by Ally Summers
“What?” he snapped.
I exhaled. “Maybe Sophia and I could talk for a minute?”
He threw his hands in the air. “I’ll be back.” He slammed the front door behind him as he stormed toward the park.
Sophia placed her mug on the coffee table. “If you think for one second you can change my mind or fix this, you’re wrong, Elena. She’s my daughter. You don’t get to voice your opinion this time. It’s not about you and your angles.” She used air quotes in an irritating way.
I realized there may be some pent-up frustration surfacing. Had she resented the way I handled news about their relationship? Did she disagree with the tactics I used as Cor’s manager? How much of her anger now was from our interactions years ago?
I couldn’t dig two years in the past. I needed to help the man I loved bridge this divide. That one was over.
“You know him,” I began. “He isn’t going to back down about this. He never will. And can you blame him? You hid his child.” I shook my head. “That decision has been made, but what you decide now can either make life easy or difficult.”
Her mouth opened in protest.
“I’m not threatening you. I’m warning you. I’m telling you Cor is going to come after you with everything he has if you put up a fight. Right now, he has a soft spot for you, or at least he did twenty minutes ago. He believes you wanted to give Adaline a normal life, but he’s right. She can’t have this.” I waved my hands around. “Without you recognizing she’s a tiny princess. He wants her to be safe. I know you want that too.” I watched Adaline move from the blocks to a stack of board books.
“So what does the fixer propose?” Sophia asked. “I’m sure you have a solution. You always do.” She folded her arms across her chest. “But I’m not moving to the palace. And I have no interest in Spain. I love it here. I have friends. I have a job I love at the gallery. My gallery is thriving here. Adaline has friends at the park and a nanny she adores. I’m not going to disrupt her life because Corbin demands it.”
“There has to be something you’re willing to offer as a compromise,” I urged. “It could be something small.”
She sighed. “He can see her. They can spend time together. That’s something.”
I nodded. It was probably a large concession, considering she had done everything she could to make sure he didn’t know about her.
“And of course, I’m willing to accept the security. I don’t like having agents around, but I understand. He’s right. If that nurse in France told anyone else, Addie could be in danger. I’ll accommodate the agents and any alarms or security systems he wants to install.”
“Ok. That will make him happy.” I smiled. “And I think everyone will sleep better.”
Sophia strummed her manicured nails on the mug. “It’s not that I don’t want Adaline to meet her uncles and aunts. And Galona is beautiful. But she can’t grow up there. Maybe summers.”
It wasn’t up to me to tell her that wasn’t enough. Corbin was going to have to explain the severity of her growing up with a shifter family. Just then Adaline waddled over and handed a stuffed panda bear to me.
“Thank you, love.” I smiled.
She ran to Sophia and climbed in her lap. “I don’t know that I’ll have more children,” she admitted. “I didn’t think I wanted any.” She laughed. “But as you can see, this one has changed everything. And I’m trying to do everything I can, Elena. It’s not her fault she has a prince for a father.”
“No. It certainly isn’t. But he’s a wonderful father. Give him a chance. He loves her.”
The door opened and Cor walked in the house. “I’m sorry.” He looked at Sophia.
She sighed. “I know. I am too.” She extended her arms and he held Adaline.
There were many times he had melted my heart, but nothing compared to watching him with his daughter.
35
Corbin
I hoped I had given Elena enough time to put an end to Sophia’s madness. I couldn’t talk to her until she had calmed down enough to hear the bombshell I had.
Adaline needed to know her father. And I hoped soon she would be a big sister. I couldn’t let my children grow up far from each other. I didn’t know what my life would be like without my siblings. Clans had to stick together. Bears always stayed together.
I depended on Elena to talk reason into Sophia. She was the one person I trusted to solve this nightmare.
Sophia cleared her throat. “I have an exhibit to prepare at the gallery. It’s a large event and I’m going to be there until late tonight. I would be willing to cancel the sitter, if you’d like to spend time with Addie and watch her instead.”
“Done.” I answered.
“That would be wonderful.” Elena smiled at Sophia. “We’re staying on the beach. Does Adaline like the ocean?”
Sophia nodded. “She does. I’ll pack her bag with plenty of sunscreen and her favorite snacks.”
“We have a chef,” I interjected. “She can have anything she wants.”
Sophia rolled her eyes. “She gets what she gets, and she doesn’t throw fits. Right, Addie?”
I could tell Sophia was trying to make sure her daughter didn’t grow up spoiled. That was going to be hard to combat for a while. I wouldn’t be able to deny her anything. I had a lost time to make up for.
“Why don’t I go with you to pack the bag?” Elena offered. “You can explain everything to me.”
“Do you think you could get started?” I looked at Elena. “I still need to talk to Sophia.”
“Oh of course.” She smiled weakly. “Adaline, would you like to help me?” She scooped the cub in her arms and walked out of the room.
Sophia looked at me. “What is it now?”
“I think you should sit.” I pointed to a chair.
Sophia groaned. “I’m doing the best I can now, Cor. I’m really trying.”
