the law will be enforced regardless of what the outer packs prefer.
He kneels, accepts, rises and nods once at Zephyra, and she nods back. Something passing between them. The mutual recognition of two people who understand that what they are building requires the other to do their part.