Chapter 59

                                    

                                          
When I rose up from my curtsey I moved to stand beside Ajax. Ryan stood beside his queen, holding her hand. The tiny gesture of affection pulled up one of the corners of her mouth. It was amazing what the mate pull could do. Even just being near Ajax was enough to make me roll my shoulders back and stare at the crowd with confidence. i couldn't face this all alone, but I could follow his lead with ease.
                          
While we stood together, facing our subjects, everyone bowed and curtseyed to us with such uniformity it was like it had been rehearsed.
                          
In the moment they were distracted Ajax pressed his lips against my cheek. Then, he took the opportunity to whisper in my ear, "Is it wrong to get turned on just by the way you curtseyed to me. The idea of you being submissive to me is so hot. And that dress...fuck baby girl."
                          
If we hadn't been in front of hundreds of people I would've punched him in the arm hard enough to make him apologize. Now was not the time or place for this and he knew that as well as I did. Instead, I just beamed, watching the crowd rise as one unit. Once everyone had risen the formality dropped. 
                          
"Thank you all for joining us on this occasion," Ryan boomed, his voice carrying through the room without any assistance. "We know that you are all curious to meet my son's mate, your future queen, but we have a few things we would like to say first. We are so glad that all of you made it here safely and we are so happy that our news has been received with such positivity. Most parents worry about their children dating bad influences. In our case we are the parents of the bad influence. We just hoped that when Ajax found his mate she would have the tenacity to slow him down and deal with his king complex. The moon goddess blessed all of us with Keiko!" 
                          
There was a roar of laughter and applause. Apparently Ajax had quite the reputation.
                          
Queen Adeline stepped forward and the room fell silent again. 
                          
"Keiko has become a wonderful addition to the royal family. We are sure she will preform her duties with the diligence that is required of  future queen. For now, please enjoy yourselves and hopefully you all get a chance to meet our lovely Keiko."
                          
After that it was all about mingling and impressing people I had never met before. Ajax didn't seem to care. Once the king had his speech Ajax took my hand and pulled me through the crowd, making a blatant bee line for the people he found worthy.
                          
"Come on," he encouraged, "I have some people I would like you to meet."
                          
We intercepted Ivan, his father's best friend. Though I had met him already when we ventured onto his pack lands I hadn't met his mate. She was kind, with soft brown eyes and a slightly nervous smile. I couldn't remember much about Orion's rather rocky past but I do recall the fact that Ivan and his mate were never supposed to be alphas. At the very least they were nice and they allowed me to have a moderately normal conversation that wasn't about my new role.
                          
Ajax and I floated through several couples and groups of people after that. He was more than enthusiastic when he introduced me to everyone and they all seemed kind enough from behind their masks. I would grin at all of them and whenever ajax offered me any kind of affection I received it as well as I could. this event was about making a good impression on the people I would eventually rule over, but it was also about clearing up rumors. 
                          
The royals had waited an uncharacteristically long time to wait to introduce me to the world. Of course there would be rumors about it. I had been seen around the royal ground with and without Ajax. I had been taken into cities and spent a fair amount of time with the king and queen but there had never been an announcement. And, according to everyone else I had a strange scent that labeled me as bad or unusual. It was natural for rumors to start. I was simply thankful I had never heard any of them because I doubted they were kind.