EPILOUGE

3 months later...

Nick's P.O.V

I was sitting in the meeting room surrounded by Alphas from all over for the annual meeting. Normally, Kiara would be here with me with Alec and Rae but this time she couldn't make it since Alejandro wasn't feeling all that well so she had to take care of him. So today it was just me, Alec and Raelynn and I was already beginning to develop a headache. Most of the Alphas especially those with territories next to each other, were arguing with each other and some were even yelling on top of their voices. They had been going at it for 2 hours now and had ignored any attempts to solve the matter just so they could argue. I sometimes wonder how Kiara handled this for the 4 years we weren't together. Alec and Rae were also exasperated and at loss as to what to do since all their attempts to break up the arguments had been unsuccessful.

An hour later, we finally got the Alphas to settle down so we could solve the matters at hand when one Alpha from Australia decided to rile another Alpha up and they were all at again. Finally fed up, I slammed my palm on the table loudly and hard enough to almost break and form cracks on it and stood up from my seat, eyes glowing a deep reddish magenta with flecks of silver in them. My wolf's eye color changed a bit when I became King. My red Alpha eyes became a deep reddish magenta with flecks of silver like now. I was really pissed.

"ENOUGH!!!!" I roared. All the alphas grew quiet immediately and sat back down bowing their heads in submission.

"But Your Majesty..." One Alpha tried to say. I directed my glare at him. Just then, my wife entered the room with her eyes glowing violet with flecks of silver with just as much anger in hers as there was in mine.

"Not another word or even a whimper from anyone of you or you will regret it." Kiara growled lowly.

"Your Majesty..." One Alpha dared to say. Kiara and I directed our glares at him making him shrink in his seat and bow his head even lower. Kiara and I then closed our eyes and took in deep breaths to calm ourselves down. Everyone awed at how much in sync we were. When we opened our eyes, they were back to their normal colors. I sat down while Kiara continued to stand at the end of the table nearest to the door. I took in her outfit (ignore bag) and her tired look and silently glared at each of the alphas for stressing her even more.

"I have been listening to you idiots argue about stupid things which could have been solved in minutes if you had calmed down while also trying to calm down the prince who wasn't feeling very well. Because of him being unwell, his senses have become very sensitive especially his hearing which means he can hear almost everything. When royal wolves are young, their hearing is already more sensitive than other young wolves so due to his current state that hearing sensitivity has been heightened two times more. And you idiots have been yelling at each other for the past 3 hours disturbing him and making him feel worse than he already is. Now I have finally gotten him to sleep no thanks to any of you. You are very lucky my sisters and sister-in-law weren't also here today or you would have regretted it. Now if the prince wakes up due to any of you yelling once again, there will be hell to pay for all of you. You will wish you never even spoke today. Have I made myself clear?!" Kiara threatened in a low tone. I smirked at how scared she had made all the alphas.

"Y-Yes, Your Majesty." All the alphas chorused in quiet scared voices.

"Good. You will apologize to the King and the advisors for your insubordination and insolence and rudeness. And then you will sit down and tell him and the advisors your problems like mature adults instead of screaming at each other like children. You do this every year and every time I let you go free, not this year. Now I am going back to take care of the prince. If I so much as sense an argument between any of you even if it's done quietly and in whispers, I promise you. You will regret ever even bringing up the argument. Do you understand?" She said.

"Yes, Your Majesty." The alphas chorused again. She then nodded at me, Alec and Rae before leaving the room. I whispered to Alec to take over for a while then excused myself to follow after Kiara. I caught up to her not far from the meeting room.

"Hey, Karen, honey, are you okay?" I asked.

"Yeah, just tired. You know, Alejandro has been crying all day because of his fever and how sensitive it's making his senses and I've been trying to comfort him and get him to sleep. I could barely get him to even eat something and those idiot alphas arguing very loudly weren't helping either. I even had to get Auriana to spell the room a bit so it would be a little darker since the closed curtains and turned off light weren't helping his heightened eyesight sensitivity and light was just making it worse. I couldn't even sing to calm him down like usual because of his tripled hearing sensitivity. Right now, Auriana is trying to find out what's causing the fever since it can't be a medical problem."

"I'm sorry. I wish I could have been there to help out but...you know."

