Royal Expectations
Aurora POV?
“Save your gold, my son,” Seraphina chimed in, her rich laugh floating over the rim of her teacup. “You are going to need it to repair the palace.”
Kieran blinked, looking over at his mother. “Repair the palace?”
Seraphina’s eyes danced with wicked amusement as she looked between the two of us.
“Think about it, Kieran. You shifted at six years old and possessed enough raw Alpha strength to shatter stone. Aurora shifted at eight, wielding elemental magic and the absolute pinnacle of the Argentis bloodline. When the two of you have pups, you aren’t just going to have early shifters.
You are going to have absolute, terrifying little terrors with the combined power of two ancient, dominant lineages.”
The word pups hit me like a physical blow, completely stealing the breath from my lungs.
Pups. Children.
I stared blankly at the pristine white tablecloth.
For the past eight years, my entire existence had been boiled down to one singular, brutal objective: survive.
I had been a rogue, hunting in the ash and shadows of the Forbidden Lands, constantly looking over my shoulder.
The concept of motherhood had been a luxury I couldn’t afford to think about.
It wasn’t that I was opposed to it. In fact, a tiny, deeply buried part of my heart gave a sudden, aching flutter at the thought of a little girl with Kieran’s dark hair, or a little boy with my white hair. But the reality of my situation suddenly crashed over me with the weight of a tidal wave.
Kieran wasn’t just a wolf who had claimed me, wasn’t just my fated mate; he was the Alpha King of Valdora. If I stayed with him—and my soul would absolutely shatter if I ever tried to leave—having pups wasn’t exactly an option. It was a royal expectation. A kingdom needed heirs.
A sudden spike of anxiety flared in my chest.
Instantly, Kieran’s hand tightened over mine. The teasing amusement completely vanished from his posture, replaced by a sharp, intense focus. He felt my panic through the bond, catching the heavy, spiraling weight of my sudden realization before it could pull me under.
He ignored his mother entirely, shifting his frame in his chair so he was fully facing me. He reached up, his hand gently cupping the side of my face. His thumb stroked my cheekbone, drawing my eyes up to meet his unwavering gaze.
“Aurora,” he murmured, his deep voice incredibly soft, pulling me into a private bubble despite Seraphina sitting just across from us. “Breathe, my beautiful mate.”
I let out a shaky exhale, leaning instinctively into the grounding heat of his palm. “I just... I haven’t thought about having pups before..”
“I know,” he said gently, his eyes searching mine. “And you don’t have to think about them right now. I know what you’re doing. You’re thinking about my title, and what the packs expect.”
I swallowed hard, nodding slightly. “The kingdom needs heirs, Kieran. It’s expected of a Luna.”
“The council can go to the darkest pits of the underworld before I ever force a choice on you,” Kieran stated fiercely, leaving absolutely no room for argument.
The pure, unwavering devotion radiating through our bond was blindingly bright, wrapping around my sudden fear and suffocating it completely.
He leaned in closer, his forehead nearly resting against mine.
“I would love nothing more than to have a family with you, Aurora. I would be honored to raise pups with you. But you are my fated mate, and my priority above all else. If you want a dozen pups to terrorize the palace, I will happily give them to you. But if you decide you never want children,
then my cousin’s line will inherit the throne when our time is done. It is your choice. Only yours.”
----
Kieran POV
Aurora let out a shaky breath and suddenly closed the distance between us, wrapping her arms tightly around my torso. She buried her face into the crook of my neck, seeking the familiar, grounding scent of pine and earth.
I stayed perfectly calm, ensuring that only pure, unwavering stability radiated through our bond.
I wrapped my arms around her slender frame, my hand smoothing down the long, white waves of her hair.
I didn’t push. I didn’t demand answers. I simply held her, letting the steady, rhythmic thump of my heart serve as an anchor against the sudden storm of her anxiety.
“We can talk about all of this another time,” I murmured softly, pressing a kiss to the crown of her head. “There is absolutely no rush, Aurora. None at all.”
She nodded against my collarbone, her tense muscles slowly beginning to relax.
Across the table, Mother set her teacup down, her expression pinching with genuine contrition. “I sincerely apologize, Aurora. I let my own fond memories run away with me. I did not mean to overwhelm you or push you into a corner.”
