Chapter 235 His decision

Chapter 235: Chapter 235 His decision

_Ezekiel’s POV_

My stomach let out a noise so loud it sounded like a dying bear was stuck inside my ribcage.

I slumped further down into the sofa, staring up at the ceiling lights while my brain slowly fried from lack of sleep. Rowena had been gone for maybe ten minutes, but my appetite was already threatening to stage a full blown revolt.

"Kasper," I groaned, kicking the edge of the table with the toe of my shoe. "If I don’t get actual food into my system in the next fifteen minutes, I am going to faint on you, do you guys realize who I am for goodness sake?”

Kasper didn’t even look up from his screen. His fingers kept flying across the keys like a man possessed. He simply raised one hand and waved us off with a flick of his wrist.

"Go," Kasper said, his voice completely flat. "Get out of my sight. Take Pierre with you. Both of you are ruining my concentration with your breathing."

My mouth opened in shock. Did this guy just command Pierre and I to leave? Me? Prince Ezekiel, and Pierre, Alpha Pierre?!

"Rude," I glared, but I didn’t need to be told twice. I sighed and bounced off the sofa, grabbing Pierre by the sleeve of his jacket. "You heard the nerd, it’s lunchtime. My treat, whatever you want to eat.”

Pierre let out a laugh, letting me drag him out of the parlor and into the hallway. We walked out of the Ashthorne estate and strolled down the sidewalk toward a high end, low key bistro two blocks away. The morning sun felt amazing against my face, almost making me forget that we even have problems in our lives. I mean the Drake’s hidden mole somewhere in the city trying to ruin our lives.

We grabbed a small corner booth near the back of the restaurant. I immediately ordered three grilled chicken wraps, a basket of garlic fries, and two large iced coffees before the waiter could even finish dropping off the menus.

"You are going to eat yourself into a coma," Pierre noted with a sigh, leaning his elbows on the table and looking at me with those handsome eyes of his.

"I burn calories just by existing near Rowena Alaric, and my father. I’m not even living my royal life to the fullest." I retorted, taking a gulp of my iced coffee the second it arrived. "Their sheer amount of daily emotional drama burns up my glucose levels. I’m practically doing public service work. My wolf has also gone stale, they killed him for me.”

Pierre smiled, but as the waiter set down our food, his smile slowly faded. A strange stillness settled over his face. The playful spark in his eyes vanished, replaced by an unusually serious look that instantly set off alarm bells in my head.

He didn’t grab a fry, he didn’t touch his drink either. He just folded his hands on the table and looked straight at me.

"Ezekiel," Pierre began, his voice dropping into a low tone. "I’ve been thinking about something for the past few weeks. Ever since we made our relationship public."

My hand froze halfway to my mouth, a garlic fry hovering two inches from my lips. "Oh no. Don’t do that tone. That is the tone people use right before they say something weird, but what is it?"

Pierre took a slow breath. "I’m planning on stepping down. I am going to officially drop my Alpha title."

I stared at him, the silence between us stretched out so long that the people two tables over stopped talking to look at us.

"You’re... what?" I asked, my voice cracking slightly.

"I am stepping down as Alpha of my pack," Pierre repeated, completely deadpan. "And I’m giving the title to Theodore."

I slammed both of my hands onto the table so hard that our coffee cups jumped, spilling liquid over the napkins. I scrambled up from my seat, pointing a shaking, greasy finger straight at his nose.

"ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?!" I shrieked, ignoring the fact that the entire restaurant was now staring at me in complete horror. "THEODORE?! Theodore, your backstabbing, little snake of a brother?! That Theodore?!"

"Ezekiel, sit down, people are looking—"

"I don’t care about people." I deadpanned, leaning over the table until my face was two inches from his. "Did you take a brick to the back of the head while I was sleeping?! Did Drake secretly get to you in your sleep and messed with your head? Because that is the only logical explanation for this level of sheer madness!"

Pierre let out a long sigh, reaching up to pinch the bridge of his nose. "He is still my brother, Ezekiel. I went to see him last week. He apologized for everything he did. He expressed genuine remorse, and honestly... I have forgiven him. He had always wanted to run the pack, plus I just want to focus on my life with you. I don’t want the burden of the crown anymore."

I sank back into my booth seat, clutching my stomach as if I had just consumed a glass of poison. I looked at Pierre with a face twisted in absolute unfiltered disgust.

"Forgiven him?" I squeaked out, my voice dripping with horror. "You forgave the man who tried to kill us all and had an affair with someone’s wife? You cannot hand an entire pack territory over to a man who fucked someone’s wife.”

Pierre couldn’t hold it in anymore, a quiet laugh escaped his lips at my words, but he quickly forced his face back into a serious expression. "He has changed, Ezekiel. He deserves a second chance."

"He deserves a punch in his teeth, that’s what he deserves." I gagged, pulling my basket of fries closer to my chest as if to protect them from the toxicity of the conversation. "I am utterly disgusted. I am repulsed. If that man becomes Alpha, I am leaving your pack."

"Eat your wrap, Ezekiel," Pierre chuckled, his eyes filled with warmth. "We have a long afternoon ahead of us."

"I can’t eat now.” I threw my head back against the booth. "My appetite is ruined, my soul is wounded, I am dating a saint, and it is ruining my life!"

Though I kept grumbling and shooting him disgusted glares for the next ten minutes, I still couldn’t help the warmth that spread across my chest at the realization that he was thinking about our future.

If it meant losing the thrown to be with me, he would do it.