"Yeah, I know. Don't worry, sweetheart. It's okay. Besides the sooner you settle those alphas the sooner you can come be with our son. I'm sure he also misses you."

"I miss him too. I promise I will wrap this up soon and be with you two soon enough, ok?"

"Ok. I'll see you." I pecked her lips and felt how warm her skin was getting.

"Baby, you're starting to get warm. You should relax. You're getting stressed."

"I'll be fine when our son is fine. But don't worry, I won't burn myself out. You just sort those alphas out then come, ok. I'm gonna go get some milk for Alejandro." I nodded and kissed her forehead then let her go. I watched her go then went back inside the meeting room to find the alphas discussing their problems calmly. Seriously? They could be this calm and they got Kiara and I worked up for no reason and also disturbed our son for nothing? I breathed deeply through my nose and let it out to calm myself before I took my seat again and engaging myself in the discussion.

Kiara's P.O.V

I was sitting outside in the garden reading with a glass of wine on the table beside the garden swing I was sitting on. Auriana had finally figured out what was going on with Alejandro and had given him a cure so he was now sleeping peacefully. I could now breathe and relax easily with no stress or worry. I felt the presence of Nick behind me as he joined me on the swing. I put the book down and leaned on his chest as he wrapped his arms around me.

"Hey." He said.

"Hey."

"Is Alejandro asleep now? Is he better?"

"Yeah, Auriana found out what was wrong just in time. It seems some witches still haven't learnt their lesson from the last time they tried this kind of thing with me. I've asked Elissa and Carissa to find the culprit for me and when they do, I'm going to make sure they who this witch is suffers. Trying to hex me is one thing but hexing the prince, our son, is a whole other issue and he or she is not gonna get away with it."

"Calm down, honey. We'll deal with that matter tomorrow. All that matters is that our son is fine now. He's in no form of danger."

"You're right. It's just..."

"I know, honey. I know. Just forget about it tonight and focus on the fact that our son is well. That's the most important thing."

"You're right. You're right. Ok." Just then we heard entering the garden. We both turned to see one of the maids, Gemma, coming towards us with Alejandro in her arms.

"Your Majesties. The prince woke up and was crying so I had to bring him to you." She said when she had reached where Nick and I were. I gave glass of wine to Nick and took Alejandro from her arms.

"Thank you, Gemma. Could you please warm up one of his bottles of milk and bring it to me. There're some in the kitchen just here." I started feeding him formula milk just a month ago so he could get used to them whenever I wasn't around. I kept bottles of it in every available kitchen there is in the castle so they can be gotten quickly whenever he's hungry. Instead of going all the way to the main kitchen for them.

"Of course, Your Majesty." She left and came back minutes later with a warm bottle of milk for Alejandro. She then excused herself and went back to her duties. Nick offered to feed him and I let him. Alejandro seemed to be happy being in his father's arms for the first time today. After he was done, we just sat back in the garden swing, going back and forth, just enjoying the breeze, the only sounds to be heard being made by our happy son who was beginning to get sleepy and soon fell asleep. I smiled contently at the sight of our son in my husband's arms, feeling content and happy.

15 years later...

"Oh come on, mom. How do you keep beating me every time?" Alejandro asked after I defeated him for the 5 time today. We had been sparring all day since he had nothing to do and neither did I. Nick's been out all day. And also Jace had gone along with his parents to check on the pack to see how they were faring. So we decided to spar against each other so I could train him and teach him.

"It's not that hard and really effortless actually." I answered as I helped my son up from the ground.

"Yeah, but come on. Can't you just let me have even just one win?" He asked taking a sip from his water bottle.

"Now if I did that, how would you learn? My dad never let me have a win until I actually did beat him. My mom didn't do that either. Every time we sparred and I got defeated, I took note of what I did wrong and worked on it till I had little no flaws for anyone to pick on and put me on my back. There's no easy way in life. There's no 'let me win just this once'. It's either you succeed or fail. But what's important is if you learn from every failure or you just let it stop you from getting where you wanna be. Learn from your mistakes and use it to build something even stronger. How do you think I became the good queen your father and the people are always praising me to be? I moat certainly didn't take any easy ways. It took a while for everyone to accept me as the ruler of the entire species before I married your father. And because of that, even when your father is with, they give me more reverence than they do him despite the fact that he is a very wise and wonderful king. He also made mistakes when he was learning to be a good leader as an Alpha and as king. Although I must say, he did make quite a lot of mistakes when he was just an alpha." I said with a chuckle.

