Chapter 300 Says the Cutest Girl in the Pack
The moment Sarah stepped fully into the room, Toby’s sharp, hardwired instincts flared to life. Even deep in slumber, his Lycan senses were perfectly attuned to his mate's unique scent and presence.
His eyes fluttered open, blinking against the bright, warm sunlight streaming through the glass. It took him a split second to realize he was pinned to the floor by two sleeping royal toddlers. He looked up, catching Sarah's amused gaze, and immediately cleared his throat, keeping his deep, raspy voice down to a harsh whisper so he wouldn't wake the twins.
"I wasn't sleeping, I swear," Toby defended quickly, completely failing to look like a lethal, highly trained guardsman. "I was just... resting my eyes. Tactically."
Sarah’s smile widened, the last heavy, lingering shadows of the stressful hospital visit completely melting away at the sight of her fiercely deadly mate acting as a makeshift mattress.
Ignoring his terrible lie, Sarah stepped quietly across the sun-warmed hardwood. Mindful of her slightly rounded stomach, she carefully lowered herself down onto the floor, folding her legs beneath her to sit right beside his head.
She reached out, her fingers gentle as she brushed a stray lock of hair away from his forehead. The violence of his past was written all over his face, but right now, looking up at her with those soft, utterly devoted eyes while cradling the Alpha King's children, he just looked incredibly peaceful.
"You're cute, you know that?" Sarah whispered, a fond, teasing light dancing in her eyes as her thumb traced the edge of his jaw.
Toby’s rugged face broke into a slow, breathtakingly warm smile that he reserved entirely and exclusively for her. He carefully shifted his weight, making sure not to jostle Caspian or Briar, just so he could lean his cheek into her touch.
"Says the cutest girl in the entire pack," Toby rumbled softly back, his eyes dropping to her stomach for a brief, incredibly proud second before meeting her gaze again. "How are you doing? How's Ginny?"
"Yes, how is Ginny?" Elana's gentle, cultured voice drifted over from the plush armchair near the window, echoing Toby's quiet concern.
Toby suddenly went perfectly rigid. The sheer, mortifying realization violently slammed into him. He had completely fallen asleep on the floor, snoring, with the royal twins pinned to his sides... right in front of the former Luna of the Blackwood pack.
A dark, incredibly obvious flush rapidly crept up Toby’s heavily scarred neck, completely ruining his terrifying, lethal reputation. He instinctively tried to scramble to his feet to bow, but the two sleeping toddlers anchoring his arms to the floor made the tactical maneuver completely impossible. He was trapped.
"Oh, Goddess. I am so sorry, Luna," Toby stammered in a harsh whisper, his deep, raspy voice thick with absolute, panicked embarrassment. He looked up at Elana with wide, deeply apologetic eyes. "I swear I meant absolutely no disrespect for falling asleep in your presence."
Sarah clamped a hand tightly over her mouth, her shoulders visibly shaking as she tried and entirely failed to hold back a fit of silent giggles at her mate's sheer panic.
Elana just leaned back in her armchair and let out a bright, ringing laugh, the sound effortlessly warm and deeply comforting.
"Oh, honey, please," Elana chuckled, waving off his frantic, whispered apology with a graceful sweep of her hand. Her eyes crinkled with pure, grandmotherly amusement as she looked down at the rugged, heavily armed teenager acting as a mattress on her sunroom floor. "I watched you chasing those two little tornadoes around the packhouse yard all morning. There is absolutely no need to apologize. You needed that nap."
Toby let out a long, deeply relieved exhale, his head falling back against the hardwood floor as his blush slowly began to recede.
Sarah smiled affectionately, giving Toby's shoulder a comforting pat before turning her attention to Elana to answer the question.
"Ginny is doing okay," Sarah reported, keeping her voice low so as not to wake the twins. The stoic warrior mask slipped back into place just a fraction, the heavy weight of the morning returning. "The baby is perfectly healthy, but the doctor found traces of Damon's synthetic serum in her system. Her body is naturally fighting it off, and they've given her supplements to rebuild her strength. Jax just carried her upstairs to get some real rest."
Elana’s warm smile instantly vanished, the color rapidly draining from her elegant face at the mention of the dead King's twisted cruelty.
A flash of fresh, agonizing grief and profound betrayal flickered in her eyes. Damon had hidden his true, evil nature from absolutely everyone—including his own mate. Up until just a few days ago, Elana had spent decades believing she was married to a noble, honorable King, completely blind to the monster lurking right beside her in the dark. Hearing the clinical proof of what he had done to Jax's human mate was a fresh, jagged reminder of the horrifying lie she had been living.
She slowly nodded, her hands folding together tightly in her lap as she fought to maintain her royal composure, still violently struggling to reconcile the man she had loved with the sick reality of his actions.
"Then we will let her rest," Elana said softly, her voice trembling just slightly before settling into a quiet, unshakable resolve to help heal the damage he had caused. "And we will make absolutely sure she has everything she needs when she wakes up."
Leela carefully unbuckled the straps of the heavy car seat, lifting the sleeping newborn and resting his small, warm weight securely against her chest. Leaving the carrier near the entryway, she carried Iggy through the quiet, sprawling halls of the packhouse, her elemental senses gently reaching out to track the familiar, grounding presence of her mate.
She found Fennigan exactly where she expected to: in the Alpha's study. The heavy mahogany door was cracked open. As Leela stepped inside, Fennigan was hunched over his massive desk, his broad shoulders tense as his pen moved sharply across a thick piece of parchment. Hearing her approach, his sharp Lycan hearing instantly registered her heartbeat and the tiny, fluttering pulse of the baby. He didn't immediately look up, but held up a single, massive hand—just one second—as he finished scribbling down his thought.
Setting the pen aside, the heavy, commanding lines of Alpha stress etched into his royal features instantly softened. He stood up from the desk and walked around it, gently placing a hand on Leela's lower back to guide her back out of the study, leaving the heavy weight of pack politics behind the closed door.
They walked slowly down the long corridor. Along the deep wooden window sills, Veda's ward candles were still burning brightly. The magical, unnaturally steady flames flickered softly against the glass, an ongoing, silent spell cast by the witch to keep the packhouse and its vulnerable occupants perfectly shielded from whatever dark forces Damon might have left behind.
Fennigan stopped near the end of the hall, his glowing golden eyes dropping to the swaddled bundle against his mate's chest.