The Broken Wolf
Chapter 91

He takes my hand in his and leads me to the dining room… our dining room. Anna walks in behind us and bows as we sit, and places two salads before us and water.

“Thank you,” I tell her and she smiles, a little unsure, but she seems much more relaxed than this morning. She turns and leaves us and we eat, just enjoying being with each other.

“I’m sorry, but I have to go down to the Royal Office for a bit,” he says, clearly waiting for my reaction.

“Is that not the one down the hall?” I ask, confused as to why he’s so unsure of this.

He shakes his head at me. “No, that’s my personal office. This is the actual office, the real one. Dad has his own office on their floor, but this is the one that visitors may enter and where meetings take place. I have to have a video conference with the Alphas I told you about.”

“This seems like a lot of offices,” I tell him with a small giggle and he relaxes a bit.

He smiles at me. “Once you start your actual duties, you’ll appreciate the office that no one is allowed in. I can’t think when I’m trying to work downstairs because of the noise, between the phones and visitors.”

“I think I’ll just have a bunch of kids, one after the other, and avoid any actual royal work for as long as possible,” I joke with him and he smiles.

“Birthing and raising the heir to the throne IS actual, royal work,” he says with a chuckle. “I’m sure your mom had her hands full trying to deal with Rob and his Alpha attitude. You’re going to have the prince.”

“You turned out alright,” I say to him. “Though I guess you ARE afraid of your mother.”

“As any good male wolf should be,” he says with a smile. “The bigger the wolf, the bigger the a*****e we are,” he finishes with a shrug. “I’m sure that’s why the goddess mated you to me. So compassionate and understanding, but unafraid. You’ll be the best mother, and raise the best future king. I’ve got to get downstairs now.”

“Can I come with you?” I ask him, not really sure how he’s going to feel about that.

To my surprise though, he smiles at me. “I’d love that, if you feel alright. I didn’t want you to feel like you had to and push yourself.”

“I feel fine, really,” I tell him and stand, taking his hand. “I swear, Lily was right about that tea and I took a nap after we.. uhh, well…”

“After we made love and you marked me,” he says with a small chuckle, wrapping his arms around me and pulling me in for a k**s. “You know the whole kingdom felt that, right? They know their prince was marked. There wasn’t a ceremony, so they know it was in a… private session.”

I blush furiously and he laughs a little at my reaction. “I love you, Molly. People will be as excited as I am.”

We head to the door, hand in hand, but I stop. “Umm, I think I changed my mind.” I tell him and he turns to look at me, concern evident on his face.

“Molly, people WILL be excited,” he says, squeezing my hand.

“It’s not that, I, umm…” I look down at my feet. “I didn’t tell my mom. They felt when I marked you, and I didn’t even tell them I had shifted. They must be so confused.”

He smiles at me and cups my face with his hand. “I linked your dad before you shifted. I told them what was happening.”

“Oh, good,” I say, feeling a little relieved. “I think I’d still like to call Mom, though.”

“Ok, Love. But please call her. Don’t use your energy to link her yet,” he tells me and I nod. “I’ll be back as soon as I can get away from these two.”

He leaves me with a k**s and I walk back to our bedroom, taking my phone off the charger and calling my mom. To my surprise, though, my dad answers her phone.

“Hey, Kiddo. How are you feeling?” he asks me and I feel tears come to my eyes when I hear his voice.

“I’m fine, Dad. I shifted,” I say to him, even though he already knows.

“Seth said everything went well…” he says, waiting for me to confirm that it really did.

“It did. I’m good,” I tell him, smiling at his concern. “Lily gave them some herbs to make a tea and it has really sped up the recovery. I feel completely fine now.”

“Good. Good. I love you, Kiddo. Here’s your mom. She’s at me because I grabbed the phone before she could. I love you,” he says.

I feel the tears escape and move down my cheeks. “I love you, too, Dad.”

“Molly! You wasted no time in marking him,” Mom tells me with a laugh and I can’t help but join her, while still crying like an emotional mess.

“I know. I’m fine from the shift thought. It was just…”

“Right?” she asks, finishing my thought.

“Yeah. It was just right.” I tell her, my voice barely a whisper.

I can almost hear my mom smile. “Why are you crying, Molly?”

“I just miss you,” I say, my voice strained. “I didn’t even get to tell you goodbye.”

“You didn’t need to tell us goodbye. You’re still our daughter, whether you’re here at the falls, in the rogue lands, or at the Palace. You’re always ours.”

“I know, Mom. I just… I just needed to tell you that I shifted. That I marked Seth. I really shifted, Mom!”

“We’re so excited for you, truly. And I’m so happy you called.” she tells me, and now it sounds like she’s also crying.

“Tell me about your new home,” she says, coughing to clear her throat.

“Well, I haven’t seen much of the palace, but our home is nice.” I begin and I tell her about how large it is, and what it looks like. I tell her about how he moved my plants and had our new room changed to look similar to mine back at Lunar Falls so I’d still feel at home. I tell her about the ridiculous shower and its egregious number of buttons.

She laughs at that. “Audrey always wanted a bunch of kids, but her pregnancy was so hard, and then the delivery… it just wasn’t safe to try for more. I think that she may have spoiled Seth a little bit to make up for the fact she couldn’t give him siblings.”

“Oh, she did,” I confirm with a laugh. “You should see all the clothes I woke up to. It’s more than double what you have!”

Mom laughs a bit. “I can’t wait to come visit and steal a few things from you. I’m sure they are all absolutely wonderful choices. Things are good with Seth, right?”

“Yeah, Mom. They are,” I tell her with a smile, but remember about poor Anna. “He’s amazing to me, I don’t want you to misunderstand. But he’s not very loved by the staff here. And the maid, she was terrified of ME. I guess someone Seth dated before we met wasn’t very nice… I don’t know. It just feels weird, like I’m in her shadow.”

“That’s tough, Molly,” mom says with a small sigh. “I hate how he treated you before he ever even met you, but he’s your mate.”

“He’s so good to me, really,” I tell her, not wanting her to think I’m complaining about him. “I just don’t know what to do, when I know someone has been here before me. Someone who would probably be better at being queen than me.”

“Your job isn’t to be queen, though,” Mom says, confusing me a little. “Don’t misunderstand, that IS part of it for you, but your main job- that’s to be his mate. Make sure that always comes first. I was the Luna, but I was always your dad’s mate first. Make sure you keep Seth as your top priority, until you have a little prince.”

“I could have a little princess, ya know,” I tell her with a small laugh.

“Molly, you’re dealing with Royal b***d. It’s stronger than Alpha genetics. There’s NEVER a girl born first,” mom says, like it’s the most obviously explanation.

“You know, Lily told me that there’s some herbal stuff I can take, to help with pregnancy…” I begin to tell her.

“She mentioned it to me while we were there. Just be careful. It may help with pregnancy, but delivery of an Alpha is terrible. From what Audrey said, the delivery of a Prince is worse,” she cautions me. “I hope it helps, truly. I’d love quite a few grandpups. I just don’t want you to get too excited, and the delivery crushes your plans.”