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“Once my office is a fucking fortress I don’t really care about the rest.” Screw open door policies, I want to be able to shut myself away and lock the door. Listening to Maddox and Mason bickering is already hurting my head. I need to send them on a mission, deep, deep undercover where communication is not allowed.
If I can’t find something, maybe a training mission where Tripp drops them in a rainforest far, far away.
Dad comes around the corner, beaming, rubbing his hands together. “Dear, girl, you must have the patience of a saint. I salute you.” He pulls Natalie into a hug, while she stands there, a stunned look on her face as he whispers. “He’s yours now. No returns.”
“Dad!” Zoe laughs and extracts Natalie from his clutches, ushering everyone into the grand dining room. Normally Blake doesn’t stand on ceremony and eats in the dining hall with everyone else, but this is apparently a big enough occasion to warrant bringing out the good china.
Stopping at the entrance to the room, my gaze drifts over the white linen tablecloths and polished cutlery. Zoe catches my eye and grins. She knows exactly what I’m thinking. I can picture Hayley here in these elegant surroundings, but not Zoe.
“I’m surprised you’re allowed in here, Zoe. Do you have to take your shoes off and hose yourself down?” Normally, Zoe’s covered in muck and shit from working in the clinic; now, she looks much more put together and relaxed in this kind of atmosphere.
“Didn’t you hear, I’m posh now.” With a wink, she moves to take her seat at Blake’s side. “And don’t forget we’re practically royalty. We have to act the part.”
Huffing, I pull out a chair for Natalie and sit down on Blake’s other side. “None of the rest of us have wolves, I think that’s probably a pretty important prerequisite to being a shifter prince.”
Zoe glances at Blake quickly, then returns her attention to me. “Have you not? From where I’m sitting, I’d be hard pressed to tell that you weren’t a full shifter.”
Gobsmacked, I turn to Natalie who nods slowly, a soft smile gracing her lips. “He’s right below the surface. I think it’s the baby bringing out your paternal side. He wants to be here to protect it.”
My automatic reflex is to deny that, but when I take a second to think about it, it sounds about right. Deep inside my chest, a rumble starts, telling me he agrees with Zoe. Suspicious, I narrow my eyes as I look around the table at everyone staring expectantly, like I’m about to spontaneously burst into a wolf right here at the dinner table. Finally focusing on Max’s mate, her startling violet eyes making her the stand-out pick in any guess-the-witch game.
I press my lips into a thin line, trying very hard to hold back the urge to tell everyone to fuck off and stop staring at me.
“This feels like an ambush. It is safe to assume you have some kind of plan I need to be read in on?”
Natalie finds my hand and squeezes it tight, her touch calming the irritation I feel building inside.
“Only if you want it,” Raiden says. “It might be helpful to control the process, so you know when it will happen… and where.”
Casting glances around the room, I grit my teeth. “You think I’m dangerous? That I’m going to shift and hurt someone. You think I might be a threat to Natalie and the baby?” Pushing my chair back, my rage erupts like a volcano, and I’m aware that I might be proving their point right now, but I don’t care.
“No!” Zoe and Raiden shout in unison. Natalie instantly comes to my side and takes my hand. My parents stare on, looking like equally confused bystanders who barely have a clue what’s going on. “We just thought you might want to be in control of when it happens, rather than get caught off guard.”
Bristling at being told what to do, or at the idea of anyone interfering in what should be a natural process, I’m ready to leave, but this is about Natalie and the baby, not me.
“This isn’t the time or the place. We’re here to celebrate, not meddle with my wolf.”
Raiden nods, but her eyes flash, telling me this definitely isn’t the end of it.
“Enough,” Blake says, glaring at the two of us. “Chase is right. This is a time to enjoy being with our family and getting ready to welcome a new addition. We can discuss the rest another time.”
Giving him an appreciative nod, I’m about to take my seat again when a deep booming voice sounds from the doorway.
“How do you feel about welcoming one more?”
Spinning on the spot, one arm out to push Nat behind me, I growl, the darkness inside me racing forward. But the second I turn, recognition tickles my brain. The face staring back at me is one I recognise. He looks eerily familiar, like looking in the mirror at my own reflection but with a few more grey hairs at the temples.
“Killian!” My mother’s gasp draws everyone’s attention briefly before every pair of eyes slowly slides back to the big alpha waiting for our reaction. His power pulses through the room and yet he waits for our permission to enter.
“Your highness,” Blake says, seeming less shocked than the rest of the room. “You’re back.”
CHAPTER 51
NATALIE
I’m still staring at the slightly older, slightly more distinguished, very commanding presence now filling the doorway when waves of emotion flood my bond to Chase.
“Chase? Chase, what’s going on?” I whisper, turning into him so nobody else will hear.
