The Alpha King (24 page)

"Your Highness, are you sure you wouldn't rather just wait in your chambers and have Alpha King Blazell sent up to you?" one of the guards assigned to him asked, almost hesitantly.

Tal couldn't understand the man's hesitation, all of the guards seemed as if they were scared of pissing him off. He only pulled the phaser on that one guard because he'd tried to touch his stomach without permission. The guard had learned his lesson, but now they saw Tal as being almost as scary as Blaze. He ignored the niggling feeling of guilt when he remembered the guard saying he only wanted to prevent Tal from falling forward.

It didn't matter. It was a past issue.

"No, no, Chase," Tal disagreed, hastily trying to remember the guard's name, happy and pleased when he did.

He deserved a Zeelithian cookie. He'd have to tell Blaze. His mate always teased him about forgetting stuff.

"I want my husband, the king, to see me walking without difficulty," he stated, ignoring the way the four guards all remained suspiciously quiet.

He could walk without difficulty. Walk. Breathing had become a totally different thing.

"Besides, this couldn't wait for one of you louts to find him, wait for him to finish, and then bring him to me." He pouted then mentally jumped in glee when they finally came upon the doors of the conference room.

He would never tell the guards but he'd been about two minutes from turning around and walking back to his suite of rooms. He was exhausted and out of breath. And hungry. And always so tired.

Tal rubbed his stomach when the babies started kicking furiously, they always got hyper and excited when he thought about food and sleeping. Tal totally blamed their Tumaron half for that. He prepared to knock on the door and interrupt the meeting for his big surprise for Blaze. He could have used their mental link, but when Blaze got sequestered in conference, he tended to put up a mental wall so he wouldn't be distracted by all of Tal's disjointed, unintentional mental projections. Tal snickered when he remembered accidentally sending Blaze the image of the two of them having fast, hard, and dirty sex over the conference table, one morning while the Alpha met with the Elders. Tal cleared his throat and attempted to discreetly adjust his rapidly filling cock when he recalled Blaze slamming open the door to their bedroom, his black hair wild, his chest heaving and nostrils flaring, to take in the sight of Tal lying on the bed, one hand on his hard cock and three fingers in his ass. It had been a very nice… distraction for them when Blaze had pulled Tal's fingers from his ass and then shoved his shaft in their place. It hadn't taken long before both were trembling from the force of their mutual orgasms. Knocking once, Tal smiled when his mate bade him to enter, knowing the large wolf had smelled him through the door.

* * * *

Blaze leaned back in his massive chair. He suppressed a small shiver of pleasure threatening to race up his spine, and the fabric of his new red Doralian shirt rubbed across his already sensitive nipples. Just the smell of his mate had the nubs tightening and his cock stretching and hardening. A slightly unnerving experience, knowing the little Vermithian had the power to make him feel so out of sorts, but when the door opened and the man in question stepped inside, Blaze thought it worth the slight loss of control. He ran his hand over his braided black hair, another influence of his mate, and knew without asking his blue eyes would show his obvious affection and happiness at the sight of his very pregnant man.

It seemed as if every day Tal's belly became more swollen and larger than the night before. Blaze figured it had something to do with the fact Tal carried five half-breed cubs within him, but regardless of that, Tal remained perfectly beautiful. Blaze made sure to tell the man every chance he got.

Blaze smiled warmly and pushed his chair back, gesturing for Tal to come sit on his lap. They ignored the guards, the Elders, diplomats, advisors, councilors, and even the servants who filled the room, and sat at the table. Tal sat cuddled with Blaze in the chair, and Blaze kept his eyes and attention only focused on Tal.

"To what do I owe this extremely unexpected but still very pleasant visit?" he asked.

Tal shivered at the sound of his deep smooth voice before the smaller man sat down in Blaze's lap completely.

"I just wanted you to feel something," Tal said with a smile.

