Sold as the Alpha King's Breeder

Chapter 1399 - 154 : Stormy Miracles

*Zara*

“Zara, let’s get the children ready for bed.”

Briella, Kellan, and I looked up from our game. Their father stood in the doorway of the playroom. I raised an eyebrow at the tone he used.

It sounded almost like an order.

“But Daddy!” Kellan cried, standing up, tackling his father’s legs, and looking up at him with wide eyes. “We were just about to throw the prisoner in jail!”

Noah’s firm expression softened as he bent to lift our four-year-old son. “Oh, yeah?” he asked, smirking. “And who is your prisoner?”

Briella pointed at me. “Mama is the prisoner this time! She stole the treasure!”

I smirked at Noah, who just shook his head in amusement. He set Kellan down and then pinned our eldest with a stern look. “Well, I’ll make sure to see to it that Mama answers for her crimes. Now, you and Kellan please start getting ready for bed.”

Briella looked ready to argue, but she just pouted and took her little brother’s hand before leading him from the room to go get in their pajamas.

Once I was alone with my mate, he pinned me with a stern look and crouched down next to me, putting his shoulders around mine and helping me up off of the floor. “You really shouldn’t be on the floor with the kids in your condition.”

I quirked an eyebrow at him and looked down at my pregnant belly. “Condition?” I repeated with a laugh, but it came out kind of breathy. I was exhausted. The baby was growing fast, and chasing two young children around while juggling various pack duties was doing a number on me.

I wouldn’t openly admit that to Noah though.

“You’ve been overworking yourself,” Noah said, his hard tone not wavering a bit. “You’ve not only been seeing to Drogomor matters, but you’ve also been taking on even more care for Briella and Kellan.”

I looked up at him in shock. I wondered if he had just read my mind.

Noah met my gaze and smirked, leading me down the hall to our bedroom. “Don’t give me that look. I know you.”

He led me into our room and shut the door behind him. He gestured for me to sit on the bed. I grimaced when he didn’t sit beside me, hovering in front of me.

That wasn’t a good sign. He was preparing some kind of lecture or was about to try and convince me to do something.

I watched him pace in front of me for about half a minute. “Just say what you need to, Noah,” I practically begged. “Something is obviously on your mind.”

Noah let out a breath and eyed me for a moment, his eyes dropping to my swelling belly. I was approaching my third trimester. While I was still able to move around pretty well, it wouldn’t likely be the case for much longer.

“You’ve been more exhausted lately,” he said, his eyes rising to focus on mine again. “Let me assume some of your pack responsibilities, just until you’ve recovered from labor.”

I blew out an exasperated breath of my own, throwing my hands up and standing to my feet so he couldn’t tower over me as much. “Noah, that could take months,” I reminded him. “This baby isn’t due for another few months, and then it’s possible I would need weeks to recover after giving birth. I can’t put all my work on you for that long. You’re busy enough.”

“You don’t have to give up all your duties,” Noah assured me quickly. “Perhaps just the financial matters and pack disputes for now.”

I was shaking my head before he was even done speaking. “That’s way too much for you to handle on top of all your other responsibilities,” I protested. I couldn’t even fathom Noah taking on one of those duties on top of his meetings, leading our military, and maintaining relations with neighboring pack communities.

“I’ll talk to Caleb and either assign him some of your responsibilities or find someone else to see to them for now,” Noah said firmly. I could tell by his tone that he wasn’t going to drop the matter. His eyes softened as he took my hands. “I’m just worried about you, Zara. You need to rest. I also want you to accept more help with our children.”

I wanted to fight him over this. I was doing just fine on my own. I was able to complete most of my responsibilities while the children were at school for the first half of the day. I flinched, realizing that my pregnancy was only going to get more uncomfortable and start taking even more of my energy.

I sighed deeply and nodded reluctantly. “I’m still going to take care of overseeing events,” I told Noah, “and checking in on the daycares and schools.”

Noah nodded, his eyes light with relief. “Deal.”

Months passed, and as I entered into my third trimester, the fatigue and discomfort rose exponentially just as I knew and feared that they would. Noah had unknowingly done me a favor by taking some of my duties. I could have found myself overwhelmed and unable to handle it by this point in my pregnancy. I would have felt like a failure for having to relinquish some jobs.

I thought Noah couldn’t get much more protective than he had after cutting down my work, but I was wrong. During the start of what would likely be my last month of pregnancy, he called for a family rest at his mother’s summer home.

