63: Ada's POV

I’d been checked nearly 5 times while the Princes were gone. I still wasn’t pregnant. The doctors ensured me that it was possible for things like this to take time, and a nurse had alluded that it may not be my fault. I wasn’t sure what to make of that, but I did know that the Alpha King seemed displeased the few times he’d set eyes on me while his sons were gone. 

None of that mattered now. Nik would be returning tonight, Phoenix two days later, and Darius a few days after that. My body ached for all of them and Sahara seemed panicked from being away from them for so long— even Darius. I’d felt sick over the last few week, sullen with little energy. Training with Finn had been a much needed distraction, even if it hadn’t gone very well. 

Sure, on the second day, I’d gotten to where I could summon plain shadows and not what he called Black Acid. The problem was that they were incredibly weak compared to the acid. I couldn’t manipulate them at all yet, and they were more like whisps of gray cloud rather than full on shadows. Finn kept insisting it was nothing to be embarrassed or stressed about, but I couldn’t stop myself from feeling like an absolute failure. 

The Forest of the Forgotten had been nothing like the rumors about it. I had been expecting something out of my nightmares— blackened earth, ghostly whispers and eery feelings. Instead, it was just like any other forest just with larger trees, a heavier overhead canopy and thrumming with more wildlife. There was definitely a heavier thrum of magic that was evident in the earth itself, but otherwise… it was just a normal forest. Finn had given me a bit of an odd look when I’d said as much on day three of his training process. 

On day four of the process, he had been just slightly less optimistic about how fast my training could go on this front. By day five, he seemed happy to throw in the towel for the next few weeks. Nik had given him a play by play of what had transpired between me and Darius and Finn didn’t seem to want to be here when any of the princes got home. 

The thing was that I’d had a lot of time to think about my mates while they were gone. I kept the bonds between Darius and Phoenix closed almost all of the time, and had only spoken to each of them two or three times while they’ve been gone. But Nik? It was every night that I opened that bond. Sometimes, during the day, I’d open it just enough to send whatever I was feeling toward him and get a response back just to close it again. It was comforting. *He* was comforting to me. 

That wasn’t to say that Darius and Phoenix didn’t have their benefits. Phoenix made me feel playful and powerful at the same time. I enjoyed how carefree I could feel with him. Darius was… well, getting more complicated with every day that went by that I didn’t talk to him. I was still so angry and so hurt by him that I wasn’t sure I was on board with him as a mate yet. Sahara definitely wasn’t. Every time I thought maybe I’d overreacted, my shithead of a wolf would send the same overpowering feelings I’d had every time he laid with Elizabeth, the devastation that had set into my chest when I’d found out he was married.Well, mated. As wolves, we didn’t just marry. He had to take her as a chosen mate. 

And he had to do that after he knew I was his fated mate. 

Guilt twinged in my abdomen, sloshing around in a nauseating manner. He’d only done it because of what I’d said to him. The threats I’d made… I couldn’t honestly say I wouldn’t have tried to do the same. And the fact was that as of right now, Darius and Elizabeth *were* only married. He hadn’t rejected our bond. He also hadn’t accepted it, or completed it. This fact, along with the fact that he didn’t try and force either of his brothers or me to reject our bonds, was what I held onto when it came to him. As angry as I was, there had to be some part of the Darius that gave me butterflies still in him. 

None of these thoughts changed the one I was most terrifying of acknowledging: Nikolai Ashford, the Midnight Prince of the Kingdom of the Moonglade, was the one of my three mates that I was looking the most forward to seeing. I craved the peace and serenity and safety I felt when he was around. The causality in which he existed in my presence, simply reading or sitting in silence, made my heart ache at our distance. If I wasn’t careful, he would be the only one of the Princes that I had any interest in spending any time with. 

Finn had been a good portion of the reason I’d managed to work through anything involving the princes. He had spent the last five days training me while their was sunlight and then sitting with me long into the night. His face would remain neutral while I spoke and he listened intently, and he never gave me an inkling of disgust or annoyance— not even when I’d repeated myself for the thousandth time or given him far more details than I should have about my encounters with the princes. He’d been patient and offered advice. 

And now he was sitting on my couch with his right leg on his left knee and a somber expression contorting his usually friendly features. I sat in the loveseat across from, anxious for Nik’s return in a few hours. Finn ran a hand through his white hair and set his red-black eyes on me. I shivered, but held his gaze. 

