The Blood Rose

Family

A knock wakes me up, causing me to groan. “What?”

“It’s Zaiden, can I come in?” He asks.

“Give me a minute” I grumble as I get out of bed and head to the closet, pulling out a long velvet blue robe and putting it on, leaving it untied to show off my cute cupcake pajama shorts and my yellow tank top that has lace on the chest.

I walk over to the door and unlock it before opening it, being greeted by magnetic golden eyes. “Hi”

“Hi” He smiles as I let him into the room before walking away and plopping down onto a couch. “What time even is it?” I groan as I place my hand over my eyes.

He chuckles as he takes a seat. “9am”

“Fudgemuffin, Really?” I slowly sit up and cuddle with a decorative pillow.

“Fudgemuffin?” He bursts out laughing, the brightest smile ever gracing his lips.

“I don’t swear” I playfully stick out my tongue.

“Damn you’re being adorable today, I like the change.” He stops laughing and smiles at me as he relaxes into his seat.

“I’m hungry” I state as I yawn.

“What do you want? I’ll have Mrs. Rory prepare food and send it up.”

“Ummmmm” I take a minute to think. “I don’t know, you pick”

“Well, Since it’s breakfast, let’s get grilled sausages with eggs and bacon, and some fresh blueberries, does that sound good?” He asks

My stomach growls, making him laugh. “Give me a sec.” I watch as his eyes glaze over as he communicates with someone, most likely Mrs. Rory. after a minute his eyes go back to normal. “It should be here within half an hour.”

I smile at him, preparing myself for a hard conversation. “So” I sigh. “I know Dr. Mark told you about what’s going on.”

He smiles at me. “We’re keeping him or her, right? Unless you don’t want to-” I cut him off before he can continue. “I want to keep it, but you don’t have to feel obliga-” It was his turn to cut me off. “I want this with you, I know the pup isn’t really mine but I’ll love the pup and I want to help you raise him or her, I also would like to adopt them and give them my last name when he or she is born because we don’t know yours. I’m not just saying all this to make you happy either, For years I dreamt of meeting my mate and what our life would be like, sure we’re doing things differently, but pups have always been a part of my plan, so if you’ll let me, I’d love to be her or his dad.”

“Really? You mean that?” Tears fill my eyes at his words.

“I mean it. That pup is a part of you, even if it isn’t mine by blood, in my heart it’s mine. I’m excited for this chapter of our lives.”

“Thank you. I want this pup to have all the love and kindness I didn’t get. Saffron trusts you and so does my spirit, they know you would make a great dad and hopefully i’ll be a good mom.” I smile at him, my heart feeling warm for the first time.

“You’ll be an amazing mom.” He says as a knock at the door sounds. “I’ll get it.”

He walks over to the door and opens it, revealing his mom with three trays of food. “You gonna stand there and stare or are you gonna help me?” She asks Zaiden, causing a giggle to escape my lips.

“Yeah, sorry. I just didn’t know you’d be joining us.” He admits while he takes two of the trays.

“Well I want to talk about my grandbaby and, Kaianne, I set up that appointment, it’s tomorrow at 10am.”

I smile at her before looking over to Zaiden, his golden eyes already on me as he slowly sets up the food on the table. “Do you wanna be there for the ultrasound?” I ask him, causing him to smile brightly. “I’d love to.”

“Aww look at you two getting along. You guys are gonna make wonderful parents.” She smiles at us as we each take a seat around the table.

“I want a girl.” Zaiden smiles to himself.

“Oh, really? I’d figure you want a boy” Rayne says before taking a bite of her food.

“No, I want a little princess to spoil. Boys can come later.” He shrugs his shoulders, causing Rayne to raise a brow. “You’re already planning more kids? The poor girl has enough on her plate, she doesn’t need you adding to it.”

“I- I didn’t mean” he stumbles with his words causing me to laugh at the exchange. “How about we just think about this one pup for now.” I say while smiling at them.

“So baby talk, we already know what our king wants, what do you want?” Rayne asks me.

I take a moment to really think about it before answering. “I just want it healthy.”

“Our pup will be healthy, we’ll make sure of it.” Zaiden smiles as he eats the last of his eggs.

