*Maddox*
“I understand the significance, Alpha, but I don’t think now is the best time to make the announcement.”
Seth is sitting across from me in my office, helping me decide whether or not we should let the other Alphas know about the baby. Now that I’ve seen his tiny, wiggly body for myself, seen that he appears to be healthy, and even heard his heartbeat, I feel more confident that Isla will proceed through the rest of her pregnancy without problems, and we will have a son soon enough. It seems like it’s time to let the other Alphas know the situation, to proclaim Isla “the winner” of this ridiculous contest, and then start preparing the castle for the arrival of the next Alpha King.
Seth disagrees with this idea. He is about to tell me why, and this had better be good.
“Why not?” I scrutinize him, my hands folded on my desk, wondering what his reasoning could possibly be.
“The other Alphas have been complaining all along that their daughters aren’t getting to spend any time with you. I think it would be better if you at least gave some of the other girls a chance, in their own minds, to win your hand before you go and announce that Isla has won. The women are reporting back to the Alphas, and having them all angry goes against what we were trying to do in the first place.”
“That’s… stupid.” It’s all I can say. “I mean, what difference does it make whether they feel like I’m not giving them a chance now or they feel like this was all staged later when they find out how far along Isla is? They will be pissed either way. At least this way I get it over with earlier, and they won’t be able to be publicly angered at me when I have done exactly what I was meant to do, provide an heir.”
“You said the baby was measuring small, didn’t you?” Seth asks, crossing one ankle over the opposite knee.
I stare at him for a moment before I say, “Yeah. So?”
“So… they might believe that your son is premature. We could sell it that Isla became pregnant during the contest,” Seth says with a shrug.
“What? No!” Immediately, I want to disagree with this plan. “Why would we need to go to those ends? And what if he actually ends up being premature? Then what do we do? Say he was born at four months old or something stupid like that? Don’t be ridiculous, Seth. We’ve been jerking these people around long enough, and it’s time to just go ahead and rip the bandage off and be done with it."
“I understand what you’re saying, sir, but I think we need to be cautious about this. We can’t just go making such grand announcements that have such huge ramifications without considering what the consequences will be for everyone. What if all of those Alphas who have sent their daughters here decide to band together against us now? What will we do?”
“That could’ve already happened,” I remind him. “Surely, the fact that I have fulfilled my duties will be enough for the vast majority of these Alphas to accept the current situation and stop trying to fuck with things! If I have such poor control over my kingdom that they are willing and able to rise up against me at any moment, then perhaps I shouldn’t be the Alpha King after all! I have done exactly as I am required to do, create an heir, and that means they must back off and just leave me be!”
“So you want to make the announcement—when? Right now? This weekend?” Seth seems exasperated. He’s always been overly cautious, a trait I do appreciate most of the time, but right now, I just wish he’d agree with me that I’ve found the best course of action.
“I was thinking we could wait a couple of weeks until the autumn solstice celebration,” I explain. I would go ahead and let myself be seen with Isla even more than I already have so that people can begin to understand that she is more than just a breeder to me, and then, when I announce that she is not only carrying my child, but that she is the only woman I want by my side, then we can send the other girls home, and this farce will all be over with.”
“And then, what? You’ll announce that Isla will be the next Luna Queen?” Seth challenges me.
I narrow my eyes. “I didn’t say that, now did I?” I remind him.
He shakes his head slowly. “The point of this contest was to find the next Luna Queen. How can Isla win the contest but not win the position?”
“Because I’m the Alpha King, and I get to decide!” I bellow at him. “Just because Isla is having my baby, that doesn’t mean I think she’s fit to be the Luna Queen. I haven’t decided suddenly that I need a new Luna Queen. When did I ever tell you I intended to change that?”
Seth stares at me unblinking for several seconds. “You may not have said it to me, exactly, but you did to the Alphas. When you decided to enter into this contest. You do realize that if you don’t make Isla—or someone—the Luna Queen at this point, they are going to be angry, right?”
