Chapter 20 - Attack From the Front, Shield From the Back

"Can I get you something to eat or drink young miss?" Tsuna enquired with Adalyn.

She had been sat down in one of the reception rooms along with Naya, Melody's guard and another guy she didn't know. She assumed it was Arrow.

"No, thank you Tsuna." Adalyn replied. Tsuna nodded politely, then left the room.

Kai had taken off with his sister quite suddenly and Adalyn wasn't quite sure what to do with herself. Naya was sat directly across the sofa from her with her legs crossed and her arms tightly folded. With her short cropped dark hair and leather attire she looked like a soldier. She definitely didn't look like one to be messed with. She was trying her best not to make eye contact with Arrow who was standing across the room from her smiling mischievously in her direction.

Realizing that he wasn't getting Naya's attention Arrow looked at Adalyn, smiled, then walked over to her.

"It's a pleasure to finally meet you princess, my name is Arrow". He sat down in the empty space beside her on the sofa.

Naya, couldn't help but subtly raise an eyebrow at him speaking with Adalyn.

"Princess?" Adalyn asked confused.

"Well now your fully mated it's only a matter of time till it's made official right?" Arrow rested his hand under his face as he studied hers.

Adalyn didn't know where to look after his question. First Melody and now Arrow were both openly discussing her sex life with Kaiden. Not that there was anything to tell.

"I don't think that's any of your business" she muttered quietly. Arrow was sitting next to her closely and was taking in all of her micro expressions. He noted how she was similar to Kai when he was riled up which made her easy to read.

Arrow scanned her claiming spot for any signs of a bite. "Wait! He still hasn't claimed you?! Kai's more resilient than I thought. Poor guy must have blue balls by now." Arrow rolled back in to his seat amused.

Seeing Adalyn looking so uncomfortable at Arrow's line of questioning Naya piped up. "Okay, that's enough Arrow! Not everyone is a man whore like you, you know. Leave the poor girl alone!"

Arrow was surprised to see that he had gotten Naya's attention. "You wound me Naya. You know my heart belongs to you and you alone. The sooner you stop playing hard to get the sooner we can settle down together."

"Ugh!" Naya groaned loudly, then rolled her eyes as she turned away from him.

Arrow turned back to Adalyn who was watching the interaction between the two of the them. They quite clearly had some history together. "Apologies princess, it was not my intention to offend you. I simply have my master's interest at heart"

"Ady" Adalyn interrupted him.

"Huh?" Arrow replied confused.

"As opposed to princess, you can call me Ady" she looked at him directly in the eyes to reaffirm herself.

"Ok...Ady" Arrow repeated. Her emerald eyes staring at him had all the hallmarks of a dominant she-wolf. He liked what he saw. "Ady it is. I think we'll get along great."

"So... you mentioned that Kai's your master?" Adalyn continued. There was still lots that she didn't know about Kai and his life and this seemed like a good opportunity to learn more.

"Yes, so to speak." Arrow had said 'master' more in jest but seeing her accept it so easily, he decided to just elaborate a bit more about their relationship. "Each member of the immediate royal family is assigned a guard. I've known Kai a long time so I was naturally a good fit, not that he really needs 'guarding'. And my future wife in front of you, with the scowl on her face is assigned to guard Melody." He pointed his hand in Naya's direction whose scowl twisted up even more.

"Future wife?! Keep dreaming asshat!" Naya yelled back.

Ignoring her response Arrow continued. "I love the sweet endearing names that she comes up with for me." He rested his hand across his heart as he pretended to be moved by Naya's words.

Adalyn couldn't help but find him funny and she tried and failed to hide a giggle with her hand. Arrow was slightly taken aback by her innocent laugh and he stared at her for a second. She looked both beautiful and innocent in that moment and it was hard for him to not be slightly mesmerized by her.

At that same moment Kai poked his head through the door to look for them all. "Hey Arrow, we can talk now I...." he started to speak but then paused when he saw Adalyn giggling at Arrow. She was making that sweet noise that he'd only just heard last night. He spotted Arrow sat directly next to her and he seemed to be looking at her just a fraction too long for Kai's liking.

"Arrow!" Kai growled loudly startling the whole room. Adalyn stopped giggling immediately unsure as to what had riled Kai up.

"Woah! Okay, I'm coming!" Arrow stood up, completely unperturbed by him. "Was nice to officially meet you Ady". Arrow put his hands in his pocket and turned to face Naya. "And let me know when I can drop by to see you my sweet Naya". He gave Naya a quick wink.

