Pregnant Runaway Mate of the Alpha Prince, page 29
part #37 of Forbidden Alpha Kings Series
I pulled Ella tighter against my front, and she shivered as I leaned down to press my lips against her bond mark. Now that we were free to be open, I knew that I was never going to get tired of touching her. It was just going to be something that she was going to have to get used to.
The guard that had brought the crown over seemed a little confused, but there was a spark of excitement in his eyes as he straightened up, and then turned on his heel to carry it away.
When I looked around the room, I saw similar excitement everywhere I looked. The prospect of a new regime was ramping everyone up, and Ella shifted in my arms, looking over her shoulder up at me.
“Are you still going to be king, then?” she asked, her lips curving up in a teasing smile.
I snorted, and dropped a kiss to her mouth. “We can think about the titles later.”
I released her and took her hand again, and then I turned on my heel and walked up to the throne. I took a moment to drag in a deep breath before I sat firmly in the seat, and then pulled Ella over so that she was planted firmly in my lap. I wrapped my arms on her hips, and she slid her arm around my shoulders, clinging to me as the two of us settled at the seat of power in the room.
There was a moment of silence as we sat there, and then one of the soldiers grinned, and tipped his head back to howl.
More claps, and then more followed suit, howling toward the ceiling, and suddenly, every shifter in the room was howling their approval and loyalty to me. Their King.
And Ella, as their Queen. I knew immediately that they were all offering their submission and loyalty to her as well, just as she deserved.
I leaned close and pressed my lips against her ear, speaking only to her under the crescendo of the howls. “I love you. This is all for us.”
She shivered, and turned to capture my lips in a sweet kiss that made warmth pool, low in my belly.
“I love you too,” she said softly. She pulled back, her eyes gleaming at me, and she took one of my hands to place it on her belly, and she nodded. “All for us.”
I grinned, and my heart was so, so light.
It was the dawn of a new day.
Epilogue
Ella
One Year Later
“Baby, are you almost ready?”
I looked up from my position in my favorite armchair, and I pouted at Harris as he walked into the room, the suit that he wore making him look too fucking good. God, he was fucking perfect.
“Sorry,” I said, looking down at Willa, who was eating like a champ where she was latched on to my nipple. “She decided she was hungry.”
Harris laughed softly and walked up, putting his hand gently on the top of our baby’s head, stroking over her downy hair. “Is that right, little Princess?” he cooed softly.
The change of tone was so drastic that it made me giggle, and Harris shot me a fond look before he leaned down and pressed a sweet kiss to my lips, claiming me for a moment and making my head spin.
After Harris had kicked his parents out of the palace and formally taken over the region, things had moved almost blindingly quickly. His idea to dissolve the monarchy had been met with literal thunderous applause, and it hadn’t been long before a council had been formed and voted on by the people of the city, giving them a representative voice that would speak up for everyone, not just the powerful and wealthy.
I’d pulled Harris aside and told him that Hazel should be on the council as well, as a representative from the former monarchy. She was the only reason that we were together, after all. If she hadn’t told me that I had to go to the party that night...
Every time I thought about it, I got a little emotional. Especially knowing now that my mother was alive, and all the lies that Vivian had told me while she was married to my father...
I shook my head at the thought, dismissing it. Nobody had heard from Vivian since I had dismissed her during our last confrontation, not even Michaela or Zara. Neither of them seemed especially put out by the fact that their mother had gone missing, and a few months after, Zara had gone off and gotten married to some foreign dignitary and had disappeared from all our lives altogether.
Good riddance.
Willa made a soft sound, and I smiled down at her as I mused.
My pregnancy had gone off without a hitch, and I’d had more people to help support me than I knew what to do with after Harris’ little stunt, going public with the baby. My mother had even come into town for the last few months to help, though I could tell that she was twitchy about it all, constantly looking over her shoulder as if she were expecting someone to follow her.
