"You're not my escape Ryder. You're my saviour. You saved me from myself and that's all I need. As much as I love this," I tilt my head towards the scenery around us, "It's nothing compared to what I feel for you." "I love you." he tells me as he leans forward to bury his head into my neck. "I love you," I repeat to him my hand locked in his hair as I hold him close towards me. He lets out a sigh and he kisses my mark. "I don't know what to do. They keep pushing me to finish our mating. To marry you, have your coronation and," He pauses taking the blanket into one hand and his other slides down to rest on my bare stomach beneath my shirt, "and to have you carrying my pups, our pups. I don't know how long I can hold this out." "Ryd-," I try to begin but he cuts me off, "My duty to you is much stronger than my duty to my country Lottie." Shaking my head I turn in his hold and wrapping my legs around his hips trying not to fall from the tree as I do. "I'm not ready for pups and I don't know if I ever will be but I want to give them to you. I will marry you and I will have a coronation if it will get them to leave you alone." He smiles up at me his hands massaging my hips. He leans back to lie down on one of the arms of the tree pulling me with him. "Only when you are ready will we be married and you will be crowned as queen not a second earlier. I am the most powerful king they have ever seen and if they betray my word and order they will do a lot more than leave me alone." We lie together on the arm of the tree for what seems hours but it only had been a few minutes before Ryder had turned to me and captured my lips with his as he wraps his arms and the blanket around us tighter allowing me to pull my legs up into the warmth as well. He's only wearing a pair of shorts so I know most of the warmth I feel is from having him pressed so closely to me. His hand doesn't move from its spot on the small of my back keeping me steady so I don't make the short fall into the water. His lips move slowly and softly against mine and I've gotten used to feeling of it. It's a stark comparison to the first kiss he gave me and he hasn't given me a similar one since. His first kiss with me was desperate and rough and in that moment it was what he needed and what I needed. Not yet am I ready for that again. Ryder pulls back lightly and presses his forehead against mine. "I can't wait to have all of you." Smiling I give a quick peck to his lips. "Not yet," "Not yet," he repeats pulling me back down for a kiss. He pulls back away from me and the look on his face is soft. "Your birthday is just over a month away, do you know what that means." Freezing against his hold I try to sit up but he holds me against his chest preventing me from pulling away from him. I nod my head leaning back down against him when I realise the main reason he holds me close is stop the cold air that is begging to cage us together more. "Lottie it scares you, I know that, but your heat is moving at a great progression. When a human is mated to a wolf even one ranked as high as me it should take months for your body to start to change to that of one that can carry a pup let alone have the heat actually take her. When yo- when you collapsed after the first week of being here Riley had already noticed the changes of your body, your hips have already completed re-aligned and even your blood has changed and that is something that only happens when you're already pregnant, and at the point I was still yet to mark you. Riley can't explain why but your birthday, at the latest will be when your heat hits and I'm telling you this because I want you to be prepared if it were to come next week." His chest is rising and falling rapidly as he finishes just like mine is. "Will it come in a weeks' time?" I ask my voice shaking. "It's uncommon and a heat before eighteen has never been recorded but with what's been presented it seems possible." "Why not just get it over with then." My voice is hard and when I try to move away again his arms wrap tighter around me then they ever have before and I fear the words I just let go. "Don't," he growls, "Don't let this control you. Sometimes I struggle to control my wolf but he's a part of me, sometimes I can't change what he feels or does but I can control him just like you can control this." Swallowing I allow him to pick me up and walk me down to the ground, gently placing me on the ground and giving the blanket solely over to me. He walks over and pulls a knife from a tree but I'm distracted by his nearly naked body. "You let whatever happened before control you. You can't change what happened to you in the past Lottie, don't let it change your future." He's stood back in front of me the knife in his hand. His eyes are soft when he drops to my height his free hand softly stroking down my cheek. "You've seen things, lived through things that no other queen has. Use it." He moves behind me sliding the knife into my hand before he does. Dropping the blanket he gets me step forward into it so my bare feet aren't buried amongst the wet leaves, pressing his body back against mine to replace the warmth. One of his arm slides to wrap around my waist the other sliding do my right arm slowly increasing my heart rate as he does. I feel his smile against my neck and the slight rumble of his chest as he lets out a chuckle when his arm wraps around the hand that he slid the knife into just like he had done earlier in the training room with Cole. "Even when you were half starved when I first caught your scent and I ran after you I still had to put a lot of effort into going after you. You have strength. You just need to be taught how to use it. This blade is titanium. If it were silver I wouldn't dare touch it that will be your advantage. I would rather you know how to defend yourself but I can't deny you have much more strength than that." I turn my head to look at it him but he's concentrated on the knife in my hand. Turning to watch where he's eyes is I concentrate on that. His hand tightens around mine and the same moment that his arm twists my waist is the same moment that he throws both of our arms forward with considerable force, the knife or as he had called it a blade flies from my hand and lands in the centre of a small burned circle of the trees bark. "If you were to get a shot like that in on a rebel it would be useless, they would just pull it from themselves and they would heal. However if it were a blade of silver they would fall." Out of the corner of my eye I can see him looking down at me but my eyes are staring at the blade that's been buried in the tree. "Riley and your guards are the only ones to know about your heat Lottie." He whispers drawing my attention back to him about our earlier topic. "If it comes and you are still not ready we are prepared to keep the mating from happening. The war is coming though and this is something you need to control now." My eyes finally lock with his as he questions me. "Are you ready?"