*Isla*
Six months earlier…
I am two months pregnant, and I can tell when I look at my reflection in the full-length mirror.
Poppy says I’m glowing. I’m not sure about that, but I think my hair looks a little thicker, and maybe my eyes are a little shinier. I swear my nose is beginning to change shape.
And then there’s my abdomen. It’s not noticeable to anyone else, I don’t believe, but I can see a slight change. It’s kind of like when I’ve eaten too much, or I’m bloated. I smooth down the front of the sequined red dress I’m wearing and stare at it for a long moment. Yes, I can definitely see a change.
I haven’t gained any weight yet. Mystica says that’s typical since I’ve been having a bit of morning sickness. Anything I eat or drink tends to come right back up. She gave me some medicine, and that helps, but I am leery of taking anything since I don’t know how the baby might be affected by the poison I was given when I was just barely pregnant with him.
Satisfied that I look good, I take a deep breath and head across the room to sit in the chair by the window and wait. Maddox should be here any time.
He’s been away a lot recently. With everything going on with Zabrina’s mother, as well as the other packs that are threatening to rise up against Maddox because Zabrina somehow tricked their Alphas or their Alpha’s sons into thinking she was their fated mate, he has a lot of negotiating and peace talks to make.
The last thing he wants right now is a full-fledged war. But everyone knows it may be impossible to avoid. It seems that even when he is here, he’s with Seth, in what they’ve dubbed the war room, which is next to his office. They always have their heads together in there, bending over a table laden with maps, talking about what they should do next, who to talk to, who they can trust, who they can’t, where to gather troops from, where to amass them. It’s exhausting for me just thinking about it, and I don’t know the half of what’s going on with them.
He’s been gone for a few days, and I miss him terribly. I wish that he was here now, but I will wait patiently. He’s planning to take me to dinner and then to the ballroom for our own private dancing session. I still remember dancing with him at dinner that first time. It was so romantic. That was the first time that I knew I wanted to be with him no matter what.
I take a deep breath and focus my eyes out the window. I’m looking in the direction of my parents’ pack. My father is the newly appointed Alpha. Maddox insisted when he realized who he really was that he take over Willow pack. Dad had said he didn’t really want to be a leader anymore, but Maddox said he was the most qualified. I know that Dad was afraid that someone from Maatua will hear about where he is and come after him, not to cause any harm but with questions, questions neither of my parents can answer or want to try to answer….
I have a million of those types of questions myself. But no matter how I beg them to tell me more about what life was like for them there, they refuse. I think they are under the impression that I will somehow fall in love with the idea of Maatua and want to go there even more than I already do. In all honesty, though, my wanting to go there has nothing to do with curiosity.
I just want to make sure my baby is safe.
And Maddox says that’s ridiculous and will put both the baby and me in even more danger than if I just have him here and use my own tears or blood to save him if something is wrong. Since we’ve discovered what I can do, Mystica has been drawing small amounts of my blood and administering them to sick people in the infirmary. They get better quickly, depending upon how much they are given.
I know my blood and tears have magical qualities, but I’m not convinced it will be enough to save my son. I want to be near the same source of water that brought me back to life when he is born, just in case.
I put my hands on my abdomen, protectively, something I do frequently. No one has confirmed to me yet that he’s a boy. Mystica says I can’t know for sure for a few more weeks, and then she’ll confirm it through ultrasound. But I already know. He may have only been with me for a few weeks, but we are already bonded completely. I feel like I know this little boy as well as I know myself. The thought of losing him, of anything ever happening to him, makes my heart ache.
But I also don’t want to do anything to upset the Alpha King. If he says I can’t go to Maatua, I’ll just have to figure out another way to keep my son safe. Mystica and I have been doing some research about it, but it’s hard because no one else has the same history as I do. At least, if they do… they haven’t written it down and put it in a book, not one that we can access anyway.
My thoughts are interrupted by the sound of the door opening slowly. I suck in a deep breath and practically leap to my feet as Maddox sticks his head in. His weary look gives way to a smile, and I grin back at him.
