Arthur slammed the doors to the council chambers shut behind him. Leaning against the doors to try and calm down. He didn't want to be angry around his mate. Closing his eyes, he takes a few deep breaths to calm his racing heart.
Not paying attention to his surroundings, Arthur didn't hear the footsteps that approached him.
"Sir? Are you OK?"
Snapping his eyes open, Arthur looked at the person who spoke to him. His eyes land on Leon. His most loyal knight and friend.
"Hello Leon. I'm doing as well as I can be. I take it that the Beta's are locked away?"
Leon gave a nod.
"Yes Sir. They argued the whole way, but all four of them are in separate cells awaiting trial. But Sir, would you promote me to speak freely?"
"Go ahead Leon. You know that you can always speak to me freely. I have known you my whole life and I trust your knowledge and advice. You can also drop the 'Sir' stuff. No one is around."
"Thank you Arthur. I was on my way to find you and I happened to hear yelling coming from the council chambers. I didn't mean to listen in on the conversation, but what I heard has disturbed me greatly. To hear the king talk such nasty words about your mate has caused my blood to boil. A father should be happy to hear that his only child has found their true mate, but forgive me for saying so, but his views on same sex couples is degrading. It makes me fear what he will do. I fear that he might try something to harm your mate. If you allow me, I would like to be his personal knight. I will be with him when you can not be. Merlin is your mate now. He is considered royalty now. Even if he wasn't, I would still protect him no matter the cause. There are others around that might harm him once they find out who he is and I do not wish to see him unprotected and harmed. Even though I am loyal to the king and Camelot, my loyalty to you is far greater. I will be happy to follow you anywhere."
After Leon stopped talking, he bowed low to show Arthur deep respect.
Arthur was completely shocked. He had no idea Leon was so loyal and willing to protect his mate without being asked to do so. Arthur could feel the loyalty and truth coming off of him. It made Arthur smile with pride. Having such an amazing friend.
"Leon, I would be very honored to have you as my mate's Protective knight guard. If you allow it, I would like to move your chambers into the royal wing. You will get a new title and I'll have your pay increased as well. There are empty chambers right next to mine that are supposed to be for my mate, but I feel they would suit you better. There is a door that connects to my chambers and I will have a servant keep them clean as well. I will talk with the steward about arranging servants to pack up your own chambers and have you move into your new one by end of night."
Leon looked up in shock. Eyes widened by what he had heard.
"Thank you my lord. That is very generous of you. I will be honored to move and serve your mate, but payment is not required. I will do this free of charge, my lord."
"Leon, you are a good person. Thank you. I was just on my way to Gaius's chambers to see how my mate is doing. Please follow me."
Leon nodded. Without another word, Arthur and Leon headed off towards the physician's chambers.
Along the way, they run into a few servant's. Arthur stops to let them know that Sir Leon was moving to the chambers next to his and that his things are to be moved into them. The new chambers would need to be cleaned, new bedding, dusted, and the fireplace cleaned for when winter is near. The servants bowed their heads and scurried off to get the job done.
Just as they continue their walk to Gaius's chambers, Arthur suddenly stops, his eyebrows frown and his hand comes to his chest.
Leon looks at Arthur with concern.
"Sir? Are you OK?"
"I think Merlin is waking up. I don't know how to describe it, but I can feel him. Like I'm being pulled to him. I can feel that he's in pain and he is having anxiety. We need to hurry. I believe he is going to be needing me."
"Right away Sir."
Without another word, Arthur and Leon hurried off to Gaius's.
~Gaius's Chambers~
Merlin started to wake up. His eyes still closed, but he was slowly waking up.
The first thing he noticed was that his arm throbbed badly and the base of his tail hurt. Without opening his eyes, Merlin listened to everything around him. There were people talking. Two female voices and his uncle's. The smell of herbs and spices hits his nose as well as another Alpha that wasn't his Alpha. Panic flared inside Merlin's chest. He was starting to feel dizzy as he tried to get air into his lungs, but all he could do was gasp. Everything was too much and he needed his mate, but he couldn't feel him near.
As he laid there in the grips of a panic attack, he didn't feel himself being moved upwards, or the calming hand that was caressing his head and ears.
"It's OK, my boy. Just breathe. Arthur will be back soon. No one here will hurt you."
