Filed to story: Luna Riannon and Alpha Brayden Novel
When she saw Salome’s eyes full of pain, she wanted to help her. She knew that look in the witch’s gaze. So many women on the Firstborn island looked that way at the Teacher. Some were ready to do anything just to end up in his bed.
“I- I’m sorry,” Salome muttered, waving for the cups to go back on the tray, but it didn’t work for some reason.
“It’s okay,” Astrea was next to her in no time, wrapped in nothing but sheets.
“I am fine!” The witch snapped when Astrea tried to gather the pieces, pushing her hand away angrily, which brought Astrea back to reality. She didn’t owe anything to Salome.
She was about to say something when the silver spear on the wall next to the bed began to glow, blinding them all.
“F*cking hell!” Fenrir swore under his breath, causing everyone to look at him. “Not now!”
“What is this?” Astrea felt a sense of foreboding looming over her.
“It’s-” Fenrir was looking for the right words, getting out of bed absolutely naked as if it was nothing. Salome’s cheeks flushed, and Astrea cleared her throat, overdoing it slightly to get the man’s attention. He swore under his breath again, and clothes appeared on him out of nowhere, which, she had to repeat to herself, was perfectly normal.
“His baby is born!” Salome spat the words out, making Astrea’s lips part.
“Your what?” She gasped in shock at him.
“It’s not what you think,” Fenrir raised his hands defensively. “It’s just-“
“A firstborn he has to collect for a favour he provided!”
Salome announced bitterly, tryirig to blink away the tears that formed in her eyes.
That didn’t bother Astrea as she sat down on the floor, ignoring the shards of glass around her.
A million thoughts swirled in her mind.
A firstborn baby… A favour… A deity who was Joran’s brother.
She felt physically sick just thinking about it. She thought Fenrir was so different from his sibling but…was he? Her memories were not back yet to make a fair judgement. She was crazy about the man, but in the end of the day, she didn’t know him that well yet.
“Astrea,” Fenrir rushed towards her. “You cut yourself!”
Only now she noticed the aching of her palm and brought it closer to her face to see blood on it. It was nothing compared to the pain in her chest.
“You collect firstborns?” Her voice was barely a whisper as the colour drained from her face.
Fenrir knew what she meant at once, taking her hand to heal it.
“He-“The witch was about to say something else when he glared at her.
“You’ve helped enough, Salome, thank you.” He gritted his teeth, and the witch pressed her lips together so hard they turned white.
“I was just-” She was desperately looking for an excuse for her behaviour to fix all this mess, but nothing good came to mind, so she decided to change the subject. “If it glows, it probably means the baby is born. You have to go.”
Now that Salome was thinking about it, it was actually good. Thanks to Savannah Fionnlagh, she just got a chance to regroup.
“I’ll deal with it,” Fenrir growled. “Could you give us a moment in private, please?”
“Excuse me,” the witch tried to make an indifferent face.
This time she waved her hand, and all the little shards and liquid from the floor got back onto her tray. One of the biggest pieces flew out of Astrea’s palm, cutting more of her skin, making her wince.
She left before Fenrir had time to react, avoiding the confrontation.
Although furious with his friend, Fenrir was more preoccupied with his woman. He was panicking because he knew exactly what was on Astrea’s mind now. She may have fallen for him, but she didn’t remember anything about his character to not be upset now.
He was healing her hand, and she couldn’t bring herself to look at him.
“Astrea,” he brought her palm to his lips and kissed it gently. “I know how it looks but-“
“It’s fine!” She stood up, yanking her wrist back. “Who am I to judge the gods? Go collect your baby!”
“I am not going to,” he said, and finally, she spared him a distrustful glance. “Not until she is 18.”
Astrea gave him the eye roll of her life.
“No, Fenrir,” she shook her head, searching the room for something to wear. “Don’t do this to a child! Don’t let her grow up in a loving family and then rip her away from them to turn her into a Firstborn warrior! I saw kids like that! They don’t do well! If you are going to do this, it’s best if she is taken young and brought up in the environment that-“
“I am not planning on turning her into a warrior!” Fenrir closed the distance between them. “I am not planning on turning her into anything.”
“Then why did you-” Her voice broke in the middle of the sentence and he couldn’t take it anymore, pulling her into a tight hug.
“It was an accident!” He assured her. “I came to the North to claim that spear, and it was buried in some dead guy’s body. I hadn’t used it for so long that I forgot that property existed… When I grasped the spear to remove it from his body, a jolt of electricity burst forth from it and revived the corpse. I lost my composure for a moment when he started to beg me for help, and I-“
He stopped, not knowing how to tell her.
“You what?” Astrea furrowed her brows.
“I kind of… joked that it would cost him his firstborn,” Fenrir barely squeezed the words out of himself.
“You JOKED about it?” Astrea tried to push him away, but he held her tight regardless, hoping to wait out her wrath.
“I know, I know! Trust me, if I could turn back time, I would! I was frustrated and tired. And usually people never give up their firstborn kids like that! But it turned out that this guy was pretty desperate… his beloved woman had been abducted and-“
“Wait!” Astrea’s head snapped back to the spear. No wonder it looked so familiar. “Oh, Goddess, Fenrir! Are you talking about King Kai Fionnlagh?!”
“Yeah,” he offered her an awkward smile.
“So, you are the one who performed that miracle and saved him.” She finally allowed herself to relax in his hands, and he breathed out in relief, knowing that she didn’t hate him after all.
“I guess so-“
“And their daughter is the price-” She bit her lip painfully.
“I didn’t want this,” he said, “but words given to the gods are binding.”
“It still feels so wrong. She is their baby!” Astrea knew the king and his wife. She liked them. They were the ones she risked her life for.
“I know, Astrea, this is why I want to give them time until she is eighteen. It’s time for me too. Time to think of what to do with her. I don’t need another woman bound to me.
It’s not like I am planning on keeping her as a concubine or anything.”
“A concubine?” She scoffed with a raised brow. “Was that ever an option?”
“No,” Fenrir chuckled, placing a soft kiss on the top of her head. “There is only one woman for me, and that’s you. I had all the chances in the world to be with someone else, but I know that my heart will only desire you. So, no.
Concubines were never an option.”
The spear started glowing again and Astrea groaned in frustration. It wasn’t like they didn’t have problems, but now there was also a baby. Savvy’s baby. Astrea loved Savvy. It was quite possible that Savvy hated her now. Their last conversation wasn’t great, and Astrea had to run away right after, but to her… to her, Savannah was a dear friend.
Someone shed grown to cherish. Shed risked everything for her and her family once.
And now Fenrir practically owned her child. It was weird, wrong, and absolutely unbelievable. Not to mention that none of them knew what to do now. Even Fenrir looked puzzled.
“You have to go.” She sighed, imagining how unhappy Savvy and Kai probably were about this. “Tell them.”
“You are upset,” he cupped her chin and made her look at him.
“It’s not exactly something to be happy about,” she tried to smile.
“We will have 18 years to think of how to break the bond between that girl and me,” he leaned down to kiss her nose,