I am concerned, though. He looks utterly exhausted. He’s wearing a white button-down shirt and black slacks, not the suit I expected him to be in when he arrived. The shirt is undone about halfway, and it's wrinkly. He hasn’t shaven, which makes him look even more ruggedly sexy than usual, but it’s not like him, and I know that something is going on.
Immediately, I go to him, lifting a hand to his cheek as his arms go around my waist, pulling me close to him. “Is everything all right?” I ask, bracing for news that we’ve gone to war.
“Yes, yes, everything is fine, baby,” he says, nuzzling against my ear. “I’m just tired.”
I think back to how he couldn’t sleep before he met me, after his wife, Rebecca died. He had a terrible time of it. He’d told me all about it. But then… when I came to live in the castle, he was able to sleep as long as we were together.
I imagine him being away from me while he’s been out on these trips to distant pack lands has made it nearly impossible for him to sleep. I pull him closer to me, and his head rests on my shoulder as his hands slip down to my bottom and squeeze, making my thoughts go fuzzy for a moment.
When his lips sink into my neck, I have lost all thoughts about going to dinner. I’m not hungry for food anyway. The only thing I’m hungry for is this man.
Maddox raises his face and looks into my eyes. I bit down on my bottom lip, and a crooked smile takes over his face. “What do you say we skip dinner for now? I can have someone bring us something later.”
I respond without words by pressing my mouth to his.
That is all the answer he needs….
He lifts me and carries me to the bed, tossing me down and hopping on top of me. We shed our clothing quickly, and he accidentally tears my dress slightly when the zipper gets caught. It’s new, and I’d never worn it before, but I don’t even care. The only thing that slows him down slightly are the buckles on my shoes.
Once he has me fully stripped, I spread my legs for him, welcoming him in. It hasn’t been all that long since we made love, but it seems like an eternity.
His kisses are warm as they coat my neck and shoulder. He moves down to my breast, taking a nipple between his teeth and sucking as I feel his tip at my entrance. I lift my hips in anticipation of him entering me, but Maddox has always enjoyed teasing me, and it’s no different now.
His tongue lashes out and thrums against the sensitive skin of my hardened peak. I tip my head back and moan a little which only encourages him. He switches and takes my other breast into his mouth. I run my fingernails up and down his back as he continues to drive me wild.
“Please, Maddox,” I say, hearing the whining in my own whisper. “Please.”
He lifts his eyes, still sucking on my nipple, his eyes wide and innocent as if he doesn’t know what I want. I buck my hips again, and he smiles at me before lifting his head, grabbing me by the hips, and pulling me toward him. I laugh, but a moment later, he’s plunged deep within me, and my laughter is erased by a loud exhale. Pleasure ripples through my core, and I tighten my muscles around his hardened shaft as we begin to move together.
He drops his head again, his forehead resting on my shoulder, and I can tell he’s concentrating on the way my body feels wrapped around his. The pace is steady as he thrusts all the way in each time, grinding against me. Every time he makes contact with my swollen clit, I cry out in ecstasy. I want him to go faster so that he can send me tumbling over the edge more quickly, but I know that he is taking his time so that I can enjoy it longer.
When he picks up speed, though, my cries become more desperate and hardly recognizable to my own ear. I am panting, lifting myself up off the bed, my fingers splaying across the bedding, looking for any sort of grip to keep me from falling.
I fall anyway, teetering right over the edge and losing my grip on reality as my body goes into spasm, pulsing with his every penetrating blow.
A few moments later, Maddox joins me, his warm seed bursting out of him with several guttural groans.
He collapses on me, gasping for air as I hold him close, wrapping my knees around his hips and running my fingers through his sweaty hair.
In this moment, I never, ever want to let him go. It is just him and me in this world, and nothing else matters. Not the war, or the island, or our families, or our history. Only Maddox and me—and our tiny baby.
If only it can stay that way….
Something tells me it will not.