For the duration of Alaska's heat my father had thrown her into my room until he knew we had successfully mated. I gave myself to her every day for several days. It had been very much the same as the first time. I let my instinct take over and voided out an internal emotion I was feeling of shame or guilt.
My wolf had taken over and had taken his mate repeatedly, pumping as much of my essence into her as I could. I had thought she would surely be with child by now, but she was not. She had hoped to surprise me on our wedding day with the news but instead had found out she was not. An odd part of me had felt relieved that she was not having my young.
Young.
Just the thought of the word has my inner-animal nagging me. He wants to be with Pere, wants to be with his pregnant female, as do I. King Raven is with her now and a part of me hates him for it. I was thankful but I hated that he was able to be there for her, see her full and round with our children.
I growl out in irritation not wanting this day to happen but it must. I need to wed Princess Alaska because the moment I do the crown will be bestowed onto me. This realm will be my own and the laws of the Land Realm and Sky Realm's will change for the betterment of it's mutual heirs.
King Raven and I will have our work cut out for us to try and get the other two realms to agree to any kind of change in our laws. Once they see we are capable of making hybrid children then maybe they will listen. Who knows what else is possible? Maybe all it takes is a king to bed a female of his realm after she has been bedded by another creature.
Thoughts of such course throughout my mind. I wonder if Alaska could get pregnant or if it was just something about Pere that made her different, capable of handling the seed of another creature; my seed. My mind goes back to when we were children. No, not just any creature. I would gather it has to do with Pere herself. She always seemed more of a creature of the land then she was the sky.
"Timber," I turn once I hear Sir Gregory's voice, "it is time." I do not say anything to him as I make my way out of the room and down to the wedding ceremony.
Everyone gets seated and waits for the proceedings to commence. As I look around I notice Lord Heron in the king's place and feel an automatic uneasiness roll through me.
The king had not come because Pere was pregnant and we knew why Pere had not come. Everyone here, all of the creatures of the land, would know she was carrying my young. She would smell heavily of me now. An ache spreads through my chest again at the thought.
My mind conjures images of her. Nothing in me has ever longed for anything so much in this moment but to have Pere be the one to wed me. But that would never happen now. She is back in her realm full and round and pregnant with our young, married to her king.
My young.
I feel a tremor inside of me and make myself repress it. There is music and things start to happen as I stand there waiting for Alaska. I am having a hard time processing everything because something inside of me feels off. Mate. Yes, my mate is walking toward me and yes, we are about to get married. I have to reassure myself seemingly.
But once she is in front of me I give her my sincerest fake smile because something is just off. My insides do not feel right. We go through the motions and the wedding commences. I am all internal feelings, showing nothing outwardly. I feel much like a king as I do so because there is something nagging in the back of my mind.
What is that?
I aimlessly walk Alaska down the aisle after and then move onto the celebration of our union. The crowning ceremony happens where the crowns are bestowed on Alaska and I. We are now the rulers of this realm, no need to wait for consecration since we have already marked and mated.
We dance with everyone afterward but I am only half here and it is as if Alaska can tell. She is eyeing me as I dance with her with an odd looking expression.
"There is something wrong with you. I can sense it." I shake my head at her in disagreement, trying to seem jubilant.
"No, all is well. We have wed, been crowned king and queen, and we have given our realm the hope that it needs." She gives me a sad smile and I would venture to say that it has to do with the fact that she is still not with child. Several cycles and nothing. We do not have—
I pause immediately when I get smacked with a vision, right here on the dance floor. Pere is screaming out painfully on a bed. She is screaming because she is in— Pere is going to go into labor. Pere is going to have our young.
When I blink back to the present I see Alaska standing in front of me worriedly. I feel the happiest smile I have ever smiled take over my face. Then it immediately fades when I think back to Raven's words; his story.
"Timber, what in all of the realms?" She has her hands on me, seemingly to check and see if I am okay. I grab both of them off of me.
"I need you to do something for me." I said in an earnest manner.
"What is it?"
"I need to go somewhere. I need to..." I shake my head not knowing if I can tell her.
"It is our wedding day, my king." She looks hurt so I lean forward and press a kiss against her forehead.
"I know and I am sorry, Alaska, but it is something I have to do." I pull away from her and hold her face in my hands. "Please just cover for me, my queen. I need you to do that. Please do that for me." When she nods I carefully take off in the direction of the forest, making sure no one sees me as I do.
I go deep into the woods and just before I am able to shift I smell someone behind me. "Where are you going?" Sir Gregory asked.
With my back still turned to him I say, "if you were ever my friend, even in the least, you will cover for me for the next day or so. You will help deter my father in any way. There is something very important that I have to do, that I have to be there for."
"And what of Alaska? What should I say to her?" His voice taught.
"I have already told her the need for my absence. She had assured me that she will back me."
"As you wish, my king. Be safe in your travels to the Sky Realm." I turn around and eye him warily.
"Why is that your assumption as to where I am going and what I have to do?" I give him a stern look, probing his trustworthiness with my eyes.
"Where else would you go after you have secured the throne? I know of the conditions of your reentry there. You are off to see their queen, to see Pere."
"Not just their queen." I smirk at him and give him the widest smile, hoping I can share the news with my realm someday.
I turn back around and jog through the forest before my wolf cannot take it any longer and I combust into a shift. I run fast and hard for nearly a day through my realm until I reach the creek. I cross the angry waters easily and even though it is forbidden I do not care, I do not shift back. I run toward their castle fully shifted, not having a single care because I only have one thought in my mind; Pere is giving birth.
