After the courtship ends

Life was perfect - extremely and there was nothing else that I wanted from it at the moment. I was deliriously content and even though I knew that there were many more obstacles to come, as long as I had my family together, we were going to get through it all easily.

The courtship had come to an end, according to its time period, but Adrian had yet not proposed.

I wasn't bothered about it at all. Sooner or later, he'd have to, and if he did take time, it would be me doing the proposing.

During the course of our 'dating period', Adrian showed me the entirety of his kingdom and every land he owned both across and beyond the MoonLine. I would be lying if I said that I wasn't overwhelmed at all, but I knew that this was a necessary step in the direction of me finally accepting my role. Along with businesses and properties, he had several orphanages and animal shelters as well, and he had told me that he was going to hand-over the responsibilities of those to me.

I asked him if Delia had been in-charge of something and he shook his head; she had not been interested in any of it but he knew that I would want to - and was capable of - taking care of his orphanages and shelters.

I felt honoured.

Along the same time, the training for me being the Luna Queen had already started and in the beginning I was just made to learn the historical facts about all the Kingdoms that were present on this side of the MoonLine, and the duties that were expected of me.

Again, I had started to become overwhelmed.

No matter how much Mom and Papa had prepared me, it could not beat the real deal. I got to see what and whom I was going to be responsible for - I was going to care for - and it immediately brought up the small insecurities that had been left inside me.

Was I capable of handling such huge, fragile responsibilities?

Fortunately, the team of Elders that were in-charge of training me consisted of my Grandmom Melissa and also my mother, along with Liana who was there with me in every step of way. Watching Liana, I knew that the both of us were completely different in our abilities - I was better in the comforting and nurturing department and this was something I had learnt over time, during my training.

Liana, however, had an expertise in the battlefield no other female had. While I went on a rampant rage during that war, Liana would have strategized and taken them down in a more systematic way.

My admiration for her had increased manifolds.

After the training, it was Adrian who took me in his arms and told me the tidbits of what he had experienced while ruling the kingdom which made me feel that it was okay for the Alphas and Lunas to have flaws.

Slowly, I was taken to take rounds of the Kingdom and I was shown the various, never-ending issues in the Kingdom that needed to be solved and those were the prime duties of the Luna Queen - there were some that an Alpha King could not solve, due to his limited aptitude for the same.

It had helped in bringing out the passion I had carrying out my responsibilities as a Queen.

When it came the time to be in a live-in arrangement with Adrian, finally, Papa spent his entire time fussing over me and caring for me. My mom felt like he was overreacting, because Mom knew that she was going to visit me time and again so she didn't feel like she would be missing me too much.

She was lying, though, because that night she had wrapped her arms around me and put me to sleep like I was a little baby. I had pretended to be asleep while she murmured that she wished she had more time to coddle me. I had to hold back tears just so that she could continue singing lullabies and talking to herself.

And she did this everyday.

We both knew that I couldn't stay at my parent's home forever. The Werewolves were already restless and found the PureBlood courtship unnecessary but empathised with Papa.

The day when it was time to leave was a classic scene where my Papa was bawling his eyes out and my Mom didn't know if she wanted to cry or laugh at my Papa. Quite expected these reactions were, but it still managed to make me cry like a baby. We all knew that there was no reason to be so sad; we were going to be at each others' places a lot and there was always the mind-link so that we could communicate when we wanted to.

And Killian and Selena were always within reach, along with my grandparents.

The one who was the happiest that day was Adrian, and once we had crossed the limits of the PureBlood Kingdom, he had smiled so wide I thought his face would split into two. And then he had grabbed my waist, pulled me towards himself and kissed me so hard that we ended up making love somewhere in those dense forests.

Even though I wasn't in my Heat, we had been insatiable all the time, finding time to atleast have quickies and then once we felt like we had enough for the day - we had to stop some time so that we could do some other types of bonding activities - like talking.

Living in the palace, I had gotten an inside look on Jaxon and Liana's relationship and it was easy to see how happy the both of them were and how much they had progressed since I had last seen them together. Jaxon was a doting mate, and now that she was pregnant, he was even more protective towards her.

Mercy and Theo looked tired almost all the time and everyone knew that Marcus was the one behind it - but not all the time. The sounds that came from their room at random points of the day were more than enough to tell that they definitely didn't spend their free time resting and sleeping.

Adrian and I lived in the same room where I had spent my first heat with him, and it was remodelled a bit to give it a feminine touch. It didn't take much time for both of us to adapt living with each other - doing activities together was hell of an easy thing to do and we had complimentary bad habits so we could just clean up after each other or correct each other.

Yeah, complimentary bad habits.

And then, there were time when we fought like nobody else, just for angry, make-up sex.

There was one time I was touring the grounds of one pack and the Alpha's son had come along with me to give me a tour. Surprisingly, he was young - thirty actually, and I had a great time with him and his mother who had been with us the entire time.

