Nineteen Days Late
Aurora POV
The warm water of the massive rainfall shower had finally washed away the last lingering traces of the nineteen-day fever.
For the first time in nearly three weeks, my mind was entirely my own.
Rested, clear, sharp, and blissfully free of the blinding, feral haze that had kept me tethered to the silk sheets of our bedchamber.
I sat at the vanity mirror, the soft fabric of a simple, sweet, yet elegantly cut dress brushing against my legs.
Kieran had surprised me with it earlier, pulling the beautiful midnight-blue garment from his massive walk-in closet.
It was flawlessly tailored. Casual enough to be comfortable and unrestrictive, but refined enough to remind me I wasn’t a rogue anymore.
Sometime during our seclusion, alongside the staggering amounts of meat pies and sweet pastries Lyra had thoughtfully left at our locked outer doors, he must have arranged to have it brought to us.
Behind me, the Alpha King of Valdora stood like a dedicated servant.
Kieran was gently working a brush through the wild, unkempt waves of my snow-white hair.
His large hands were incredibly tender, contrasting sharply with the terrifying warrior who had crushed a giant monster’s windpipe a few weeks ago.
I stared at my own reflection, taking in the sight of my clean skin and the startling clarity of my eyes.
I barely recognized the woman staring back.
It had been eight years since I’d had a proper look at my human form in a mirror, and the realization carried a heavy, hollow ache.
I had fled into the Forbidden Lands as a fourteen-year-old girl, all soft edges and terrified innocence.
Now, looking at the sharp cheekbones and the weary gaze of a survivor, I realized that little girl was truly gone.
The wilderness had quietly stolen my adolescence.
It was strange, and I guess a little heartbreaking, to meet myself for the first time as a twenty-two-year-old woman.
Well, I thought, rolling my shoulders, trying to release these emotions.
If I had been worried about forgetting how to use my human body after almost a decade on four paws, the last nineteen days of relentless, horizontal “cardio” had certainly solved that problem.
Nothing quite reacquaints you with your own anatomy like three weeks locked in a bedroom with a highly enthusiastic Alpha.
“You’re quiet today,” Kieran rumbled, his eyes meeting mine in the mirror. He leaned down, pressing a warm, lingering kiss to the permanent scar of the mating mark he had left at the junction of my neck and shoulder. “What’s going on in that brilliant head of yours?”
I leaned into his touch, a contented sigh escaping my lips. But then, a sudden, horrifying thought struck me with the force of a falling warhammer. I stiffened, my eyes widening in the mirror as my stomach dropped to the floor.
Instantly, Kieran froze mid-brushstroke. Through the wide-open channel of our mating bond, my sudden spike of pure, ice-cold panic hit him like a physical blow. The relaxed, lazy warmth radiating from him vanished, replaced in a microsecond by high-alert protectiveness.
“Aurora? What is it? What’s wrong?” he demanded, his gaze snapping to the bedroom door, his free hand instinctively dropping to his hip where his sword usually rested.
“Kieran...” I breathed, utterly mortified. “Your mother.”
The lethal tension abruptly drained out of his massive frame. He blinked, looking back at me in the mirror with profound confusion. “What about her?”
“When we landed in the courtyard,” I said, my voice rising an octave in sudden panic.
“When the wyverns dropped us off in the royal gardens, she was waiting for us. She told us...”
I swallowed hard, the memory surfacing with terrifying clarity.
“She said, ‘We will speak tomorrow, when the Luna has rested.’ "
Kieran’s lips twitched. “She did.”
“Kieran, that was almost three weeks ago!” I spun around on the vanity stool, ripping the hairbrush from his grasp. “We made the Queen Mother wait for nearly three weeks!”
Instead of sharing my absolute panic, Kieran let out a deep, chest-rumbling laugh that echoed off the high stone walls.
I could literally feel his booming amusement bubbling through our tether, which only made me want to sink through the floorboards.
He leaned his hips casually against the edge of the vanity, crossing his massive arms over his chest.
“I hardly think she’s been waiting outside, counting heartbeats, my love. She knows we’ve been slightly... occupied.”
“It isn’t funny!” I groaned, burying my face in my hands.
“Think about it! I didn’t exactly leave a stellar first impression. I showed up in her manicured gardens on the back of a giant reptile, flattened her roses, and I was completely covered in dirt and monster ichor. I was barefoot, wearing nothing but your oversized travel cloak.”
“You looked beautiful,” he argued seamlessly.
“I looked like a feral stray!” I shot back. “And when I finally tried to show some proper Imperial court etiquette and courtesy to her, you yanked me up by the elbow and practically snarled at her that I bow to no one!”
“Which you don’t,” he stated, his tone shifting instantly into the unyielding cadence of the Alpha King.
