Into The Woods (mxm)

Fourteen

Ansel

"Greyson," I say as I take his large, warm hands into mine. "Will you be,-"

I am cut off by an arrow soaring past our heads, skimming my cheek and drawing blood. A man from Alpha Blake's pack stands behind a tree with a crossbow in his shaking hands. Father snarls out commands for his warrior wolves to attack the man, before grabbing my hand to pull me along.

Father shifts onto his large wolf and nudges me up onto his back. I climb up and hold on tight to his fur. I look back to see some of the warrior wolves tearing apart the man who tried to kill me.

Aamon and the others follow Father through the woods, his warriors creating a protective circle around all of us. Father runs and runs until we reach the edge of his pack lands. I feel the connection of my pack flowing through me as we step into the pack borders. I feel a disconnect through some of the links that mean that some of the pack members died while I was outside of the borders. Most likely they died because of the attack. My wolf whimpers at the thought of all those innocent people dying all because of me.

Father's Beta, Augustus, meets us at the border and hands all of us clothing that is easy to slip on for the moment.

"Welcome home, my prince," Augustus bows to me, smirking a little. I giggle, throwing my arms around him. Augustus was like an Uncle to me and was there for me ever since I was just a pup. Augustus never found his mate which was rare, especially for Beta wolves. He was great for watching me when he was off duty because he did not have children of his own to watch over which would have taken his attention away from watching me. Father and Mother made sure he never felt alone by inviting him to small family outings to the villages and spending time with me frequently.

Augustus returns my hug, holding me close and burying his face into my neck to inhale my scent. He pulls back to examine the dried blood on my face from the arrow.

"Goddess, what happened?" Augustus wets his thumb with his tongue and wipes it across my cheek. I make a noise of disgust and move away from his hand. He chuckles at my reaction before going quiet as he looks past me.

"Aamon," Augustus' eyes widen as he stares at Aamon. "What are you doing here? I never thought I would see you again."

When Aamon looks up he gasps. Augustus drops his hands from my shoulders and takes a step closer to Aamon. "Mate," he whispers so quietly that I almost did not hear him.

When Augustus takes another tentative step forward, Aamon turns back into his dark brown wolf and sprints towards the treeline.

Father stops Augustus as he tries to follow after Aamon.

"Give him some time to think, Aug," Father says softly. "He lost his first mate and is most likely overwhelmed to find out he has a new mate. A male one, at that. His mate died while giving birth to Ansel. She was everything to him. He must not know how to react to getting a second chance mate. It is not often that people get a second chance mate. Just let him be for the time being. I am sure he will come around eventually."

"We do have fantastic news though," Father says. Augustus-who looks so sad and detached- meets Father's eyes.

"What is it?" He asks. Father turns to me and pulls me close into his embrace. He places his hand directly over my tummy where my pup rests.

"I am pregnant," I announce. Augustus' eyes widen and a wide smile takes over his face.

"Good Goddess, you were gone for a little under a month and you come back with an heir to our kingdom!? This is amazing, Ansel! We need to go get your mother! She is going to be so excited to be having her first grandpup already. Wait... who is your mate?"

I wave both my mates over. They stand on either side of me, Rumi's gaze harsh as he wraps a protective hand around my waist. Greyson, on the other hand, happily stands next to me, formally introducing himself to Augustus and Father.

"These are my mates Rumi, and Greyson," I say. "Rumi is the official father to my pup, but both Greyson and Rumi will be the father figures in my pup's life."

Greyson's eyes widen a little as he stares at me in shock. "You will let me help raise your pup?" Greyson's eyes water as I nod.

"Of course, she is your pup just as much as it is mine and Rumi's."

"A princess," Augustus says incredulously. "Goddess, We are going to have a little princess running around the palace in a matter of months. Congratulations, Ansel. You are going to be a wonderful father to this pup. She will be extremely lucky to have you as a parent."

Tears drip down my face as Rumi and Greyson encase me between their warm bodies, both of their hands rubbing soft circles into my belly.

"Oh, I forgot," Greyson pulls away to reach into a satchel that I did not know he was carrying. He pulls out Father's ruby crown and holds it out to him.

"I made sure to grab this just in case I had the chance to meet you. I figured that you would want your original crown back." Greyson places the crown onto Father's bowed head.

"Thank you, Greyson," Father replies curtly.

The boy, Collin steps out from behind Rumi and me. He wrings out his hands nervously as he timidly approaches Father.

"Your Majesty," He begins in a soft voice. "I would like to join your Kingdom. I will do whatever it takes to prove myself worthy of living within your village. I do not even need a house. I can live on the streets if you see it fit. I will work hard to earn a living and will be a loyal subject to you and your family. I-" Father cuts Collin off mid-speech.

"You are his brother," Father says, nodding his head towards Rumi.

"Y-yes Your Majesty." Collin answers.

"I will have the maids prepare you a room in the royal quarters of the castle."

Collin's mouth drops open in a gasp at what Father says.

"Your Majesty, I-"

"Not another word. You will accept your position in the royal quarters. I only ask that you work in the gardens to maintain crops or help out whenever is needed You will work your way up to being the royal advisor to my son and his mates when they are crowned as Kings. I shall expect nothing more and nothing less from you. Now then, with that settled, Ansel, I want you to go to your mother and introduce her to your mates. She has been extremely worried about you this whole time. She will be calmed when she sees you are not only fine but carrying the next in line to the throne. Augustus, you follow them in and set up a room for Collin. I assume Rui and Greyson will be sharing Ansel's room with him. I will go retrieve my brother and bring him back. Then we will all sit down and have a family dinner together in honor of Ansel's safe return after we announce to the Kingdom that their prince is home."

We all follow Father's orders without question. As I climb up the stairs to Mother and Father's room, I smell the familiar scent of my mother.

I'm home, momma...