He grabbed Blaze's hand and placed it on his swollen belly. Blaze shoved away lecherous thoughts of his mate spread-eagled on the massive table, moaning while Blaze pounded away in his ass, and tried to focus on the moment. Tal smirked meaning he had received the image Blaze had inadvertently projected. Blaze sighed mentally, hating how he couldn't corral his amorous thoughts regarding his mate, but it made him slightly mollified when he realized Tal had just a hard of a time controlling his thoughts as well.

"What am I feeling?" Blaze asked in an amused voice, flexing his large fingers slightly.

He looked down at Tal's stomach, his hand caressing the round belly where his unborn children currently resided. Something about touching his mate… soothed Blaze. He finally understood why his father couldn't seem to keep his hands off his mother. His mate acted as a balm to Blaze's tired soul. He mentally rolled his eyes at the poetic sappiness flowing through his mind. Apparently having a mate meant he turned into a sentimental fool.

"Just wait for it," Tal gently reprimanded, grinning when a series of kicks and movements from their unborn children began.

Blaze couldn't believe their strength. His heart clenched in his chest at the official sign his children were alive and still well. His mind swirled with all the possibilities for his unborn cubs, all the things they could accomplish one day, the laws they would change, the history they would make.

"Oh, baby!" Blaze exclaimed happily, his eyes wide and filling with moisture.

He blinked rapidly, willing the tears not to fall down his cheeks. He would not allow himself to appear weak in front of his mate, no matter how much he desperately wanted to wrap his arms around Tal and bawl like a baby in the presence of this miracle.

"They're our babies, Blaze. They're actually real," Tal whispered, wiping tears from his eyes before discreetly swiping at the ones on Blaze's face and leaning forward to kiss him.

Blaze blinked in amazement that any tears would dare to fall down his cheeks and then smiled fondly. How could he stay fierce in the face of feeling his children kick for the first time.

"Did you doubt they were real?" Blaze asked, settling Tal more firmly on his lap, leaning back in his chair and pulling his man gently against his chest.

Out of the corner of his eye, he caught the looks on the faces of the other men in the room. Some were uncomfortable and a few looked slightly envious. Blaze turned his full attention back to Tal when the other man sighed. He could talk to the other men later. He would firmly remind them Tal was the Alpha Queen and that in light of the meeting they were having before the man in question walked into the room, it wouldn't really be appropriate for him to be there.

Tal shrugged and blushed prettily. "Not really, but this just drives it home, you know? They're actually there, just waiting to be born."

Blaze smelled the happiness on his mate and felt that same emotion permeating his own skin. The emotion seemed to be infectious and Blaze wanted to roll around in it some more. The truth, the realization their children were still alive and healthy and… real, felt almost as amazing as finding out exactly what they were having.

After much research, talking with doctors and inquiring of the Elders, Tal and Blaze had found out their children would be born looking like regular humanoid babies, not wolf cubs just like with other Tumaron births. Though his father and mother had been determined to teach their children everything they needed to know about running the kingdom and mates, the subject of Tumaron births hadn't been something they had ever broached.

The one and only time Blaze had asked his father about Tumaron births, he'd been told he didn't need to worry about it. The process would only affect his mate and the doctor. Blaze had wanted to argue, but his father had resumed his lesson on interacting with the GPA and Blaze dropped the subject. Even after his parents had passed away, Blaze had forgotten about the whole Tumaron birth thing. As a matter of fact, while both Mailon and Percy had each experienced a Tumaron female going into labor, Blaze had never seen a delivery before. For that reason, he hadn't been able to reassure his fearful mate. He deeply regretted his inability and could offer no excuse.

But he could ask questions, and because he had, he knew so much more about Tumaron cubs as well as the possibilities that could arise from Tumaron-Vermithian hybrids. Their babies would experience their first shift when they hit puberty and would have all of the powers that many Vermithians were born with. The power of healing others, talking with animals, and of course they would have the ability to get pregnant from their mate, or mates, no matter the species, no matter the gender. As the expectant parents, Blaze and Tal couldn't be happier. Blaze returned his mind to the present when his mate shifted in his arms and sat up in preparation to leave.

