The pleading in her emerald eyes is hard for me to resist. I’m not made of
stone.
“No penetration,” I offer. “But I can help you find release.”
Emory does not resist when I move her to the desk, shoving papers off the surface in haste. She spreads her legs wide as I settle between them. Lifting her skirts up, she holds them up as I slide her panties out of the ways. She waits eagerly as I drop to my knees and k*ss her folds, her breath hitching before I proceed to lick deep inside her.
I focus on bringing her as much pleasure as I can. I flick my tongue against her Icit and then thrust my fingers sinde her. I suck her most sensitive area until she makes mewing noises. She lies down on her back and moans with
pleasure.
My cock is so hard, all I want to do is to thrust inside her and send us both
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plummeting into endless pleasure, but I hav o be strong. I can attend to myself later when she’s satisfied. I look up to see Emory’s mouth wide open, her eyes closed as she continues to moan.
“Kane,” she gasps. “Please.”
I hum and she whimpers at the sensation of vibrating on her clit. She’s squeezing my fingers like a vice as I continue to pump inside of her. I find that spot inside her that makes her screm my name, and then she comes undone.
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Mama Don’t Preach
Kane
I’m having lunch with my mother at the gazebo. She insists that we spend more time together. Now that I’m about to become a father, she wants to make sure I’m ready for the responsibility as if I have not been taking care of an entire kingdom for over a century. I don’t tell her this and just slowly sip my blood.
“The nursery is ready,” she informs me. “I’ve had new baby items purchased. I saved several pieces from your childhood, but my grandson deserves his own belongings.”
“What about Lex’s baby things?” I ask out of amusement.
“If you can recall, your brother took pleasure in destroying his things. Most of his childhood toys were decapitated, burned, or melted.”
I smile as I remember what a demon Lex was when we were children. He drove all our governesses into early retirement. Not even his angelic looks as a child could coax anyone into staying longer than a few months. The real problem began when Lex began to take pride in driving our nannies away. Not much. changed when he reached adulthood.
“Have you chosen a name yet?” she asks. “The baby will be here soon. He needs a name, Kane.”
“We have a list of names that we’re choosing from,” I explain. “I considered naming him Michael…”
My mother looks pleased. “After your father, of course.”
“But after learning about the witch hunts, I can’t burden a child with that history.”
“He will be burdened with the history of his ancestors whether you name him after your father or not,” she points out. “Your father is hardly the worst sinner in our family tree. The things your great–grandfather did would make your hair curl.”
I studied the actions of my ancestors as part of my education as king. Some of
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them were great rulers, and some of them were madmen. As much good as my family has done for the world, we have also been the source of terrible things. I vow to be one of the great kings that history will be kind to.
as done, and he can
“I would rather my son not carry the weight of those sins so readily,” I conclude. “He will learn about what our bloodline decide what kind of king he wants to be someday
I want him to be a good king. I want people to look at him and not see the mistakes of those that came before him. It will be an uphill battle, but I will raise him to be strong. Emory and I will be there to weather the storms with
him.
She takes a sip of her blood. “That is your choice. What other names are you considering?”
“I was thinking about Luther after grandfather but I don’t want Lex to think I’m naming my son after him,” I answer.
“Luther is a perfectly good name.”
“I don’t want to be dealing with Lex’s inflated ego for centuries to come.”
She waves my comment off like I’m being silly. “Your brother is not the only Luther in the family.”
I ignore her and continue, “Emory also wants to pay tribute to her grandfather, Colton. She also likes Connor, Lowell, Alaric…”
Her lips purse. She disapproves.
“What’s wrong with those names?”
“They’re perfectly all right for other children, but those are shifter names, Kane.”
I genuinely don’t see the problem. “And my son is going to be half–shifter.”
She sighs like I’m being obtuse on purpose. “My grandson is going to be king someday. He can’t have a shifter name when he ascends to the throne.”
“And why would that not be acceptable?”
She places the goblet down on the table. “It’s simply not done, Kane. There is a
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right and wrong way of doing things for this family. We can’t just start changing things because we feel like it.”
I stare at her in disbelief. “I’m having a child with a shifter. I’ve already broken the unspoken rules, Mother. What’s another one?”
“Names have power,” she claims. “A name can dictate the kind of person somebody becomes, the life they end up leading.”
My mother is clearly taking this more seriously than she needs to. A name is a name. We can even change it later if we want to. I have to make my mother understand how ridiculous she’s being.
