CHAPTER III:

KINGDOM OF CRAENIA

OFREA

FÉRET CROWN PALACE

"It creates me immense pleasure to have you here, in the lands of Craenia, may the great Moon praise your presence here, prince omega Noir." recited Eric Arnaud Féret, current monarch and alpha leader of all Craenia, with a venia that Axe swore made the old wolf's back ache, but it was no less elegant than the one he himself would have made, wolves were superior, different and exquisite.

Axe had had so many opportunities to travel, which allowed him not only to know foreign cultures, but also races: felines, birds, among other shapeshifters that had taught him many things, however, wolves were better preserved, they seemed to have a pact with life and the god Fenrir himself, which could be considered satanic, allowing them to age slowly, and in spite of everything, mostly, in good condition.

Axe had to recognize that Eric, as well as his own father and so many other alphas, were a clear example. Eric's voice was the closest thing to an old rum, melodic and appealing like that of most alphas, inside, Igna stirred, pacing around, uneasy, however she was not focused on King Eric, but beyond, causing Axe for a second to lose focus of his midst, the she-wolf seemed upset, Axe stirred subtly on his own axis, always careful not to let his scent out, his long dark hair falling on the fabric swayed in the breeze that came through the huge windows, the scent of roses hit him from outside.

"My sincerity is full, when I tell you that we will strive to give you a good experience, despite all the difficulties we have presented over the years, in terms of relations." the voice of King Eric again reached his ears.

Axe smiled trying to hide the discomfort that created him to be among so many alphas, and more, wolves that have been considered enemies in so many years, the extreme and forced friendliness of Eric was desperate at high levels.

Axe knew how cordial relations were not, in fact if it wasn't for the war, Craenia and Asmax would never have resumed any diplomatic exchange, unless it was in front of the great council, full of cantankerous old men, who in his opinion were over the earth, he gave a slight nod and kept his smile, he forced himself to relax his posture, and demanded Igna to calm down, well, the she-wolf wasn't interested in listening to him.

"I appreciate the gesture, sir, it must not be easy to welcome a complete stranger into your territory, let alone with such a past that concerns us."Eric nodded, listening to the omega.

Noir, he could feel everyone's gaze on him, «damn alphas», he thought, his skin bristled at that fact, however Axe, despite the need to bring the party in peace, he had to make some things clear, because, he knew Craenia's belief regarding omegas, and he, despite being one, was a Noir, where even with his caste, he was worth the same as anyone, and he wouldn't let such a thing change, just for having crossed the sea.

You're marrying a Féret, I'd say a lot of things are already changing," his she-wolf crooned, Axe preferred to ignore her.

"Seeing the good intentions of you, and the crown towards me and my people, I take the audacity to narrow down a less than certain starting point in the deal," the smile never left her face, and she took the audacity to look the king straight in the eye, also the queen, who remained stoically silent. "I find fault, the fact that they sent a footman to receive me, the prince, and I could really take it as a bad deed to the crown of Asmax," Eric's face held for seconds an insane stiffness to itself. "however, and seeing your apparent goodwill towards me, and my people, I will let it pass, as long as, it does not happen again, my king."

"Of course not,"chuckled the king, the omega wanted to laugh, well, so much for his excessive hospitality, he thought, Igna grunted in approval.

Axe could not identify whether it was anger or something else, the omega's entourage who watched everything with intense scrutiny smiled inwardly, proud that he would not be cowed.

"I am committed to it, you can be sure, prince Axe."

"Just Axe, please, we'll be family soon."he asked with total kindness, mellow and cute, like the perfect omega he wasn't.

Eric looked at him unsure, and felt his alpha stir confused by the omega, however it didn't go from there, his scent revealed itself for a second and he saw Axe's face pucker into a thinly disguised grimace, well, it was something to be expected, however he said nothing, despite everything they were together in whatever resulted from the union of his son and the omega, he needed to keep the waters calm, so he simply nodded.

"Well, with all misunderstanding out of the way, how about we make the formal introductions?," Axe nodded. "My wife, the queen, Karina Violett Féret." she gestured toward the throne area.

Axe looked at the woman, her hair was long, with light slingshots, brown and shiny, her green eyes and serious face didn't leave much to see, however of one thing he was sure, she was an alpha, she smelled subtly of Hortensias, Pine and Caramel, sweet and refreshing but at a low level, as if she was using some tonic or her wolf wanted to hide, the queen nodded towards Axe in greeting, the omega did the same.

"My youngest son, Karel Fabien Féret," the young man bowed and gave a big smile, coffee, «a beta», well, he would definitely never inherit the crown, according to the laws of Craenia, even if his brother was killed. "And lastly, Erwin, please approach the omega prince."

Axe held his breath as this Erwin came down the steps of the throne, sheathed in a whole set of shirts, black pants and boots, his hair, loose, and long to a little above his shoulders, casual and free, with gray eyes, and bushy eyebrows, marked nose and thin lips, his wolf looked extremely interested, just like minutes ago only this time, he wagged his tail and his eyes shone, walking around, as if he was from home and he man in front of him was the prey.

"He is the one who will join you in marriage, Prince Axe."

"It's an honor, omega." Axe squeezed his legs and his she-wolf stuck out her tongue, shit, that voice, it was like warm honey, sweet and exciting.

