"How did this suddenly happen?" Alphard worried.
"With our marks and all that we've been through and experienced till now, I wouldn't say I'm surprised," Luna smiled weakly as she lay on the bed under Alphard's care.
Somewhere around 2 am, Alphard had woken up from his slumber when he heard grunts and pants. It was Luna who was to taking deep breaths to ease her pain. He woke up to realise that her body was burning and she was sweating profusely.
He checked the temperature to find it 103° F and panicked a little before managing to calm himself down. Then he took to press wet cloths to her forehead, back of the neck and other parts of her body and continued to change them after every 5 minutes. Just half an hour had passed when he felt someone mind contacting him.
"Who can it be now?" He grunted wanting to avoid the contact so that he can take care of Luna, but she suggested otherwise.
"Must be our parents, our packs must've been merged, let them in and don't tell anything about my fever, they'd worry." He sighed at her response, but nodded reluctantly.
"Dad, mom?" Alphard asked when he sensed his parents.
"You two must still be in the plane, how are our packs already merged!?"
"Well...we just held on to a...um...tradition?"
"What nonsense are you..." Dorian trailed as realisation dawned on him. "...you...how did you know? Who told you?"
"I won't snitch on them now dad, will I?" Alphard wanted to laugh.
"What about Luna? She knows too?"
"Yep, in fact she's the one who suggested that we follow in your footsteps,"
"I don't believe Luna said that," Dorian said.
"Dad, it hurts me that you actually believe her over me, your son." Alphard feigned disappointment.
"Am I wrong?"
"Fine, I asked her what she wanted to do after learning about it and that's why she suggested it, happy?" He laughed making Dorian do so too.
"Will you two stop? That's not why we contacted him, Dorian!" Camille interrupted, that alarmed Alphard.
"Did something happen, mom?"
"Everything's fine here, Alphard. I'm worried about Luna, how's she?"
"What'd happen to Luna? She's here beside me." Though Alphard frowned, he managed to convey his message without letting them suspect anything.
He took hold of Luna's hand and squeezed it gently.
"So she's fine? No fever, or something?" Camille asked, Alphard immediately knew that his mother knew about this and it's something related to their marks.
"Actually...her temperature is high." He admitted knowing that Camille can help. To his astonishment, she sighed in relief, he didn't understand it. "What's it, mom?"
"Don't worry about her, her temperature will be back to normal within a couple hours," Camille said and he could feel his mother smiling as she said that.
"Why did this happen though? Is it something that happens to every shifter after they mate?" Alphard asked.
"No, but to the ones with your mark. Since the mark is connected with mate bond, the protector among the couple will experience the symptoms that Luna is now experiencing after mating for the first time. It's to ensure that they are the one for each other as shifters usually mate as soon as they meet, but of course your situation was different."
"I get it, but her temperature is too high, you sure it isn't a problem?"
"That's your fault," Camille blatantly stated.
"Why is it my fault?"
"The higher the pleasure she received, the higher her temperature will be, want me to explain further?"
"No, no, I got it all!!" Alphard shook his hands frantically.
"All right, but remember that the temperature shouldn't exceed 105° F, if it does then it might be some other problem and not the mate bond effect alone."
"Okay, mom. Thanks for the heads up."
"Take care of yourself and stay beside Luna, that'll help her recover faster." Camille reminded before ending the contact.
"What was all that?" Luna asked frowning at Alphard.
He was frantically shaking hands and constantly frowning throughout the conversation with whoever it was on his head, so she naturally got worried.
"Relax," He told her everything that Camille told him.
It appeared to Luna that his ego has been fed by Camille's words.
"Proud of yourself, aren't you?" She narrowed her eyes.
"Very much," He grinned. "Just think, no one can get you high the way I can."
"Yeah, yeah, 103 is definitely high." She teased.
He raised an eyebrow and inched closer to her, now Luna grinned.
He's still in the mood? She thought.
"You know very well the kind of 'high' I was referring to." He whispered.
"Do I?" She frowned, enjoying his reaction. "I don't think so, can you explain?" She paused for a second before adding. "Or maybe demonstrate?"
"You tease, wait till your temperature is down!" He scowled, Luna laughed without holding back.
"That'd be a couple hours, mister."
She pulled him down beside her and held his arm, gazing at him lovingly. His scowl vanished when his eyes met her tender gaze.
"Like what you're looking at?" He caressed her cheek.
"I've always did and to think that it's finally mine, I cannot hold the feeling in anymore," She kissed the back of his hand.
They then didn't realise when they fell asleep in each other's arms and by the time they woke up, they were close to landing at their destination and Luna was also completely recovered.
The time they spent together brought them even close to each other and the tour in itself was a great experience to them. The place they chose to go on a honeymoon was nowhere else, but the city of Aomori.
They'd found the place quite beautiful on their previous visit, so had decided to make some pleasant memories here.
In the one month period of their trip, Luna had fallen sick again on the 15th day. This time around there was no fever, but nausea and vomiting were the problem.
Alphard was hell bent on filing a complaint against the hotel they were staying in as he was convinced that the food here was the reason for Luna's illness.
"Don't even try to talk me out of it, Luna. I'm going to___"
"Will you just shut up and listen to me!?" She snapped, having had enough of him. "You're a doctor and I'm surprised that you cannot figure it out!"
"I've it all figured out! I'm going to lodge a complaint and we're checking out and into another hotel."
"We aren't doing either of it, what we're supposed to do is not stress me out as it'd stress the baby out too, get it!?" She said.
