Rogue Warriors of Lorr
Stolen by the Alien Prince Epilogue

Afew months later...

Shoving her hangers back in her closet, Gianna was starting to get upset at the lack of outfits she had left to wear.

Normally she wasn't so picky about her wardrobe, coming to favor lounging in sweats over wanting to throw on something complicated as her go-to, but tonight Kozien was taking her out to dinner.

She'd been wanting to dress up for the dinner since he mentioned it. A night on the terrace overlooking the beach sounded divine after being cooped up so long inside of their home, but going through her things, she was slowly coming to the realization that nothing was going to fit. She put a hand over her round, swollen belly, feeling a small kick against it.

"I know. I know." She spoke softly. "I'm not trying to stress, but your dad definitely picked something fancy so I need to dress up."

She curved her hand down toward her pelvis, feeling the side of her stomach bulge slightly when her daughter moved.

"You're just as active as your dad."

"Is that an insult?" a voice came from behind her.

She turned, frowning at him.

Kozien's eyes glazed over the state of their bedroom, where clothes had been flung all over the floor as shed torn through their closet. She'd tossed out things that she knew were definitely not going to fit her this late into her pregnancy. Everything else left over was stuff that she usually lounged around the house in.

"Wow." He stepped around the piles, coming over to her. "Hard time choosing?"

Tears stung the corners of her eyes. She had no idea why the thought of not being able to wear something nice for their dinner was making her feel like bursting into tears, but here she was, an hour deep into her search and she'd still turned up with nothing. Kozien's eyes softened. "My love." His hands cupped around her face, gently caressing her cheeks with his thumbs. "It was only a joke."

"I know." She sniffled. "I can't find anything to wear."

"For what, love?"

She swallows, her vision blurring. "Our dinner."

He chuckled softly, brushing away the tears that fell from her eyes. "It doesn't matter what you wear. You will be beautiful regardless."

She wanted that statement to make her feel better, but all it did was make her spiral into a state of despan. Tears started pouring down her cheeks, her throat tightening as the rising need to sob overwhelmed her.

She hated that the things were tearing her down recently.

While she enjoyed being pregnant and carrying her and Kozien's child, she really didn't like how wacky her hormones had been. She had no idea if this was normal or if it was because she was carrying a Lorrian prince's offspring. But either way, it was f*****g annoying.

Kozien pulled her against his chest, wrapping his arms tightly around her and rocking her gently. He whispered softly into her ear, rubbing her back as she let herself cry.

Maybe she needed the release. The stress from her body changing was overwhelming, even if she didn't feel like she was driving herself crazy with her hormones.

She melted into Kozien, letting him lead her through her mess and over to their bed where he pulled her into his lap. Gianna rested her cheek against his shoulder, breathing in his cedar scent and letting it calm her slowly.

As her body eased, she felt their daughter flutter inside of her stomach.

Gianna reached out and grabbed one of Kozien's hands, placing it over her belly. "Your daughter has something to tell you."

He laughed. "She's telling me she doesn't like that her mother is so upset."

Gianna smiled, rubbing her hand over his. "Maybe she shouldn't grow so much so quickly."

"Mmm, that is the nature of us Lorrian warriors."

"I knew it." She turned, pressing her nose into Kozien's neck.

"Cosime, she's caught us."

Gianna grinned. "Nice one trying to sneak that name idea in there like that."

Kozien snorted, kissing her head. "We will have to settle on a name eventually."

Gianna hummed. "Eventually."

Choosing a name had been their biggest contention lately. Neither of them could decide on anything that they both liked, creating a stalemate in the baby naming process.

"I told you. We'll have to wait till she's born. That's how my mother named both me and Gabe."

Kozien cupped her face, tilting her head up. "I'm impatient."

She tapped his nose. "I know. And you're being so good waiting until she's born."

Crinkles formed at the corner of his eyes. "You are a tricky one. You know that?"

She grinned. "Yeah, I know."

"There's that smile that I love."

Gianna couldn't help but laugh, her mood feeling much more improved the longer she sat here cuddled up in her mate's arms. He really was the only one who knew how to cheer her up and pull her out of her bouts of despair, no matter what the cause was. She had no idea how he did it, but it was kind of fucking magical.

"Let me buy you a dress, Gianna. Something that you can wear tonight for dinner."

That made her perk up. "Really?"

