Taming the Wild Beast of Alamina

Chapter 390: Chapter 390: Dominant parents.

The nurse stopped.

Thomas looked at her. "Requested what?"

The nurse glanced at Sylvia, then back at Thomas.

"Queen Heather requested that I inform you she is furious."

Rina pressed both hands over her mouth.

Sylvia stared.

Thomas sighed like a man receiving a death sentence he had scheduled himself.

The nurse continued, with admirable courage, "Her exact words were that if General Lancaster does not finish expressing maternal disappointment first, Her Majesty will do it herself."

Rina made a strangled noise.

Sylvia turned slowly toward Thomas. "Maternal disappointment?"

Thomas’s face had gone blank in the way of a commander under artillery fire.

"My mother is reasonable."

Rina burst out, "Your mother is the main general of Rohan."

"She is reasonable professionally."

"And personally?"

Thomas did not answer.

Sylvia stared at him harder.

He looked down at her. "She will like you."

"That is not the issue."

"It is the most important issue."

"You hid me from two dominant-alpha parents, a queen who considers herself your aunt, and apparently an entire military chain."

"I did not hide you from the military chain."

Rina pointed at him again. "That is not a defense."

Thomas looked at her. "You are enjoying this."

"I am processing."

"With joy."

"Yes."

Sylvia tried to sit up straighter. Thomas helped her instantly, one hand supporting her back, the other careful around the medical collar at her nape.

The gesture was so automatic and gentle that the anger in her chest tangled with something softer.

Sylvia closed her eyes. "I am not dressed for this."

Thomas looked genuinely confused. "You are hospitalized."

"That is not an outfit."

"You are injured."

"I have met professors after all-night exams with more preparation than this."

Rina stepped closer, suddenly practical. "I can fix your hair."

Sylvia opened one eye. "Can you fix my entire existence?"

"No, but I can make it look deliberate."

"That is court survival in one sentence," Sylvia muttered.

Thomas’s thumb brushed her wrist. "You do not have to perform."

Sylvia looked at him.

He meant it.

Of course he did.

And that made her want to shake him.

"I am meeting your parents for the first time," she said. "After they found out from a restricted military report that I exist, nearly died, became officially not-beta, and am apparently your mate."

Thomas considered that.

Then said, "Yes."

Rina groaned. "Lancaster, help her emotionally."

Thomas looked at Sylvia. "My parents will not hurt you."

"That is not emotional help."

"They are good people."

"That is slightly better."

"They will be angry with me."

"That helps more."

"They will be worried about you."

Sylvia stopped.

Thomas’s expression softened. "They will be worried about you, Sylvia. Not because of classification. Not because of politics. Because they read what happened and they know you were in the corridor when it should have killed you."

Her anger faltered.

The nurse nodded quietly. "General Lancaster asked whether Lady Sylvia had pain management adjusted for a newly formed gland. Lord Lancaster asked if the room had been cleared of unnecessary dominant scents before their arrival."

Sylvia blinked.

Thomas looked at her as if that proved something important.

Rina’s smile softened.

Sylvia looked down at her hands.

"Oh," she said quietly.

The new pulse at her nape throbbed once, uncertain and aching.

Thomas’s field shifted around her, protective but careful.

"They are still going to scold you," Sylvia said.

"Yes."

"Good."

Thomas lowered his forehead briefly to her shoulder, avoiding the collar. "Traitor."

"I am wounded, transformed, and meeting your parents in ten minutes. I have earned treason."

Rina nodded solemnly. "She has."

The nurse’s tablet chimed.

She glanced down, then went pale in a way that made Thomas immediately lift his head.

"What?" he asked.

"General Lancaster has reached the hospital lift," the nurse said.

Sylvia froze. "You said ten minutes."

"She appears to have ignored the perimeter escort."

Rina whispered, delighted, "Legend."

—

By the time the footsteps reached the corridor, Rina was gone.

She had abandoned Sylvia with one whispered, "I respect survival," and slipped through the side exit before Thomas could call her a coward.

Sylvia would remember that betrayal. Later. For now, the main door opened.

General Marianne Lancaster entered first.

Sylvia had known Thomas had to come from somewhere, but knowing was not the same as seeing.

Marianne was tall, severe, and composed in the way storms were composed before they broke. Her dark Rohan uniform was cut with military precision, silver rank bars gleaming at her collar. Her scent entered the room restrained beneath brutal discipline.

Dominant alpha.

Controlled enough not to press.

Powerful enough that Sylvia felt the restraint.

Behind her came Daniel Lancaster, quieter in presence but not weaker. His formal coat carried Rohan silver at the cuffs, and his gaze moved first to Thomas’s bandages, then to Sylvia’s medical collar, then to the way Thomas held her as if the hospital itself might try to steal her.

Thomas started to move.

Marianne’s eyes cut to him. "Don’t stand."

Thomas froze.

Sylvia stared.

The man who had threatened three physicians, ignored sedatives, and refused to let her out of his arms obeyed his mother in two words.

Daniel’s mouth twitched faintly. "Hello, Thomas."

"Father," Thomas said, with the resignation of a condemned man.

Marianne crossed the room, stopped before the armchair, and looked at Sylvia.

"Lady Sylvia Croft."

Sylvia swallowed. "General Lancaster."

Marianne lowered herself to one knee.

Sylvia’s mind went blank.

"Mother," Thomas said, alarmed.

Marianne ignored him. "I apologize."

Sylvia blinked. "For what?"

"For learning my son had a mate from a restricted emergency report instead of from my son." Her voice remained even, which somehow made it more devastating. "And for meeting you after you nearly died before we knew you existed."

Thomas went very still behind her.

Daniel stepped closer, folding his scent carefully. "May I come nearer?"

Sylvia nodded because speech had briefly abandoned her.

Daniel bowed. "Daniel Lancaster. Thomas’s father. We are very sorry this is our first meeting."

Sylvia managed a weak laugh. "I am not exactly prepared."

"No one sensible prepares for a Lancaster introduction in a hospital room."

Marianne’s gaze moved to the protective collar around Sylvia’s nape. "Is the new gland being managed without direct pressure?"

The nurse answered quickly from the door. "Yes, General."

"Pain relief adjusted?"

"Yes."

"Unnecessary dominant scent exposure cleared?"

"Yes."

Only then did Marianne look at Thomas.

"You hid her."

Thomas’s arm tightened carefully around Sylvia. "I was protecting her."

"You were deciding alone."

The words struck him harder than a reprimand.

Sylvia felt it through the new, strange thing under her skin. Her field stirred toward the hurt before she could stop it.

Marianne’s gaze snapped back to her. "Slowly."

Sylvia breathed in.

The pressure softened instead of recoiling.

Thomas’s monitor eased.

Daniel watched the numbers, then looked at Sylvia with something unbearably gentle. "Remarkable."

Thomas’s voice went cold. "She is not an assessment."

"No," Marianne said. "She is your mate."

The room went still.

Then Marianne looked at Sylvia. "If you allow that word."

Sylvia’s fingers curled around Thomas’s.

"I do," she whispered.

Thomas’s breath shook against her hair.

Marianne bowed her head once. "Then welcome, Sylvia."

Daniel smiled softly. "Welcome."

Sylvia’s eyes burned.

"That was too easy," she whispered.

Daniel’s smile widened. "The scolding is for Thomas."

Marianne stood.

Thomas closed his eyes.

"We have to talk," Marianne said to Thomas only.