Taming the Wild Beast of Alamina

Chapter 389: Chapter 389: On their way.

"You know... you can leave Sylvia alone for ten minutes," Rina said, narrowing her eyes at Thomas.

Thomas was sitting in an armchair beside the hospital bed because Seven had won the argument about him needing to move away from the mattress.

He had not, however, won the argument about Thomas holding Sylvia.

That was how Sylvia had ended up in Thomas’s lap, wrapped carefully in one blanket and one very stubborn commander, while Thomas pretended this arrangement was medically reasonable.

Sylvia had given up on asking him to put her down while other alphas were in the room.

At some point, survival required choosing smaller battles

"No," Thomas said.

Rina stared at him. "That was not a military threat."

"I declined."

Rina crossed her arms. "You are bandaged from ribs to shoulder."

"I am aware."

"You have two medical drains, one healing suppressant, and a nurse outside that looks at you like you personally destroyed her faith in commanders."

Thomas’s arm shifted around Sylvia’s waist. "I remain aware."

Sylvia pressed her lips together to keep from laughing.

Rina’s eyes narrowed further. "You are impossible."

Thomas looked at her with the grim suspicion of a man who had not forgotten anything said in a corridor during a crisis.

"You said that if Sylvia were an omega, you would have dated her."

Rina scoffed. "I’m engaged, Lancaster."

"You said it."

"I said she was pretty."

"You implied interest."

"I implied taste."

Sylvia closed her eyes. "Please do not fight over my hypothetical romantic eligibility while I am learning how to be classified as a person again."

Rina’s expression softened immediately. "Sorry."

Thomas’s did not. "I accept your surrender."

Rina pointed at him. "I did not surrender."

"You apologized."

"To Sylvia."

"I was nearby."

"That is not how apologies work."

"It is in Rohan."

"No, it is not," Sylvia said.

Thomas looked down at her, betrayed.

She patted his bandaged chest very carefully. "Do not make that face. You are injured, not correct."

Rina laughed.

Thomas looked like he would remember this treason for years.

The door opened before he could answer.

A nurse stepped inside with a tablet pressed against her chest and the very careful expression of someone approaching a room full of injured nobility, unstable pheromonal structures, and one Rohan commander who had already threatened medical staff twice.

"Commander Lancaster?"

Thomas’s posture changed at once, a faint smile disappearing under the face of a military man.

"Yes."

The nurse swallowed. "General Marianne Lancaster and Lord Daniel Lancaster have entered the palace perimeter. They will arrive at the hospital wing in approximately ten minutes."

The room went silent.

Rina’s mouth fell open.

Sylvia turned slowly in Thomas’s arms. "Your parents?"

Thomas’s expression was calm, but Sylvia knew that he was trying to find the first exit before his parents entered the room.

"Yes."

Sylvia stared at him. "Your parents are coming here?"

"Yes."

"Your parents, whom I have never met?"

Thomas said nothing.

Rina’s eyes sharpened with delighted horror. "Oh."

Sylvia looked at her. "Do not say ’oh’ like that."

"I am trying to decide whether this is a medical emergency or entertainment."

"Rina."

"It can be both."

Sylvia turned back to Thomas. "You said it was unnecessary to complicate my life with them."

"It was."

"Thomas."

His jaw tightened. "You were beta."

The words landed awkwardly, not cruelly, but awkwardly enough that Sylvia felt the new gland at her nape pulse once beneath the medical collar.

Thomas felt her tense and immediately regretted the sentence. "That is not what I mean."

"It sounded like what you meant it."

"No." His arm tightened carefully around her. "I mean, my family is Rohan’s command structure wearing domestic clothing. My mother is the main general under Queen Heather. My father is a dominant alpha with the patience of a diplomat and the memory of a war archive. Heather considers herself my aunt, and she considers information withholding a personal insult."

Rina’s brows rose. "That was almost poetic."

Thomas ignored her.

Sylvia blinked. "Your mother is the main general of Rohan?"

"Yes."

"And your father?"

"Former strategic command. Currently diplomatic security and military council."

"And you thought they would complicate my life because I was beta."

"Yes."

Sylvia stared at him.

Thomas looked back, visibly bracing himself for judgment and prepared to accept all of it.

Then Rina, because she had no survival instinct, said, "Did you even tell them you had a girlfriend?"

Thomas did not answer.

Sylvia went very still.

Rina’s expression transformed from amusement to something far more dangerous. "Lancaster."

Thomas looked at the window.

Sylvia’s voice became dangerously quiet. "Tom."

He closed his eyes.

Rina inhaled. "You absolute disaster."

Thomas opened his eyes. "I was protecting her."

"You were hiding her," Rina said.

"I was protecting her from being measured, questioned, handled, or judged by an entire military family before she had any reason to endure it."

Sylvia’s throat tightened.

Thomas looked down at her, and the command in his face gave way to something rawer.

"You were mine," he said softly. "But the world would not have treated you as mine. I told myself I was waiting until I could make that different."

"And then?" Sylvia whispered.

"Then Andrea happened."

Rina’s anger flickered.

The nurse shifted at the door, clearly regretting every life choice that had brought her into this room.

Sylvia swallowed. "How do they know now?"

Thomas’s mouth tightened.

The nurse answered because apparently she wanted the execution to be efficient. "The emergency commander report from Crown Prince Arion and Crown Consort Dean was transmitted to Rohan’s highest military chain during the night. General Lancaster, Lord Lancaster, and Queen Heather were included in the restricted notification."

Rina made a small sound. "Oh, they know everything."

The nurse winced. "A great deal, Your Highness."

Sylvia felt her stomach drop. "Everything?"

"Enough," Thomas said.

Rina’s expression became deeply sympathetic. "Enough is worse."

The nurse cleared her throat. "General Lancaster requested confirmation that both Commander Lancaster and Lady Sylvia were conscious. Lord Lancaster requested reassurance that Lady Sylvia was not in critical distress. Queen Heather requested—"