The Alpha Queen

Chapter Twenty-Five

Sitting alone in her room, Theia stared at the door as she worried away at a nail. After Torren and Adwin had left them alone in the bar a couple of hours ago, Nova wouldn't even look at her. Then, without a word, he had headed outside, leaving her to do nothing but worry for the past two hours. Two hours she had been pacing around the entire Bar House until she finally closed herself off in her room where the quiet was only making her anxiety worse.

Nova had never done anything like this before. She had made a lot of decisions over the years he hadn't liked, mostly ones that had put herself in danger, but although he argued with her he had never left. Instead he'd do the opposite and hover over her every second like a mother hen until they made it through.

Theia couldn't even try to be mad at him for this, she only worried. And she was sad that once again they were headed into a situation that could take a turn for the worse. She hated every time they had to face a situation where she worried she'd lose him. She wanted a day – no she wanted to never again have to worry that today could be their last time together.

Considering taking up her pacing again, she stood just as the bedroom door opened and Nova walked in. The relief she felt was instantaneous. Not caring if he was still pissed at her, she threw her arms around his neck, squeezing him tight enough to cause him to groan.

"Don't ever do that again" she said wanting to be firm but coming out choked. "I was so worried."

Pulling away, Nova cradled her face between his hands, his expression soft instead of angry like Theia had expected. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to worry you," he replied. "I just – I needed a minute."

"A minute? It's been two hours!"

Smiling slightly, he ran his fingers down her face before placing his hands atop her shoulders. "There was something I needed to do and I didn't want to wait any longer."

"What could be so important?"

Turning Theia around, Nova led her over to the bed, urging her to sit. Instead of joining her, he continued standing there, looking down at her. "I don't know if you realized it or not, but next week is your birthday. So, with the help of yet another one of Torren's friends, since the male himself was a bit occupied at the moment – by the way be sure to remind me to tell you that story later – I went to retrieve your birthday present."

Getting annoyed that Nova was taking so long to tell her what exactly was going on, she crossed her arms as she asked, "Where exactly did you go? And why couldn't this wait if my birthday's not until next week anyways?" Which, with everything going on, she hadn't even thought about it. Last year she had gotten everything she had ever wanted, no other birthday could compare to that.

"I had to go back to the compound and sneak into the Gray House to get this," he replied. "That's why it took so long, but it was a lot easier than I thought it'd be. As for your other question, I didn't want to wait to give you this in case – well, I just didn't want to wait, alright."

"Are you ever going to tell me what it is?"

Grinning, he pulled out a small square box from his pocket that caused Theia's annoyed expression to drop into a shocked one. As Nova then lowered himself onto one knee in front her, she let out a gasp as she straightened her spine.

"Theia Nightingale," Nova began as his grin fell and emotion flooded his eyes. "You know exactly how I feel about you. But one thing I've never shared with you, is that even when I was little, I felt like something was missing in my life. So, I spent my youth dreaming about bigger and better things that I believed were the missing pieces. That's one reason I felt so guilty after my family was killed, because instead of enjoying every second of what little time I had with them, I spent my days searching for something, I wasn't even sure what, but whatever it was I knew it would lead me away from them and I never thought twice about that. It wasn't until I met you that I finally realized the missing part of me wasn't something material or even worldly, I had been missing a part of my soul and you are the one who's been carrying it for me. I hadn't felt settled or at home until I met you. You also already know I want to spend the rest of forever with you, no matter how long that may be, and I don't want to miss a second of our time together. I want to belong to you in every way possible, which is why I'm hoping you'll marry me. What do say, my little alpha, will you not only be my mate, but also my wife?"

As he spoke those last words, Nova flipped the top of the box open to reveal the ring nestled inside. The silver band crisscrossed in the front like an infinity symbol and was inlayed with a yellow sapphire encircled by diamonds. The sapphire was the same color as the gemstone on her bracelet, the one Nova had chosen because he said it was the same color as her eyes.

Covering her mouth with a shaking hand, Theia stared down at that ring and then met the eyes of the man she loved more than anything else in this world, her mate, her alpha king.

"Well," Nova said when she didn't answer. "I'm kinda starting to . . ."

"Yes," she blurted, interrupting him. "Of course I'll marry you, Nova Washington."

Sliding off the bed into his lap, she threw her arms around his neck and pressed her lips against his. Pulling away they both laughed as wide smiles spread across their faces.

She leaned back as Nova brought the ring box between them, pinching the ring between two fingers to pull it out. He threw the box over his shoulder, causing Theia to laugh again, before grabbing her left hand to slide the ring onto her finger.

"It's beautiful," she breathed as she gazed down at her finger.

"Not as beautiful as you," he said, running his fingers down the side of her face.

She had been wrong, this birthday definitely topped last year.

With a huge smile still on her face, Nova led Theia back onto the floor and leaned over her to press his lips against hers.