The Lycan King's Secret Baby (Freya and Jaxon)

Chapter 23

I was in complete and utter shock as I watched her standing there in leather pants, a button up shirt and a large cloak to shield her body from the elements. Her hair was tied up into a perfect chignon at the base of her neck. It felt like I was seeing a ghost from my past. I hadn’t thought about her in the last four years and now seeing her right in front of me, it felt like a rude awakening.

She turned to Jaxon and bowed low. “Your majesty, it is an honor to finally meet you.”

“He nodded to her and I couldn’t stop the words from leaving my m*uth. “What are you doing here?”

She turned to me and I saw a brief flash of irritation in her eyes and I knew that if we were alone, she would have said something rude but instead she plastered the fakest smile she could muster on her face.

“It has been a long night and an even longer journey. Why don’t I get some rest and we can talk about it

tomorrow?”

I glanced over at Jaxon because I didn’t know what to say. I couldn’t form the words and before I could even say anything, Cressida had walked into the palace. She took off her clock and handed it to a guard who took it with a confused expression on his face. She acted like she was at home and like the castle belonged to her. She crossed the length of the distance between us and stood directly in front of me.

“Your majesty, you don’t have to wait around, it is just family talk,” she said to Jaxon. “I’m sure Freya can take me

to my room.

“One of the maids will take you to your room,” he corrected. “It is late and Freya has some things to attend to.”

Her lips pursed and I knew she hated his decision but she couldn’t directly oppose him seeing as he was the king. She bowed to him in a way that was both respectful and disrespectful at the same time. She turned back to

me and before I could react, she wrapped her arms around my shoulders in a hug.

I completely froze up because Cressida had never hugged me in my life. It felt weird and my skin crawled. I wanted nothing more than to push her off but I knew I couldn’t so I stayed completely still while waited for her to pull away.

As she finally decided to pull away, I heard her whisper. “You look good but we will talk about why I’m here

tomorrow.”

I would have thought I imagined the words if not for the little smirk that grew on her lips. I took an urgent step back and Jaxon’s arm reached out to wrap around my waist and hold me. I was so grateful for it because it felt © 2024 Nôv/el/Dram/a.Org.

like the only thing keeping me sane and stable at that moment. I thought my knees were going to buckle or I was going to run and I did not want to give her the satisfaction.

One of the maids walked over to her and curtsied softly and then she was gone. As soon as she left, I let out a breath that I didn’t know I was holding and I felt Jaxon staring at me as if he was

trying to figure out what was going on in my head.

“What’s the story between the both of you?” he asked and I shrugged. “You looked uncomfortable. If you want her gone then I will have her gone.”

“It’s fine,” I waved him off.

I wanted to know why she came and I wanted to know what she had planned. If I knew Cressida as well as l thought then there was definitely something she had planned and until I was able to find it out, she needed to be under the roof where I could keep an eye out for her.

Kiarost

“Let’s go to Kiara,” I said with a forced smile. “She must be waiting for us.”

Jaxon didn’t want to drop the subject that much was certain but he sighed and nodded and without removing his hand from the small of my back, we made our way over to Kiara’s room. I briefly wondered if Cressida knew about Kiara and what her reaction would be if she found out.

Kiara was awake when we got there but barely. She was half asleep already but she tried her best to put on a brave smile. I couldn’t tell her the story because of how distracted I was so Jaxon did it. She complained a few times that he wasn’t doing the voices properly and it was actually amusing to see the feared Alpha King doing animal voices for his daughter.

My heart threatened to burst out of my chest the more I watched them. He tried his best and soon she was asleep. Once he noticed, he let out a sigh of relief and kis*ed her forehead before standing up to return the book to her shelf. While he did that, I leaned over my daughter and kis*ed her hair.

“I love you,” I whispered to her. “More than anything in the world and I hope you never doubt that.“”

I pulled away and I saw Jaxon watching me with an unreadable expression. I couldn’t form words in my throat so instead I walked past him and I started making my way towards my room but he stopped me by grabbing my arm and leading me towards his room. I was shocked and confused but I couldn’t find it in myself to fight him because the truth was that I didn’t want to be alone so I allowed him lead me.

When we got to the room, I realized how I was still in my dirty clothes so I made my way into the bathroom to take a long needed bath. I spent so much longer than I should have under the shower. I allowed the hot water

burn my skin as my mind moved to places I hadn’t bothered to think about in years.

I couldn’t help but think about my step mother and everything I faced at her hands. Now that I had my own

child, it was almost like I was looking at it through a new pair of lenses. I would never dream of treating Kiara like that and as much as I liked to think that my father was innocent in all of it, I could finally see that he was not.]

I finally got out and dried my body with a fluffy white towel before putting on a robe. When I got into the room, I saw a pair of basketball shorts and a shirt on the bed. I didn’t know if they were for me but I decided to put them on anyways. The shirt fell to my knees so I decided to ditch the shorts. By the time I had returned the shorts to his massive walk in closet, Jaxon walked into the room.

Jaxon was in sweatpants that hung low on his hips but he was shirtless. When he saw me, he paused as if he was taking me in and then the corner of his lips tilted up. He sat on the bed with his

back against the headboard and gestured for me to sit next to him. I hesitated for a split second before deciding to climb the bed and crawling over to him.

At first, I sat with a few feet between us but Jaxon reached out and pulled me closer to him. It was at that moment that I noticed the steaming mug right next to him. He handed it to me and I took a sniff- chamomile tea.

“I hear it calms people down,” he said as he handed it over to me and I took it with shaky hands. “There’s a story there, between you and that woman, what is it?”

I hesitated before speaking. I swallowed down the tea allowing the heat burn the back of my throat hoping it would give me some sort of utterance but it didn’t. my throat still felt like a desert and I felt like I was going to choke on my words but I decided to try anyways.

“She’s my step mother,” I said slowly. “We never had the best relationship. Seeing her here, I know there has to be something wrong. She never liked me and honestly the feeling was mutuat. I’m just worried that she is going- to bring bad news about my father.”

“The same man who sold you to me,” he wasn’t saying it to be rude but it still came out sounding like that. “Those people aren’t your family. Was I in the wrong by buying you? Yes but your father should have never sold you to me. He owed me a lot of money and he offered you in exchange for wiping that debt clean and some

more.”

It hurt to hear those words from him but I knew they were true. They weren’t my family because family would never have sold me like that. No matter what happened, I would never sell Kiara or treat her badly.

I let out a sigh. “I just don’t want to think about it right now.”

“Then you don’t have to,” he pulled me in and pressed a soft ki*s on my hair. “Sleep, we can handle it tomorrow.”