Just as I am about to reach the castle two men swoop down and shift back into their human forms. I do the exact same with ease. "Prince Timber?" Both of the men manage to mumble out. "On what grounds do you shift in out realm?"
"King Timber." They both look at me wide-eyed. "As all of the realms know on this day I became king of my realm the moment I was wed. I have urgent business with King Raven, please make haste and tell him that I am here."
"Sire, we realize—"
"Now." The word is a menacing growl of a noise out of my mouth. The men fly away from me automatically and no more than five minutes later does King Raven himself fly down to me.
"How did you know?"
"I had a vision." He shakes his head at me as if he had heard me wrong because creatures of the Land Realm do not have the gift of sight. "I do not know how but I had one."
"Are you insane? It is your wedding day."
"I do not care. Pere is in labor. My chil—" His hand slaps itself over my mouth.
"Bite your tongue." I push him away from me. "It is already bad enough that you are here while she is giving birth, that you came straight from your wedding and crowning to the Sky Realm."
"So she is definitely having them?"
"Yes." There is a twitch of a smile on his lips. "It should not be long now, follow me." He gestures as he walks in a different direction than where he had come from.
I follow him cautiously, searching the skies for spies around us. We eventually make it to a secret back entrance of the castle. We weave through narrow stone corridors quietly until we reach a hidden door. I hear a scream on the other side of the passage that has me pushing past King Raven and running full speed until I make it to the door.
Once I push the heavy thing open I see Pere on a bed, moaning out in pain as she clings to the sheets. "Pere." The word is not more than a whisper not more than much of anything but even through her cries of pain she had heard it.
Her eyes find mine and a look of utter shock takes over her features. "Timber? Is it really you? Are you really here?"
"I am here, my love." I hear an irritated noise come from the king behind me but I do not care. I make my feet move toward a writhing Pere. Once I am close enough I see Lady Wren on the other side of her. "Ah yes, Lady Wren, of course you were trusted enough to be here."
She gives me a roll of the eye. "Ah yes, and you too, you mongrel."
"The two of you are not to argue on this day, do you understand me?" I chuckle and she gives me a death glare. "I am serious, you land beast."
"Beast indeed." I sit next to her on the bed and grab ahold of one of the hands that are gripping the sheets. "Your beast, always." I kiss her hand and then she squeezes mine as another painful cry tears from her lips. She looks like she is in so much agony and I hate that I am partially the source of it.
"Raven!?" The sound of his name as a plea from her stings. "Please, Raven, I need you." He comes over to the other side of the bed and Lady Wren moves to the space between Pere's legs. He sits on the other side of her with a look that radiates pure calm.
"I am here." He grabs ahold of her other hand while pushing her sweaty locks out of her face. "I will always be here." Her eyes sparkle as she holds his and it makes my wolf want to rage out of me. As if he knew my feelings King Raven gives me a pointed look. The look dares me to make her experience any more uncomfortable but I would never.
"They are coming. It is time, Pere." Lady Wren called out. "You are ready to bear down now."
My entire world is focused on Pere, forgetting King Raven's words as she begins to push. She is hollering out, blowing out breaths with every single amount of her effort. She is gripping my hand so hard she may just break the bones. Her face is bright as a tomato as she screams and cries, tears flowing down her face as she continues to push.
"By all of the realms!" Pere screams into the room, struggling to catch her breath. She looks up at the ceiling in exhaustion after a moment. "I do not think I can."
"You can do anything, Pere." I kiss her hand and she looks away from the ceiling at me. "Anything at all." I hold her torment-filled eyes that swirl with determination.
It feels like forever and no time at all before the sound of a cry rings out into the room. My heart stutters and pounds at the sound because I can feel it; it is my child, my heir.
"It is a boy!" Lady Wren calls out to all of us and my pride swells ten times its usual size. "Someone needs to hold him while I deliver the next." King Raven and I look at each other and even though I hate it I tilt my head, letting him be the one to hold our child first.
King Raven grabs ahold of the baby and his eyes fill with an unknown emotion; a mixture of adulation and adoration, maybe. He cradles our son and smiles down with the most caring of faces. I cannot help but study the interaction but Pere's grip on my hand tightens, demanding my attention again.
My gaze finds hers and as she focuses on me she begins to push. Now, even though she looks like she is experiencing pure torment, she has never looked as beautiful as she does in this moment. She is a warrior. She is a queen. She is the love of my life. And with each and every one of those thoughts I feel something inside of me unraveling, breaking.
The moment another cry rings out I feel the need to hold that child with everything in me. "It is another boy!" Lady Wren calls out again and my heart nearly bursts. "Timber, take him." She said to me as she continues to work on Pere some more.
When I grab ahold of the naked baby and put him in my arms I feel tears automatically begin to fall down my face. This is my child, our child. I had made this child with my mate. Mate. Pere is my mate. All of a sudden a string feels like it is pulled out of my chest and cut. Something that has been bound begins to unravel inside of me as I stare down at the small creature.
The little hybrid creature in my arms is covered in blood so I wrap him in cloth and wipe his face and hair. After I do I let out a happy sob when I see his hair is the same shade as mine; tawny and light, not dark like Pere and Raven's. He is mine and the sign of it right there, right atop his tiny head.
"You are so beautiful. You have blessed me so." I feel like the luckiest king in all of the realms, well, one of them. I look back to Pere and her eyes are fluttering happily as she watches me. Our bond begins to reconnect itself, the witches spell falling away with the birth of our children.
"Do you feel it too?"
"By all of the realms..." She is just able to mumble out before her eyes roll into the back of her head and she loses all consciousness.
A/N:
Cliffhanger!
Thoughts?