Epilogue

It was day two hundred of being Queen of Zaire.

Natalia felt like a god.

Who would’ve thought a kingdom of wolves would be so loving of a Vampire Queen? Certainly not her!

However, the wolves of Zaire had proven her wrong, they’d showered her with adoration until she hadn’t known what to do with herself.

She knew where it came from though. She had a theory that wolves were awfully full of themselves and didn’t think it possible that anyone else could be as great as them. Hence, their fascination with Natalia and all her remarkable powers.

She’d gotten stronger since her and Raiden’s wedding day too. The bond between her Trueblood Vampire soul and his Alpha wolf soul was a powerful one, it made them both incredibly stronger.

At that thought, Natalia’s eyes opened and she stared at the ceiling high above her head.

*Her and Raiden’s wedding day.*

Butterflies attacked her stomach and she pressed her lips together, stifling the smile. She was married to Raiden, Alpha King of Zaire. Truly married, joined, forever.

Silently, she turned her head to the side and blinked, staring at the face inches from hers. A snort rolled through her nose. He was fast asleep and apparently he had to be so with her glued to his side.

His arm was heavy and warm, wrapping her into him like she were gold and him a miser. Even in sleep he didn’t want her away from him, but Natalia had no intention of ever going away. She studied his face, adoring the attractive way thick locks of his black hair caressed his forehead. Raising a hand, she played with them and then poked his cheek and his nose.

A mischievous grin pulled at her lips and she gently pinched his cheek, pulling and stretching it out. The sight was so funny, she laughed aloud.

Raiden stirred, a wolfish growl rumbling through his throat. She whipped her hand away, shutting her eyes and pretending to be asleep.

“Stop,” he grumbled sleepily.

Natalia played dead, ready to deny any acts of mischief the moment she was accused.

A hand suddenly gripped her face, squishing her cheeks in and turning her to face him.

She opened one eye.

A pair of silver eyes stared drowsily at her. “I know you’re awake, Talia.”

At the sound of his voice, both her eyes opened and she stared at him silently.

What had she done in her past life that was great enough for heaven to award her this? Waking up next to this amazing man for the rest of her life, staring into his gorgeous silver eyes and hearing his climax-inducing morning voice? She must have saved the universe in her past life.

Raiden narrowed his eyes. “What?” He gasped mockingly. “Dirty thoughts?”

“Hard not to have them when you look this every damn morning.”

His mouth spread into a smile as he laughed silently and Natalia was slammed with the visual excellence of his face once more.

“By the gods,” she said, her voice filled with awe. “You’re so beautiful.”

Raiden looked at her, his eyes narrowing as her words wreaked havoc in his mind as usual. “First of all, you’re a Vampire, stop pretending to care about the beauty of a lowly wolf when yours is literally ethereal. Secondly… stop teasing me or we won’t leave this room, Natalia.”

“Yeah?” She grinned devilishly and turned to him, stroking her fingers into his hair and pressing kisses to his face. “Let’s not leave then, husband. Should I bring the silk ties? I’ll let you tie me up again, *frithir mi.”*

Raiden could swear his heart stopped beating. Oh, she was cruel, so cruel. She was playing with him again.

With a giggle, she nibbled on his lip and he nearly combusted instantly. “You’re so fucking mean…”

The breathy arousal in his voice made Natalia laugh deeply, throwing her head back on the pillow. He glared at her, both mad and aroused, wanting to ravish her.

“Why?” she laughed, looking at him. “You don’t want to tie me up?”

“Stop,” he growled, closing his eyes. “It’s bad enough that I won’t be able to concentrate for the rest of the day, thank you very much, Talia.”

She put a hand on her mouth, stifling her laughter. “Oh, that was funny. Let’s go bathe.”

He watched her sit up as her laughter died away. “I don’t think I want to go anymore.”

She looked at him over her shoulder. “Don’t be ridiculous, we have a meeting with Cyrus and the alphas and then the girls are coming over for this year’s quarterly banquet tonight. I have to see to all the preparations before going out with them.”

Raiden pursed his lips. He’d given Nicki permission to live with the Gadon princesses and all four of them had the habit of switching homes between their own castle in Gadon and Cyrus’s castle in Zaire. Currently, they were in Gadon and, if the four of them came over later and Natalia wasn’t ready because Raiden had delayed her, he could only imagine the amount of rage he’d have to deal with from them.

He groaned. “I don’t care.”

Natalia was snatched and dragged back against him, making her shriek. “Oy, what happened to my responsible Alpha King who always gets things done on time?!”

“He’s dead, replaced by a horny monster,” Raiden grumbled against her skin, laying kisses along her jaw.

She gasped at that description. “Oh no, I shouldn’t have teased you.”

“No,” he muttered, capturing her lips for a hungry kiss. “You shouldn’t have. Especially not near full moon when I’m in heat.”

She sucked her bottom lip into her mouth at the sound of that. There was something about her Alpha King in heat. When he became hungry and wild and irresistible. Her mouth watered. “Perhaps… Manasa can take care of the banquet preparations.”

He hummed his agreement. “Cyrus can lead the meeting this morning.”

He traced her collar bone and eased the strap of her top off her shoulder, pressing kisses to her bare skin. “You haven’t said it this morning?”

She closed her eyes, revelling in his touch. A smile curved her lips. From the first time she’d said it, stunning Raiden into silence and then triggering the deepest kiss she’d ever gotten from him, Natalia said it like a mantra. Every time she said it, feeling his wolf’s pleasure flow through her soul, she felt elated by the reaction he had. He adored her, as she did him. Theirs was an indestructible bond.

Raising a hand, she held his head, caressing the back of his neck. “I love you, Raiden.”

A gentle exhale parted his lips and he closed his eyes, kissing her lips gently. “Again.”

She laughed. “I love you, my King.”

Raiden’s heart would explode at any moment, filling with his love for her until it stretched at the seams. “God, Natalia. Again.”

“I love you!” She laughed. “Okay, no more. You have to earn the next one,” she told him, pink-cheeked and smiling like a happy fool.

More than eager to earn it, he gripped her jaw and pressed his mouth to hers, kissing her deeply, hungrily, wishing desperately to pour out his love for her. He still didn’t understand how it had happened that he’d fallen for her this madly, but he no longer needed to. He just needed her as obsessed with him as he was with her.

Earn it was what he would do.

Every kiss, every hug, and every single ‘I love you’, Raiden would spend his life earning it and giving her all of him.

There was no better way to spend eternity than to be with his Natalia. With his mate.