Happy Ending?

Happy Ending?
Ivy’s POV

The Maldives air was warm and quiet, the kind of quiet that made you finally realize how loud your life had been before. No palace guards. No council meetings. No shareholders meeting. No enemies lurking in the shadows. 

Just the sound of gentle waves hitting wood and the glow of soft lights inside our private water villa. For the first time in weeks since the war ended, it was just us.

Just my mate.

Leo had been acting sweeter than usual since we got here…and by sweeter, I mean annoyingly protective. If I reached for a glass of water, he was already handing it to me. If I tried to lift anything heavier than a spoon, he’d shoot me a warning glare. If I took more than five steps alone, he followed like some dangerously sexy bodyguard wolf who thought I might run away from him.

As if I could.

He stood at the balcony, sleeves rolled to his elbows, shirt unbuttoned just enough to tease. The golden lights from inside traced the sharp lines of his chest and stomach. He turned the moment I stepped out, barefoot in my silk slip dress.

He froze like he always did. As if he was seeing me for the first time…every time.

His voice dropped, reverent. “Ivy…”

My heart fluttered. Goddess, this man…my King…looked at me like I hung the stars. Like I was his home. Like he existed only for me.

I walked toward him slowly, the hem of my silk brushing my thighs, my palm instinctively cradling the small curve of my stomach. Our babies shifted, as if reminding us they were here too…part of this moment. Leo noticed and softened, his eyes warm as he stepped forward and pressed his hand over mine.

“Are you okay?” he asked quietly.

“Yes,” I whispered. “I’m perfect.”

His jaw flexed with emotion as he lowered his forehead to mine. “You are my heart, Ivy. My world. My miracle.”

He kissed me…soft at first, trusting, patient. But there was a storm beneath his control, a hunger he never hid from me. His lips deepened, tasting me slowly like he had all night. Like nothing in this world was more important.

His hands framed my waist with a reverence that melted my bones. He stepped forward, making me walk back until my spine met the wooden pillar. His body caged me in, not to trap…but to protect. To worship.

“I want you,” he breathed against my lips, voice rough and warm. “Not fast. Not rushed. Just…you. All of you.”

I exhaled shakily, my fingers curling into his shirt. “Then take me, Leo.”

His eyes darkened…not with danger, but devotion. He leaned down and kissed me again…slower this time. Deeper. His lips moved like a vow he had waited lifetimes to seal. He kissed until I forgot how to breathe, until my knees weakened, until all I could taste was him.

He lifted me gently, hands strong beneath my thighs, carrying me toward the bed inside without ever breaking the kiss. My fingers traced over his jaw, then into his hair, then down his shoulders. Every part of him felt like home…raw, real, mine.

He laid me down, careful of my stomach, and hovered over me with a reverence that made my chest ache.

“I love you,” he whispered like a confession. “And I will spend the rest of my life proving it.”

His lips moved down my throat, slow and worshipful. No rush. No wild frenzy. Just Leo…loving me in the quiet way only he could. As if the world had ended and we were all that survived.

And in a way…we were.

Later that night, the sky turned velvet black, pierced by a thousand bright stars. The breeze was soft and warm as Leo and I lay on a blanket spread across the wooden deck of our water villa, the sea moving beneath us like a heartbeat.

I rested against his chest, listening to the steady rhythm of his breathing. It was my favorite sound. My peace. My home.

He traced slow, lazy circles on my hand with his thumb. “You’re quiet,” he said softly.

“I’m thinking.”

“That’s dangerous,” he teased.

I smiled. “I was just…looking back. At everything we’ve survived. Everything we’ve become. Sometimes it still feels unreal.”

His voice lowered, certain and steady. “This is real. You and me. Our future. Our pups. Everything we fought for…it was always leading here.”

He brushed a stray curl behind my ear, his touch impossibly tender. “I’m not perfect, Ivy. I’ve made mistakes, but loving you is the one thing I’ll never get wrong. I will love you the same way I breathe…without end, without effort, for as long as my soul exists.”

Tears warmed my eyes before I could stop them.

Leo kissed them away.

“Do you know what you are to me?” he asked.

I shook my head.

“My miracle. My home. My light. My forever.”

My chest ached in the best way. “How do you always know what to say?”

“I don’t,” he murmured. “I just tell the truth.”

I leaned up and pressed my forehead to his. “I love you, Leo Ashton. Through every life. Every universe. Every storm. It will always be you.”

He breathed out, overcome, and pulled me carefully into his arms, one hand over our babies as if making a silent oath.

“And it will always be you, Ivy Ashton,” he vowed.

The waves whispered beneath us. The stars burned above us. And for the first time in a long, brutal journey…there was nothing ahead but peace…and forever.

Until… it turned chaotic again.