CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

“ L et me take him,” Willow said, lifting Lucas out of Kate’s arms. “Whooo’s Aunty Willow’s favorite boy?”

“That would be Brayden,” Brianna said, laughing.

“Whooo’s Aunty Willow’s second favorite boy?” she corrected while the queen laughed and began to pack up the ten million baby items she seemed to have to lug around with her. Willow hugged Lucas to her chest and bounced gently.

“Aguga mooova gah,” Lucas said.

“Exactly, little prince,” Willow responded. “I totally agree.”

The jet doors finally opened and, predicably, two giant vampires came flying on board.

“Arrghhh,” Brianna cried, throwing herself at Craig as if they hadn’t seen each other in two years.

The truth was, it felt like two hundred. Being away from your mate was unnatural and uncomfortable. All three females had been driving each other crazy the past week.

“Fuck, Bri!” Craig said as he pressed her up against the sofa and... well, if she hadn’t been a vampire, Willow may have been concerned about her friend’s safety.

Willow’s eyes darted to Brayden’s as he stalked toward her. Hunger swirled in those silver eyes.

“My queen,” he said with a smile and nod to Kate, then gripped Willow’s hips, glancing down at her and Lucas. “Hey beautiful.”

Willow wanted to purr as he lowered his lips to hers with force, while being careful not to squash the heir between them. Their kiss deepened.

“Gah! Gooooey.” Brayden released her mouth and glanced at Lucas.

“Hey little man.” He kissed him on the forehead. “We’re going to have a talk when you get a little older about cock-blocking.”

“Brayden Moretti!” Kate snapped.

“We can’t say cock either? He has a cock.” Brayden frowned, his eyes darting between her and the queen.

“It’s a penis, Brayden,” Kate replied.

“I know what it is. Thanks for the biology lesson.” Brayden winked at Willow, and they shared a grin. “Please tell me when we have little princes and princesses, we will let them curse and say vagina and other things.”

Willow grinned at him. She would let him do whatever he wanted if he impregnated her. Every day she wondered if she was with child, but she needed to stop so it didn’t drive her mad if she wasn’t. Sometimes it took over a hundred years.

“Yeah, silly question.” Brayden smirked.

“Can someone please take a few of these bags? I have no nannies because of these ass... annoying humans,” Kate said, and Willow watched Brayden smirk at her near slip-up.

“Craig. Bri.” Brayden ordered them. “I’ve got the queen, princess, and prince. You two take the bags.”

Willow handed Lucas back to Kate, and then finally he wrapped his arms around her and lifted her off the ground. The feel of him against her made all her senses calm.

An hour later, they were being escorted to their rooms. Willow had met Ari in Italy, but the powerful vampire was not here. Instead, Oliver, who had taken Ben’s old job, and another scary assassin dude, Jason, were showing them to their accommodations.

“Ari said you can choose whichever rooms you’d like,” Oliver said.

“We’ve checked them out, Kate, so it’s over to you,” Brayden said, turning to the queen. “These two are right next to each other so you can take this one and Willow and I will take the other.”

Kate walked through the door they were standing next to and glanced around. “This will be fine. I can set up the bassinet over here. And... yes, thank you, this will be fine.”

Willow knew the queen was extremely unhappy about uprooting baby Lucas, but they’d had a talk on the flight over about it being more important that they were all safe and alive.

Powerful vampires they might be, but now the humans had some ability to disempower them, the whole power balance had changed.

Typical.

Just as she’d gained superpowers.

“We’ll help you get things set up,” Willow said to Kate. “When is the king arriving?”

“He’ll be arriving this time tomorrow,” Craig said. “We’re down the hall, so see you in a couple of hours.”

Brayden glanced down at her, heat in his eyes.

“Go. I can unpack and put Lucas down. Go shag your mate,” Kate said, waving them off.

“She said shag.” Brayden smirked, and Kate gave him the finger. Willow giggled and glanced at the assassin males.

“We’ll leave you to it,” Oliver said, pushing against Jason’s arm. The male was checking Brianna out.

Oh boy.

This wasn’t going to end well. Her sexy red-headed friend had quite a following of fans, much to Craig’s frustration.

“Word of advice,” Willow said, leaning forward. “If the commander catches you looking at his mate, you’ll be rabbit food.”

Jason’s eyes darted from hers to the prince.

“Okay, let’s go,” Brayden said, guiding her down the hallway. Then he called over his shoulder. “The princess is right, by the way.”

Willow grinned as the door closed behind them and huge arms scooped her up.

“Mate.” Brayden growled into her neck.