I didn’t even argue with him since he would be taking the time off as well, and we would be able to bring Briella and Kellan along with us.

I watched my children squeal with excitement as we arrived at the summer home, which was right on the beach. Briella grabbed her brother’s hand, and the two raced down to the water.

“Don’t you dare get in that water!” Noah hollered after them sternly. He narrowed his eyes, waiting to see that they heard him and weren’t going to jump into the ocean before he turned to get our bags out of the car.

Noah settled me into a blanket-lined beach chair before rushing off after the kids so that they could burn off some energy before dinner. I sighed with contentment, letting the warm sun bathe my skin. I could feel my muscles relaxing as I leaned back and listened to the ocean and the laughter of my family.

Briella, our independent tomboy, was playing on her own nearby. Although still under our watchful eyes, she was pretending to fight some imaginary monsters, kicking and punching at the air. She then started to dig in the sand, proclaiming loudly that she would rule over the entire beach.

I caught Noah’s eye and smirked. Briella was determined to be the next Alpha, which filled my mate with so much pride.

Kellan was a sweet and shy boy who adored his father very much. Noah was currently swinging him around, causing the little boy to giggle madly.

Our days were spent just like that, enjoying the beautiful beach and exploring the nearby trails.

At night, after the children were tucked into bed, which was shockingly early since they spent most of the day outdoors and running, Noah spoiled me. We got hours to ourselves each evening.

I sighed as Noah kneaded my shoulders with his strong hands. I had just had a bath that my doting mate drew for me. He was treating me like a precious princess with snacks and plenty of snuggles on the plush couch in the living room.

“I never want to leave this place,” I practically moaned as Noah paid extra attention to a knot in my shoulder.

Noah chuckled and pressed a kiss to the shell of my ear, causing me to shiver. “Me neither,” he murmured. “But if we stay at the beach too long, this little one could come out with fins.” He dropped a hand to my swollen tummy, his eyes warming when our little one kicked his hand in response.

I loved playing with our children during the day and relishing in Noah’s attentive care in the evenings, but my favorite moments were those minutes before we fell asleep each night. Noah would cuddle me lovingly while we talked about the future and how wonderful our family was.

And he would talk to our unborn child, pressing his warm lips to the skin of my stomach.

“I can’t wait to meet you,” he would murmur. “We already love you so much, little one. We’ll get to hold you very soon.”

We didn’t realize just how soon it would be.

I wasn’t due for another couple of weeks when during a harsh winter storm, I suddenly entered into an early labor.

“Noah,” I gasped, sitting up in our bed back home. I winced in pain. “It’s time.”

Despite the panic searing through me during the beginning of labor, I took a brief second to marvel at how calm Noah remained as he hurriedly gathered our things and called a driver.

It was a harrowing journey to the healer as our driver sped through town. It was snowing heavily, the wind roaring harshly. Noah held me tightly against his side the whole way there.

Once I was wheeled into the birthing room, the rest was a blur. I remembered searing pain and Noah’s panicked eyes as I screamed, bringing our third child into the world. I wasn’t sure how much time had passed, and I would learn later that it took several grueling hours for our baby to be delivered.

I wouldn’t have been able to guess as I squeezed my eyes shut and just tried to continue breathing and screeching through the intense pain.

I felt as if I was going to pass out when I heard our child cry for the first time. My heart slowed slightly with relief. Our baby sounded strong and healthy.

“Welcome to the world, son,” Noah said as our baby boy was placed on my chest.

“Kai,” I murmured decisively, my voice weak from the delivery. I met Noah’s eyes to see they were wet as he gazed at our precious newborn son with awe and pride.

Hours later, I lifted my head and beamed as Briella and Kellan ran into the room.

“He’s so tiny!” Kellan yelled in shock. He ducked his head at Noah’s stern glance and repeated in a much lower voice. “He’s so tiny.”

“He’s going to be a strong warrior,” Briella proclaimed decisively, looking down at her youngest brother with pride in her wide blue eyes.

Noah chuckled and hugged them both before locking eyes with me, his deep blue eyes still misty with emotion.

I dropped a kiss on the soft peach fuzz on top of Kai’s head, tears threatening to fall from my eyes for what felt like the thousandth time that day.

We basked in the bittersweet nostalgia as our family of five huddled together on the hospital bed, our eyes on a slumbering Kai.

Everything was perfect.