When I returned to our bedroom that evening, I was subjected to furious, demanding kisses and some hot, possessive and angry sex which was followed by a long argument if the Alpha was an innocent guy or not. I was grateful for the sex, but the following argument was draining where he kept on mumbling about how the guy was trying to charm Adrian's queen.

The argument we had the next day was about me closing off the mind-link for three freaking hours and not telling him where I was during that whole time.

My teachers were teaching me how to meditate and I was not supposed to think about anything.

It wasn't my fault that he was busy when I was informing him about the session and he didn't pay attention to what I was telling him.

Luckily, we didn't end up fighting as much and the sex was enough to get our anger out of each other.

There was one time when one of the widowed she-wolves barged into his office and started feeling him up. The others in the room were laughing at his misery while I was seething when I got a mind-link of what was happening.

You wouldn't believe, I actually shifted and scared the fuck out of everyone while on my way to Adrian's office to snap the neck of the woman who happened to be groping my man. I was more pissed than I probably ever was and I had thrown the woman against the nearest wall, shattering some of her bones.

I left the rest of the people to handle her, because I was way too occupied with the images running through my mind that came not from Adrian, but his wolf, and I didn't shift back until his wolf had his way with my shifted form.

I didn't even know that was possible.

We had a nice long argument after that, too, just to get ourselves riled up even when we both knew there was nothing to argue about.

Just for hot angry sex.

Nevertheless, I still needed a lot to learn to be a Luna Queen because I wasn't really brought up in the Kingdom, and that clearly meant that there were a lot of inside things that I needed to learn to be proficient at my work.

Thankfully, all my mentors were kind and best of the best.

"Moon, baby, where is your mind off to?" Adrian had currently brought me out for dinner and we were eating while I was thinking about all the things that had been recently happening.

"I'm just thinking about how easily I - we all - fit in together." I told him, smiling up at him.

"Well, maybe that's because we were meant to fit in together." He held my hand, and kissed it's back.

It had been more than a year since the courtship and started and these tingles were still there - luckily, for me - and Adrian was just more and more doting.

We never used protection - it was of no use, anyways, but there were no signs of me being pregnant. We both were in no hurry - we knew that I would be pregnant as soon as the time would be right, so at the moment we had nothing to worry about. And I was only twenty five, not two hundred something like my mate was.

We were happy with each other.

"It's been more than a year, yeah?" Adrian said, "It feels like I've known you for ages and it has been you who's been by my side all my life."

That was exactly how I felt when I was with him. It felt like there never was any Delia between us, and none of that had happened which had torn us apart. I still kept Aiden's photo with me to remind me that he was once a very important part of my life, even though he wasn't in this world anymore.

Even then, it felt like I had my parents with me all my life, along with my Grandma and that I had been a part of the Werewolf Kingdom ever since I was a baby.

He cleared his throat, "I think it's time we shackle each other."

And I loved Adrian deeply.

It took me some time to register, "Are you...what?" I was staring at his stoic face blankly for a while.

"You heard what I said. Yes, I am proposing to you. Even though I already feel that you're my wife and I know you're all mine, I would very much love a grand wedding ceremony that would put my Kingdom's mind to rest and where I could declare it to everyone that you are my wife. The human world already thinks you are my girlfriend and the people there need to know that you are my wife now." He explained.

I grinned at him, "It's like you are marrying me for extremely diplomatic reasons and it has nothing to do with you wanting to marry me."

"Oh you are getting it extremely wrong," his eyes darkened, "It has everything to do with me wanting to watch you walking towards me in a beautiful wedding gown befitting a Queen and then peeling the same gown off you as I ravish you on our wedding night. Please do not expect a romantic declaration from me now; I tend to go a little overboard and you know since it happens everyday."

I pressed my lips to suppress a giggle. Every morning, when we woke up next to each other, our mind-links were full of lovey-dovey, sappy exchanges from the both of us and that was more than enough to assure me everyday of how much he loved me.

"So, you will marry me." he stated.

"Yes," I smiled, "I will marry you."

********************

The wedding preparations were making me go crazy a little. It wasn't like I had something to handle or something to do, but I had to think and give opinions for everything and every time, it was difficult to choose what I exactly wanted. Adrian was just as pressured for that, because he hadn't participated at all in his previous marriage's ceremony and he wanted this one to suit both of our needs.

Along with that we still were responsible for our training and duties. So it was tiring for the both of us, mentally, to go through all of that. Luckily, we had a lot of physical energy left so we could release our stress in different ways.

We went for runs together, too.

I was panting now, lying naked on top of him and we just got down from another high. I had to admit that this was now my favourite part of the day where all we had to do was give each other pleasure and feel cherished.

"I'll never tire of you," Adrian murmured and pressed a kiss against my forehead. I felt his naked, sweaty abs bunch up against me as he bent to do that and I moaned, aroused again.

Because of our never-ending energy, it was very difficult to pry our hands off each other. We could go several rounds and still not want to stop, but we had to because we needed the sleep so we could start afresh for the next day.

"I want more, Adrian," I whimpered, feeling his erection against my belly again, "But I think if we go another round, I might just see the sunrise next."

