ROME & ELORA
“Damian you come back here this instant!” Rome laughed as he watched a heavily pregnant Elora chase their two-year-old son who’d taken to running bottomless around the palace much to his mother’s dismay and his father’s immense amusement.
Her glare turned on him and he raised his hands in surrender.
“I did warn you that I was very uninhibited as a child.” He told his wife catching up to her and placing his hands around her waist, pulling her as close to him as her belly would allow.
A soft thump from her belly told him that the twins they were expecting in a month were more than eager to be free of their confinement. He laughed as Elora slapped his shoulder.
“You see what you’ve done to me?” She complained. “I’m surrounded and invaded by savages.”
He laughed, kissing her forehead, then began a slow journey to her lips. She sighed and wrapped her hands around his neck, burying her fingers in the hair at his nape. Even after two years, the passion between them had not died. In fact, it only seemed to have increased the more time they spent with each other, especially when she was carrying his baby.
He broke off the kiss and kissed his way to her ear, nipping it lightly.
“I seem to recall you also enjoy scampering about bottoms, your Majesty.” He teased just as she shoved him, her face a bright shade of red.
“Go find our son and bring him to me.” She ordered folding her arms. “It seems not one but two men will be getting a lesson in manners today.”
He laughed loudly and went to get his little monster who was currently being showered attention by a crowd of the female palace staff. As young as he was, the little scamp was already popular with the ladies.
It was hard not to feel proud.
The boy was a handsome lad with the signature noble Lycan red hair and blue eyes, he had his mother’s soft features with round cheeks that glowed with health.
“Come on, pup.” He called his son who ran into his father’s arms. “We’ve given your mother enough exercise for the day.”
“Finally!” Elora exclaimed when they returned.
She dressed her son hurriedly and ran a brush through his hair to tame his curls then handed him over to his now properly dressed father to be confined until they were ready to go down for the ceremony.
Skye and Nauru had finally decided to settle down since the treaty with the Blackfoot had been signed and trade routes established.
She was supposed to help the surprisingly nervous bride dress but her husband and son had seemed hell-bent on wasting her time.
“You’re both lucky I love you or I’d have sent you packing.” She grumbled as she stepped out fully dressed.
She’d long since freed Lucy and had gotten other handmaids to serve her. They had dressed her in an elegant emerald gown that made her hair shine. She smiled as she saw Rome’s eyes roam over her with dark promise swimming in his now midnight blue eyes.
Stepping out of the room, she whispered a final warning and rushed to the bride’s chambers where she found her anxiously pacing while the other ladies, Lucy, Elora’s sister, Olivia, and Alma were trying to calm her down.
“And where have you been?!” She cried as soon as she spied Elora.
Elora sent a look to the other women but they shrugged not knowing what was making the bride so frantic.
“What’s wrong, Skye? You’re usually the calmest of all of us.” She asked coming to hug the woman.
The taller woman bit her loop looking almost comical.
She sat, all of a sudden looking sheepish.
“It’s Nauru.” She started. “Oh! You’ll laugh at me!”
Elora and the others were quick to shake their heads. At this point, they would do anything to get the bridezilla to calm down.
“Oh alright.” She sighed. “He’s never seen me in a dress or with my hair done all prettily. I’m scared he’d laugh at me or say something stupid. You know how he is.”
They all nodded simultaneously.
They’d all, at some point, been an object of the man’s bad jokes that were only funny to him most times.
“Skye, that man loves you and is by now deathly afraid of you. I don’t think any man can take that many slaps to the head and not behave properly on a day that’s important to you.” Elora told her importantly. “Besides, do you think Rome will let him say anything stupid today? If I know that man, he’s already growling at his warning at Nauru so you have nothing to fear.”
She sniffed then turned to them.
“I guess I better let you guys make me so beautiful he’d be lost for words.”
They cheered and went to work and by the time they were done, there wasn’t a single dry eye in the room. Except for the bride, of course. They’d warned her not to cry or she’d ruin the makeup they had dutifully applied for her.
They rushed to the entrance to the garden where the ceremony had been planned to hold and as expected they’d stunned everyone.
Nauru was shocked into a blissful silence but once he was permitted to kiss his bride, she had to cover her son’s eyes at the unrestrained passion he displayed.
They literally had to pry him off her but even then, he had clung to her side like a lovestruck fool.
She caught her husband’s eyes on her as she scolded Damian for trying to take off his pants again and she had to remember to breathe at the sheer intensity in his eyes. Her momentary distraction let her son escape and rid himself of his trousers. At least he kept his small clothes on.
Thank the goddess for small miracles.
“Can I steal you for a dance, your majesty?” Her husband was dashingly handsome in his formal wear.
His bright red curls had grown out and fallen over his forehead in an unruly pattern she loved.
“But there’s no music.” She told him.
They were outside while the rest of the wedding guests had gone inside for the banquet.
He smiled wolfishly at her.
“I didn’t say it was that kind of dance, wife.”
She smiled up at him, looking around hoping there were no eavesdroppers, then feeling foolish, she pulled him towards the orchard.
They giggled like small children as they undressed and made love in the shade of the fragrant fruit trees.
When they finally rejoined the wedding party, no one paid them any special attention as they had more to talk about. The bride and groom had left the party midway causing quite a stir.
Elora laughed, taking her seat beside Rome. She spied her sister and Noel on the dance floor staring lovingly into each other’s eyes. He had asked for her hand in marriage a few weeks back but they’d decided to wait till after Skye and Nauru’s wedding to tie the knot. By then her mother and siblings could have traveled down from Alkarod where they’d chosen to remain when their family had been exonerated.
She also spied Teriel and Lucy twirling on the dance floor. Teriel leaned down to whisper something in Lucy’s ear and she giggled slapping his chest playfully. Not even five minutes later, they were scurrying out of the hall.
She and Rome shared a look and laughed leaning into one another.
Although their start hadn’t been an ideal one, they had a life that was better than anything she had ever imagined for herself and now she had a family. She smiled at her husband, her mate, and kissed him feeling grateful for him.
The goddess had given her a chance at happiness now and she would do everything in her power to protect this new family.
“Come,” Rome called stretching a hand out to her. “Let us share a proper dance.”
“Yes.” She answered by placing her hand in his. “Let’s.”