The Wolf King's Demand

18

He stared into the distance for a moment. “I was born a prince. I was born a shifter. There was no choice but to step up to it. Same with having enemies. They came after me. All I did was survive.”

“You could have been a bad prince.”

He sighed. “And who would have paid the price for it?”

“My point exactly.”

He lay there, silent, thinking that over. “Well, you’re just entering into my world, and you’ve already fought off an attacker, killed a rogue, and attacked a woman to save a child.”

“I guess I did, at that.”

“That, to me, sounds like someone I’d like to know. It’s easy to be brave when you’re already a wolf, but you were brave even without that. Which brings me to my first question.”

“Hit me.”

“What’s your favorite kind of music?”

Addison laughed. “My favorite kind of music? I was expecting some deep, soul-searching question.”

“Well, maybe we’ll get to that,” Tyler said. “But we’ve all got to start from somewhere.”

She thought for a little. “I guess I like jazz. I don’t know why. I think it’s because there’s so much space for the musicians to just play around and show off how good they are. More than most genres, it’s just about being able to let people know what you can do. And I think that’s neat.”

“And you said that wasn’t a deep, soul-searching question.”

She rolled her eyes. “Well, maybe my soul just isn’t buried all that deep. Anyway, it's my turn now. What do you usually do with your evenings? Before I got here, I mean?”

“I spend much of my time reading in my study,” he answered. “Or when I’m tired of that, sometimes I’ll go out and just feel the moonlight on me and the ground beneath my feet.”

“As a human or a wolf?”

“You don’t get two questions.” Tyler’s eyes narrowed. “It’s my turn, and I get a harder one. For someone who’s worried that their life won’t be interesting enough for their own fiancée to want to know, how do you always manage to come off so confident?”

Addison felt a tugging sensation in her heart. She hadn’t expected Tyler to cut that deep or even to pay such close attention.

“I guess I’ve made peace with not being that interesting,” she finally said. “Maybe it’s a middle sister thing. But I figure that whether someone’s looking or not, I might as well do what I want. If I’m going to do something, I should do it as well as I can, right?”

Tyler wrapped his arm around and pulled her onto his chest. She closed her eyes and could almost feel herself sinking into him.

Tyler and Addison continued trading and answering questions, but they both started choosing sillier ones, like what toys she had played with as a kid or what he liked doing on the weekend. Eventually, the spaces between their questions got longer and longer, and the answers got shorter and shorter, and she sank deeper and deeper into sleep.

Finally, they were both asleep, one on top of the other, and they could both feel that they were much closer than they’d ever been.

TYLER

Breakfast, it turned out, could be incredibly chaotic. Especially when you throw a bunch of children into the mix.

Children raced about, spilling food, and playfully taunting one another. Cassia, the youngest at four, ate more quietly than the others, but she kept grinning at the antics around her. There was also a six-year-old, Jacob, who was already coming out of his shell to be a sweet yet rowdy boy. Liddy was eight and a little bossy but whip-smart. Finally, there was Timon, the eldest at nine.

Tyler, for his part, loved every minute of it. He’d been thrilled when all of the children had agreed to join them in the formal dining room. Addison had wanted them to learn to be a part of a pack instead of some alpha’s slave. And Tyler had agreed wholeheartedly.

Some of the women still felt too awkward to eat with a man just yet. Addison and Tyler respected their wishes, though they were both hopeful the rest would feel comfortable in time.

Jacob snatched a pancake from Timon’s plate, who squawked in protest. “Hey! That’s mine!”

“I’m the pancake monster! I steal all the pancakes.” the thief teased.

In retaliation, Timon wadded up a napkin and threw it at Jacob. The self-proclaimed pancake monster then wadded up his napkin and threw it at Timon. Then, for no obvious reason, Liddy threw her napkin as well.

And to think that this room was usually filled with the most refined people in the kingdom. Nobles and royalty who had been well-trained in manners since they were young and never threw napkins at each other. Though the idea made him grin. He could think of a few he’d have liked to throw napkins at.

The other children began playfully stealing each other’s food, turning the whole thing into a game.

This, Tyler decided, was better than any dinner he’d ever had in this room.

One thing that made it particularly enjoyable was his betrothed. Addison was such a natural with the children. She seemed to have made a connection with each one of them.

As the food fight started to get out of hand, Addison went into the center of the chaos. She put a gentle hand on the two children who had started the food fight.

“All right, that’s enough roughhousing for now. I promise that we’re not going to run out of pancakes anytime soon. So how about we put down the napkins and call a truce?”

“But I’m the pancake monster,” the little boy protested.

Addison grinned. “But don’t you know that pancake monsters can be defeated with an amazing hug?”

And then she squeezed Jacob in a tight embrace. The kid squirmed, but from the way he was laughing, he clearly didn’t mind.

“Addison, I’m a pancake monster, too,” Cassia shouted.

“Me too.”

“I’m a pancake monster, too.”

“You can’t catch me.”