The Lunar Queen Chapter 116

Cole POV

Lyric was in heat for seven fucking days. By day 3 Kairo and I were both already exhausted. Having hours of sex with your mate sounds amazing but in retrospect it's draining and painful. Her heat broke early this morning and she is finally asleep. It’s been a constant cycle of sex, eat, sleep, sex, eat, sleep. We eventually moved to the shower when her body was almost burning to the touch but nothing helped but us. It was never enough and now my dick is so sore it has to be broken.

Kairo walks out of the bathroom with an ice pack on his own dick, glancing at Lyric spread out on the bed still naked. Her body is covered in love bites and scratches, bruises that Nova thinks is funny not to heal for her.

A week ago I probably would have felt awkward standing here like this with him. Now it just feels normal. Like we've been doing this forever.

“How long do you think she will be out?” he asks, coming around to place the ice pack on my dick and I wince the moment he places it down.

I hiss in pain.

“I’m sorry, mate,” he says, smiling and shaking his head.

“Why the hell was her heat so extreme? It was like we never had a moment to recoup,” I say, leaning back against the headboard.

“I don’t know. I’ve never even heard of a heat lasting a full seven days,” Kairo says, stepping into his closet.

Honestly, after everything we've learned about our mate, I shouldn't even be surprised. Lyric has never done anything the normal way.

“You know she isn’t going to like that you’re not leaving with us,” I say to him.

He goes quiet.

“I know, but being locked in a room with you two wasn’t really part of the plan,” he says.

The bond immediately lets me feel his sadness and I hate it. Not because he's wrong. Because I feel it too.

“Good luck explaining that to her,” I say, standing from the bed to go shower.

Kairo grabs my arm as I walk past him.

“You’re blocking me. How do you feel?” he asks.

Honestly, this last week gave me even more time to really accept that he is my mate and although I never saw this for myself, I can’t deny what my wolf wants and the way my body reacts to him when he is around.

Somewhere between day one and day seven, he stopped feeling like an addition to our life and started feeling like he belonged in it.

I let my block down and his eyes go wide.

“Is that how you really feel?” he asks.

I step closer to him and kiss him once.

“You are mine too, Kairo. I’m sorry if I made you doubt our bond. It was just something to adjust to, but you are ours always,” I say, kissing him once more before turning to walk into the bathroom.

The relief that floods through the bond is immediate and so strong it almost makes me laugh.

We’re set to leave tomorrow morning, even more because we stayed an extra four days.

“Stop making mate feel you don’t want him. I don’t like it,” Zeus huffs before retreating.

He doesn’t understand how crazy this all is for me. I never looked at a man that way before. Never imagined a future that looked like this.

But every time I think about leaving tomorrow, the thought of leaving Kairo behind feels just as wrong as leaving Lyric.

I’ve accepted him and I'm learning to be more comfortable with being intimate with him.

When I come out of the shower, Kairo is standing in front of the mirror fixing the cufflinks on his shirt.

“I have a meeting with the council to discuss what moving to the East will look like for the kingdom. You coming?” he asks me.

“Yes, but let’s leave her a note because if she doesn’t see either one of us when she wakes up, we’re both in trouble,” I say to him.

He laughs because we both know exactly how that conversation would go.

I walk to the closet to get dressed while he writes her the note. He lightly kisses her forehead before picking up his phone and walking to wait by the door.

For a second his eyes linger on her sleeping form and I know leaving is just as hard for him as it is for her.

After I get dressed, we walk out of the room and stop in the dining room.

Hunter is in there with Hannah and a little girl I’ve never seen before.

“Papa’s!” Hannah shouts, dropping her piece of bacon and running toward us.

I scoop her up and spin her around.

“Hey princess, I missed you,” I say, kissing her all over her face.

Her giggles fill the room instantly.

It’s crazy how quickly she became ours. It feels like she’s been calling us papa forever.

I hand her to Kairo and he does the same thing.

“Hello, my princess. How are you this morning?” he asks her.

“I’m good, papa. I made a friend,” she says, pointing to the little girl.

The little girl immediately ducks behind Hunter’s chair and Hannah giggles.

“Where is your brother?” I ask.

“He’s with Uncle Josh and Uncle Javier,” she says.

“Okay, tomorrow we are going back home,” I say to her.

She immediately looks at Kairo.

“Are you coming home too?” she asks.

“Not yet, little one,” he says.

