She grabbed my arms and shook me. “But not on this. I never knew—I thought it was your comfort level. You are abadass. Stop letting them cage you.”
“I hear you, but it’s not really appropriate to be in a tank top for this sort of meeting,” I hurried to say.
“Yeah, it is when they can get physical and you beat three huge Alphas,” Myriam drawled before unzipping my jacket. “Don’t make us take it off of you.”
“At least until you cool down,” Treena added.
I sighed and did it, mostly so they stopped and we could get on with the meeting. Whatever.
Apparently, men really did get distracted too easily. How did they constantly say women couldn’t control their hormones?
Seriously?
2
Sagan
The rest of the meeting was going to be recorded for the unconscious Alphas that I left out in the heat, but one woke and hobbled back inside.
“I still have two more fights with you, Alpha,” I purred. “In each form—”
He dropped to his knee and hung his head. “I admit fault, Your Majesty. I will issue a corrected statement and never make this mistake again. I was prideful and defensive. I didn’t consider what was best for Thovudin.”
I let out a slow breath. “Fine, I will waive the other fights this time, but you will listen to the rest of what I said later. Take your seat.”
I wasn’t the only one who watched him hobble back to his table… But I was the only one who smirked while he did.
“I need someone to pop my shoulder back in,” he muttered to those near him.
Even better. I nodded they could help him just to get things moving, and it was satisfying to see the pain on his face when they set his shoulder.
“Now, moving on to what you all want to talk about most so you’re not distracted and we don’t risk people not listening to meagain,” I said with a bit of extra sweetness in my tone that was meant to be sarcastic.
It was hard not to laugh when Treena snickered, but I nodded to Raquel to take over. She gave a report of how much the repairs had already cost from the elders’ rooms and the estimates for the rest. Then she went over how renovations were handled before and rotating areas for security reasons.
I thanked her when she was done and focused back on the Alphas. “First of all, this was forced on me, and I’m not paying for your families to live like princes here. Raquel has worked up areasonableamount it would cost to have extra bodies to feed and water…” I glanced at her. “I think it was that. We use the same air conditioning?”
“Yes, but they will use energy in their rooms or adjust the fan settings,” she reminded me. “Plus, at the request of the Alphas, we had to add more coverage for the internet and you’re upgrading the system. Their families will use it more than the elders did and that’s a lot of bandwidth. It will have to be limited while the upgrade happens.”
I nodded. “They will also be involved in aspects of being a royal as my mother was. You all approved of this. So the cost is something I’m adding to the agreement.”
I was glad when they all consented to what Raquel said. She really did figure out a basic number, not just to make money off of them.
“Also, we are adding in a clause that you will handle your family member the moment I say it’s done,” I said firmly. “I’m not dealing with any issues again that it’s against the protocols of the royal family to kick out guests or whatevernormalniceties. None of this is normal. If I end things,I end things. Respect that and leave with grace.”
“Or apparently, just switch them out for their uncle,” someone snarked.
I couldn’t get a lock on who said it, but suddenly Onyx was across the room and punching someone. People reacted fast and got him off the guy.
“Seriously, women are drama?” Myriam grumbled under her breath, looking pleased when Darren snorted. “I like the uncle at least.”
“Thanks?” Darren chuckled, shooting her a wry look.
I ignored them and focused on the drama in front of us. The Alpha apologized for his Beta and promised he would handle it. He kicked him out of the meeting and looked mortified.
Good.
“I’m going to be fair and we’re doing it by random lottery and each can stay after the initial private meeting without influence,” I said, nodding to one of the Alphas who stood.
