Pregnant With Alpha’s Genius Twins
Chapter 283

All night long, I can't sleep. Victor can, and I'm grateful for it - I'm up worrying about everything for the both of us, so I don't want him to be as well. It's not necessary for both of us to suffer.

I drift in and out of a half-sleep state, the question Victor asked me a few hours ago gnawing at my mind. What, really, did I want? Could I really ask him to say no to the power that's just sitting there, waiting for him to claim it? Or, if that answer to that is no, can I really be a Queen? What if the answer to both is no?

I sigh as I start to see the dawn light poking through the windows and quietly sit up, taking a moment to watch Victor peacefully breathing in the bed next to me. Then, I head to the bathroom and take a long shower that does nothing to answer any of my questions. Sighing, I step out and towel myself off, frustrated at myself. Usually, I'm someone who has a gut instinct, who knows what the right answer is - or at least, the right answer for me - within my heart, even if logic or general practice is urging me otherwise. With this, though... Damn it, I'm just really confused.

So, I decide to take action.

Not action on the question - just - action. I have to do something or I'll go crazy.

I quickly move to the closet and pull on a set of comfortable, sporty clothes as well as a pair of sneakers. And then, with another glance at my mate - I smirk, the word hottie placing itself neatly in my brain - I sneak out of the door of my bedroom and then down the stairs, moving as softly as I can so I don't wake anyone up.

As much as I love my family, I need to be alone right now.

The living room is empty for once - Rafe and Bridgette went to his place last night instead of staying here - and I grab a sturdy cardigan off of the rack by the back door before slipping outside. A Beta standing guard close to the back door gives me a smile and a nod, which I return before slipping into the woods.

Then, when it's just me and the cool, fresh morning air, a little big of fog blurring the edges of my world, I take a deep breath and let my mind start to wander, as well as my feet. I let my wolf instincts take more control than I usually let them have, navigating through the landscape without bumping into anything. I smile, thinking it's something I used to do as a girl but haven't done in years.

I think, quietly, about what it would mean for my boys to be thrust in the spotlight like this. I mean, they're already the heirs to three packs and have their faces splashed on television. But as, essentially, princes of the realm? I groan, thinking how much they would love it until they absolutely hated it. And for my daughters? Do I want that to be their reality from the very beginning?

I wrap my arms around my stomach and sigh.

I'm surprised, though, when my feet stop crunching on leaves and grass and move, instead, against stone. Blinking, I look around and am surprised to see that I'm at the pool area in the back yard of the big house. I grimace, thinking that I haven't been here in... weeks, and then slowly start to look around.

My first thought is for the boys - that we should really clean this up so that they can use the pool again. Spring and summer are coming after all. But then, as I move around, I wonder if I even...want a pool. It's so dangerous, with four young children and a dog - is it even really responsible?

And then, as I slowly walk around the pool, shuffling my feet in the charred debris of the fire, I consider that...Amelia never, ever thought about that when she designed this house and had it built. That she wanted a pool because she wanted to lay by the pool, not because she was thinking about her future children.

If I were to design a house, would it even have a pool? I mean, the kids enjoy it, but...

And then, slowly, I turn towards the burned wreckage of Victor's big house. The one that Amelia designed for them to live in, and the one he had built for her, and the one she burned to the ground in revenge for his rejection. And I start to...smile. Just a little bit. Because, in getting rid of that house...maybe Amelia actually did me a favor.

Because, if she had never burned it down, I'd be living there now - I know I would. The cottage is just too small for us and I'd have long ago suggested that we move back up here for sheer practicality's sake. But then I'd have been sleeping in Amelia's room, sitting in Amelia's back yard, eating in Amelia's kitchen. The place she designed for herself, to be Luna.

But never, ever to be Queen. Amelia never imagined herself a Queen. She'd have liked the power and attention, yes, but the responsibility?

No. She was the kind of woman who builds pools without thinking very hard about anyone but herself using them.

And then I start to imagine what I could build here, on top of the burnt-out wreckage of the life that Amelia and Victor built with each other. A place that's a home for our children but that also...

I wrap my arms around my stomach and sigh.

I'm surprised, though, when my feet stop crunching on leaves and grass and move, instead, against stone. Blinking, I look around and am surprised to see that I'm at the pool area in the back yard of the big house. I grimace, thinking that I haven't been here in... weeks, and then slowly start to look around. That also takes into consideration the needs of so many more people.

And suddenly, quite suddenly, I know precisely what I want. It leaps into my mind fully-formed, as if it's been waiting my whole life in the back of my mind, growing dusty under an old white sheet, until I came along today and whipped that sheet away to find it sitting there, shiny and new.

Grinning, I turn away from the house and hurry back through the woods, towards the cottage.

As I start to cross the lawn, I see Victor come out of the house, clearly looking for me. He starts to say a few words to the Beta, who gestures out towards the woods, and then his eyes light on me. I see a little worry on his face at first, but then he smiles at me and crosses his arms, standing on the steps of our little house. Waiting for me to come home.

Excited, I start to hurry my pace, rushing across the grass and up the steps, laughing a little.

"Well, hello," Victor says, wrapping me in his arms as I throw myself against him, grinning up at him. "You look like you've been far too busy for five o'clock in the morning."

"I have been," I say, my smile stretching across my face from side to side.

"Doing what?" he asks.

"Making big plans," I say, standing on my tiptoes and pressing a kiss to his mouth. "Um, can I have some money, please?"

"You already have access, Evelyn," he replies, smiling at me. "You don't have to ask."

"I probably do," I say, standing flat on my feet again and looking at him with wide, serious eyes. "I need a lot. Like a whole bunch!"

Victor laughs and turns back to the house, an arm around my shoulder. "Okay," he says as we head for the door. "Let's go make you out a check for 'a whole bunch,' then. Do I get to know what it's for?"

"I want to do it all, Victor," I tell him eagerly. I see a smile start on his face as I continue. "I want you to be the Supreme, I want to be the Luna. I want to help people. And! I'm going to build a castle," I report, looking up at him with bright and shining eyes. He starts to laugh at me but then freezes when he sees that I'm perfectly serious. Laughing, I reach for the door, pulling it open and letting him go in first. "Put on the coffee, mate! We have work to do!"