Chapter 111

The dinner progressed smoothly but halfway into the meal, Claire needed to use the restroom, she excused herself from the table and walked off, a content smile on her face. The dinner was going far better than she had been expecting, other than the skirmish with Alina, every other werewolf dignitary had been very polite to her.
Not just that but they were also nice to each other, it was clear that they had a camaraderie amongst themselves, and were willing to happily work together for the sake of werewolves. Claire admired that trait in werewolves, they always liked to stick together.
She wiped her hand with a disposable towel after washing her hands, taking a look at herself in the mirror. She didn’t even realize it but the smile never left her face even while she was using the restroom.
The restrooms were a little ways from the dining room, so she would have to go down a quiet hallway to return to Lukas’ side. She barely went halfway before someone who had been hidden in the darkness caught her arm, stopping her movement.
Claire felt her heart sink into her stomach when she caught sight of who it was. Roman always terrified her, it didn’t help that they always seemed to meet in very tense situations.
She snatched back her hand and stepped back, her eyes darting around the hallway, it was completely empty, save for her and the hulking British Alpha King that was standing right in her path, she should have been more cautious.
Roman could sense her discomfort so he immediately raised both hands in a gesture of surrender, “I’m not going to hurt you, I just want to talk.”
Claire frowned, she didn’t want to talk to Roman, she wasn’t too quick to forget the fact that he had a hand in her kidnapping and had also threatened to kill Lukas right in front of her.
“I find that very hard to believe,” She said tightly, crossing her arms in a protective gesture. All Claire wanted to do was just walk away from the conversation but she was wary of doing that, it was just the both of them in such a deserted hallway after all, and she couldn’t be careless.
Roman’s lips quirked in a cold smile, “That’s fair,” He muttered, making no move to step out of her path. “Did you think about my offer?”
Claire blinked rapidly, flabbergasted, by the nerve of Roman, to even bring up something like that again. She didn’t even grace him with a response, storming past him.
Roman didn’t let this happen, catching her by the waist only to lose his hold on her right away and curl in half from the vicious punch to his side.
“If you’re trying to pick a fight, you’ll get it,” Lukas said darkly, holding his mate close.
Roman straightened up and struck up another pose of surrender, his hands up with an unrepentant look on his face. “I was just talking…”
Lukas cut off his words with another punch, to the face this time, “That’s me letting you off easy,” He muttered at a pitch that only Roman could hear, “But if you don’t stay away from my mate, I’ll rip your throat out.” He added without mincing his words, walking off with Claire.
“I’m sorry you had to see that,” He apologized softly to his mate as they reentered the dining room.
Claire shook her head, “He deserved it,” She said seriously. Roman was her least favorite person, she would pick Alina over him if she had to.
She noticed him return to the dinner party several minutes later, looking surprisingly impeccable for someone who just had their nose broken in. He was beckoned over by Alpha King Costin to which he reluctantly went over, after that, Claire’s attention was taken from him and she forgot all about the troublesome Alpha King for the rest of the dinner.
The next morning, the conference was held very early as an understanding that the attendees were very important individuals who had countries to run.
Claire could hardly follow the technical discussions that were passed around the huge round table were all the dignitaries were seated. At the head of the table was the Chief Executive of the Ministry of Human-Were Inter-relations, as well as two important Ministers on either side of him.
Although she couldn’t really follow the conversation, she could tell that a lot of things seemed to circle around her, the Chief Executive asking her a lot of unrelated questions although she was merely a plus one and wasn’t required to contribute at the conference.
It was like Killian all over again, it was starting to get a tad bit exhausting to have to defend her relationship with Lukas to every human she came across.
“... I believe this is an annual conference to discuss the current state of Human-Were Inter-relations and not a love counseling session,” She said curtly when the questions were getting a little bit too personal.
It was almost like they expected her to drop to her knees begging to be rescued from Lukas, which was a ridiculous thought. Even if she needed rescuing from Lukas, she could do it herself, she didn’t need pretentious men in stuffy suits doing that for her.
Chuckles from the werewolf royalties erupted at the round table at her response while the humans from the Ministry looked a bit uncomfortable.
“I apologize if it came off that way, Your Highness,” The Chief Executive cleared his throat and straightened his tie. “However, your opinion on the matter is quite important you see…”
“Because I’m human?” She deadpanned.
