The Best Thing
Kane
This isn’t how I imagined proposing to Emory. I have been thinking about the right way and the right time to ask her. This past week, she has been miserable, stuck on bed rest, and I had to run off and deal with an impending war with Scarlett Thunder. I haven’t had the time to compose what I want to say in a proposal, but as the two words came out of my mouth, they sum up everything that I want.
“Marry me.”
Emory’s green eyes widen as she takes in the words. They are the prettiest shade of green I have ever seen, emerald, and framed by long, dark lashes. Her red hair is a deep burgundy in the golden hour. The sight of her makes something in me ache, but I can’t put a name to it.
“What?” Her voice is small, unsure. “Did you just…?”
I bury my fingers in her red hair, needing to ground myself. My pulse quickens as doubt makes me consider if she’s about to reject me. She has told me she loves me. Does that not guarantee that she will say yes?
“Marry me,” I repeat, trying to hide my growing anxiety. “I want you to marry me.”
“But…” She blinks, her brows furrowing. “Now?”
I nod. “Yes. Now.”
“You’re about to go to war with Scarlett Thunder,” she points out. “I’ve just become the Alpha. And then there’s the baby.
“I know.”
I want to tell her how I don’t fear what is to come when I have her by my side. Nothing feels unmanageable knowing that she will always be there with me. I have never dared to dream of having a marriage with someone I could have a true partnership with. My own parents had an affectionate marriage, but they hadn’t been equal. I had resigned myself to a loveless marriage with King Peter’s daughter, Opal, before I met Emory and my life changed.
“There’s too much.” Emory’s face crumbles. “I can’t deal with everything and add a wedding on top of that. I can’t. I don’t know how.”
Her face has gone pale. Her eyes are wet with unshed tears. Even though I’m disappointed, I don’t like to see her in distress. I wipe away her tears with my thumbs.
“It’s okay,” I murmur. “Everything will be all right.”
She sniffs and tries to turn away. I pull her back, needing her in my arms. She buries her face in my shirt, her tears wetting the fabric and neither of us care.
“I’m sorry,” she mumbles into my chest. “It’s not that I don’t want you. I want you so much. I love you. I really do, but everything is just…”
“Messy?” I offer. “Overwhelming?”
“Both.” She pulls back to look at me, her green eyes taking me in like she’s afraid I’ll disappear. “You’re not
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The Best Thing
messy or overwhelming. You’re the best, actually. I had just been thinking the same thing, that we should get married, but when you said the words, it all came crashing in on me.”
I smile, feeling some of that disappointment abato. “You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”
That makes her smile back. She wipes away the last of her tears. She says, “I’m not saying no.”
“But you’re not saying yes.”
“I’m saying not now.”
I have to ask as the doubt would gnaw at me. “This is just a question. Do you want to marry me?”
“Yes, I do,” she replies, quickly. “I would love to marry you, but now is not the right time.”
Relief makes it easier to swallow my disappointment. I have asked at the wrong time, and that’s not a failure. I do see her point with my kingdom on the verge of a crisis and her dealing with her own with the Moonraker pack. Add in the pregnancy, and it would overwhelm anyone.
I take her hand, needing to be connected to her. “All right, Emory. I can wait.”
Emory
I don’t know who to talk to about Kane’s proposal. Anyone in Crimson Peak would say I’m a fool for not immediately jumping to say yes to their king’s proposal. I’m thinking I might be a fool for not running off to the altar with Kane at the first opportunity, no matter what is currently happening. Considering the nature of our positions in life, there will always be something we have to deal with, so does making Kane walt even make sense?
I’m conflicted, and I have to bite my tongue from saying a word as Helga and Nellie help me get dressed for the day. They don’t even know about the pregnancy Kane and I both agreed not to tell anyone else until I’m past the first trimester. According to the doctor, I won’t even be showing until then, so neither of my maids should notice anything.
If they do notice, I will make them swear to secrecy, I trust them to keep the news to themselves until Kane and I are ready to tell the world. It feels nice to have a secret that only belongs to us. This baby is going to be of two worlds, and there are going to be people from both of those worlds that would have something negative to say about the child’s existence
The thought always makes a swell of fierce protectiveness take me over. I won’t be meeting this baby for a long time, but I already want to shield them from the world. I’ve seen how cruel it can be to children. There are parents that don’t deserve children, my own father being one of them, and I cannot understand how they can be so heartless toward something so innocent.
I remember that Lola is coming to Castle Graystone that day and smile. She will be moving into the castle to be with me. While Coit is leading the pack in my absence, I still cannot trust anyone not to hurt Lola or use her in any way to get to me. My half–sister Lola holds a part of my heart, and I will do anything for her.
Once I’m ready for the day, we leave my rooms. I stand outside the front of the castle with my maids as a car parks near the castle steps. Darius, the current Beta of the Moonraker pack, is driving. He steps out of the vehicle as his mother, Margaret, helps Lola out of the back. Lola runs to me as soon as her feet hit the ground. My arms envelop her in a hug, and I nearly burst into tears at being able to hold her again.