“You just told me that they were going to be angry anyway, so what the hell difference does it make?” I shout at him. “I guess we just need to increase the number of warriors we have in the direct service of the crown.”
“And to do that, we will have to pay significantly more, so where in the world would we get the money for that? We’re not broke, but we don’t exactly have money sitting around not already designated for other purposes.” Seth is always the voice of reason, and sometimes it is very irritating.
“I have no idea where we will get the money for it,” I admit. “But I think it’s worth looking into. Maybe we can sell some of these ghastly works of art.”
“And then the other Alphas and other kingdoms will say we are poor or weak. We can’t do that. You can’t just go selling off the national treasure.” Seth rolls his eyes at me and folds his arms across his chest.
I will have to study the accounting ledgers to see what I can do, but I’m not just going to declare Isla is my queen because the other Alphas think I should.
“You know… we could… find the resources elsewhere,” Seth says as he scratches the back of his head, not even looking at me as he speaks. “That’s an option now, don’t you think?”
“What in the world are you talking about, Seth?” I ask him.
He lets out a loud sigh. “Come on. I think you know, don’t you?”
Shaking my head, I wonder if I’m just too distracted to be capable of comprehending or if he is talking in riddles. “No, I don’t know what you’re talking about, Seth.”
He leans forward in his chair, his voice just a whisper. “You know… the… treasure?”
“Treasure?” At first, I have no idea what he’s talking about, but then, I realize what he’s referring to. “Absolutely not!”
“I know it’s an unorthodox idea, but with Isla—” Seth begins.
“No!” I shout at him. “We’re not even thinking about doing that, Seth. No good could possibly come of it. I don’t want to hear about this again, do you understand me?”
I can tell he’s angry and wants to keep discussing it because he thinks I’m wrong, but I don’t care. The suggestion he’s just made is the worst one I’ve ever heard in my life, and I don’t want to even think about it, let alone consider following through with it.
“Yes, Alpha,” he says, dryly. “Is there anything else?”
“Just get me the reports we discussed earlier,” I tell him.
“Of course, Alpha.” Seth stands, gives me a forced sign of respect, and then heads out the door.
Once he’s gone, I let out a deep breath. Sometimes, he has great ideas and suggestions, ones I would have never thought of on my own. Other times, I have to wonder what in the world has gotten into him. He doesn’t sound anything at all like the man I have known for all of these years, and all of his ideas make me wish I didn’t even know him, let alone make him my Beta.
I look down at the notes I wrote down earlier regarding the pregnancy. I wanted to make sure I had everything on paper in case I have questions later from Mystica.
I disagree with Seth’s advice to hold this information back. Finding out I’m having a healthy son seems like the solution to a huge problem to me, and I’m glad to know that I have done exactly what the law requires me to do—provide an heir. The fact that it’s a male is a bonus.
And then there’s just the fact that I am going to be a father. Rebecca and I had discussed having children for years. She hadn’t been ready to start trying yet because it would mean giving up the drugs. I had plenty of time back then before I had to start thinking about the fact that I needed an heir.
Then, with her death, everything had gotten muddied. I’d still felt the pressure of having an heir, which increased every year, but I wasn’t as interested in the idea. I’d wanted to have a child with the woman I loved, and I figured that was out of the question because the woman I loved was gone.
Now, I loved another woman, and she was going to be the mother of my child. I couldn’t be happier about that. We would make a happy little family. Together. Forever.
I couldn’t do anything to mess that up and anger the Alphas, so maybe Seth was right and I should give it some time. But this should satisfy the majority of them.
In the back of my mind, a soft voice I rarely heard said, “You should talk to Isla about this.” How long had it been since my conscience had weighed in on a situation? How long had it been since I considered asking someone other than Seth their opinion about what I should or shouldn’t do?
Probably since Rebecca died.
It seemed like a good idea, to ask Isla. Perhaps I would do that later.
I was looking forward to seeing her later, and celebrating the health of our baby boy.
For now, I had matters to attend to. Even on a celebratory day like this, an Alpha’s work was never done.