Into The Woods (mxm)

Eighteen

"Oh, Collin I was only teasing. You didn't have to do all of this for me," he says, eyes scanning hungrily over all of the food set out.

I pull out his chair so he can sit. I take my place on the other side of the table after giving him a small bowl of cabbage soup.

I wait patiently to eat, watching Keir take the first bite of food. He groans, leaning back into the chair, his eyes fluttering shut.

"Collin, you are truly gifted."

"Thank you," I blush.

"We should talk while I have time to explain myself and my past," Keir says after swallowing another mouthful of soup.

"About what?" I ask. All of a sudden I start to feel nervous. Different scenarios rush through my head as Keir takes a deep breath.

"How old are you, Collin?"

"I'm sixteen."

Keir takes a deep breath and lets it out.

"I would have been fourteen when you were born. I am almost thirty. When I didn't find my mate at the age of sixteen I thought my mate must have not been in the same country as me. So I set out to search for them. I looked everywhere. But I always came back home with nothing. No mate. No new family. My parents were disappointed. Both I and my parents never thought I would find my mate. So they did what any other parent would do. They set me into an arranged marriage."

I listen intently as I pass out the main course, Keir taking a bite of the roasted quail meat before continuing.

"Her name was Angelica. I never loved her. Our marriage was simply a way to calm our parents' fears of not continuing on our bloodlines. We both had not found our mates so we were paired together. We were eighteen at that point. My parents urged us to start having children while my wife was still young enough to bare many pups successfully.

"I had my first pup a week after I turned nineteen. A boy. Tabari. He was an exact replica of me. Tabari was my pride and joy. The first light to come and brighten the darkness surrounding me. The next year my wife birthed a daughter. Arabella. Angelica obviously favored Arabella. While she doted on the baby and showered her with gifts, Tabari was pushed away. Three years after Arabella was born we had our third and final pup. Akio. He was a quiet pup. Akio was born with a bad foot. It curved outward and made it painful for him to walk. It would have been easy to fix if we had enough money and a good doctor. Alas, we were too poor and Akio's foot was never fixed. It took him two years to learn to walk. Tabari and Akio were both omegas while Arabella was a beta, like her mother. Arabella was favorited by Angelica because she was strong and more likely to survive and have a mate from a higher class.

"When we were both twenty-seven years old when Angelica found her true mate. She decided to get rid of me along with the two children she despised so she could run away with Arabella and her mate, a beta from another small country. She did something that I can never forgive her for."

"What did she do?" I was hanging onto everything he was saying with great interest. He had three children. Three! Maybe I'll get to meet them all. Strangely, my wolf and I didn't mind that my mate has children with some other woman. It was uncommon for a wolf to accept another wolf's child as their own.

"She told everyone that I brutally raped Arabella. I would never do that to anyone let alone a child. At the time Arabella was seven. My two other children were eight and four. They spared me of prison if I kept away from my wife and children because I was so respected in the community. Angelica took Arabella with her when she left."

Keir stops to ask for some dessert. I serve both of us some custard and he continues on with his story.

"She had completely turned Arabella against me, convincing my daughter that I hurt her. My two sons, on the other hand, wanted to stick by me. So she put them into an orphanage and told the people who ran the orphanage not to let anyone, especially me, adopt them. I haven't seen any of my children in years. Sometimes at night if I really concentrate, I can feel them. They are so close but so far away. I comfort them when they are alone at night. I can't speak to them but I can send waves of calming energy their way. I would give anything to see my children again. But I cannot go to the king about this because I fear that he will not help."

"Oh, Keir..." I stand up and wrap my arms around my mate. He places his head onto my shoulder as I rub his back.

"What if I talked to the king for you? And we can bring your boys back to the palace?"

"How would you be able to do that? You have no connections to the king."

"Actually my brother is Prince Ansel's mate. I may have more say in this than you would think. I will talk to him tonight and see if we can reunite your pups with you as soon as we can."

"You would do that for me? Even though the pups aren't yours?"

"Of course. They are a part of you. You really care about them and I would like to meet them as well. This is what mates do. They help the other through hard times and give things a chance. I want to have a family with you. Maybe later we can grow our family but for now, we are going to get your pups back."

Keir smiles widely and presses his lips to mine in a searing kiss.

"Goddess, help me. I love you so much already, Collin."

I hold him close to me for a while. I make him promise that if I can bring his children home that he will quit being a warrior for the sake of living long enough to see his children grow. I was expecting him to argue about quitting. But to my surprise though, he promises me that he will leave as soon as he has his pups back in his arms where they belonged.

I part ways from Keir after I finish cleaning up from our supper and walk him back to his bedchamber.

"Get some rest, Keir. Because I have a feeling that by this time tomorrow that we will be on our way to retrieve your pups."

I know that Keir will be too anxious to get any sleep, but I still tell him goodnight and sweet dreams. After he closes the door to his bedchamber, I head over to the palace to find Alpha Asmodeus.