“What better statement is there to make than giving my son a shifter name because he is part of that world? He’ll be of both worlds, the first half–shifter to become king of Crimson Peak.”
She grimaces. “I see your point, darling. But must we name him Connor?”
“What’s wrong with Connor?”
“It doesn’t sound very… royal, does it?”
This is what it comes down to? It doesn’t sound grand enough for her?
I roll my eyes. “Would you be okay with a shifter name if it sounded more royal to you?”
The queen picks up her goblet again and takes a dainty sip. “I could be persuaded with the right–sounding name.”
“Lowell?”
She shakes her head. “Sounds like the name of a baron. The second son of a baron, to be precise.”
This is unbelievable. My mother is going to shut down every name I suggest until I give in to what she wants. How am I going to explain this to Emory? She might like my mother, but she hasn’t grasped just how domineering Queen Agatha can be.
“What about Alaric?”
sue wound a name that can work”
Man’s estimate, I will be giving birth by next week. I’m completely terrified of what’s to come. I’ve seen babies being delivered by my mother before, but being the one in labor is a new experience for me. I hadn’t thought I would be having kids till much later in life.
barely eat from worry. I just move my breakfast around on my plate.
you need to eat,” Mom says. “You’ll need your strength for the labor.”
My fork clangs loudly as it hits the porcelain. “I don’t know how I can do this. I don’t know how any woman can do this.
“No one said childbirth is easy. It’s one of the most painful things we can subject our bodies through.”
I look at her in disbelief. “You did it twice, Mom. Why would you do that?”
man forgets, and it’s all worth it once you hold your baby,” she explains.” The labor with you wasn’t that bad. I was only in labor for a few hours. Coit was more difficult as he came out feet first. I was in labor for nearly a whole day.”
The thought of giving birth to multiple children and being in labor for days might cause me to spiral, so I try not to go down that path.
“Your pregnancy is unusual, but that doesn’t mean you won’t be able to do this,” she reassures me. “You’re stronger than you think, Emory.”
“What if … what if I don’t survive the birth?”
he takes my hand. “You can’t think that way.”
“if I die, Kane loses his allies. Coit is only helping because I asked him to. If Cort becomes the Alpha after me, he won’t care about Crimson Peak and all
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eyes 1ber me the only man we ever lover Al my taught that my mate should come from, so endured every
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er he was willing to leave his teen shed stund and she approved it. We’ve been through that before
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“No. It was just another one of his numerous lies.” She shakes her head.” Some days, I think he began to believe the lies he told people. He stopped being able to tell reality from his made–up stories.”
“Why didn’t you leave?”
“The mate bond is absolute. There’s nothing else like it..ing to leave him felt like I was going to cut off my limbs. They told me the bond would always feel like a miracle. Instead, it was my prison for over twenty years.”
There is brittleness to my mother’s face, a bitter resentment I have never seen before. I long to make her feel better, but I don’t know how. While I understand how it feels to be abandoned and feel unloved, it’s never come from my mate.
My mate–is this pull I’m feeling toward Kane that or something else? Since I’ve shifted, I feel even closer to him. I have no doubt in my mind that the father of my child is my mate.
Mom interrupts my thoughts. “I wish I left him and took you and Coit with me. You might have been saved from his poisonous influence earlier.”
“It wasn’t your fault, Mom,” I insist. “Bernard is the way he is. You did your best.”
“And you know what’s worse? A part of me still feels loyalty to him. This mate bond cannot be severed until one of us dies.” She sighs. “I hope Kane doesn’t turn out to be like him. You deserve somebody kind, brave, and true.”
I know Kane is not like that, so I don’t respond directly. “When I was growing up, I thought my mate would be Darius,” I confess. “He was nice, handsome, and his dad was Bernard’s Beta. It made sense, you know?”
“And yet he’s not your mate?”
“I’m even surer than ever that he is not my mate. It’s not him, and it never will be.”
“Who is it?” Her eyes travel over my face as if she can see the name appear on my skin. “Is it someone I know?”
J smile. “You’ve met him, Mom.” The realization is even stronger than it was before. How could I have ever doubted it?
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“Well, then who is it?” When I don’t answer, she nods as she’s realizing something very obvious. “It’s Kane.”
I nod. “It is Kane.”
“Are you sure?”
“When I first saw him that day in the throne room months ago, something in me woke up as if I’ve been waiting for him my entire life,” I confess. “After my first shift, when I saw him again, everything clicked into place. It’s him and it was always going to be him.”
She pats my hand. “Then you should probably tell him that.”