Having apparently accomplished what he'd waddled so far to do, Tal kissed Blaze's nose affectionately before turning to address the room. Blaze scrunched his nose at the ticklish feeling and grinned like a happy wolf when he saw Tal put on what they'd teasingly termed his 'Alpha Bitch Façade'.

"Good afternoon all," Tal said cheekily and leaned forward, placing his folded hands on the table.

"Good afternoon, Alpha Queen," the room responded.

Tal made a move to get up, but Blaze tightened his arms around his man's waist to stop him. He didn't want Tal to leave just yet. He refused to look too closely at the reasoning behind that feeling, merely settling Tal more firmly on his lap.

"Okay, let's get back to what we were discussing. Do we know where this fleet of slave ships is currently docked?" Blaze asked, his voice turning brisk with business and authority, even as one hand played with the strands of Tal's hair and the other hand rubbed his mate's distended stomach.

Tal's face scrunched up in confusion.
"Slave ship? What slave ship?"
he asked through their mental link.

Answering his mate's question would only lead to more queries. Maybe he should have let Tal leave when he'd tried earlier? Of course he couldn't ask the other man to do so now, so Blaze prepared himself to answer whatever Tal asked him.

"No, Your Majesty, it hasn't docked yet, but it seems to be making its way into our stratosphere from our neighbor planet Namprince," Rico answered.

"There have been a few sightings of a slave ship in GPA planetary airspace with a new shipment of slaves: pain slaves, breeder slaves, labor slaves, and pleasure slaves. It's come into our orbit a few times and we've been tracking it. We even planted one of our own soldiers aboard as a crew member and it's finally heading our way again," Blaze explained, hoping the smaller man wouldn't ask any more questions.

He had a feeling Rico had left out a bit of information when he'd originally told him about the ship.

"Good, good. Let's get a few teams together. I want us to commandeer that ship and free the slaves on board," Blaze commanded the room at large.

Preparing himself to rise he was stopped when his head Gamma guard, Rico Suarez, cleared his throat to gain Blaze's attention again. Rico certainly lived up to his reputation for seduction. Blaze had heard many of the guards laughing and talking about Rico's many different conquests and all the men and women who had fallen in love with the gorgeous, tanned guard only to have their hearts broken when he told them he didn't plan to settle down with anyone who wasn't his mate. To others it made the man somewhat of a jerk, but Blaze could somewhat understand the need to scratch an itch and pass the time with a stand-in until the real thing came along. Regardless, Blaze was glad his children were unborn. He would hate to lose his best Gamma guard because he'd broken the heart of one of Blaze's children. He only hoped Rico found his mate soon, though he felt sorry for whomever it would be; Rico seemed incapable of being faithful.

Sighing, Blaze settled back in his chair again, keeping his arms around Tal and pulling the man tighter to his chest when he thought about how completely lucky he'd been to have found his mate. "Yes, Rico, what is it?"

"Forgive me Your Highnesses, but I think you'd want to know our intel has gotten the names of all of the passengers aboard the slave ship and there are two young men aboard who might be of interest to the Alpha Queen," Rico explained hesitantly.

* * * *

Tal's eyes widened considerably. His gaze darted around the room quickly before he clutched at one of his mate's arms that had tightened around his waist, certain whatever the Gamma guard had to say would be life changing in some way.

He finally met Rico's gaze. "Me? Why would they be of interest to me?"

He didn't know why two young men on a slave ship would be of any meaning to him. Besides the general humanitarian concern of course. Tal shook his head when the sound of two boys laughing filled his mind and two sets of golden eyes, one more brown than gold, and the other almost a pure amber, flashed before his mind's gaze.

Without moving too much, Rico pulled forth a red folder, embossed with a gold Tumaro emblem, from the inner lining of his uniform jacket and walked over to hand it to the royal couple. Tal watched the guard warily as he walked towards them. He couldn't understand what was going on in that moment. Turning his head, he looked into Blaze's eyes and saw something he'd never thought to see… Blaze knew. Blaze knew who the young men were and he hadn't told Tal. He also knew why they would be so important to Tal.