“She must absolutely hate me,” I whined, ignoring his stubbornness. “I am supposed to be the new Luna of Valdora, and my very first act was to insult your mother and then vanish into your bedroom for three weeks. She probably thinks I’m a completely uncultured savage.”
Kieran’s amusement softened. He uncrossed his arms, reaching out to gently pull my hands away from my flushed face. As his skin met mine, he deliberately pushed a wave of warm, grounding calm through our bond, washing away the sharp, jagged edges of my anxiety.
“Aurora, look at me,” he commanded softly.
When I finally met his gaze, his golden eyes were filled with absolute reassurance.
“My mother survived a brutal continental war and navigated decades of cutthroat politics. She is a seasoned Luna. She knows perfectly well that you do not come between a newly bonded Alpha and his unmarked mate.”
“But three weeks...” I whispered, still mortified.
“We couldn’t have predicted it,” he said, his thumb tracing a soothing circle on my cheek. “She understands werewolf biology better than anyone. No one could have predicted you would drop into a feral heat like that the second we got behind closed doors.”
He leaned in, resting his forehead against mine, anchoring me completely. “She doesn’t hate you, little rogue. If anything, she’s probably just relieved that I finally found my Luna and won’t have to endure any more of the Council’s synchronized speed-dating rituals.”
I let out a shaky, extended breath. Bathed in his projected calm, the terrifying image of the regal, silver-streaked Mother-in-law judging my complete lack of manners slowly began to fade.
“So,” I asked, arching a white eyebrow at him, “does this mean we should go meet her today?”
Kieran grinned, a wicked, deeply charming expression that made my pulse flutter all over again. “Only if you want to. I’m perfectly happy locking the doors for another week.”
----
Kieran POV
The moment the words left my mouth, a brilliant, furious flush of crimson rushed up Aurora’s pale neck, painting her cheeks.
It was the most magnificent sight. After eight agonizing years of her hiding under thick layers of ash and dirt, seeing her skin so flushed, vibrant, and clean sent a fresh jolt of heat straight to my groin.
“Kieran!” she gasped, her eyes widening in absolute scandal. She spun fully around on the vanity stool to face me, ripping the hairbrush from my grasp and waving it in exasperation. “You can’t just say that! We can’t stay in here for another week!”
I couldn’t help the deep, chest-rumbling chuckle that escaped me. I stepped right into her space, bringing my large hands to rest on the vanity table on either side of her, effectively caging her in.
“Why not?” I countered smoothly, leaning down until my face was inches from hers.
The scent of her was no longer drowned out by the suffocating, heavy distress beacon of her heat, and it was absolutely intoxicating.
“The kingdom survived without me for three weeks. I think Silas can hold the fort a little longer while I ‘tend’ to my mate.”
“Your mother is out there waiting!” she protested, though her voice hitched slightly as my gaze dropped deliberately to the soft curve of her lips.
She pressed her hands flat against my chest, an instinctual but entirely ineffective barrier against my solid frame.
“And I am supposed to be the Luna. I can’t just hide in your bed.”
“You weren’t exactly hiding, sweetheart,” I murmured, my voice dropping a full octave as I shifted closer, letting the heavy muscle of my thighs press intimately against her knees. “As I recall, you were quite demanding and vocal.”
Her blush deepened into a violent shade of red. “You are impossible,” she whined, trying to glare at me. Yet, the feral, hungry darkness that I had seen swimming in her eyes for the last three weeks was still simmering just beneath the surface.
My heart swelled until I thought it might crack my ribs.
The crushing, suffocating weight I had carried since I was a boy was completely gone, burned away by the fierce, undeniable reality of her love.
Watching her get so beautifully flustered, seeing her finally safe and secure within the walls of my territory, filled my inner wolf with a roaring, undeniable pride.
I loved teasing her. I loved watching the fierce survivor who had thrown herself at large monsters without hesitation completely unravel under my undivided attention.
I reached up, my thumb gently tracing the permanent scar of the mating mark I had left at the junction of her neck and shoulder. She shivered at the tender contact, her breath catching audibly.
“I am perfectly serious,” I breathed against her ear, letting my fangs graze the highly sensitive skin there, enjoying the way her pulse jumped against my lips.
“I would gladly lock these doors and spend the rest of my life exactly like this. But...”
I pulled back just enough to look into her beautiful, flustered face, “if my little mate truly wants to face my mother today, I will be right beside you. Though I might just drag you back to this bed the absolute second the formalities are over.”
Aurora’s eyes narrowed playfully. She pushed firmly against my chest, her confidence fully returning.
“If you drag me back to bed, Your Majesty, I’ll use my wind magic to throw you out the window,” she countered.
I chuckled, stepping back to concede the point to her fierce, independent spirit.
“A tempting risk,” I agreed. “But we should get going before I change my mind and actually test that threat.”
I extended my arm toward her. She slipped her hand into the crook of my elbow. Together, we stepped out to find my mother.