Erwin took the omega's hand and left a kiss, he's an alpha, his she-wolf emphasized, although the aura, the demeanor screamed it loudly, however, Axe didn't feel a hint of her scent, not at all and out of pride he didn't let his out, forcing his she-wolf to control herself and her cheeks to rise in a smile while maintaining a graceful posture.

"The pleasure is all mine, alpha." corresponded without looking away.

Erwin kept his expression somewhat closed and even coarse, something the omega didn't really care much about, it's not like he was going to be intimidated by something so banal, like an alpha behaving like one.

"I hope to have the pleasure of making for you Craenia a second homeland, prince." The affable tone used almost created a discomfort to Axe, but well, who to end all the farce that apparently the Féret studied very well, so, Axe just nodded and gently withdrew his hand from the prince's.

"Of course, I expect no less from you." they both looked into each other's eyes, as if they wanted to discover something.

"Well, since the introductions are done, why don't you go settle in, you must be tired after spending so many days at sea." proposed the smiling king.

Axe watched him cautiously, looking away from Erwin, Axe looked around and told himself it was for the best, he didn't want to tempt fate on his first day. The Féret were not sheep, and the king had a reputation as a tyrant that preceded him like a ballast, he looked once more at the alpha, there was something strange about her, however the interest was not enough, he nodded towards Eric.

"I would appreciate it very much," he replied politely. "It has been a long journey from Asmax." Eric nodded.

"Abraham will take you and your entire entourage to your new quarters."

"Thank you."

Both Axe and his entourage gave a slight bow, to the omega prince he looked at each of the Féret and turned away following a stiff Abraham who seemed to be running, Noir smiled slightly in amusement, he had never been fond of intimidation, but he was in foreign lands, and while the opinion was not very flattering to his people, it would keep many away and save him from unwanted company, he had enough to deal with, in fact every minute that passed he was more sure that there was something really wrong with everything that surrounded that union, in fact the stoic face of the queen, the curious look of the youngest son, the excessive and feigned kindness of the king, perfectly recognizable it must be said, and the resigned look of Erwin, did not please him, from Axe's perspective, they were ingredients to create a complete disaster.

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Eric massaged his temples hard as he sighed and sat on the throne, he looked tired and how could he not be, the whole situation itself would give him a heart attack at best, he felt old enough already to be dealing with such things, next to him Erwin looked furious even angry, while Karel tried to calm him and Karina, he looked at the woman as pale and undaunted as ever, he clicked his tongue in disgust and remembered that they were doing all this for the damn necessity of the diplomatic agreement, that he just had to wait, that it was necessary, that he would get rewarded in the end.

"That omega has looked at us as if we were scum," grunted Erwin loudly and clearly angry, within himself his wolf stirred, after an arduous internal battle to keep it at bay, the animal let its yellow eyes show, before shaking its furry head and disappearing somewhere. "He will bring trouble, this agreement is not worth everything that could happen if he tries to bring us misfortune."

Kael looked at his brother, with running his hand through his hair, walking back and forth, he was out of his mind, but he didn't know exactly why, seeing Axe he knew two things without even crossing words with him, he wasn't a common omega, well, no one from the Noir monarchy was, at least that's what they said, they had a completely different mentality from them, and he knew that would create problems, still, he didn't think all this circus was necessary, he rolled his eyes at such a fact.

"Even we need from the Noir crown, without him I wouldn't have dealt with Asmax." recalled Eric wearily, it almost seemed to hurt to say every word, Erwin gave his progenitor a look that made him raise an eyebrow in clear questioning, the gray-eyed minor sighed.

"Why him. It could have been his sister." Eric rolled his eyes.

"Erwin, please, I have explained to you a thousand times that we had no choice, Axe is younger than you, Laena is not, our law requires that he or the omega in question, does not exceed in age his alpha, in this case you."

"There are hundreds of kingdoms, thousands of omegas," he shouted low. "You can't give me such a poor excuse, alpha." the silence reigned, heavy, Erwin was angry, very much so, for no concrete reason, there was something, something that had him on the verge of losing his mind, far beyond the agreement, and the marriage.

"Erwin," called Karina in a low voice, slightly dangerous to the alpha's ears, Karel just watched the exchange in silence. "Stop, it is your father and alpha you are talking to, don't forget. "

Eric looked at his wife and then at Erwin this one watched his mother with slight, restrained fierceness, however he preferred to just nod and address Eric bowing his head in respect.

"I'm sorry alpha, I just don't understand, it's been years of enmity."

"I know, I know it very well, your uncle is proof of it," he spoke and Erwin thought him sad. "But Asmax is strong, he will be able to help us, we alone could not against Aspor and very few countries would get into a war that is not theirs, Asmax was threatened just like us, and since we decided not to support in the destruction of the other, we were involved in this war, so patience, we have a lot to lose."

Erwin took a deep breath and after a few moments nodded.

"Fine," he agreed. "But I will make something very clear," he clarified. "I know that the omega prince is raised in a completely different way than us, still, once we get married he will have to take Craenia's customs."

"Do you think that's possible?," asked Karel amused. "They live with their wolves, Erwin, I'd tread carefully if I were you."

"I don't know,"Erwin looked at his father. "But it's a fact I won't accept otherwise."

Eric smiled with a gleam in the gray, old orbs that didn't look human.

"I expect no less from my heir."

Erwin nodded, Karina rolled her eyes and Karel denied, may the goddess help them, or this would not end well.