{twenty}

Damon's POV

I stare down at the blonde cluster of hair that was currently sound asleep on my chest. I tune my hearing to find her heartbeat, I hear her steady beating but I also hear the quiet heartbeat that belongs to our child. The idea of becoming a father terrified me, but seeing Aria as a mother was something I couldn't wait to see. She'll be a perfect mother, she has every quality to be a mom.

We have to tell the kingdom soon, she's going to start showing in a few weeks. It wasn't that I was scared of kingdoms reaction, I was scared of what Aria's mother would do when she found out. That woman was sick enough to throw her daughter away, who knows what else she's capable of?

"I need to up the security." I mumble to myself, rubbing a hand over my face. Aria begins to stir, I hope I didn't wake her. She nuzzles her face into my chest as she stretches into a more comfortable position. Suddenly her bright blue eyes pop open, staring directly at me.

"Good morning, baby." I smile, hoping she didn't know that I was the reason that she woke up. She needed her sleep more than ever, she was growing a royal alpha pup.

"Morning." She replies, rolling over onto her side so she isn't laying on me anymore. I turn onto my side so I'm facing her.

"How'd you sleep?" I ask, running my hand through her golden locks.

"Good, you?" She says, placing a hand on my cheek. Something about us was that we always touched each other all time, in any way possible, the tingles we got were addicting.

"Amazing since I have you." I said, smoothly.

"You're so cheesy." She laughs, placing a peck on my lips.

"Oh, just wait till I'm a dad." I joke, moving my hand down to her belly.

"Oh goddess, the dad jokes." She groans, jokingly.

"I'll be the true embodiment of a dad." I laugh.

"Let's skip the dad bod." She says, running her hands over my abs.

"Hmm, you're enjoying the Alpha muscles?" I question, teasing her.

"You have no idea." She says, proudly. I didn't expect that from her. She normally becomes quite and blushes. Someone's getting confident from all those pregnancy hormones.

"I think I already started gaining some pounds." I say, poking my stomach.

"Oh Goddess-" She suddenly says, in disgust. I didn't think she would be that upset about my joke. But then suddenly she runs to the bathroom. I follow her to see her bent over the toilet, emptying her stomach.

I rush over to her, pulling her hair away from her face. She finishes, looking up at me, wiping her mouth. She looked so exhausted, I wish I could help her. I press a soft kiss to her forehead, before she got up to brush her teeth. I flushed the toilet for her and went over to the sink, where she was brushing her teeth.

"I hate seeing you sick." I say, sitting on the countertop. She spits out her toothpaste before giving me a tired look.

"It's just apart of pregnancy, babe." She says, shooting me a tired smile. I hop off the counter and walk over to give her a hug.

"1 more month of morning sickness." I say, remembering the facts that I read in a werewolf pregnancy book. I've been trying to learn as much as I can before the baby comes, I want to be the best dad I can be and help Aria in every way possible.

"Someone's done their research." I hear her smile as we hold each other. Holding her tight against me made it very easy for me to feel small bump on her stomach. My wolf start prancing around in my head at feeling of his pup inside his mate.

"I want to tell the kingdom soon." I say, hoping she reacts well.

"I do too." She says, pulling away from me. She starts to walk downstairs, I follow behind her like a lost puppy.

"I was thinking, maybe as soon as we get back to the castle." I say, following her into my old office. What is she doing?

"Or we could broadcast it from here?" She suggests, grabbing her laptop from her work bag. I take a seat on the couch placed against the wall opposite from my desk, Aria sitting against me. This couch was put here just for Aria, she would always help me with pack stuff or just hang out in here while I made phone calls and such.

"Really? That soon?" I ask, I thought she'd want to wait a bit.

"Yeah, is it too early?" She asks, nervously.

"No, not at all." I say, trying to reassure her. "The sooner, the better."

"Okay, I'm going to email my assistant and the elders about it." She says, typing on her computer. She had become such a good queen. I watch her as she types out the perfect email. Perfect grammar, perfect etiquette, perfect spelling. She's just perfect.

After she sends her email, she starts going through her inbox. I look away, grabbing my laptop as well. I also go grab a cup of coffee for me and a caffeine free tea for Aria. I sit back down, checking emails with Aria leaning her back against my shoulder.

"Royal duties are exhausting." She sighs, laying her head in my shoulder. She's almost emptied her inbox while I've barely made a dent in mine.

"Of course they are when you have a baby stealing all you energy," I joke with her, turning my head slightly to kiss her head as I keep working.

"I just got an email from Collin about my mom." She says, perking up. She moves closer to me and opens the email.

Dear Your Majesty's,

I am please to let you know that my team and I have successfully located the former Queen. We have planted a tracking device on her as she is in constant motion. She seems to still be unaware of us or the tracking device.

Before we attack, we need larger resources. I recommend having an army ready and once she stops moving so often, we can strike.

We need your permission to do so. But until then, we will continue to track her.

Sincerely, Head Warrior Collin.

"They found her..." Aria mumbles in disbelief.

"They did, now we can move forward with capturing her." I say, closing my laptop.

