A Life of Love

A Life of Love
Maddie

“I want to be downstairs when he arrives,” I tell Ward. “Is it safe?”

“It is, my lady,” he replies. “I’d advise taking all the guards, however. Though the Riverglades are gone now, we can’t know whether they’ve enlisted any of the other castle staff against you and the prince.”

I nod. “I’ll take them with me, and I’ll be careful,” I tell him. “I just need to be there as soon as he gets here.”

“Can I go?” Ellie asks excitedly. “I love to see romantic reunions!”

I feel a light blush rising in my cheeks. This will definitely be romantic, but now I realize just how many people will be watching me—watching us—downstairs. It doesn’t matter. We’re mates, and we have every right to enjoy each other’s presence.

“Yes, you can come,” I tell her, “if you help me get ready. I want to look perfect.”

“I know just the dress!” she squeals, taking me by the hand and pulling me toward the bedroom part of the suite.

“In these matters, I have no expertise,” Ward says before I’m completely lost in Ellie’s pampering. “Enjoy, ladies.”

“Thank you, Ward!” I call after him as he leaves.

In no time, I’m standing at the top of the grand staircase leading to the entrance hall, wringing my hands in anticipation. Ellie has me in a strapless, sage green gown with lovely rose lace covering the bodice. I’m backed by four very serious looking men, my personal guards. I can usually get a smile out of them when they’re just outside the door in the safety of the royal prince’s wing, but here, they’re fully on guard, too preoccupied with looking around for anything that might pass as a threat.

It hurts to think someone is so angry with my presence here that they’d want to harm me. But I suppose that’s just my life now as Zach’s mate.

And I wouldn’t trade that for anything.

Just as that thought comes to me, he walks through the door, his commanding presence lighting up the room. All people present turn to him and bow as he passes.

Zach could wear a potato sack and he would still be the most handsome man in the room. But right now, he’s even more spectacular in his full military uniform, pressed flawlessly and sporting dozens of his royal medals. The ensemble adds an air of power to his muscular frame.

I float down the stairs as quickly as I dare in my full skirt, holding the handrail just in case. He closes the distance between us in only a few long steps and takes me in his arms, right here in front of the entire castle.

It’s magic.

He presses his lips to mine softly, wrapping his arms around my waist. “You are so beautiful, love,” he says when we part.

“I’m so glad you’re home,” is all I can answer, trying to swallow back the lump in my throat. The emotion rushes through me like a flood. Am I going to cry like this every time this man returns to me after we’ve been apart?

Yes, I think I probably will.

“I’m glad to be home,” he says. “And we have company that I’d like to introduce.”

He steps to the side, and I vaguely sense the presence of another man behind him, but I haven’t taken my eyes off Zach quite yet. A beat passes before I realize that part of my new life here means not being rude to new guests, so I turn and look up at this new stranger.

And all my breath leaves my lungs.

Eyes like emeralds lock into my gaze. The beautiful man in front of me has dark hair with wild, unruly curls that I have a sudden urge to twirl around my fingers, if I could reach them from this distance; he is about an inch or so taller than Zach, who is already well over six feet.

Something stirs within me, and my wolf lets out an internal howl of joy. Every nerve ending tingles with soft electric prickles so much like the ones I feel around Zach.

And then I sense it, that ribbon of connection thrumming between us.

No.

How can this be?

It’s not possible....

“Madeline, I’d like to introduce you to Prince Kai Winten.” Zach’s voice jolts me back to some level of consciousness, but I’m still lightheaded. Things are still fuzzy, both in my mind and through my vision. I think I briefly hear this new prince saying that it’s a pleasure to meet me. But I still don’t have the air in my lungs to say anything.

I suppose I let too much time pass because Zach calls to me in the mind-link. “Maddie, are you all right?”

“I-yes, I think,” I manage to say.

“Then what is it?” he asks.

I can’t tell him. Can I? I must. He has a right to know. But saying it just seems so impossible, so... wrong.

“This man is my mate,” I say hastily.

I feel Zach stiffen beside me. “What?”

“I-I don’t know,” I say. “I don’t know how that’s possible. He just... we have a connection I can’t explain, and I just... I don’t know!”

With a level of grace that is practically divine, Zach turns to Prince Kai and says, “Perhaps we can speak privately for a few moments in the parlor.”

“Yes,” Kai agrees. “I think that’s best.”

Moments later, we’re in a room with blue velvet furniture and matching drapes, far away from the bustle of the entrance hall. It’s quiet here and, hopefully, private. My four guards stationed outside are under strict orders not to allow anyone to come anywhere near this room.

“I don’t mean to cause any trouble here,” Kai says, then he turns to me. “Madeline, do you feel the connection too?”