I thought her paranoia was a little much, but couldn’t blame her for it after the way that she had lived for so long. One of the first suggestions that Harris had made to the council after it was formed was the formal legalization of wolf communities outside the range of cities, and the motion had passed with flying colors. My mother had been thrilled to hear that the existence of her little found family was no longer a cause for any of them to be locked up, and she and I had set up regular visits, switching back and forth between who visited who.
Especially now that the baby was here. My mother... I might not have known what she would have been like as an actual mother, but she was a wonderful grandmother, and I went out of my way to make sure that she felt involved and included in our lives.
I hummed softly to myself as Willa’s lips finally slacked on my nipple, and I gently pulled her off before walking over and laying her tiny little bundled figure down in the bassinet. I put my dress to rights again, and then smiled at Hazel when she appeared in the doorway of the nursery.
“Go on,” she said softly, her eyes gleaming softly as she looked at me. “I’ll watch her. And be sure to be back before the stroke of three.”
She winked at me, and I laughed at the callback to the advice that she’d given me so many months ago.
I shook my head and brushed a kiss against her cheek as I exited the room. “I was never very good at following directions.”
I winked and then turned on my heel to make my way to the foyer of the palace, where Harris was waiting for me, talking to Buck and one other guard.
The monarchy might be formally dissolved, but Harris was still an important representative in the city, and on the council. All of the guards that he had trained while he was still a prince had chosen to stay with him, and they’d all accepted me into the family with warm and open arms.
Harris turned to look at me, and the others followed suit. He smiled, and his eyes slid down the front of my body warmly as he let out a low whistle, as if he hadn’t already seen me all dressed up. “You look amazing, baby.”
I smiled, glancing down at myself. The dark green dress that I wore was a replica of the one that Beth had made me for that first ball, and it looked just as amazing now as it had back then. It felt only fitting to wear it tonight, the night that Harris was getting recognized for the work that he’d done to turn the city around and bring the politics out of the dark ages.
It wasn’t perfect, but the efforts that Harris had put into the council and pushing new laws that led to meaningful reform... well, people were taking notice. And he deserved the recognition for everything that he did.
It was a different kind of recognition than he’d gotten for that first ball, but it still felt like a full circle moment, and standing next to him now, I knew that I’d been right.
I leaned up and brushed my lips against his, and then nodded at Buck and the other guard as Harris and I started to walk away. “Are you excited?” I asked quietly, the night air warm as we stepped out of the palace.
He nodded, his grip around my waist warm and tight as he steered me toward the car. “As long as you’re with me, always.”
I giggled at the cheesy line, though I knew that he meant every word of it. Harris was almost painfully romantic, and now that I let him, he spent every spare moment reminding me of how much he loved me, everything that he wanted to do for me, all the ways that he would take care of me now, and in the years to come.
It was overwhelming in the best way, and I loved every single minute of it.
I hummed softly, then nodded when Harris opened the door for me. “I want to be back before midnight, okay?” I asked, gathering my skirts so that I could slide into the passenger side seat. “We’re having a sale at the bakery tomorrow and I want to be there for the prep work.”
Harris rolled his eyes, though he looked at me indulgently. “You hired staff for all of that, baby. You could take a day off, you know.”
I smiled and shook my head.
Once we’d known that the will that granted everything of my father’s to Vivian was fake, it had been easy enough to take back everything that should have been mine in the first place. The bakery hadn’t been destroyed when the dust had settled after the transition, merely abandoned, and it hadn’t taken much to get it up and running again.
It was my pride and joy. It had been my father’s pride and joy, and every day that I went to work there, I got to feel his presence and know that he would have loved everything that I was doing.
He would have loved Harris, I felt that particular truth with every fiber of my being.
“Okay,” Harris agreed, leaning forward to brush his lips against my forehead in a sweet kiss. “Midnight. Promise.”
He winked at me and closed the door, and closed my eyes as he walked around to the driver’s side and climbed in.
I’d never imagined that my life could be so perfect. There were still days that it didn’t feel real.
But if this was a dream? If this wasn’t real?
I never wanted to come back to reality again.
THE END
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Lira Flux, Pregnant Runaway Mate of the Alpha Prince