"Do you think this will cause a war?" She whispers, as I get up from the couch. I look back at her to see her staring at the ground in fear.

"Baby, it's okay. We've found her and we'll get her locked up soon." I try to reassure her.

"But what if she has an army with her? She wasn't the only one upset with me becoming queen." She says, I squat down so I'm looking at her in the eyes.

"We have a stronger army, A. Don't stress about it, it's not good for the baby." I say, trying to calm her down.

"But how many wolves would we lose? I can't have pack members dying for me." She says, looking up at me. The fear in her eyes broke my heart in so many ways, I couldn't chose which one hurt the most.

"You're their Queen, they will always respect you and lay down their lives for you. You're just about as important as the Moon Goddess." I tell her, rubbing my hands over her arms. She rests her elbows on her knees and holds her head in her hands. I can hear her taking deep breath and her heartbeat quicken. I know she's on the verge of a panic attack, I also know all I can do is be her comfort. I press a long kiss on her head and wrap her in my arms, hoping that's enough to calm her anxiety.

*ding*

I hear the noise come from her laptop. Aria shoots up from her crouched position to check her laptop. I see a few tears on her cheeks but she quickly wipes them away. I stand up from my squat next to the couch and walk over to where Aria is sitting.

"What was that?" I ask, sitting down next to her.

"We can announce the baby today." She whispers, staring at her laptop screen.

"What? Did you get an email from the elders?" I ask, turning to look at her.

"Yes, they said we can announce via broadcast. They're sending a camera crew here." She says, joy peeking through her voice.

"Let's get ready then! We have a baby to announce." I smile, pulling her out of the office.

"Do you want breakfast?" I ask her, as we reach our bedroom. She immediately went to her suitcase to find something to wear.

"I'm not hungry, I think it's the nerves." She says, pulling out one of her many dresses.

"Well you still need to eat, at least for the baby." I say. "I'll make you something small."

"I can make it myself, you get ready." She says, pulling me back.

"Okay, beautiful." I smirk, grabbing her face and placing a kiss on her lips. I pull away and go to grab a pair of slacks and a button up shirt.

"Should I still try to hide my bump?" She asks, looking at herself in the full-length mirror. She lifts up her shirt and rubs her small bump

"What do you mean?" I ask, buttoning up my shirt.

"Should I wear a tight dress or a loose one?" She asks me. I really don't get women and fashion.

"I guess a tight one, I'm not good with clothes, baby, you know that." I laugh.

"Okay." Is all she says as she changes into a tight dark pink dress. I go into the bathroom to finish getting ready. As I'm styling my hair, Aria walks into the bathroom. Her heels click against the tile but what stands out is how noticeable her baby bump is. Wait- was that why she asked me about what to wear?

"You can really see the baby, huh?" She says, turning to the side.

"I love it." I say, leaning down to place a kiss on her small belly. My phone then begins to ring. I pick it up right away.

"Hello?"

"Hey Damon, it's Connor. Um so there's a camera crew at the pack house asking for you....should I send them away?"

"Oh, they're here for our baby announcement. Aria and I will be there soon." I say, laughing slightly.

"Oh okay, thank you, see you soon."

"Bye." I say, ending the call and turning to Aria who was trying to listen to call.

"The camera crew is here." I say, smiling at her.

"Already? We need to hurry up then." She says, running back into the bedroom. I place my crown on top of my head and then go to find Aria.

"Aria, we're in charge of them, they can wait as long as we'd like." I say, sitting down on the bed to put my shoes on.

"Dam, I don't like to make people wait for us." She says, doing her hair and then placing her crown her head.

"I know, sweetie, I know." I smile, looking over at her.

"I'm ready, let's go." She says, pulling me out of the house. We quickly head to the pack house, where a bunch of camera crews were setting up. Somehow they set up a background and everything. Soon a crowd of Blue Crescent pack members surround the cameras and we're about ready to start.

"Are you ready?" Aria asks me.

"I always have been, are you?" I smile, as the camera crew gets ready to start broadcasting.

"I'm nervous, but I'll be okay." She says, which causes me to become concerned. "Because I have you."

"Okay we're about to start in..." the guy holding the camera says. Aria and I stand in our spots and wait for the count down.

"3....2....1..."

"Welcome werewolf kingdom." Aria says, fake happiness filling her voice.

"We have begun this broadcast for a special announcement." I say.

"We wish that we could have done this from the castle but we are out of town and this announcement could not wait." Aria say, her Queen etiquette coming out

"But without further ado." I say, looking at Aria.

"We're expecting the next heir."

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

Wowwwww so a lot has happened!!

First: THANK YOU GUYS SOOO MUCH FOR ALL THE SUPPORT RECENTLY!!! I'm so thankful for all of you and this is more than I could have ever wished for!!

Second: since you guys have been sooo great, I've been entered into the #wattys2019!! So please make sure you vote and comment a bunch!!!!

Third: I'm trying to decide where this book should go from here? End it soon? Keep it going? Sequel? Please let me know!!

Word count: 2073