Heir Pressure

LUCIAN

As we leave the ridiculous meeting, I can hear Kia’s stress swirling around his mind, and I pause in the entrance hall for a moment. “Kia,” I say. He stops with a sigh, his fuzzy outline turning to face me. “Relax.”

“That’s easier said than done, sir,” he says anxiously. “Were we at different meetings?”

I chuckle, slapping a hand on his shoulder. “It will be fine.”

“You know what they were saying, sir…”

“I do. Liana will be fine; it won’t be much longer until we’re mated.” I wish I felt as confident as I sound.

His shoulders relax slightly and he nods.

“Trust me. We’ll be fine,” I assure him. Taking a deep breath, I smell steak and smile, knowing that my little mate loves red meat.

Following my nose, we head for the kitchen and then out onto the deck. I can smell her to my right, and damn, she smells so sweet.

~“When is our next moon?”~ I ask Kia as he approaches his mate. Char is chatting away to Liana as if they’ve known each other their whole lives.

~“A week, sir.”~

I nod to myself and navigate around the table to my beautiful little wolf. I wrap my arms around her neck and shoulders, burying my nose in the hair at the side of her neck.

Her heat is getting stronger. By week’s end, on the full moon, she’ll shift—and the timing would be perfect for her to transition. The change should move quicker with the moon’s help. Looks like I have a week to convince her to accept me…

Challenge accepted.

“Hey, beautiful,” I murmur into her neck. I press a kiss just below her ear, raising the hairs on her skin.

“Hey…how was your meeting?” she asks, and I feel Kia’s tension—and Charlotte’s. I assume he’s just told her exactly how “well” it went.

“It was okay, love. Nothing to worry about.”

~“You do ~not~ tell her. Either of you,”~ I pass through to Kia and Char, feeling them agree.

She doesn’t need the added stress, I don’t want to pressure her decision. I want her to take all the time she needs.

To say I am displeased with the council and their demands that—mate or not—I need to sire an heir, and ~soon~, would be an understatement. Apparently, I’m “not getting any younger” and am putting my throne at risk if I don’t produce a pup. They have the sense not to mention my (supposedly) declining sperm count to my face. Instead, they dance around the issue, saying they’ve been waiting long enough and if I don’t solidify my position as king…then my throne could be taken from me. They’re giving me two months. Which is absurd! That gives me two attempts, at best, to get someone pregnant.

I haven’t told them about Liana. They don’t need to go behind my back and pressure her themselves. I’ll kill them first.

I’m hoping that in two months’ time we will be mated, and that this fact alone will hit pause on their insistent demands that I produce a pup.

I have, of course, had a long time to think of such things, but Liana is ~very~ young… If she even agrees to stay with me, how am I supposed to ~demand~ that she have a child at her age? She has a life to live first. I won’t stop her from having that…

The council is right about one thing, although I hate to admit it… I’m not getting younger. A few hundred years seems a lot to a human, but to us, it isn’t all that long. And it’s all I have left.

It’s not my sperm count I’m worried about, though. Lycans supposedly start losing fertility around my age, but I still feel fertile as hell. What I’m having a hard time coming to terms with is the fact that Liana will outlive me. It’s a thought that makes me feel sick… If she accepts me, the pain she will be in when I eventually die is something I can’t bear to think about—but it is a sad reality. I have three hundred years on her, and once transitioned she could go on for six or seven hundred years…

I sigh and push all of it to the back of my mind for another day.

I need to focus on the now. First, I need to see if she even wants to accept me before I think of anything else.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” she asks softly, and I smile.

“I’m fine, baby girl,” I say. “Coming for a stretch?”

She nods quickly. “Shifting?”

I can hear the excitement in her voice, which does surprise me a little, but I smile all the same.

“Is there any other way?” I tease.

She stands up, saying goodbye to Charlotte and Kia before taking my hand and locking our fingers. I do love the way our hands feel, intertwined. Kissing her temple, I lead her across the grounds toward the woods.

***

“It’s beautiful here. Do you own this land?” she asks, admiring the woodlands around us.

“I do.”

“How much of it?”

I chuckle and shake my head. “All of it.”

“Seriously? There’s like…~miles~ of woodland.”

“I had it registered as a wildlife reserve. I own everything up to the mountains. Including a section of the river that passes through.”

“There’s a river?!” she asks excitedly.

“Yeah, wanna see it? It’s a few miles…”

“Yes!” she answers before I finish, and I laugh. “Can we swim?”

I nod, smiling, and hear her clap her hands. “Who can strip fastest?” she asks, and I hear the rustle of fabric. I start pulling my clothes off quickly.

Hearing her shifting makes me wince. I wonder how much pain she suffers in the process. At least she doesn’t cry out, but the cracking of her bones sounds agonizing. It’s because she’s so young, of course. Her body will cope better with the change as she grows older. Still, I wish I could take the pain away…

Once I’ve shifted, she’s just finishing, and I watch the sweet little black wolf stretching out her limbs. Her bright jade eyes flick up to meet mine. Damn…will I ever get over how stunning she is?

I let out a gentle, affectionate growl and she whines back. I bring my face down to hers and rub my muzzle against hers softly, with a gentle lick. I step back, and if she could smile, I know she would. My wolf is so utterly smitten, it’s almost disgusting how soppy she makes him.

Since meeting her, he’s come back to life. I knew how close he was to giving up, how close we both were. She’s brought hope back to me. I never looked forward to the future before I found her. Every day was filled with aching loneliness before that wonderful night when she rolled around on my bed before escaping out of the window.

With a little flick of her head, she starts walking, and I follow her, both of us enjoying the stroll through the twisting, rooted pathways. Where my little wolf leads, I am happy to follow.