I look down at my plate, full, noticing how theirs are empty and mine still has most of what they gave me. “You don’t have to finish if you aren’t hungry. It’ll take some time for your stomach to get used to eating again.” Rayne waves her hand as if dismissing my thoughts.

“It was really good though, I wish I could finish it.” I sigh, leaning back into my seat.

“So how are you feeling today, honestly?” Rayne raises a brow at me, daring me to be dishonest. I shake my head in amusement, “I’m actually feeling better than I have been. I’m still worried about Alfred finding me, and with being pregnant I don’t know if I can train anymore.” I admit.

“No you can’t.” Zaiden growls protectively. I should be scared but for some reason I glare at him instead. “Did you just growl at me?” I ask.

“Uh, not at you persay j-just at the thought” he stutters as his eyes widen, realizing he’s in trouble causing me to chuckle at how cute he is. “You’re cute”

“I am not, I’m very manly thank you.” His outburst caused both me and his mum to burst into a fit of giggles.

He stands, throwing his hands into the air “I see how it is, pick on poor Zaiden” he lets out an exasperated sigh.

“Poor baby, his feelings are hurt” Rayne teases causing me to clutch my sides while laughing.

Zaiden throws a hand over his heart in mock hurt “betrayed by the woman who birthed me.”

“That’s right, I brought you into this world and I can take you out of it.” A faux evil smile crosses her face as her eyes glimmer.

Once the laughing dies down we all relax into our seats and just sit in silence for a bit, lost in each of our thoughts.

I look over at Zaiden, noting that his brows furrow when he’s deep in thought and how you can tell by his eyes that he’s concentrating on something, and how Rayne taps her finger when she’s thinking. I like seeing these habits of theirs when they aren’t paying attention, but I also wonder what’s on Zaidens mind.

“So” I break the silence and both of their eyes snap to me. “I really, really appreciate all you guys have done for me really, but can we talk about this room?” I spread my arms out signalling to the furniture and walls behind us.

Both of them let out a chuckle. “It is pretty dated, isn’t it?” His mum agrees, causing Zaiden to chuckle again. “You mean it’s from the 15th century” Zaiden states, earning a smack from his mom. “It was popular at the time!” She exclaims in a fit of giggles.

“So....can I get a job so I can afford to change it?” I ask

They both look at me as if I grew a second head. “What?” I ask. It’s a reasonable question, how am I supposed to afford things for myself and my pup if I don’t have money?

“You’re a future queen, Kai.” Rayne states as if it’s supposed to mean something, noticing my confusion Zaiden smiles softly. “We’re rich. What’s mine is yours, we have enough money for anything you’ll ever need or want.”

“But I didn’t earn it” I looked at them. “You earned it by existing ma coeur.” I smile sweetly at him. “That’s a nice thought, but you guys have already done too much for me.” My eyes fall to my lap. “How about a deal?” Zaiden asks. I tilt my head in curiosity. “What kind of deal?”

“I’ll set up a training schedule for you, that is safe for your condition and all you have to do is accept that you earned all of this and more, including a platinum credit card.”

“You’re trying to bribe me!” I cross my arms and raise a brow at his attempt that is very appealing. I could start slow and get back into shape while making sure I’m able to protect us. “Fine deal” I groan, throwing my head back in defeat.

“Well I have some things to handle, I’ll come back later Kai, Bye Zaid!” She says as she leaves the room, both me and Zaiden look at eachother. “I’m...excited about tomorrow.” I admit. “Me too.”

The rest of the day went by pretty fast, Zaiden left because he had to work and I stayed in my room for a while until I got bored and decided to explore.

Which in hindsight, was stupid. I’m at a dead end hallway, lost. I let out an exasperated sigh, throwing my hands in the air. “Where am I?”

“Um, miss. Are you okay?” I turn around and see a stunning girl, looking at me confusedly. Her long golden blonde hair complimenting her tan complexion that makes her blue eyes with a green ring around the iris pop.

“I’m lost” I admit with a shrug of my shoulders causing her to laugh. “It is kinda like a maze in here, isn’t it? I’m Dakota, the king’s gamma.”

“I’m Kaianne. It’s really nice to meet you.” I smile politely.

“You’re too sweet, you must be Zaid’s mate. He talks about you sometimes. And it’s nice to have a new friendly face amongst our group.” a sweet smile spreads on her face. “Where were you wanting to go?” She asks

“I just wanted to have a look around but I’m not even sure where I am?”