Aurora took a deep, steadying breath and slowly pulled back from my embrace, though she kept one of her hands firmly anchored on my thigh. She offered my mother a small, reassuring smile. “It is perfectly fine, Seraphina. You didn’t push me into a corner. I’m okay. It was just... a lot to process.”
“Understandably so,” Mother agreed gently.
Her green eyes softened, but as she looked between the two of us, the fond, maternal warmth slowly gave way to the sharp, calculating intellect of a former Luna Queen.
She straightened her posture, folding her hands neatly on the table.
“However, since we are already hovering on the precipice of royal expectations, it is best we rip the bandage off completely. We need to talk about the Council.”
I felt a familiar spark of irritation flare in my chest. “They have already been making demands, haven’t they?”
“They are practically foaming at the mouth, Kieran,” Mother replied dryly.
“When you returned from the border completely ignoring the entourage they sent to greet you, carrying a feral wolf wrapped in your cloak, and then immediately locked down the royal wing for nearly three weeks... well, let us just say the Grand Hall has been a chorus of complaints.”
Aurora shifted slightly in her chair, her mismatched eyes narrowing. “They are going to hate me, aren’t they?”
“They are going to try to find every possible fault with you,” Mother corrected smoothly.
“You must understand, Aurora, the Council consists of the oldest, most traditional Pack Alphas and lords in Valdora. For the past five years, they have been aggressively parading their own daughters and nieces in front of Kieran, hoping to secure their family’s place on the throne.
You are a complete outsider who just ruined their meticulously crafted political ambitions.”
“They can choke on their ambitions,” I growled, my wolf snapping his jaws at the mere thought of those pompous lords disrespecting my mate. “Aurora is an Argentis. She possesses a bloodline older and far more powerful than any sitting on that council.”
“And that, my son, is exactly the double-edged sword they will try to use against you both,” Mother pointed out, her tone dropping into a serious, hushed register.
She looked intently at Aurora. “Your bloodline is undeniably magnificent, and under normal circumstances, they would bow to the sheer strength of it. But you are the last surviving heir of the White Wolf Kingdom.
A kingdom that Empress Lilith Vane and the Draconian ruler violently eradicated eight years ago.”
I felt Aurora stiffen beside me, her grip on my thigh tightening.
This was the exact fear she had voiced to me back at the Mirror Lake in the Forbidden Lands.
She had been terrified that bringing her back to Valdora would drag my people into the crosshairs of the Vampires and Draconians.
But I had promised her then, just as I was prepared to prove now, that I would burn the world down before I let anyone touch her.
“There are those on the Council who will view your survival not as a miracle, but as a catastrophic political liability,” Mother warned gently.
“They will argue that housing a true Argentis will provoke the Vampires and Draconians into breaking the fragile treaties we currently hold. They will use the threat of war to try and delegitimize your claim as Luna.”
“Let them try,” I said, my voice dropping to a dangerous, deadly calm.
“I defeated the Draconian beast at the border. Valdora is not a weak, defenseless nation. If the Empress of Nocturne or the Draconians want to test our borders because of my mate, they will find nothing but slaughter waiting for them.”
Mother offered me a grim, proud smile before turning her attention back to the immediate political chessboard. “Threats of war aside, the Council will also attack you on grounds of tradition, Kieran. They are already furious that you completely bypassed standard protocol.”
Aurora looked up at me, her brow furrowed. “Protocol?”
“The Luna Ceremony,” Mother explained, gesturing between us.
“By ancient Valdoran law, an Alpha is supposed to present his chosen mate to the Council and the pack, complete a formal integration ceremony, and then mark her. Kieran, in his infinite, possessive wisdom, marked you before you were even officially integrated into the pack link,
and long before any ceremony took place.”
“She is my fated mate,” I stated flatly, completely unapologetic. “I wasn’t going to leave her unmarked for a bunch of politicians to debate over.”
“While I completely understand the instinct, the Council will see it as a blatant disregard for our sacred traditions,” Mother sighed, though her eyes glinted with a distinct readiness for a fight.
“They will use the premature marking, your sudden appearance, and the threat of our enemies to build a case against you taking your rightful place beside him, Aurora. You both need to be prepared to walk into a viper’s nest.”