Chapter 34
I woke up and I felt like I was in heaven. I was lying in the arms of my beautiful mate. Our legs were wrapped around one another and my head was resting against his bare chest. I laid there not moving. I was enjoying this feeling because it could be taken away in an instant. I knew that more than anyone.
I looked at Oliver. He was already looking better. The bags beneath his eyes were begin to fade. The sight of him yesterday nearly broke me. He now looked at ease as he lay asleep. His hair was messy, it was totally a bed head style. I traced my fingers up and down his chest and the royal mark on his upper arm. He was perfect. Everything about him was perfect.
All I wanted right now was to live with him forever in eternity. Ollie, my baby boy and I and maybe a few more kids along the way. I could never live without Ollie. I needed him so much. I would never deliberately leave his side again. I could never do that to myself or to him.
I sighed slightly still tracing my fingers across his chest. I thought about today. The rest of the packs don’t know yet. They are still annoyed and are seeking blood from my betrayal. Today, Oliver and I would explain everything. I was relying on them understanding so that there would be no problems. I needed everyone to understand what I was going through.
I felt Oliver shiver beside me and his eyes fluttered open. His beautiful intriguing eyes looked into mine. They were full of such emotion. I was so glad that he forgave me. I knew I had hurt him to such a bad point and I was glad he was willing to take me back. I was glad he understood.
“Hey,” He spoke roughly as he woke from his sleep.
“Hey,” I replied softly.
He leant forward kissing me softly and delicately. It was so loving and caring. It was brilliant. It was heart stopping. He pulled away resting his forehead against mine.
“I can’t believe you went through all of that on your own. I dread to think what your emotions were like,” Oliver sighed.
“I was a mess to be honest. I think I fell into depression for a good month before Ali finally pulled me out of it. It was so hard. I felt like such a bad person,” I sighed back.
“You are far from a bad person. You saved our child and only followed the orders of the Moon Goddess. No one can argue that. You saved our beautiful baby boy. I can’t love you anymore than I do right now,” Oliver replied.
A smiled tugged lightly at my lips. I placed my head onto his chest and his arms wrapped around me securely. We laid there in silence just loving the feeling of us this close. The feeling of each other wrapped in each other’s arms. The tingles were constant in my body and I loved it. I was never going to forget this feeling.
You never truly appreciate what you have until it is all take away from you. You never really think about the things you have until it is gone. Not having my family and my mate. If anything it strengths the love you have for them. It certainly did with me.
“When are Jackson and Tommy’s funerals?” I asked, hesitantly.
“You know?” Oliver questioned.
“We had Joe stationed just outside the territory. He was acting as a spy by relaying information to us,” I spoke.
“Today. There is going to be a mass funeral. Everyone has already been buried in a clearing in the middle of the woods. It is going to be a memorial and reminder of the war. It has been closed off with a small wooden fence. It is beautiful. All the gravestones are pure white. Flower beds bloom around the outside and in the middle is a huge memorial which is being scribed with the names of every fallen soldier so we never forget them,” Oliver spoke.
“That sounds beautiful. It is such a beautiful idea,” I sighed.
Oliver smiled slightly. I looked at him. He looked torn. It looked as if he was unsure on whether to tell me something or not.
“What are you debating about telling me?” I asked.
He sighed before running his hands through his hair. He was silent for a little moment longer before I saw that he decided he was going to tell me.
“Anna-Marie, she is pregnant with Tommy’s child,” Oliver whispered.
I gasped as my eyes widened. Oh goddess. This wasn’t fair. She was going to be raising a child without her mate there. My heart went out to her then and there. I dread to think how she is copying right now. We would support her. I was determined that we would help her. She would not go through all of this all alone. I wouldn’t allow it.
“The christening ceremony will be done today. We need to pick a name,” Oliver spoke.
A name? I had no idea. What should I call my beautiful boy? I felt like no name would ever be good enough for him. I heard Oliver chuckle at me. I was probably wearing my deep concentration face right now. He thought it was adorable.
“Any ideas?” I asked him.
“I have one,” Oliver replied sheepishly.
“Go one,” I encouraged.
“Jackson Tommy Carter,” Oliver replied.
I gasped. I loved it. It was perfect. A way of reminding both of us about the people that we lost through our beautiful baby boy. I smiled. That was it. That was the name of our baby.
“I love it,” I smiled.
Oliver smiled then and gave me a quick kiss before we heard Jackson begin to cry. I swiftly climbed out of bed and rushed over to cot. I brought Jackson into my arms rocking him gently until he had stopped crying. His brilliant silver eyes looked at mine.
I felt Oliver stand behind me and wrap his arms around my waist resting his head on my shoulder to look down at Jackson. It felt like time froze. This was the perfect moment. This was everything I had ever wanted in this one moment in time. A loving mate and a beautiful child.
I quickly fed Jackson as Oliver got changed before Oliver took him from me and walked around the room rocking Jackson in his arms. He was already the perfect father. How could I get so lucky?
I took a quick shower and blow dried my hair. Something kept coming back to me about my child. He had silver eyes. Only Silver Hinted Wolves ever have silver eyes. It is never passed on from parent to child. Even then their eyes don’t turn silver until they shift. Before that time they are always grey. My child was going to become a Silver Hinted Wolf who will help the Kingdom through the tough times in rebuilding.
Once I was done and dressed in a very light pink dress that touched the floor, I placed on my crown and rings. The rest of the packs had been called to order in the main ballroom. This was the moment that I got my chance to explain. Oliver held me round the waist as we walked down the corridors with Jackson currently asleep in my arms.