Morgana moved towards the window. Knowing that she was probably the reason that caused the poor Omega to panic. Telling Gwen to go and comfort the boy. Hoping that another Omega could calm him down. Her eyes were full of worry as the boy panicked.
"Gaius? Why is he panicking? I've never seen anyone act like this."
Gaius allowed Gwen to try and calm Merlin, while he talked with Morgana.
"Merlin, having found his mate and as you know, they can not be too far from their mates so soon, especially when injured like Merlin is. He's very very scared, in pain and unfortunately has had a very bad life before coming here. I want to wait until Arthur gets here before I tell you all why he is painicing this way, but for now, all I can say is that he is scared of Alpha's. It's nothing you did, but you being an Alpha that he doesn't know, scares him. There is a lot of trauma inside of him and it will take some time before he will get better, but right now in this state, he needs his Alpha. He needs Arthur."
Morgana looked at the boy that was being comforted by her mate. His breathing was still a little abnormal, but he seemed to be a little calmer. Turning her eyes back to Gaius, she stood tall.
"I will go and grab him. If Merlin needs his mate, then I will go get him. I don't want him to be afraid of me. I want him to know that I will never hurt him. I want Gwen to stay here with him, so he can calm down a little more. Do what you can for him, while I go get Arthur."
Giving a nod to her mate, Morgana left the room.
Gaius turned back to Merlin and noticed that the boy's eyes were open. Looking a little calmer, but not by much.
Moving over to his shelf again, Gaius grabbed a green and white bottle, then moved back over to Merlin's bed.
"Merlin? I'm going to give you something to help you calm down and to ease your pain."
Merlin only gave a small nod, before Gaius uncorked the bottles and poured them into his mouth, before handing him a cup of water to drink.
"You really need to make these taste better, otherwise people will need something for nausea. They are so gross."
Gwen gave a small chuckle from the look that Gaius gave.
Soon the tonics started to take effect and Merlin's pain started to calm down and he was feeling a little calmer, but he still wanted his mate there. Looking around, Merlin's eyes landed on Gwen. He knew she was an Omega by the smell, but she was different from his mate. She had dark brown cat ears and tail. The tips are blond.
Gwen looks at Merlin and smiles.
"Hello. My name is Gwen. I'm a servant here at the castle and my mate is Lady Morgana. She's the Alpha that left to give you some space and to fetch the Prince."
Merlin's eyes widened.
"W-w-why would the Prince come here? Did I do something wrong? Am I in trouble? Why is my mate not here?"
Merlin's breathing was coming in gasps and he felt his chest tighten up again.
Gwen's eyes widened.
"Oh! No, no, no, no. You are not in trouble. I'm so sorry. I thought you knew who your mate was. Prince Arthur is your mate. Morgana went to grab him. I'm so sorry for scaring you."
Merlin's eyes went wide. His mate was a Prince! No that's not possible. A peasant like him doesn't get to be mated to royalty. It doesn't make sense. It would cause so much trouble if that were true. For one, the rumors of the king not liking same sex couples, two, anyone with magic will be killed without trial, and third, he was a fox Omega. This complicates things.
Gaius looks at his nephew with concern.
"Merlin? You are going to be just fine. No one will harm you. You are the prince's mate, so therefore no one can harm you. True mates are protected."
Merlin looked up at his uncle. Confusion in his eyes
"That's probably fine with other couples, but a True Mate to the Prince means trouble. It would cause trouble with the king. Everyone knows how he is. I don't want to cause problems for anyone."
Gaius moved to hug Merlin.
"You are never going to be a problem. The king knows that he can't separate you and Arthur. He might try, but he knows that doing so would kill his son and he doesn't want that. Arthur will be back soon, then you two can talk and we will figure out what to do from there. For now, you should rest. Your arm is broken, you have a slight fever from all of the stress and you are severely underweight. I'll have to get you used to the foods that camelot has. The food here is different. Most likely Arthur is going to want to feed you food that he gets from the kitchen, but for now you need bland foods until your body can handle the flavors. I'll write it all down for Arthur."
Merlin just gave him a nod in understanding. Moving to get comfortable, as his body shivered from being cold.
Gwen, seeing the shiver, moved over to the storage room to grab another blanket for him. Just as she put the blanket on Merlin, the doors to Gaius's chambers opened and in walked Arthur, Morgana and Leon.