"All right, I get it." Alphard sighed in defeat, still not grasping what she actually meant. Luna kept staring at him, he wondered why she was staring at him and then it hit him. His eyes widened, Luna grinned. "Really!? I'm becoming a father!?"
"Idiot," She nodded and hugged him.
"Whoa, Luna!" He lifted her up in his arms and spun her around.
"Alphard, slow down..." She giggled in his arms.
They then contacted home and gave them the good news. Everyone were overjoyed and waited eagerly for them to return.
Meanwhile at Suberswills, things were moving forward, everything was smooth and peaceful. One could very well feel the change in the air after the merging of the two powerful packs as one. It was undeniably evident that they were now undefeatable, even a young shifter could say that now.
Will was doing well as the town's Mayor and Carl was determined to make up to Bella and Sophia, though the latter had found her mate.
Gary was very understanding and let Sophia stay with her parents as the family had only just reconciled. Meanwhile, he himself went back to Europe to complete his studies and would frequently give a call to his mate and parents.
Olivia and Greg were happy to have finally spend the weekends together. The couple would also invite Sophia over sometimes so the child could get used to them and their lifestyle with which, Sophia was happy too.
Luna had made arrangements and rented a studio for Sophia before she left on a vacation as she'd found that Sophia was good at jewellery designing.
The men Carl had hired back when he was an evil beast were all released under the condition to not reveal Carl's identity. They were all given a pretty good amount to live a decent life for over a decade and all they'd to do was keep their mouths shut even in front of their family members and mates.
And they'd do just as they knew the consequences of going against the royal family, or a certain Ms. Royalves to be more specific; with, or without the money they were paid to remain silent, so it was only generous of the Royalves to pay them.
As for Karianne, Luna was sure that the bird would definitely return to its nest one last time before it completely abandons it and she was right to think that. Karianne was caught in her own house when she'd come to collect some items before she flew out of country, but was ambushed by the Interpol agents.
Thanks to Luna; the woman was currently being served well in an asylum for lunatics, as she kept stating that Carl was the criminal. As for Carl, the town simply knew that he resigned as an army general and was returning home when he and his family were captured by the villain to use as a bait for the Royalves.
But Gary was made aware of the actual truth by Luna and Alphard. They told him everything that Greg knows, considering that Sophia might blurt out something to someone. As for Olivia to know the truth, they left the choice to Greg and made clear that they had no problem if Olivia learnt the truth about Carl.
The secrets concerning our hero and heroine were all open, except for that of how and when they happened to acquire their marks and that they do not transform like others on the full moon nights. Those things; only their parents knew about and no one else, not even Carl and his family.
As for the things like that they get each other's injuries, was a secret only their family knew along with Greg and for the fact that they're able to hear each other's thoughts, Luna and Alphard chose to keep it a secret for themselves and didn't discuss it even with their parents.
Darcy and Kelvin, though not jobless anymore constantly found themselves at home as there were no serious things going on at the agency and because they were going to be parents soon.
Darcy had decided that she'd name their child after Luna if it was a girl and Alphard if it was a boy. Kelvin had no say in this, so he remained silent as he knew only their friends whom his mate wanted to name their child after could talk Darcy out of it.
Now that their packs have merged, Alphard and Luna had to decide on a new name to call their pack by.
"Packs merged, why not merge the old names and see?" Alphard pondered. "Wolveroyalves? Or maybe... Royalverales?" Luna visibly rolled her eyes.
"After thinking for 5 whole minutes, these are the names you came up with?" She shook her head.
"Then you tell, let's see if you can suggest something better." Alphard scoffed.
"Dumbo!" Luna hit the back of his head playfully. "What's the name of our marks?"
"The Eight Armed Flake?" He frowned.
We can't name a pack like that, can we? The Eight Armed Flake pack...how weird! He thought.
"Another one,"
"Flake of Alverales?"
"Yep and our pack will be called the same. The Alverales." Luna said.
"My mate is so smart!" Alphard exclaimed. Luna narrowed her eyes at him.
"Who said that I cannot come up with something better than what they suggested?"
"All right, all right, my fault. Forgive me, your highness."
"Hey, you're the king here, you shouldn't be asking for forgiveness."
"Kings might rule over the lands, but it's the queens who rule over the kings. Besides, I wouldn't mind being at your service for the rest of my life, my Queen." He leaned in and cupped her face.
Luna was overwhelmed, his words always pulled those strings in her heart that had turned rigid and remained so for all these years. Now that her hormones are getting the best out of her, she couldn't help herself. Tears were already flowing down her cheeks as his affectionate and loving gaze tickled her heart, causing her to smile weakly between her sobs.
He gently wiped her face with his thumbs and kissed her forehead before pulling her into a tight embrace.
"Alphard," She mumbled against his neck.
"Hmm?"
"Baby says, he misses daddy." Alphard pulled away to look at her.
A light blush was spread across her cheeks and nose as she looked down to avoid his intense gaze. A bright smile broke out on his face when he gently tugged at her chin to look at her. Then he bent down slightly and the next thing Luna knew was that she was calling out his name over and over again.
"I love you so much, Luna." He breathed.
"I love you too, Alphard." She threw her arms around him. "And this baby of ours,"
__________
Author's Note:
Hey there all!
How was this chapter? Lemme know in the comments! Epilogue is also up and thus the story is over, starting a new one soon!!
Read my other stories on Wattpad #Crowded Silence (completed) #Holding On to Silence Until; You Came Along (ongoing)
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