Kept Secret

chapter 48

Lia~

"Wait, what? Mom, did you just say mom?"Lucas stares at me with bewilderment in his eyes. Everyone else gives me the same look, still down on one knee.

I shoot mom a look and she lets out a soft melodious laugh, "You may all rise. After all, I am simply a mother visiting her daughter."

They all rise, hesitantly at first while staring at her in amazement and disbelief. I giggle and glance at Luc's face to see his eyes locked on my father, a terrified look crossing his face. He slowly retracts his arms from around my waist but considering the fact that I'm on his lap, he can't go very far. Dad focuses his gaze on Lucas making him swallow hard.

I burst out laughing at the look on Luc's face and the glare on dad's. His gaze softens as he glances at me, the bundle still in his arms. I finally compose myself enough to form a sentence but I'm sure humor is still written all over my face, "This is the moon goddess, my mother, and her partner, my father. I would introduce you two to everyone but you probably know them all huh?"

Dad's gaze once again settles on Lucas, "Yes we do and I took extra care to find out about this mate of yours. Tell me, Maxwell, what exactly are your intentions with my daughter?" His eyes narrow at him and all at once it strikes me like a slap in the face. The eyes, the way his smile is slightly lopsided, even the dimple on his left cheek is the same and I have no idea how I didn't see it before. I want to say something, I want to address this but I decide to leave it for now. We've been through enough and we need a break, I need a break. I'll take to him about this later.

I glance at Luc, expecting him to cower again but to my surprise, he squares his shoulders and meets dad's gaze head-on, "Sir, your daughter is the most amazing thing that's ever happened to me. I've loved her since the day I met her and even if we weren't mates I'd still treat her as if she were my everything because that's exactly what she is, my everything. She's my world and the reason I can look you in the eye right now and promise you that I will marry her and make her my wife because I cannot imagine living another day without her by my side."

My eyes start brimming with tears, spilling over as he wraps his arms around me and kisses my cheek and I swear every female in the room awes. Dad walks over to us and hands the bundle over to me uncovering the face of the most beautiful baby girl I have ever seen in my life, "Well then I know usually the baby comes after the marriage but this family tends to do things out of order. Congratulations to both of you."

Everyone surrounds my bed to get a look at the little brunette baby sleeping in my arms. Her hair is a few shades lighter than Luc's and her features are a perfect combination of his and mine. She lets out a cute little yawn and opens her eyes. Everyone around me gasps, including myself. Her eyes are an even lighter icy blue than mine, "This is the first time she's opened her eyes." My mom's eyes are filled with tears and adoration for her granddaughter, "She looks like a little angel."

"Angelica, her name is Angelica Selino Lykonios Knight." I want her to be Maxwell as well but by werewolf law, Lucas is required to take the royal last name and glancing at his face, I can tell he understands that in fact, he doesn't even seem to care. His eyes are locked on Angelica and I realize that he kind of never knew she existed.

"She's our baby?" I shuffle and angle my body away from his so I can face him. I hand her over to him gently and for a second he looks terrified and to be honest I was too when I first found out. We're 18 years old and we have a baby together, not exactly your average teenage drama.

"Yes, she is. This is our darling baby girl, our beautiful Angelica." He finally takes her from me. The look in his eyes is pure adoration and bewilderment as if he can't believe that he could've been responsible for this little miracle. To be fair, I never thought I could get pregnant but here we are.

"She's so tiny and just as beautiful as her mother." He glances at me before looking at my dad with excitement written all over his face," Look, sir, I know I just said your daughter was my everything but I think that might've just changed." Everyone lets out a laugh, through the tears. I glance towards the council and even they seem to be wrapped up in the happiness of the moment.

"Okay, enough of that let me see my grandbaby." Meaghan practically tosses Dominic and Dylan out of the way to get to Luc's side. She swoops Angelica up in her arms, cooing at her. Angelica lets out a little squeal and starts giggling, clearly loving her grandma.

A sudden wave of sadness crashes over me. Even though Evangeline wasn't my real mother, I still loved her as if she were. I wish she could've been there to see this. Lucas grasps my shoulders while his eyes stay trained on his mom. Everyone around us is content and happy. Dylan and Dominic are trying to get Meaghan to let them hold her, Camille and Maddie are laughing while Xavier is standing close by, smiling at Mads, my parents are smiling at me lovingly and Nicole, Henry, and Jackson are deep in discussion, laughing and smiling at one another. Everything about this is just perfect.

"I'd hate to be one to spoil this amazing moment but there is still something that needs to be discussed." Councilwoman Arya speaks up. I have to restrain myself from rolling my eyes are her timing but instead square my shoulders and nod at her to continue while everyone else settles into the chairs lining the walls, "The prophecy states that you are to unify the species, and yes you did stop a war but after some thinking, we realized it means so much more than that. Now, the first thing we had to do was find out whether or not you still wanted to rule and you made that quite clear." She sends me a warm smile which I return without hesitation. Angelica is placed back in my arms as she continues," we don't want anything like this to ever happen again. We discussed this with queen Lumeria, princess Maddison and the respective councils and have deliberated amongst ourselves and have come to the conclusion that the only way to assure this never happens again is to have one nation under one rule with one ruler and we think that ruler is you. It is your destiny."

You can hear a pin drop with how loud the silence in the room is.