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The Best Thing
There had been a time I thought I would never see my sister again. When I took her place as a feeder for King Kane, I thought I wouldn’t live long, but it would have been worth it to protect Lola. How my own father treated her was unfathomable to me. Her mother died shortly after she was born, and I have been the one to raise her. I’m the only mother Lola has ever known. She lived her entire life in our family home. but my father had tried to sell her off to King Kane to repay his debts.
I could never imagine trying to sell my own child in that way. I took Lola’s place to spare her what I had thought would be a terrible fate. Our father’s betrayal had started the ripple effect that would lead to his eventual downfall. Instead of being the respected Alpha Bernard of the Moonraker pack, he sits in a cell in the castle dungeons. My sternum still stings in the place where he tried to tear me apart when I was giving him one last chance for mercy before Kane’s armies destroyed him.
“I missed you, Emory,” Lola says
“I missed you too, Lola.” I pull away to look over at her, checking if she’s healthy and find that she looks physically unharmed. “How have you been? Did the Kincaids treat you well?”
“Margaret is very nice. And Darius helped me with my homework.”
I look toward Darius and his mother who have been waiting for me to acknowledge them. “Darius, Margaret, thank you for bringing Lola here. And for taking care of her while I was gone.”
*Alpha Emory, it wasn’t difficult to take care of Lola. She’s a precious child,” Margaret replies with a smile. “She was better behaved than my own children.”
“Ouch,” Darius remarks with a laugh. He nods to Emory, “I am glad to be under your command, Alpha
Emory.”
Darius was the boy I thought would be my mate someday. It had made sense logically as his father had been my father’s Beta. Looking at him now, I feel nothing for him except gratitude for his treatment of Lola. He is definitely not my mate, but he would be a good mate for some other girl.
“How are things with the pack?” I ask.
“Coit is doing his best, and I’m helping him as much as I can,” Darius answers. “Rebuilding our relationships with the packs around us is going to be a difficult road ahead but not impossible.”
“We can’t blame them for being cautious after what my father did, starting pointless wars with them for territory. Forgiveness might come in time, but we should focus on rebuilding our pack from within? “Now that we’re no longer having to fund a senseless war, we should be on our way to rebuilding.”
“If you don’t mind me saying, Alpha Emory, your father ruled the pack as a tyrant. He didn’t care for any of us unless it served his own agenda,” Margaret remarks. “The fact that you want to focus on rebuilding rather than conquering means you are already doing better than him. Not that the bar was raised that high.”
“Thank you, Margaret,” I tell her, sincerely, “But I can’t do any of it without you. We are and have always been stronger together.”
aret starts.
“The lone wolf dies,” Margaret starts.
“But the pack survives,” Darius concludes.
The Best Thing
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It’s a mantra wolf shifters live by. We are stronger as a community, working together to create and restore our kingdom. A lone wolf hunting on its own is formidable, but a whole pack of us? We can take down large prey more than twice our size if we work together. My father tried to destroy all of that.
Kane has left what punishment I want to bestow upon my father in my hands. Despite everything my father has done, I can’t bring myself to make a decision. I can’t give the order to have him executed, but I can’t let him go free to wreak havoc again. He has been the cause of so much death and strife amongst wolf shifters and vampires. His inflated ego is too dangerous to let loose again.
I won’t kill him. No one will feed on him. He might have to rot in the dungeons for the rest of his life. I don’t know which fate he would rather have.
Darius and Margaret leave as I bring Lola into the castle. The last time she was in Castle Graystone hadn’t been a pleasant experience. I try to make it up to her by telling her about the secret passageways and the ghost stories I’ve heard from the servants. Lola has always shared Coit’s love of horror stories and delights in the spooky tales of grieving dead queens and headless knights. Lola is no longer afraid by the time we reach what will be her bedroom.
I open the door and let her in. Her green eyes widen in surprise as she takes in the large room. It is smaller than mine but still as opulent, with plush rose carpeting and a four–poster bed with a pink canopy. There is also a desk and bookshelves. All the furniture is heavy cherry wood with flowers carved in it. The walls are painted with a variety of white flowers.
“Is this your room?” Lola asks. “It’s so pretty.”
I smile at her. “My room is next door. This is your room!”
Lola smiles widely. “Really?”
“Really.” I put a hand on her shoulder. “This is going to be your home now, Lola. I want you to be happy
here.”
“I’m just happy I’m with you,” she tells me. “Margaret was nice, but she’s not you.”
I swallow back my tears. The pregnancy hormones make me want to weep at every little thing. I give Lola a conspiring smile. “You want to see how soft that bed is?”
“Can I jump on it?”
“I don’t see anyone here stopping you.
Lola doesn’t need to be told twice. She takes off her shoes and tosses them aside before running and jumping on the bed, testing out the softness of it gingerly at first before bouncing on it until the canopy is shaking. I laugh before climbing up to jump with her- being cautious of my condition. Soon, we are hugging and laughing.
I have my sister back,
