My Baby Daddy wants Me for Christmas

The Prince who lost his mate

Leon

December 24, 2024

I woke up to the pale morning light slipping through the hotel curtains. It was warm and soft across my face. Instinctively, my hand reached out to the side where her body should have been, where she had slept curled into me as she belonged there, but my fingers touched only cold, empty sheets.

My eyes snapped open immediately, and Aurora wasn’t there. For a second, I didn’t move. I just stared at the indentation on the mattress where her head had rested only hours ago.

My heartbeat picked up as confusion settled heavily on my chest. Then I sat up fast, scanning the room. She wasn’t in the bathroom, her belongings were nowhere to be found, and one of her scents drifted through the air the way it had last night when I held her against me.

She was… gone.

I dragged a hand through my hair and blew out a sharp breath, wondering why she had rushed out so early. She didn’t even leave a note. A part of me should have been annoyed, but I wasn’t. Instead, I grinned as I stared at the empty bed because I knew I was going to find her.

We were mated and bonded now.

“No matter where you hide yourself,” I muttered to the empty room, “I’ll find you.” And I meant it. I will do whatever it takes to find her. She was my mate after all, and she bore my mark now.

I wanted to see her eyes again, the way they had softened only when she wasn’t paying attention. Since I was still in New York, I would make sure I pulled her right back into my arms.

While deep in my thoughts, my phone rang out loud, cutting through the room. I frowned when I reached for it on the nightstand and saw my beta’s name flashing on the screen.

A call that early was never good news.

The moment I answered and heard his voice, it told me everything before the words even registered. “Your father… he’s sick, and you need to come back to Averne now.”

My entire body went cold as I realized that my whole plan to find Aurora was going to be put on hold. I had a duty as the Alpha prince towards my father, and I had no choice but to return.

“I am at the front of your hotel already waiting,” my beta informed me. “Your flight is booked, and I’ll pick you up at the front of the hotel.”

“Alright, I will be downstairs soon,” I said, already moving towards the bathroom.

It all happened so fast, and I was dressed in record time, but as I stepped out of the room, a thought hit me hard enough to slow my steps.

It was about Aurora.

I didn’t want to leave yet. If I had the choice, I would have stayed behind for her and demanded to know why she slipped away without a word, telling her she wasn’t supposed to disappear from my life like that. But my duty came crashing down before the desire could settle.

Once everything at home ended, I would continue my search.

By the time I reached home, everything had changed. The physicians told me my father’s health was deteriorating, and immediately my status changed from prince to crown prince. While my father was recovering, I took on the responsibility of stabilizing the kingdom. There wasn’t a single hour to myself as I was always busy attending meetings and signing documents.

There wasn’t a single moment to even think about going back for Aurora.

Then, when my father finally recovered enough to stand, he told me about a situation I had to handle outside our territory abroad. It was a perilous situation, a political mess that required an experienced leader to resolve before it escalated into a war.

I had no choice but to fulfill my duty as the prince, and every plan to get Aurora back was put on hold.

~~~~~

September 2025.

Ten months passed before I returned. Ten long, exhausting, sleepless months filled with endless meetings, negotiations, and responsibilities that left me with barely enough time to breathe, let alone track down a woman whose scent haunted me like a ghost.

When I finally stepped back into my office after a while, I resumed searching for Aurora, but one day, my beta approached me with a look in his eyes that made my entire spine go rigid.

“My prince… about the woman you asked me to find.”

My heart slammed in my chest as I anticipated what he had to say.

“She gave birth,” he said quietly. “My informants said she had been pregnant for a while now.”

For a moment, I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t believe what I had just heard.

Aurora… pregnant? Aurora… with someone else’s child? The idea twisted something inside me so sharply I had to look away.

“No,” I said, the denial coming out low and instinctive. “I don’t believe that.”

But my beta insisted, and the idea hung over me until anger, frustration, and something far more painful settled under my skin.

It wasn’t possible; I couldn’t bring myself to think that she had returned to her boyfriend, who broke her heart.

I craved answers of any kind to keep me sane. I wanted to see for myself to look her in the eye and ask her why she left me alone in that hotel room and why she had returned to her Ex, who cheated on her.

So, I decided to stay away, and once the Christmas celebrations were over, I would confront her again. This time, when I heard the truth, I hoped it wouldn’t break me.