“I know you are. And tonight is a great start. I’m looking forward to spending time with our daughter.” I paused. It was one thing to tell the woman you were about to claim you were a bear shifter. It was another to tell a woman you had loved, and had never claimed that you kept a secret from her for years.
“So? What is it?”
“There’s no great way to tell you. But before I get too deep into it, you need to understand that Adaline is and always will be safe as a Marquis. She will be healthy and happy.”
“Damn it, Cor. You’re scaring me.”
I grabbed her wrist, squeezing it for calm. I didn’t know if it would steady her. It used to.
“Soph, our daughter isn’t just a regular girl.”
“I know. I know. She’s royal.”
I shook my head. “She’s beyond royal. She’s shifter royal. She has bear shifter blood.”
Sophia yanked her hand from me. “What?”
It couldn’t be easy to hear. She didn’t have the temperament or the love Elena had for me. “I’m from a long line of royal bear shifters. All the Marquis family members are bear shifters. Every last one of us. That means your daughter is also a shifter. It’s imperative she learn what she is and how to deal with the animal inside her.”
Sophia threw her hands in the air. “Stop lying. I’m already giving you an olive branch. You want more? That’s not enough? You have to be disrespectful and insult my intelligence.”
I wasn’t going to shift fully, but I had to do something. My eyes flickered and I stared hard while my fangs extended. I reached my hand forward allowing just enough hair to poke through my skin before it quickly retreated.
Sophia stared at me in horror.
I closed my eyes, letting the glittering flicker in my pupils faded before I opened them again.
“Soph, it’s a shock. And there is a lot to talk about. But I can assure you. I’m not insulting your intelligence.”
She nodded. “I think I see that now.”
I closed the French doors behind me and walked onto the deck. Sophia had just left the house with Ad
aline.
“How did that go?” Elena asked.
It was dark on the beach. There was nothing but stars in the sky. It was clear and breezy. The waves crashed.
“Sophia seemed happy it went well. I assured her we made sure Adaline had her afternoon nap and there wasn’t a trace of sunburn on her.”
I sat in the chair next to Elena and brought her into my lap. I had spent my day with Adaline.
“She seems to be handling all the news surprisingly well.”
I huffed. “I think she’s still in shock. It hasn’t really hit her yet. But at least she’s trying.”
“I’m glad,” she purred, rubbing her hands over my chest. “I missed you today.”
“I missed you too.” I kissed her.
She sat forward. “The beach was fun, wasn’t it?”
I nodded. “She’s a cute kid.”
Elena laughed. “She takes after her father.”
“I had no idea children were so exhausting. No wonder my parents stocked the nursery with nannies.”
“Maybe we should go to bed,” she suggested. Her hands slid under my shirt, raking her nails over my ribs. I inhaled. “If you have another afternoon with your daughter like today planned, you might want to sleep while you can,” she warned.
“The staff is gone.” I kissed her throat. “We don’t need to go inside.”
She licked her lips. “The agents are still around.” Her hips rocked into my lap. My cock grew hard.
“They’re always around. If I waited for them to be out of earshot every time, I’d never get to fuck you, baby.”
She gasped. “Is that what you want to do right now?”
I looked at the cabana that enclosed the west side of the balcony. Canvas curtains were the only partition, but that was enough.
“Oh, that’s what I’m going to do right now.”
I waggled my eyebrows. Elena giggled when I stood. She wrapped her legs around my waist and I walked inside the cabana. I turned and tied the canvas together, enclosing us inside.
The sound of the waves crashing on the beach echoed around us.
I slid the tie from her robe and watched it fall to the floor. She was wearing a satin gown that brushed the tops of her thighs. I groaned at how her tits poked against the material.
She smelled like the sun and beach. Her hair was still damp at the ends from her shower.
I gripped her ass, squeezing hard.
“Cor,” she sighed.
I laid her on the couch and knelt between her legs. I pushed the gown to her stomach and inhaled the clean scent through her panties.
I peeled them over her legs and off her ankles. I growled as my fingers pried her slit wide. Elena whimpered when I spread her legs so I could feast on her pussy. I drew a long lick from her ass to her clit. She bucked from the cushions before pushing herself forward, offering me the sweetest delicacy.
I thrust my tongue inside her entrance, keeping her folds open. Her clit was hard. I flicked it when I heard her begin to pant with urgent need.
“Oh, Cor.”
“I need to hear you, baby,” I groaned.
She tried to press her knees together, but I held them down as she purred with pleasure. She was fucking exotic. She propped up on her elbows and watched me suck and lick with abandon.
“I’m going to come,” she whimpered. “Oh shit.” Her head fell back and I pumped my tongue with more energy until I felt her clamp against it with the full power of her climax.
Her eyes opened and she grinned. I slid my pants down and freed my aching cock. I climbed on the couch, pushing my cock to her entrance. I was inside her with a sudden thrust.
“Oh fuck.” She was my home. My north. My everything. I belonged inside her pussy. I knew it the instant I felt her walls surround my dick, guiding me, leading me, loving me.
The wind kicked up a corner of the canvas and her eyes widened. But I kissed her and she forgot we were on the deck. That the only thing separating us from the rest of the world was a curtain. I rocked into her, taking one ankle to my shoulder.
