Allen and Greyson could feel Lexi's tension as she ate and neither of them dared to break the brooding silence as they watched her tear into her breakfast angrily. As soon as she ran low on coffee they offered more and watched for her reaction.
Finally she sighed heavily and sat back, regarding them both with an unimpressed scowl.
"Will you two stop walking on eggshells around me? I already told you that I'm not mad at you."
"You say that, but you forget that we marked you," Greyson answered carefully, "As soon as the bond snapped into place we could feel every emotion through that link."
"So telling us that you're not angry at us even though we can feel the anger…" Allen grimaced and made a small noise of discomfort at the back of his throat, "You have to understand that it's very much mixed signals."
"N'awww. Who'd have thought that my big bad wolves would be so insecure," Lexi purred ina teasing tone, "I'm not mad at you, I'm mad at the audacity of that fucking woman."
"My brothers didn't really help the situation though," Greyson mumbled.
"About that…" Lexi paused as she narrowed her eyes at him, "I think we need to have a conversation about that. Seeing as how you boneheads have physically marked me now, I feel like I deserve to know just what the fuck that history is all about."
Greyson's lips settled into a thin line as he nodded.
"Right. I need to talk to Brad about this as well because I think there are some things that he needs to know about my father's kingdom before he seriously considers this alliance."
"I don't even know why he needs an alliance with you furballs when he has Ann and her minions." Lexi muttered in annoyance.
"Minions?" Allen coughed incredulously, "You can't seriously have just classified the thousands..if not millions of shifters into one group…and likened them to brainless banana's waddling around…did you?!"
Lexi shrugged and sipped her coffee with a mischievous and unrepentant look on her face.
"I said what I said." she smirked as she eyed them both expectantly, waiting for a response.
But it never came as Eleanor approached them with a wide smile on her face as she greeted them.
"Good morning! I trust you all slept well?"
Lexi opened her mouth to reply, her eyes still dancing with a playful fire but Allen answered before she got a chance to.
"We slept very well," He stated hurriedly with a meaningful look towards Lexi who snorted into her coffee, "How was the baby? We didn't hear him last night so I assume he slept well as well?"
Eleanor froze slightly as a flash of guilt crossed her face.
"I feel like I should own up to something," She paused briefly, taking a deep breath, "I couldn't help myself and ended up staying in his room overnight. I turned the monitors off so that you wouldn't be disturbed, but I thought that if I found it difficult at any point and needed to sleep, then I could just put the monitors back on and return to my room…it all worked out though. He's still asleep after his morning feed and I have the monitor here in case he needs me." She finished, indicating the little unit poking out of her pocket.
Lexi smiled warmly up at her.
"I'm pleased you're settling into the role so quickly."
"I was made for this, Lexi, I promise you don't have to worry. Actually, I stopped by your room to see if you were still in there."
"Oh? Did you need something?"
"Me? No, not at all, but Brad wanted to have a chat this morning about the proposal the Lycan King has offered…"
"Oh! We were going to see him this morning actually, Greyson wanted to discuss a few things with him." Lexi interrupted.
"Perfect. I can walk you up to his office if you like? I need to go and pick the little man up and really…Brad needs to sort himself out and think of a name for the little miracle before I pick one for him." Eleanor finished with a snort.
As they made their way through the corridors and up to Brad's office, collecting his son on the way, they overheard a pair of omega's whispered gossip about the confrontation between Lexi and Genevieve this morning.
Eleanor turned to look at her with a wry smile and curious eyes as Lexi met her gaze unfalteringly.
"Genevieve is making a nuisance of herself again?" Eleanor asked.
"She won't be anymore," Lexi replied confidently, "And if she does…then she's stupider than she looks."
Eleanor sighed heavily.
"It's such a pity. Both she and her mother had such a difficult time early on in their lives, and they escaped that fate when they were accepted here. I don't understand why she won't settle into a comfortable place in the pack…she has everything that she could ever want here."
Lexi's brows furrowed.
"Having a difficult time doesn't force you to be an insufferable, toxic bitch," she replied irritably, "Acting out like that is a choice, and you know what they say. Make stupid choices and win stupid prizes. She's old enough to make decisions and take the consequences."
Eleanor chuckled lightly.
"Whilst that's true, I still think events that you suffered as a child can sometimes hold some weight with the actions and decisions that you make in later life."
Lexi bit back the retort that she wanted to make. Despite everything that she and Ann had been through, she would argue that in spite of that, they were pretty well adjusted.
Even Ada had fought against the fate her mother had planned for her in the end but Genevieve, no matter what she had been through, what right did she have to hate people without knowing them, to despise the bond that was supposed to be sacred to wolves and shifters alike and spit in the face of their Goddess who was very much present and active in their lives.
She didn't hold out much hope for Genevieve choosing the path of redemption. Ada had the motivation of her unborn child's life whereas Genevieve? She only had herself and those that had nothing to lose were the most dangerous.
"Just because Brad got his dick wet in Ann's sister and spawned a child, that doesn't make it my fault. Brad made his choices, however they occurred, and I don't like the fact that she's essentially shooting the messenger for bringing his kid home to him." Lexi grunted, "Fuck that. It's people like her who ruin other peoples lives for the fucking fun of it."
"She's been sniffing around Brad for quite a while…ever since he returned to the pack like a wounded animal." Eleanor admitted, "She made sure that she was always there and available…and although this sounds awful, I do hope that Brad was too broken to stick his…well, you know, inside of her. The last thing we need is another child from someone who isn't his mate."
Lexi cast a sideways glance towards Eleanor at the last statement and she quickly responded.
"I'm not saying that we wouldn't love the child, because we would. I'm just saying that Genevieve isn't really stable enough to be considered as a worthy pairing for my son…much like Ada actually..." she paused as a stricken expression crossed her face, "Did I do something wrong in raising him for him to choose to lay with women who are less than he deserves?"
Lexi patted her on the shoulder consolingly.
"Listen, Ada was a result of some enchantment, and Genevieve…well, you can cross that bridge if it comes to it, but from the looks of it, it seems that the Lycans have claimed her as their own."
Eleanor shuddered at the thought.
"Savage brutes for the most part," she commented darkly before catching herself and turning to Greyson whose face was set in a stone like mask, "No offense, of course."
"None taken." He answered brusquely, "Why do you think I left?"
Eleanor cleared her throat and didn't answer as they arrived at the door to Brad's office. She knocked and his voice called out in welcome from within.
Lexi snorted quietly to herself.
Nothing was ever simple for them but at least now she would find out just what the hell was going on with Greyson and his brothers.