Naya scowled at him "How about you just drop dead instead."

Arrow chuckled a bit at her response then continued walking towards Kai.

"I won't be long Adalyn" Kai called back to her.

"Okay" Adalyn replied. She was slightly annoyed that she was being excluded from whatever conversations he was having with Melody and Arrow but she didn't feel like she could ask to be there if Kai hadn't already invited her.

After closing the door back to the reception room, Kai and Arrow proceeded to walk up the hallway back to the study

"What was that about?" Kai questioned Arrow.

"She was just laughing at something I had said." Arrow didn't make eye contact with Kai sensing his slight annoyance with him.

"You called her Ady? Since when were you two so friendly?"

"She just asked me to call her that" Arrow huffed.

"Is that right?" Some of Kai's dominant waves started to slip out.

"You need to relax" Arrow could sense that he was trying to pick a fight with him.

"*I* need to relax? *Really?*"

Arrow stopped walking realizing that they were going to have to have this out then and there for Kai to be satisfied. He turned and looked at his friend.

"You know, you wouldn't be feeling so tetchy and possessive if you just claimed her. It's because of your proximity to her and her unclaimed status that you and Pax are acting this way."

Arrow always had this way of talking to Kai and he always spoke very frankly with him. He didn't hesitate to check him, without fear of repercussions and Kai respected him for that.

Arrow was right and it annoyed him to have to acknowledge it. Kai sighed "I know, you're right." Kai started walking again and Arrow proceeded to follow him. "I'm hoping you have some leads that will enable me to do so."

"Indeed, I do." Arrow pulled out a USB stick from his pocket and held it up with two fingers just as they reached the door of the study.

"Ooo Hey Mel" Arrow saluted her as she waited patiently in one of the chairs in the room. He looked back at Kai. "So, you finally decided to let her join '*The council wants me dead*' club" Arrow laughed in Kai's direction.

Melody crossed her arms "I can't believe you two had been keeping this a secret the whole time. Who else knows about this? Elias?"

Kai sighed. "To be honest, if he knows about Adalyn then I wouldn't be surprised if he does know about this too, but he's not said anything. You know how he likes to remain neutral about everything."

"Neutral?!" Melody shouted "There's nothing neutral about allowing back-stabbing traitors to threaten our little brother's life! If he's knows something about this, I'll make him talk!"

Arrow and Kai both flinched knowing that she would do exactly that.

"So what's on the USB stick? Did you manage to get CCTV footage from the abandoned building" Kai questioned Arrow.

Arrow started loading it up on the computer. "Yeah. A couple of the cameras were working. The quality isn't great but there was definitely somebody there watching everything that went down that night".

"Shit! That means that they were there to confirm that she's my mate!" Kai growled.

Arrow pointed to the screen as the video started to play "You'll see him appear here shortly after you went in. He had a hoodie on so it's hard to make out any distinct features but...". Arrow paused the video a few seconds in then zoomed in on his arm. "Do you see that tattoo on his arm?"

"That's the symbol for the Star Howlers pack!" Melody called out as she recognized it. The Star Howlers pack was one of the 8 packs that made up Galas.

"Right" Arrow confirmed. "Again, this just seems a bit too convenient to have a clue like this drop in our lap. It's almost like they're trying to leave breadcrumbs for us, but it's a good place to start. The traditional spot for a pack tattoo is usually across your back or chest, so this unusual tattoo location should make it at bit easier for me to narrow down the list of who it could be".

"You'll have to give this to somebody else to look in to" Kai interjected. "Mel and I have been called back to support a fight on the border line of Sirran. If the cat's already out of the bag and someone on the council knows that she's my mate I can't leave Adalyn unprotected while I'm gone. I'll need you to guard her."

The trouble arising on the border was new information for Arrow. "Kai, with all due respect, if there's a fight with Sirran, I should be up there on the front lines with you."

"I know Arrow, but the council have specifically requested that I be involved." Kaiden replied. "If they know about her already, they might be using this as an opportunity to separate me from her. If there was anybody else that I could trust with this, I would. I need you to guard her and in doing so you'll be covering my back. I'll attack from the front..."

Arrow sighed and walked away from the desk. He wasn't happy about this. It was his duty as both his friend and guard to fight with him in battle, and babysitting Adalyn was not what he felt he should be doing, but as she was his mate, he knew that keeping her safe would also be keeping Kai safe.

"…and I'll shield from the back," Arrow finished what Kai started saying. It was their moto for whenever they went to fight. "Fine, leave it to me."