“Oh God, Cor,” she purred.
I rolled her nipple between my fingers over the satin nightie. She groaned at the friction. Her eyes were full of fire and adoration. There was something carnal there that tore at my chest. She was mine. My dirty perfect girl. The woman I loved. The woman I wanted to give my baby.
My spine tingled with a wash of heat as my balls slapped at her, my cock driving deeper. Another thrust. Another fuck. And I was gone.
She cried out, and I pierced inside her heat, filling her with my come. It was primitive and animalistic but I wanted my baby inside her. Growing strong and healthy. The more I thought about it, the more my cock erupted, claiming her. I’d never wanted something like I wanted this.
Her pants turned to sighs of satisfaction. She ran her nails over my biceps and I shivered. The sweat rolled down my chest.
“There aren’t words for what you do to m.” I pulled out and sat next to her. She curled her knees to her chest.
Her eyes lifted to mine. “I want to keep it inside me a little longer,” she explained.
I exhaled. “Do you have any idea how hot that is?”
She shook her head. “It’s how much I want your baby. A brother or sister for Adaline,” she whispered. The tiny sliver of a strap slid from her shoulder and her nipple was exposed to the salty beach air.
Had she ever looked more like a goddess than she did right now? Her cheeks were flush. Her skin dewy. Her hair cascaded on the cushions. Her pussy swollen and full of my seed. And her tits were hard like perfect peaks.
I’d never felt connected to a woman like I did to her. I had loved Sophia in my own way. But it wasn’t the kind of love that lasted. It wasn’t the kind of love that could endure. I either didn’t have the patience for it back then, or she just wasn’t the right woman.
I didn’t care what it was, as long as I learned whatever lesson I screwed up with her so I could always be there for Elena. So that I could be the man she deserved. Be the man she needed. She had given me something so pure and special. And I wasn’t fucking this love up.
36
Elena
We had been in Charleston for three weeks. Cor and Sophia were at an impasse. We saw Adaline every day, but when he and Sophia were together, they couldn’t agree on where to raise the small princess. Sophia seemed to understand that by the time she was five, her shifter side would become more dominant, but she wasn’t willing to budge while Adaline was still so young.
We had settled into a routine at the beach estate. I had eased into my role as quasi-step-mother. Sophia didn’t seem as concerned with me as she did with the possibility Cor would try to take Adaline to Galona.
We had car seats installed. I had bought an entire nursey set of furniture as well as strollers and toys. The pool was secure and we had childproofed the entire mansion. Adaline ran around the beach house as if she had grown up under its roof.
Cor was a natural with her. They read books and chased seagulls on the beach. He taught her how to blow bubbles in the pool and even got her to jump in the shallow end.
I loved the city. My favorite place to go was the market. If I went early enough in the morning it wasn’t as hot. It gave Cor and Adaline time together while I shopped. It had been so long since I could do something so normal as shop. I didn’t realize how much I enjoyed it.
There were those occasions when I would drop Adaline off at the end of the day that Sophia and I would talk. We were never going to be close like Cosette and I were, but there was a commonality we shared. We both knew Cor only the way a woman who had loved him could, and we both wanted what was best for Adaline.
The more I talked to her, the more I realized her life in Charleston was beautiful. Adaline may have been the reason she moved, but the more time I spent with her, I realized Sophia was the reason she wanted to stay. And for the first time since I discovered her secret, I got it. I understand what she wanted, and why.
Today everything had changed. I suddenly had more in common with Sophia. My hand ran over my stomach. I was still in my silk robe, not ready to get dressed. I wanted to soak in the moment a little longer.
I sat in the sunroom, scrolling through another round of applicants Wallace had sent over for royal managers. Trying to find a pair wasn’t easy. It didn’t help that I compared them to my own credentials. I couldn’t bring myself to schedule interviews.
I took a sip of lemon tea.
Cor walked into the room. “Good morning, baby.”
“Hi. How’d you sleep?” I asked. He leaned, kissing me on the neck. It always made me shiver with a tiny spark of electricity.
“I think I’m starting to get used to beach life. I like sleeping with the windows cracked. The ocean puts me right to sleep.”
I laughed. “You and Adaline,” I teased.
“Too bad, we have to leave. I can’t get this ocean breeze in my apartments.”
I sat forward, closing the laptop. “What do you mean leave?” It was the first time he had mentioned it.
“I talked to Alaric this morning. This hiatus is over. He needs to take some time off with Eden. I have to head back to Freychon immediately.”
“Is everything all right?” I asked. “Is something wrong with Eden? The baby?”
“They are fine. But he has to go to London with her for two weeks. He doesn’t want her to travel alone, though he says she tried to convince him to stay. He wants me to take over.”
I bit my lip. “Oh, for her dissertation.” My shoulders relaxed. They had been going back and forth to London for a while. But I hadn’t known the king to take off for more than a few days at a time.
“What are you going to tell Sophia?” I asked. I wasn’t ready to think about returning to Freychon.
He looked out at the water. There were sailboats on the horizon.
“I was hoping if she saw Adaline with me, she’d be willing to move. She should know a daughter shouldn’t be without a father.”