She lets out a melodic giggle. “I could give you a tour, oh and I can introduce you to the beta female!”

I smile at her excitement. “I’d love that.”

“Okay well, I’ll take you to the kitchen first because that’s a must know” She smiles as she leads me to the kitchen.

After we went to the kitchen she showed me different places, she even took me to the daycare they have in the castle, she said she had a daughter but she was with her other mom, She told me how it was hard being a lesbian and a gamma and about the discrimination she gets which made me angry, I told her to ignore those people and there’s nothing wrong with 2 females being in a position of power. After that she showed me around more, there’s a private movie theater, a lounge and more before she led me outside, with a guard closely following us.

“Eleanor, The beta female wants to meet us at the garden, It’s one of our favorite hangouts.” She smiles as she leads the way.

“The rose garden?” I ask, excitement bubbling up beneath my skin.

“No, That’s the royal family’s personal garden, We’re going to the other one, It’s by the forest. You might also meet my wife and daughter too, they go there a lot, Kinsley, my daughter absolutely loves flowers.” her eyes light up. I’ve noticed that happening every time she talks about her mate- well wife and her little girl. I’m still not sure how to be around kids and I am kinda nervous about it but she seems genuinely happy about it so I just nod and follow her.

After a 30 minute walk, that has me exhausted we reach our destination, The garden is absolutely gorgeous, there’s different flowers all over, some I can name, others I can’t, Dakota leads me to a bench and we sit down, waiting on Eleanor, when we hear a little squeal. “Mommy!” A small blonde haired girl with bright blue-green eyes runs up to us and jumps into Dakota’s arms. “Hi baby” She coos as she hugs her, causing me to smile. “Mommy wants you to meet her new friend, This is Kaianne.” She explains as she motions to me. “Hi” I smile at the small girl.

“Hi Kiki. You really pretty.” The little girl smiles widely before crawling off of her mum and onto my lap. “Can we keep her mommy?” She asks her mom. “No honey we can’t, we can’t keep people.” Dakota explains as another girl approaches us, She had light brown hair and sky blue eyes with ocean blue specks throughout it. “Kinsley, you’re not supposed to run away from mama.”

“Sorry mama, I won’t do it ’gain” The little girl speaks.

“Hi! I’m Rosalie, Dakota’s wife.” She smiles at me and reaches out a hand, I shake her hand lightly. “Nice to meet you, I’m Kaianne.” I smile at her

“No she kiki, and we’re keeping her” Kinsley pouts and crosses her arms causing all of us to laugh. “How about I promise to spend time with you, say. Twice a week? With your mommy and mama too, of course.” I adjust the little girl on my lap.

“Aunty Elle can join too.” Dakota smiles.

“Speaking of..” Rosalie trails off as we all watch as who I presume to be Eleanor walks up to us, her deep brown waves slightly bouncing as she walks, her straight bangs staying in place and her blue eyes glimmering. As soon as she saw the little girl she crouched down and held her arms out, causing Kinsley to hop off my lap and run into her arms, Eleanor instantly standing and spinning her around, causing giggles and squeals to erupt from Kinsley. “How’s my little warrior doing?”

Those words send ice through my veins as images of the king flash through my mind, causing my breaths to come in short and pain spreading through my chest.

“What’s wrong with her?” One of the girls asks

“I-I don’t know” Another states.

“Call Zaiden, he might know.”

I couldn’t even move, I felt frozen in place, I felt my powers reach out as the wind started coming out stronger and the clouds darkened as if they were angry. Am I doing this? I ask myself as rain starts to pour, I don’t know how much time has passed but Zaiden was here, kneeled in front of me, one hand on each of my cheeks as he looked into my eyes. “Kai, It’s okay, you’re safe, you’re okay. I’m here” I finally focused on his eyes, noticing silver flecks in his gold and felt the sparks caress my skin and the warmth that spread throughout me.

“You’re safe Kai, I promise, He isn’t here, Calm down ma coeur.” He says as he stares into my eyes, Slowly the weather resumed to normal as my panic left my body, causing me to collapse in exhaustion, his beautiful golden orbs are the last thing I saw...