Chapter 0101
Chapter 0101
He kisses my other wrist. “Emory, think of the baby.”
I sigh, knowing I’m beaten. He has to use the baby card. I have only known I’m pregnant for a little over a week, and I’m already being treated with kid gloves. Ever since I told Kane I was carrying his child, he has been acting like I’m as delicate as a china teacup.
I pull my hands away from him. “I’m strong. I can handle it.”
“I know just how strong you are, but vampire pregnancies are notoriously difficult,” he says. “My mother had a few miscarriages after I was born. She was unable to have any more children after she had Lex.”
“I didn’t know that.”
Most vampires are unable to have children naturally. They usually grow their numbers by turning humans into vampires. There are a few royal bloodlines that are able to birth children like Kane’s family, and no one quite knows how this is possible. Even more unfathomable is Kane getting me pregnant.
I have never heard of a vampire and wolf shifter creating a child before. Wolf shifters can’t be turned into vampires. For centuries, we have been told that our two species are completely incompatible. We have managed to defy everything we’ve been told for generations by falling in love.
“Pregnancies amongst wolf shifters are risky, too,” I explain, a hand touching my abdomen in concern.” Women can’t shift while pregnant as they could miscarry or induce labor too early. If they get sick during pregnancy, their bodies don’t heal as quickly, so it can lead to complications.”
I watched Mother help deliver babies for years. So many things can go wrong during labor.
Kane must sense my distress. He cups my face in his warm hands. “Look at me.”
I look up into his blue eyes and feel some of my worry melt away. I’m reminded who I’m with. This is a king that has ruled for a long, long time. He doesn’t balk at difficult situations.
“We’ll talk to the doctor,” he says. “If it is a risky pregnancy, we’ll take every precaution to make sure you and the baby are safe.”
“Will the doctor even know what to do? This baby is going to be part–vampire and part–wolf shifter. Does anyone know what we’re dealing with?”
“We can consult with a wolf shifter healer as well. I’ll move one into the castle immediately.”
“What is the baby going to be?” I ask, trying to picture something unimaginable. “A vampire? A wolf? Something else entirely?”
“It’s our baby,” he reassures me, his conviction unwavering. “No matter what he or she is, they’re ours.”
“Ours,” I echo.
Our baby.
Ours.
It doesn’t matter if the baby comes out with fangs and six arms, I will love them anyway. I have always wanted kids, and now I am getting my dream. And I get to share this with the man I loved. What else
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Chapter 0101
matters?
Kane strokes my cheek, his gaze soft and adoring. No one has ever looked at me that way. When I was a child wondering about my mate, I wondered what he would be like. I thought it would be Darius, the son of my father’s Beta, but I hadn’t and could never love him. Darius is nothing like Kane.
Kane is something I could have never seen coming. I haven’t even told him, afraid of what it would mean for both of us. He deserves to know. A part of me aches to tell him and to put into words what I know deep in my bones.
I open my mouth to speak, but he beats me to it.
“Marry me.”
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Chapter 0102
Chapter 0102
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. 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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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 abate. “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