We reached the two main doors. Xavier, Susanna, my parents and the advisors including Anna-Marie were stood there. I handed Jackson into my mother’s arms. She took him happily into her arms and both sets of grandparents began cooing over their grandchild. Jackson (Jack for short) had already got them wrapped around his finger. He was just so cute so it really wasn’t a problem.
I then walked up to Anna-Marie who had bags under her eyes and you could already smell the change in her scent and the very slight baby bump. I walked straight up to her and hugged her tightly to me. She responded with the hug straight away. I felt the slight wetness of her tears. I placed my head next to her ear.
“You will always have us. Understand? You will not go through this alone. We will both have kids to take care of. I will help you every step of the way. Tommy was an amazing person. That is why Oliver and I have called our son, Jackson Tommy Carter,” I whispered into her ear.
“Really?” She sniffled.
I nodded my head and a small smile spread across her face.
“Go get some rest in our wing. It is quieter. You don’t need to be here for all the shouting,” I spoke.
She whispered thank you before heading in the direction of our wing. I watched her go before Oliver gave me a hug.
“You do amaze me. You calmed her down so well. She had barely spoke a word since the war,” He whispered to me.
I smiled back lightly.
“Right, can both of our parents stay out here with Jackson please. The rest of us will go in and try to calm things before we let our child come in. There are some very angry people in there and we do not want to wake Jackson and I don’t want him in that environment,” Oliver explained.
“Don’t worry son. They will be understanding once you have explained,” Xavier encouraged.
“Thanks. I am sorry about leaving. I know how much pain I caused you all. I just did what the Goddess told me to. I had to protect my child,” I explained.
“And you were brave to do so, Ellie. I am proud to call you my daughter,” My dad smiled pulling me in for a hug.
I hugged him back straight away. It was nice. My dad and I didn’t really have that many moments like this. I pulled away and straightened my dress out. It was time. I needed to face this and get it all over with. I needed everyone to understand why I did what I did.
Ollie placed his arms securely round my waist. We stood at the doors with the advisors stood just behind us. I took a deep breath as the two big doors. Walking in here right now wasn’t like for the wedding or for the coronation. I was going in being hated by a lot of people. Especially, those that had lost family members.
We walked in and everyone turned to look at us. They were all slightly taken aback by the fact Oliver had his arm around me. I think they assumed that he would shun me and ignore me. How wrong they were? Their faces all then went from that of shock to hatred. People began to scowl at me. They looked at me.
They all had the same thoughts when I read some of their minds.
She can swan off before the war and come back expecting everything to be fine. No way.
She could have been here. She has abilities. She could have saved people. My mate!
They really hated me right now. I lowered my head feeling slightly ashamed with everything. How we I ever earn their trust with them like this? I couldn’t. Oliver squeezed my waist in a vain attempt to reassure me but it wasn’t helping. We finally reached the front of the group and stood on a raised platform.
I looked around the room and you could tell that everyone was really angry. You could feel the tension in the air and I took a deep breath. This was awful.
“Hello, everyone. As you can all see Queen Elouise is back with us. I know a lot of you are angry with her leaving but she had her reasons. I was angry and I forgave. Now I expect you to give her a chance to explain,” Oliver spoke, leaking a little of command from his voice.
“She’s your mate. Of course, you will forgive her!” someone shouted.
“I was just as angry as all of you yesterday,” Oliver replied, silencing the crowd.
They all turned to look at me scrupulously. Oh god.
“On the day before I left. I made a discovery. I was pregnant, one and half months pregnant to be exact,” I spoke, gasps rippled around the room, but some people looked like I was trying to fool them, “I rushed to see the Moon Goddess immediately as you all know royals can’t become pregnant in the first year of rule. The Moon Goddess explained to me that my purpose as a Silver Hinted Wolf was to never to fight in the war but provide the strongest heir to throne so no matter the outcome of the war there would always be a future of the European Kingdom. I was never meant to fight, she told me to leave taking a few people with me. That is what I did. I had to protect my child and the kingdom’s future. I would do it again in a heartbeat. I am back now to help the kingdom recover. It was one of the hardest things I had to do. I had to leave my mate but ultimately it was the right thing to do.”
Silence descended on the room. Hushed whispers soon began to spread through the room. People looked unsure. They didn’t know what to believe. I looked at Oliver and he nodded slightly to me. It was time to bring our child out.
The double doors opened and our parents walked in with my mum still carrying Jackson in her arms. People turned to look and were now definitely shocked. They couldn’t believe their eyes. They came onto the platform and my face turned into a huge smile as I saw Jackson and his beautiful eyes. I took him into my arms as Oliver took his position just to my side with his arm around my shoulders. The crowd looked on but I was focussed on Oliver who was smiling broadly beside me and the beautiful bundle of joy in my arms.
“We would like to formally introduce you to Jackson Tommy Carter the new prince of the European Kingdom,” Oliver cheerfully spoke.
It was silent before I saw Ali, Matt, Mason and Sophie begin clapping. Other soon started clapping too until the whole room was cheering and clapping. I began to cry in happiness as I looked down at my boy. They had forgiven me. They had. Oliver carefully hugged me with Jack still in my arms.
We spent the next couple of hours introducing our little boy to the packs. They soon fell under his charming spell. You couldn’t help but love the gorgeous boy in my arms. Oliver was the epitome of happy. He made sure he got his time to hold Jack too. I was blessed to be a part of such a nice pack and Kingdom. I got countless apologies from people but I told them not to worry. Maybe we could all move on from this. Maybe I could have a better future. Just maybe.
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WOW!!! 14,000 reads. Are you joking? Has it broken on me?
Seriously, though thank you so much. I will defo be adding an extra chapter before the epilogue.
Big thank you to loveinglife3456 for the idea with the name of the prince.
Vote, comment, follow,
Enjoy,
Chloe x