“I do,” I admit. “But... I’m already mated to Zach.”

His eyes go a bit wide for a beat. “Is this true?” he asks Zach.

“It is,” Zach confirms. “But she’s telling me she has the same type of connection with you.”

I expect them to yell at each other. I expect a fistfight, or maybe they’re both going to shift and attack each other, a battle to the death for my honor, perhaps.

But I do not expect what happens next.

Prince Kai of Green Mountain actually... laughs.

I turn to Zach and crinkle my forehead, and he just shrugs. We both turn back to this strange man who has the most intimate possible connection to me and wait for him to calm his laughing and speak again.

He’s still chuckling lightly when he comes out of it. “Goddess, you’ve got to be kidding me,” he says. “Oh, I’m sorry, Madeline.”

“Um, Maddie, please.”

“Maddie,” he repeats. “I like it. I like it a lot. Anyway, I am not laughing at you or our mate bond. Please know that. I’m laughing because my entire family is full of women who have three or four mates. But it’s always the women in our family. Most of the sons of these pairings have just one mate, so I never expected to be part of a multi-mate connection.”

“Um... three or four?” Zach asks.

Kai nods, his laughter finally calming all the way. “Yes. My grandmother, Rose, Luna Queen of Dark Forest, has four mates, and she had four babies, including my mother, Luna Queen Trisha of Green Mountain. And I have three dads.”

“Interesting,” Zach says.

I turn to him. “You’re not mad?”

“Strangely, not at all,” he says. “I don’t think I’ve quite grasped it all yet, but something about this feels right. It always felt like something was missing before in our link. Not something bad, just... that there was more to it. Maybe what I was feeling was your need to find your other mate.” He turns to Kai. “This isn’t a problem for me. And you?”

Kai just shrugs. “It’s what the Goddess intended. It’s not like I’m not used to this kind of thing.” He turns to me. “Maddie, this is new for you. I understand if it’s a total shock. I’ll give you some time to soak it in right now, and to talk to Zach about it, and then we can talk again tomorrow, okay? I could probably use a clean-up after months at sea anyway.”

“I’ll have a guard show you to your room,” Zach tells him.

“I-I’ll talk to you tomorrow, Kai,” I say.

“I’d like that very much.” He takes one of my hands that I didn’t even realize I’d just offered him and kisses my knuckles. If there was any doubt in my mind about our mate bond, that touch seals it, jolting electric pleasure through me. “I’ll talk to you later. Zach, thank you for your hospitality.”

“Of course,” Zach says. “I think that now, we can say my place is your place.”

They both chuckle as Kai leaves the room, but I’m still in such a daze, it’s hard to think straight.

I look up into Zach’s sapphire eyes. “I’ve never heard of this before.”

“Neither have I,” he admits. “But I have a feeling we have a lot to learn about the world. Maybe we’ve kept to ourselves too much here in Crystal Waters.”

“You’re really not mad?”

“At the Goddess’s plan for you?” he asks, then he shakes his head. “Of course not. I always knew you were special from the first moment I saw you.” He takes both my hands into his, gently stroking mine with his fingers. “The things I love about you, Maddie: your kindness, your sense of fairness and right and wrong, your wisdom, your beauty—all these things mean that there is a destiny for you that goes far beyond what mere mortals can comprehend. Perhaps your future even leads to those distant kingdoms where Kai is from.”

I gasp. “I couldn’t leave you, not ever,” I insist.

“You’ll never have to,” he says quickly. “Wherever you go, whatever the Goddess has planned for you and me, and you and Kai, I will be by your side. Our future just got more complicated, but I wouldn’t have it another way if it means I can always be your mate. I love you.”

“I love you too, Zach,” I tell him. Then I gasp again at a thought. “You don’t think I’ll have three or four mates, do you?”

A warm chuckle escapes his lips. “No, I don’t think so.”

He’s right. That can’t be possible.

Zach pulls me in for a kiss, and the warmth of his lips against mine relaxes me, pulling me into the strength of our bond and sending that now-familiar twitch of need to my core.

I’ll have to talk to Kai tomorrow about what it’s like for his mother to have more than one mate. How will I ever manage to be with two men? What plan could the Goddess possibly have for a simple farmer woman like me to have her mating me with two handsome princes? Will the love I’ll have for Kai be the same as what I feel for Zach, or will it be unique in its own way?

I have so many questions....

But as Zach deepens our kiss, I slip away from these thoughts and into the familiar warmth of our bond. As he pulls me closer and I bask in the feel of his body and the comfort of his scent, I know that wherever life leads me, I’ll always have plenty of love in my life.

I can’t think of a finer life to lead.