26: Phoenix’s POV

Something felt so right about having her in my arms. I never wanted it to stop. I hoped she ignored the rapid pace of my heart as her head rested on my chest. Just as I hoped she didn’t base the promise of our future unions on this one alone. I was so nervous having her stand in front of me, so unnervingly beautiful. I’d been like a schoolboy jumping into bed for the first time.

Her breathing slowed after a few moments and I worked to quiet my own thoughts. They were not easy to quiet as I sat in the candlelight, holding a sleeping Ada. I couldn’t help but compare myself to how I was sure my brothers were with her. They were probably confident and powerful with her. I had intended to be— had been. But that dance in the ballroom… the smiles and laughs as I led her through the hallway, which I wasn’t even sure she knew she was doing…

They had made me giddy, nervous. It seemed my heart had fallen for her in a matter of a few moments. I’d never been emotionally vested in a woman I had bedded before. I knew the nerves had gotten the best of me. Though, she had still had a magnificent orgasm, so at least I had done my duty as a mate.

Ada stirred in my arms and I instinctively closed my eyes and slowed my own breathing. She rolled out of my arms quietly. I opened my eyes slightly, hoping that from a distance they would still look closed. She hurried around the room, pulling on her slip and then her skirt. She grabbed her corset up and then put on her shoes. After a quick glance around the room and then at me, she stepped over to the door.

I watched as she inched it open and looked into the shared lounge space. She glanced to the left and to the right, starting to take a step out the door.

My voice echoed, “We have nothing to hide, Ada.”

She yelped, spinning around and clutching a hand to her chest. Her eyes were wide, like a doe startled in the forest. She threw her corset at me as I laughed deeply, “It isn’t funny, Phoenix!”

I tossed my legs over the side of the bed, my full charm and confidence seeming to have returned. Her eyes raked over my body as I stood, completely naked. I walked over to a set of drawers and pulled out some sweat pants and a shirt, “Oh, but it is,” I pulled on the clothes, “Let me walk you back to your chambers.”

She didn’t argue as I started toward her. I opened the door to the lounge fully, walking with my shoulders back. She followed, her words hushed, “I wasn’t ashamed. I just didn’t want to wake anyone.”

“It’s after dawn,” I responded lightly, listening to the sounds of servants beginning to move around the hallway, “You had nothing to worry about.”

Ada ran a hand over her face as we stepped into the hall, “I thought it was late, not *early.*”

Her resounding groan made my cock twitch. We remained silent the rest of the way to her chambers, and she approached the door in front of me, I felt like we’d gotten there too quickly. As she stepped into the door, I found myself longing for her to invite me inside. But she simply turned and turned her chin down in farewell. I returned the gesture, turning on my heel.

The timing was good because Nik and Darius would be sitting down for breakfast at this time. I could join them and hopefully shove the new empty feeling out of my chest. It was as if she’d taken my heart with her as she closed the door to her chambers. Suddenly, I understood Darius’ gloom face and Nik’s need to deflect. This woman was capable of bewitching three men within the span of a single night alone.

As I entered the dining room, Darius and Nik looked up at me. We all shared a miserable expression. The silent exchange of the words ‘I love her’ was enough to make me slump into a chair. This was genuinely hopeless. Our father expected Ada to be nothing more than a simple surrogate, a fated one. But why not more? Why couldn’t she marry one of us? Darius was already betrothed to Lady Elizabeth Jane, which left her two perfectly good suitors. She was an Alphas daughter— previously exiled or not. And I knew Darius and Nik were looking into that, as her father’s pack Beta had suggested that wasn’t a warranted exile.

So why couldn’t she marry one of us?

I ate quietly and so did the others. Normally, our boisterous laughter and conversations could be heard at least a few rooms over— drawing unwanted attention from other members of the Court and sometimes our father. Today, there would be no chance of us drawing the attention of unwanted guests.

There was a creak as the door opened behind me and I rolled my eyes. When we didn’t draw them in, they came anyway. The Kingdom’s Beta, Cade, sat in the empty seat across from Nik. While he wasn’t necessarily an unwanted visitor, he also wasn’t someone we enjoyed being around all the time. Him and his wife, Mariah, had been drenched in scandal a few times in their union— with her cutting ties with her fated mate to be with Cade, only to discover that she is barren.

But Cade was generally a nice man. Or at least nicer than our father. So the three of us definitely preferred to deal with him over the Great Alpha King Everett Ashford.

Cade grinned as he looked at the three of us, “I just passed Miss Ada on her way to the dining hall,” he sighed, “I was with you father,” Darius’ eyes darkened and he glanced at Nik and I as the Beta continued, “Can’t you just sell the pregnancy already?”