Her tears start falling before he can even finish the sentence.

The bond immediately fills with his sadness and guilt.

“But what about the babies?” she asks.

“What babies?” he asks.

“The ones in mama’s tummy,” she says.

Everything goes quiet.

Kairo slowly looks at me.

I slowly look at him.

Hunter chokes on his coffee.

“The what?” Hunter asks.

“The babies,” Hannah repeats like we're the stupid ones.

She says it with so much confidence that I already know she isn't guessing.

“They’re in mama’s tummy. I saw them.”

We both look at each other again.

I mean there is no way she wasn’t pregnant after all that sex but multiples again?

Fuck Selene.

“Okay, we will talk about the babies later. We have to go talk to Papa Kairo’s council so that he can come home, okay?” I say to her.

She wipes her tears and nods her head.

“Okay, Papa,” she says.

Kairo hugs her tightly and kisses the top of her head before putting her down.

His eyes linger on her for a second longer than necessary and I know neither of us missed the way she said "come home" instead of "come with us."

“Hunter, tell everyone to start packing up. We’re leaving first thing tomorrow,” I say before we turn and walk out.

“You think she is really pregnant?” Kairo asks.

“If Hannah says she’s pregnant, then I’m sure she’s pregnant,” I say. “Lyric got pregnant the first time we had sex with triplets.”

Kairo drags a hand down his face.

“Damn. She’s going to be pissed even more when she finds out I’m not leaving with you and she’s pregnant. Fuck.”

The bond lets me feel exactly how stressed he is about it and honestly, I don't blame him. Telling our mate she's pregnant and then telling her we're leaving one of her mates behind sounds like a terrible plan.

When we make it to the council hall, they are all seated waiting.

“Hello, my Kings,” Zena says.

“Hello, Zena. How are you this morning?” I ask.

“Well, my King,” she says.

“Where is the Queen?” she asks.

“She is getting a much needed rest after such a long and tiring heat,” Kairo says.

Several council members suddenly find the table very interesting and I have to fight the urge to laugh.

“Let’s discuss the plans for the kingdom. Are we combining?” Zena asks.

“No. The Queen doesn’t think it to be wise, so we have decided to rule separately for now,” he says.

She nods and smiles.

“Our Queen is very wise. I believe we should focus on getting you back in touch with your pack and your kingdom.”

I smile.

“Lyric said the same thing,” I say.

She laughs and raises her hands high.

“The gods have blessed us with a worthy Queen,” she says.

She looks at Kairo.

“I wish your parents could see you now. They would be happy to know you are happy,” she says softly.

For a moment the room grows quiet and I watch Kairo swallow hard. Even now, after getting him back, there are wounds that haven't completely healed.

“I need to find a way to be present here and be in the East with my family,” Kairo says.

Hearing him claim us all as his family has Zeus howling in my mind and I’ll admit it makes the tightness in my chest loosen.

“You're mate is a witch,” she says.

“I know,” he says.

“Your Majesty, your mate is said to be the most powerful being in our world until your pups come into their own,” she says.

His face looks confused like he still isn’t understanding what she is saying.

“Lyric can create portals,” I say, forgetting about that myself as I try not to think about why she used one.

His eyes go wide.

“Seriously?” he asks.

“Yes,” I say.

The moment it clicks, I practically see the realization hit him.

He doesn't have to choose.

He doesn't have to spend months away from us.

He doesn't have to lose another family.

He grins wide and his eyes light up.

The relief that slams through the bond is so strong it nearly takes my breath away.

“Well, in that case I will be moving out of the Western Kingdom to the Eastern Kingdom and I will have my mate make a portal for me to travel back and forth every morning,” he says to Zena.

She just smiles at him.

“Of course, my King. We wouldn’t have seen it any other way,” she says, bowing her head.

Not a single member of the council argues. Not one. They all look relieved that their King finally has a chance to be happy.

“We should go see if our mate is awake and tell her the news,” I say lightly tapping his hand.

He looks down at my hand still lingering on his and smiles.

“Yes, we should,” he says.

And just like that the last real obstacle standing between us disappears.

“Meeting adjourned. We will see you all tomorrow before we leave,” he says to the council.

“Thank you all for your time,” I say as we head out and back toward his room.

Everything right now feels like it is finally right.

I never felt incomplete, but for some reason I just feel whole since finding Kairo.

Like Fate didn't give me something new.

It returned something I never realized was missing.