"Hey! They were minor mistakes." We heard from behind us. We both turned to see Nick walk into the training room towards us, with our 11 year-old daughter, Violet, Alejandro's sister.

"Yeah, sure, minor mistakes." I said sarcastically.

"Judging by the level of mom's sarcasm, I doubt they were minor mistakes, dad. Besides, didn't you tell me about that one time you..." Nick covered our daughter's mouth before she could reveal whatever it was she was about to say.

"So how was training today? Did you manage to beat your mom today, son?" Nick asked, trying to change the subject.

"I wish. She knocked me down five times today. I think she may have broken some bones." Alejandro said.

"Wait, I missed you having your ass handed to you. Oh man, I wish I'd have been here to see that." My daughter said, trying to hold in her laughter.

"Shut up, Vi. So dad, I'm sure you've beaten mom quite a few times while sparring against her. Maybe you can give me some pointers." Alejandro said hopefully. I chuckled and drank from my water bottle.

"I wish I could, son. Problem is, I've never been able to beat your mom. No one has." Nick said.

"What? But dad, you've been together for 20 years or something." Alejandro said, surprised.

"Yeah, and she's been the best fighter there is in the kingdom since she was your sister's age. No one has ever been able to beat her, not even your aunts who trained with her under your grandfather for the same time she did. I remember the first time I sparred against her."

"Oh yeah, I know this story. Mom's told me before. They were in gym class and the teacher decided they'd be sparring for that day. Before they began, the teacher told mom, Aunt Korra and Aunt Kara that they wouldn't join the exercise since they could wipe the floors with everyone. But then Dad got up and said it wasn't fair they got to sit out because he was just as good as them if not better. Then the teacher said, if that were so then he would spar against mom. And dad being dad, accepted the challenge cockily. Let's just say, long story short, dad ended up with a broken nose and jaw and a few broken ribs." Violet recounted.

"Dad really?" Alejandro asked.

"Ok, that story's a little bit altered. Not everything's true." Nick said.

"You sure about that honey, cause I got proof that everything I told Violet was true. Let's not forget I have eidetic memory." I said.

"Hold up, what proof?" Nick asked suspiciously.

"Nicola recorded everything that went on, from the minute you said it's not fair, on video. I told her to keep it just in case you ever tried to deny it if I ever told our kids the story one day." Nick was speechless. "But actually, thanks to me training your dad he's one of the best fighters you can find in the kingdom after me and your aunts. So he can still help you out besides, he's been helping your sister out and training her and when she's old enough I'll start training her as well." I said, so Nick's pride wasn't completely trampled. Alejandro nodded and started taking off his combat gloves. Just then, a guard and maid entered the training room.

"Your Majesties, Your Highnesses." They both greeted.

"What is it, Byron?" Nick asked.

"Your Majesties, Her Majesty's sisters, Princesses Korra and Kara, have arrived. As well as Alpha Miranda Silver and her siblings and your sister, Your Majesty." At the mention of their aunts and uncles, the kings turned to look at us expectantly and excitedly. Nick and I chuckled and nodded for them to go and meet their aunts and uncles.

"Thank you, Byron. Alice, do you have something to tell us as well?" I asked.

"Yes, Your Majesty. Dinner will be ready in 30 minutes."

"Very well. Thank you, Alice. You two may leave." Nick said. They bowed down and left.

"Well, I have to go shower and dress up for dinner. I'll see you later." I said, then pecked his lips then left for our room.

An hour later, we were seated at the table enjoying our Thanksgiving Dinner. We exchanged stories and retold old ones. Then after dinner we went to the garden to continue sharing stories and talking about others things till it was time to retire to bed. As I lay in bed, I reminisced about everything from 20 years ago and smiled at how far we had come through the challenges and trials. And now, each one of us is happy, content with our lives and not wanting to give it up for anything in the world. I sighed happily and fell asleep happily with a smile on my lips and my heart light and full of joy."