Kozien nodded. "Of course. You deserve to feel beautiful. Tomorrow morning we can get up a little early and go shopping for a new wardrobe. One that you'll feel comfortable in while you're still pregnant."

She smiled at him, her chest filling with warmth and love. "Thank you. I'd really like that."

Kozien tucked Gianna down for a nap, letting her body rest while she recuperated from her stressful closet purge.

Kozien quietly tiptoed out of their bedroom, pulling the door slightly closed so that any movement or noise he made when coming back in from shopping wouldn't disturb her. He wanted her to sleep as much as possible.

This part of the pregnancy for Lorr warriors was always the most taxing-at least, according to his mother.

Heading down the hallway, he grabbed his comms and his wallet off of the kitchen island, securing both of them onto his person before heading out the door. He was halfway down the stairs leading down to the village when his comms alerted him of an incoming call.

He tapped the wristband, recognizing the signal.

"Yes, Grux?"

The other end was nothing but static. It made Kozien raise his brow and tap his wristband a few times.

"Grux."

He heard some rustling before his brother's voice came on.

"Kozien." His voice seemed far away for some reason.

"Yes, what do you need?"

"You need to come back to the city."

He snorted. "I can't."

"That wasn't a request, brother. I need you."

He sighed. Sometimes his brothers could be overly needy, even about the little things-issues-that he knew they were more than capable of solving for themselves. He didn't know why they were always so quick to call him as soon as a small inconvenience rolled in. What were they going to do once Gianna was in labor and he was unreachable?

"I can't do that, Grux. I need to be here taking care of Gianna. You know that being this far along in a Lorr pregnancy can cause major complications."

Grux let out a frustrated noise, his comms becoming staticky once more.

Kozien shook his head. "Where are you? Are you in the city?"

"No." His voice was garbled for a few seconds. "-had to come to Xogoli."

Kozien raised a brow. "Xogoli? What are you doing all the way over there?"

That province was halfway across Noxxa. And far, far out of their normal jurisdiction. They usually only took cases close by. No wonder his brother was barely getting his signal through. That place was practically primitive. "It's... complicated."

Kozien rolled his eyes. Of course, it was. It always was when it came to Grux and his problems he couldn't solve himself, requiring his oldest brother to come solve them for him.

"Look, whatever you are dealing with, I have full confidence that you are capable of solving it for yourself. You don't need me to bail you out. I know you can handle it."

"Koz-" More static. "-fucking desperate here."

He sighed. "Why don't you call Trigg to help you?"

"He's back in the city."

"Call him and have him meet you in Xogoli."

"-into this mess!"

Kozien tapped his comms again. "What?"

The static became louder and more garbled, most likely from Grux yelling into his comms. He waited until the signal cleared up again to speak.

"I have full confidence in you, brother. Call Trigg if you need help. I need to focus on my mate and make sure she's comfortable until she gives birth. I'll let you know when she's going into labor before I deafen my comms. All right?"

He waited for a response, staring down at his comms while the line remained silent. Kozien tapped the wristband, seeing that the signal was still connected.

"Grux?"

"-heard you. Fine. Whatever you say, brother."

Without another word, Grux ended their call. It made Kozien sigh to himself. He hated that his brothers-Grux especially-were able to make him feel guilty over the smallest things.

But what he'd told him was true. He needed to focus on Gianna. Even without her hormones causing her to be miserable, he still wanted to be there to support her. As her mate, it was his job to make sure she was happy and comfortable at all times.

It was something he prided himself on doing and would make sure that it happened at all costs. Even if that meant brushing off his brothers' issues for a while.

They were grown adults and needed to start acting like it. They both needed to stop leaning on him as a crutch and relying on the fact that he would usually come and bail them out of their predicaments.

Now they were going to be forced to fend for themselves, to which Kozien couldn't say he felt guilty about. It was simply the nature of things and was long overdue.

Heading down the remaining steps into the village, Kozien breathed in the salty sea air and let himself come down from the worrying.

He was sure in a week's time, his brother would be calling him up to laugh at the hilarious blunder he'd gotten himself into. He'd recount all of the details as he tried to solve the issue and ultimately succeeded at it.

It would be a nice conversation to follow up from the one they'd just had. Maybe it would even give Grux enough confidence to slowly start unwinding his need to call his brother for help all of the time and build some independence. Kozien smiled to himself.

He couldn't wait for that next phone call.