"This one will be the last then," he murmured in my hair, "We will together think of something gross to turn us off."

"You said the same thing the last time." I whispered, holding myself up on his chest when he flipped up over.

"I will be on top this time." he growled, pinning my wrists on the side of my head.

I struggled a little but let it go once he was really inside me.

And yes, this time, it was the last time.

We just lay down on the bed for some more time, till we fell asleep.

"Luna!" A voice rang out while I was asleep.

I jerked awake, finding Adrian just as wide awake as beside me, his eyes widened with alarm.

We looked at each other as the voices rang out in our heads in unison.

"We need help! The witches are losing to Zora!"

Now, this was a new beginning...

And an end for Zora.

"Where are you? How much more time are you going to take?" I heard the slight groan in his voice through the mind-link.

I could sense from afar that a certain someone was desperate for his mate's attention and it was much more obvious in the way he kept pegging me after every 30 seconds about how far I was. This supernatural speed was of no use, because people were still impatient and so used to being so fast. It was definitely difficult when we were in the human world and after so many years, it made me go bonkers when everything was definitely so slow there.

Adrian was tired and frustrated today, that too for no absolute reason.

"Right around the corner, and here I am!" I reached the bedroom and wrapped my arms around my husband. He was right at the door waiting for me to come inside and we both tumbled towards the bed.

"The annual Alpha Games will be starting in a month." Adrian told me, sitting up on the bed and pulling me into his lap.

"Nervous, old man?" I teased, wrapping my arms around his neck.

"Old man?" His eyes narrowed a little, and then a smirk came up his face, "Do you want his old man to show you how old he is with creaky joints and poor stamina?"

I giggled and turned my head when he swooped in to kiss me, but he managed to capture my lips by restricting my movement just in time.

"I'm not not nervous. It just gets old after so many years of winning all the time. It's nearing a thousand years with me on the throne, and I know my tenure will be longer than average. I have many centuries more to rule, which really makes these games pointless. Now wonder your grandfather, Malcolm, always told me that this was going to get boring soon." He sighed and fell back on the bed taking me along with him.

"I don't think there's anything you can do about it, can you?" I traced his jaw as he stared at the ceiling, "At least the games will offer you something different from your everyday job."

"I know," He said, "There's nothing I can do, but I am hoping for some change now. Something different."

"Well, there is going to be something different."

"I know the games -"

"I'm not talking about the games."

There was pin drop silence in the room, but Adrian's head was full of noises. I had a shit-eating grin on my face while Adrian gently put me aside, and stared straight at me while trying to inconspicuously sniff me.

He was straining his ears as well, just in case he could hear another set of heartbeats.

"Are you for real?" His eyes widened, "Please tell me, you're pregnant!" He was barely containing himself just in case I proved him wrong.

I nodded, tears pooling in my eyes as we shared multiple thoughts about our future in my head. "We are finally going to be parents."

"Oh my Goddess!" He whispered and circled his arms around me, showering kisses everywhere he could.

This was definitely one of the best moments of our life because we had been waiting for this for centuries. We had no idea why we were not getting pregnant after such rigorous mating, but then, even my parents and my grandparents had to wait for quite long. I had devoted my entire time to being a wife as well as a Queen, nurturing my people and those children and animals, who needed to be nurtured.

Everything was fine, Adrian and I had already parented hundreds of children and animals but going through the process of being pregnant was an entire experience I wanted to go through - especially because I only had one chance.

The supernaturals were strong believers of destiny, so we both kept telling ourselves that I would get pregnant when it was the right time.

The right time had finally come and I honestly couldn't be happier.

"I think my head is going to burst." Adrian grinned, "This was the last thing I expected to happen. Who else knows about this news?"

"Only you and I," I grinned, "I have known since when I woke up today, I conceived during my heat one week ago. You had already left in the morning so I couldn't tell you. How I managed to keep it from you the entire time, only I know." I said, "We have to be extremely careful."

"Why? Because of you being a hybrid?" Worry crossed his features.

"It's not what you think; if I have survived, the baby will survive for sure. It's just that I am unsure about the gestation period. And the mood swings as well as other things that come along." I bit my lip.

"Don't worry your head about that, I will take care of everything. You just have to rest, sleep, order me around and keep our baby safe." He kissed my forehead, "You have no idea how happy you have made me, baby."

"I think I do have an idea just how happy you are," I grinned at him.

He grew thoughtful for a moment and he was thinking along the lines - how long will we have to wait for the baby?

"At least a year, I think. PureBlood gestation periods are much longer than those of Werewolves - I think my mom will have an idea about it."

"I don't care, honestly. This is going to happen only once and I want to make every moment count."

"I love you." I kissed him.

"And I you, my Queen, I love you, too."

**********************************

My mom was screeching the moment I told her that I was pregnant, "I am finally going to be a grandmom!"

My father was somewhat speechless. And when he did open his mouth, it was something along the lines, "It's been years since I held a baby."