Claire could see why Lukas hadn’t been the biggest fan of humans when she first met him, the other werewolf royalties seemed to be used to this kind of treatment from humans but she found it exasperating how humans were quick to jump the gun when it came to werewolves and only dealt with them using a long spoon.
“Amongst, many other reasons.” The Chief Executive said vaguely.
Claire knew that he was bullshitting but she also knew that getting angry at how werewolves were prejudiced against wasn’t going to do much help so she fixed a plastic smile on her face. “I understand, what would you like to know?”
“Your opinion on if humans should be prohibited from living in werewolf-designated settlements.” He said bluntly, staring right through her.
It was a bill that the werewolf royalties were trying to get passed, it was only fair, if werewolves were prevented from living in human cities why wasn't the same done to humans in werewolf settlements?
“And I understand that you don’t support this? Might I ask why before stating my opinion?” She said carefully.
The entirety of the table had their attention on her, she couldn't say the wrong thing because that might negatively impact werewolves or even worse, the already rocky relationship they had with humans.
She had seen a lot of news articles refer to her as a bridge between the two worlds and she had even done an interview or two on the topic but she never really believed it until right now.
“Well,” The Chief Executive said, tapping the smooth surface of the table with a fountain pen. “You can’t possibly expect us to put werewolves in our blindspot when we are at such a delicate position in our budding relationship, it’s important that there’s transparency from them.”
Claire listened intently, noting that although a lot of werewolf dignitaries looked like they would like to say something or two, they kept their lips sealed shut and right then, Lukas found her hand under the table, and she didn’t hesitate to hold on tight to him to ground herself.
“The entire purpose of this Ministry is to facilitate a better relationship between the two species, right?” Claire started slowly, calculating her words.
“Indeed, Luna Queen Claire Grey.” The Chief Executive said greasily, waiting to see what she would say.
“In that case, shouldn’t you be doing just that?” She cocked a brow, catching the human Ministers off guard.
The one to the left of the Chief Executive spoke up, “Could you elaborate on what you mean by that?”
“What I mean is, shouldn’t transparency go both ways? Why are we having a discussion on if to ban humans from werewolf settlements when the solution is to give everyone regardless of specie equal rights to live wherever they want?” She said passionately, silencing everyone at the table.
“Putting humans and werewolves in separate boxes will only widen the rift between both species and wouldn’t that mean that your Ministry has failed at its duty?” She directed at the Chief Executive who was forced to reply.
He cleared his throat, and looked away from Claire’s intense ones, looking deeply uncomfortable. He had been hoping to turn the conversation on its head and leave the werewolves without a win but he hadn’t been expecting that Claire would decide to not support either side.
Fortunately, the conversation moved away from Claire after that and she could finally draw in a deep breath although there was still anxiety running through her, from the worry that she might have ruined everything.
That was quickly changed though because at the conclusion of the conference, it was shown that they made the most progress in a single conference than they had made in the past years.
Not only were humans and werewolves free to live anywhere but the positions of Emissaries who were sent to spy on werewolves would be dissolved and in addition to that, werewolves would be hired to work at the Ministry of Human-Were Inter-relations, something that should have been done from the very start.
There were also other bills and changes that were sanctioned to be put into effect, one of these including Lukas’ territory which was increased to almost thrice its current size.
Lukas was quick to take his mate to the safety of their suite after the conference when it seemed like every single person wanted to have a conversation with her. It didn’t help that his mate was looking quite exhausted from the strain of the conference.
He watched her immediately take off her dress and accessories with a soft smile on his face…
“I was so nervous, I’m frankly surprised that I didn’t stutter,” She said lightly, putting on his shirt.
Lukas personally thought she did wonderfully and he had never been more prouder of anyone than he was of her. He walked across the expanse of the suite and pulled her into his arms.
“You did so great, I don’t think I’ve ever loved you more than in the moment when you stood up for me and my people.” He said sincerely.
Claire looked up at him with a smile, “What do you mean? They’re my people too.”
Lukas fell speechless, he couldn’t understand for the life of him why he had ever chosen to be cruel to his mate, he gently pressed his forehead to hers. “I don’t deserve you.”
Claire’s smile bloomed, “I love you still,” She said lightly, not denying his words.
*Fate was never wrong after all if they could still find love despite their differences.*

***END?