Chapter 55

It had been a week since we had succeeded in ruining Duke’s plans and burnt Erik and him to the ground. We had found the secret hideout where they had stored all the spell books and information on the vortex. King Joel had been accommodating, and once he delivered Roy to us, he turned his focus on Claire and Noah.

King Joel wasn’t very impressed with Claire for hiding her mating with Duke. He expressed that if Claire had told him, he would have helped her figure out what Duke was up to. After a few words between the father and daughter, Claire admitted that Noah was her second chance mate. However, she needed time to sort her broken heart out before she was ready to commit to Noah.

Noah being the darling soul he is, immediately agreed to Claire’s wishes. He did, however, request that they meet at least twice a week to get to know each other more. To our surprise, it was King Joel that had jumped up and agreed on Claire’s behalf. Noah was a King’s beta, and that gave him a high rank making him desirable. Claire didn’t resist Noah’s request either. She said it was only fair since he was so accomodating.

Once everything was organized, King Joel and Claire left for the North. Nicholas also decided to head home for a few days. He had work piling up, and as much as I didn’t want him going, I understood. His people needed him.  Saying goodbye to him was hard. He was finally mine, and all I wanted to do was lock ourselves in a room and forget the world existed.

After Nicholas left, dad and I started interrogating Roy. We wanted to know what Duke had not told us and if there were any plans he had made that would catch us by surprise. Shiloh helped us get information out of Roy, and after days of torture, Roy finally spilled his guts. With all the information we now had, Asher was given his first mission. He and Esther left to find the remnants of Duke’s plans.

Things were finally falling into place.

I looked out my balcony watching the warriors train on the field. We had hiked up the security and started doing a little more intensive training. Matt, with the help of our senior warriors, came up with more training tactics.

The beautiful blue sky filled with orange rays as the sun started to rise on the horizon. I smiled and took a deep breath. Today was going to be amazing.

“Happy Birthday, sweetheart,” dad's voice interrupted my thoughts.

I turned to find my father standing at the doorway with a box in his hand.

“Thanks, daddy. What’s this?” He handed me the box and pulled me into a hug.

“It’s a present,” he laughed.

“Nooo, really? I couldn’t tell” I rolled my eyes, making him laugh more.

“Open it,” he smiled.

We walked back into my room, and I placed the box on the bed, ripping it open quickly.

Inside the box was a beautiful white dress. I quickly pulled it out and examined it. It was a silk, off-shoulder, A-line dress with lacework and pearls around the neck and shoulder area.

I walked over to my full-length mirror and held the dress up against my body to see how it looked.

“Daddy, this is gorgeous,” I exclaimed, twirling around a little.

“It was your mum's wedding dress. She said to give it to you when the time came. I think it’s time. It can be your, something old” dad gazed at the dress in awe. I'm sure he had so many memories of mum in this dress.

I couldn’t help but tear up. I missed mum. Ash and I were 5 when she passed away. After discovering I was the White Wolf, I was so mad that I hadn’t found out earlier. Maybe I would have saved her if I knew.

I closed my eyes and clutched the dress tightly between my arms. It was mum's blessing for me.

“Thanks, dad. It really means a lot” I quickly wiped my eyes and smiled at my father, who was trying to keep a brave face.

“However, I don’t need it just yet. Nicholas and I haven’t really talked about a wedding yet.” We hadn’t really talked about much at all.

“I know, Hunny. But I want you to have the dress. Maybe make it your own. I’m giving it to you now, so you have time to prepare it accordingly” dad rubbed my shoulder and kissed my head.

“I’m not changing anything about it. It’s beautiful just the way it is” I looked over the dress again.

“Okay, Hunny. I’ve got a meeting in 10mins. Shall we have some breakfast after that?”

“Sure thing. I’m going to go for a quick run to the hills. I’ll see you soon,” I replied and folded the dress.

Dad nodded and left. I put the dress back in the box and placed it on a shelf in my wardrobe. I quickly pulled on my joggers and a t-shirt before heading out towards the forest.

Kona wanted to go for a run, too, but I hadn’t run in my human form in a while. I needed to see what my stamina was like.

