Baby after One Night with the Prince

Tanya's POV.

"No, he's prince Marco, Eric's brother," I say immediately, looking almost as confused as the Alpha.

Marco coughs out some of the blood in his throat before adding. "I never drafted a proposal to construct a dam in the Blue Moon Pack territory. I probably wasn't told about it because the royals knew I'd completely forbid the destruction of the Blue Moon Tree."

Restless minutes pass, slowly revealing a very different persona from the fierceness Caspian portrayed earlier. The pressure on his brow bone relaxes first, before raising high to his hairline in sincere surprise. His mouth gapes open, and if I'm not so terrified for me and Marco's life. I would have laughed at Caspian's expression.

He awkwardly presses his hand against the nape of his neck where I can see sweat beginning to dampen the collar of his shirt. He looks immeasurably uncomfortable with the situation. "Oh well this is embarrassing." He laughs nervously, pacing the room as he taps his chin, swiveling on the ball of his shoe with each turn.

"Mind undoing our restraints." Marco sounds so blasé about it that it takes me a minute to register the fact that we are still in cuffs, his tone also takes Caspian a moment before he processes the request, and his body jolts in startling realization.

"Oh goodness! Yes of course! Dylan! What are you waiting around for! Untie them!"

Dylan runs over to me, carefully undoing my chains, his treatment of me a stark difference from a couple of minutes ago. Caspian is undoing Marco's ropes haphazardly, only for my husband to tug his wrist apart with an incredible amount of force, shredding the ties in a clear show that he has only sat there and taken the beating because he wanted to protect me and the baby, he could have easily escaped and attacked. Caspian chuckles awkwardly at this realization, whilst Marco only glares.

"This is just a big misunderstanding you see?" says the Alpha with a playful smile. "I'm sorry for the torture tactics, but you're a Lycan, which thank god for that. Cause that will heal up in no time!" He strokes Marco's shoulder in some form of apology, but my husband slaps his hand away with a formidable look.

Caspian sighs. "I really am sorry, the royal family bullied my pack into giving up control, and I'm not going to just let them destroy our territory for their own gain! Especially when the Blue Moon Tree is so important to us." Just then, an idea flashes through my mind, now without chains holding me back, I rush to my feet and up to Caspian.

"Maybe you don't have to fight them after all." I suddenly say, grabbing Caspian's attention curiously. "I have a way to save the Blue Moon Tree."

***

That evening Marco and I return home together. We are sitting quietly in the living room as I work on his wounds. With a warm damp sponge to wipe away the blood coming from the cuts on his face in a gentle motion, trying hard not to hurt him, studying his wounds, noticing the bruising, and feeling guilty for the pain he undertook to protect me.

I can feel Marco's eyes on me, watching me quietly as I dab away any blood. I then take out a bottle of ointment, dipping my clean fingers in it before pressing a generous amount on his wounds. As I do this, I remember that Marco must have come to rescue me halfway through his meeting with Lily.

"I'm really sorry I made you leave your meeting with Lily so you could come and save me," I whisper. I stammer a little to get my next words out, highly hesitant with the thoughts that cross my mind, but finally can't resist asking. "How- how did the meeting go?" I feel sick to my stomach from the nervousness while I wait to hear his answer.

"Weren't you the one who really wanted me to go?" An upward arc on his lips slightly formulates on his beaten-up face. "How come you're so nervous about the outcome?"

"That's... that's because," my cheeks flush red, not knowing how to say. Marco looks at me stammering anxiously, the smile in his eyes becoming more and more obvious.

He is teasing me again! This makes me hot-headed for a second and I can't help blurting out the truth which I intended to keep secret. "I asked you to meet with her because Lily begged me to convince you to."

I watch the confusion showcase itself in his expression. "Tanya, you sound like some major philanthropist." He chuckles. "Do you even hear yourself? My ex-girlfriend asks you to help her get on speaking terms with your husband. And you agree?"

"It's because...!" I look at Marco acting as if nothing has happened, instead it's me who keeps tangling, and a surge of grief springs up in my heart. Once I recall what I've seen outside Lily's office, it's as if I can taste the bitterness on my tongue again. I state with clear hurt in my eyes. "It's because I saw you in Lily's office the other day, kissing her and saying 'I love you'. I thought maybe she's the one you really want, so I thought I should let you guys reconcile." Marco frowns, prominent brows furrowing, and without warning, his warm hands are pressing against my cheeks, and holding my face so that I have to look at him as he speaks. "But I never went into Lily's office." My brows narrow in thought. "But when you said, 'I love you' to her, it sounded exactly like you."

I watch him think intensely for a moment before a light bulb goes off in his head. "I gave Lily a doll. And when you push a button, it emits a recording of my voice saying, 'I love you, Lily'. That's what you must've heard... also, when I met with Lily today, I just told her that we will no longer be meeting alone in the future if it isn't necessary. I shouldn't be meeting alone with my ex, especially when I'm married to you."

Upon hearing this, the tension in my body dissipates as I release a calm sigh. I smile as his explanation soothes away my worries. "So, you're not angry anymore?" I can sense the teasing nature of his question as he smiles at me, adding. "If I'm correct, I was sensing a tad bit of jealousy from you Tanya," he says cockily, sounding pleased that his cheeky assumption was correct.

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I wrinkle my nose, shaking my head in blatant denial, despite the tiny giggles I couldn't hold back.

***

Marco's POV.

Today is the first round of the perfume competition. I really believe Tanya came up with a brilliant way to save the Blue Moon Tree. Whoever wins the competition gets to sell and market their product extensively, and if Tanya uses the Blue Moon Flower, which is only available in the Blue Moon Pack's territory, it means the pack will have immense economic growth for being the only supplier of the Blue Moon Flower ingredients. So naturally there would be no reason for the royal family to force the construction of the dam or destroy the Blue Moon Tree.

Both Tanya and Lily are competing, and I watch the different rooms as I recall the aspects of the competition. In the first round, each contestant will be in a separate room, and they must create a perfume within the time limit using the utensils and raw materials made available to them in the room.

My eyes drift to tv screens in the main competition venue, showing video footage so that the audience and the judges can watch the contestants' every move. I'm specifically watching Tanya's screen, always impressed by her perfume-making abilities, I admire her talent. A bit of pride warms my chest knowing how capable she is.

However, I start to notice that she's working at a much slower pace than all the other contestants. She almost looks oblivious to the time restriction, working on her concoction step by step without any sense of urgency. She's graceful in the way she works and maneuvers the utensils and instruments in a manner to create her concoction, but she's working too slowly, and there isn't a lot of time.

I start to grow tense for her own sake, unable to do anything but watch as she doesn't pick up speed. I notice that there're fifteen minutes left on the lock, with the first round about to come to an end. A bell rings uniformly in the corner of the competition venue, signaling to the contestants that there are only fifteen minutes left before they must stop working on their perfumes.

This is when I see Tanya's head snap up in realization, as if she hasn't known all along how little time she has left, and I watch as panic flashes in her eyes.