His voice, thick with that accent I didn’t recognize, was soft, “It’s time we speak about your mother.”

I froze. Was he serious? He’d spent five days casually sidestepping any question I had or changing the subject when I even mentioned her. Now he wanted to talk about her? Since I seemed incapable of forming words, I simply nodded. 

“She is not a normal wolf, as I am sure you are aware,” he averted his gaze, looking into the flames of the fire, “She is a shifter who’s familiar is a wolf. Her father gifted her to your father as a sign of peace amongst their races,” Finn sighed and placed both of his feet flat on the ground, “You inherited your father’s werewolf genes and not her Shifter genes for the most part. Your ability to wield magic comes from her,” he explained gently, “I love her very much and was not expecting to find her the way that I did. She and I tried very hard to keep her there until you were older and we could simply take you with us,” his eyebrows furrowed and I heard him sniffle, “Your father had other plans. When he found out we were mated, he tried to take her life. I had to take her away from you to keep her safe. We had to stay away.”

There were a few beats of silence, so I spoke, “I don’t blame either of you for what happened.”

He smiled gently, “I know that. So does she,” a hefty sigh escaped from his lips, “But there’s something she wanted me to tell you. Her mother served as a Seer for Alpha King Everett.”

I blinked. A Shifter Seer? For an Alpha King werewolf? What on earth was happening in this Kingdom? My words were slow, “What did she tell him?”

“She told him there would be a wolf born of Shifter and wolf blood who would bear three wombs and three sons for his three sons,” he recited with air-quotes, “That she would be their destined mate and would divide the kingdom and cause war.”

My nose scrunched up, “Well, I don’t see how that’s possible.”

Finn narrowed his eyes and cocked his head to the side, “Tell me, Ada. How many wolves have you heard of that have had multiple mates at the same time?”

I thought for a moment then whispered, “None.”

“And why do you think that is?”

My first response was going to be something about the Moon Goddess only granting us enough love for one lifetime, but I quickly shot that down as a silly school girl response. The second thought to come to mind was that the desire would simply be too much to handle with three mates, but that seemed to unserious. But the third thought I had I didn’t like very much. 

With a quick swallow, my eyes bore into the flames directly in front of me, “Jealousy. There is no way that multiple mates will be balanced at all times.”

“Which is why I’ve cautioned you about how you feel about Nik,” Finn nodded slowly and laid his hands over his stomach, interlocked, “You will need all three of them in different ways and at different times. From what I understand of their reputations,” there was a slight edge to his voice, “The brothers have not had a problem sharing previous partners. You’ve already shared one experience that would tell me that’s most likely true,” he waggled his eyebrows and I laughed, “but then you also speak of Darius and you may not realize it but he frightens you. His jealousy rules over his emotions when it comes to you. He makes childish decisions he would never otherwise make.”

I opened my mouth to argue but stopped when I realized he was right. Instead, I spoke clearly, “You think he will be the one that will cause the divide.”

“The King has interpreted it to mean that *you* will be responsible for the divide, which is why he has treated you the way he has,” Finn clicked his tongue, “In his mind, if he keeps you from being on the throne or securing your bonds with his sons, then what the seer told him won’t come true,” Finn drummed his fingers along his suit vest, “Now, we obviously don’t know the entirety of what was told to him. Only the bits and pieces that have made it’s way to us from various sources. But the fact remains that you must be careful,” he leaned forward and put his elbows on his knees, “It is not the potential derision and war that scares me or your mother, Ada. It is what those currently in power will do to try and ensure it doesn’t happen.”

Alpha King Everett would kill me if he thought I could harm him Kingdom or his sons. He would. I had no doubt in my mind that my life meant that little to him. Unfortunately, I had one thing going for me: I hadn’t gotten pregnant yet. I smirked, “Well, I haven’t managed to provide a single heir. So I guess that actually works in my favor for now.”

“Keep it that way until Everett is out of the picture,” Finn stressed.

My eyes widened, “That’s why that was your condition.”

A short nod, “I will do anything to keep you safe. As much for me as for your mother.”

There was a knock on the painting hanging on the wall and a slow grin spread across my face. Finn rolled his eyes but blinked out of existence before I could react any further. Words were just forming on my lips when the painting swung open. The illusion of the brick wall rippled and I leapt to my feet. My arms were around his neck before he’d even fully made it into the room. Nik spun around in a circle with a light chuckle and said one word:

“Home.”