As I got to the bottom of the hill, I thought back to Nicholas. I hadn’t heard from him this morning. Had he forgotten it was my birthday? No, he couldn’t. If my past had taught me anything, it was to trust the boy. He had remembered before, and he would remember today. Maybe he was just busy.

I pushed the thought to the back of my mind and jogged up the hill. The sun sat right on the horizon as I got to the top. Its warmth touched my body, igniting a fire in me. I closed my eyes and soaked up the heat.

****Baby, where are you?**** Nicholas’s voice popped into my head.

****Why? What’s it to you?**** I snapped back. I obviously was still bitter he hadn’t wished me.

“I’m asking so I can find you” Nicholas’s voice from behind me made me jump.

I put my hand over my heart to calm myself down.

“What the hell?! Are you trying to give me a heart attack?!” I roared, trying to stop my racing heart.

“Sorry, baby. I didn’t mean to scare you.” Nicholas laughed.

“Yeah, I’m sure you didn’t. What do you want?” I rolled my eyes and turned away.

“Oh, is someone angry?” Nicholas snickered. His voice was a little closer.

“Nope. Why should I be angry?” I kept my back to him.

“You know I didn’t forget,” Nicholas replied.

I rolled my eyes. He didn’t need to justify. I knew he hadn’t forgotten. I guess I was just annoyed he wasn’t the first person to wish me this morning.

I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose, slowly turning around.

“I know you didn-...” I stopped when I saw the sight before me.

Nicholas was kneeling on one knee with a rose in his hand held out for me. He was wearing a suit and had his hair sleeked back into his man bun. My mouth started to water at the sight of my husky man.

“I can never forget your birthday, baby. Never. I know I should have been the first one to wish you today, but you’ve got a mate that loves to surprise you. Ten hours later, here I am, on my knees, wishing you a very Happy Birthday. Although that wasn’t the only motive I had behind being here today,” he pushed the rose further out for me to take.

Once I had put my hand out for the rose, Nicholas grabbed my hand and pulled me closer, so I was standing right in front of him.

“Do you remember the day we first met?” He asked.

I nodded and swallowed loudly. What was he up to?

“From that day till now, you have been my best friend. There has been a distance between us, but somehow we always managed to make it work. Always managed to find a way back to each other. I wish we had never grown apart, but now that I think of it, it was a chance given to us so that we could grow individually.” He looked me straight in the eye as he spoke. I could see his eyes get glassy.

“I can not explain how lucky I am to have you as my mate. To finally get to share this life with you like I had wished for over so many years. Goddess knows the number of times I’ve prayed and begged her to let me, have you. Knowing that you’ve gone through so much hurts me so much because, in hindsight, I could have always prevented it if I had been a little bit more courageous and addressed the elephant in the room. I’m sorry I didn’t do anything early. But I promise that will never happen again.”

“I love you, Alexandria, and I choose to love you every single day with everything that I have. That’s a promise I make to you. I will make sure you see my infatuation for you every day in every breath you take. I wish to be the most amazing mate and life partner anyone could ask for. However, I do have one question for you” Nicholas reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a little box.

I choked back tears as he opened the box and held it up for me.

“Oh my God,” I gasped, covering my mouth with my free hand.

At the center of the velvet box sat a beautiful diamond ring glistering under the sun's rays.

“I know that we’re bonded for life already, but there’s a different pleasure in calling someone your wife. I would say there’s a different satisfaction in giving the girl you love your surname, but I know you’ll want to keep yours, which I fully support. You're a powerful Queen, and I will stand by my Queen and her wishes.”

Nicholas smiled up at me as tears slid down my cheeks. I couldn’t control them anymore. His words were making my heart fill up with so much love and joy.

“Alexandria Zadie Danton, will you marry me?” Nicholas beamed.

I sobbed loudly and vigorously nodded my head. Nicholas laughed and pulled the ring out of the box and placed it on my finger before standing up and pulling me into his arms.

I buried my face into his chest and held on tightly.

“I love you, baby,” Nicholas cooed as he rubbed my back, trying to calm me down.

I wiped my face and looked up at Nicholas. He gave me his panty-dropping smile, and I knew I was a goner. I cupped his face and pulled him closer.

“I love you too,” I whispered before slamming my lips into his...