Traded To The Lycan King by MG Wattsons

*Kyra*

I rest my head on the door frame, leaning into it as I watch Hayes sleep, the light from the bathroom hitting his face just right. He has been through so much, changed and yet not changed at the same time. His scars shine in the light but they don't diminish his looks, instead they make me smile.

I get to spend the rest of my life healing his inner scars, the ones that we both carry and will always struggle with. Perhaps this is what we needed to understand, not only life, but what it means to love. The bond can't make you love someone. It plants the seed, but it takes effort. It takes time and nurturing. The Hayes I loved when I was a teen is not the same Hayes laying in front of me, and we are both better for it. How else would I have realized how much I needed to fight for him? How else would he have woken up from the terrible nightmare of a life he threw himself into?

"It's a little creepy, you standing there grinning like that," Hayes' soft voice drifts to me, a sleepy raspiness that melts my heart.

"Creepy?" I scoff, feigning hurt, and I watch his lips twitch up as he tries to hide a smile and cracks one eye open.

"Stalker-ish?" He says, thinking that altering his word use might save him. I arch a brow in interest. "Well, my job is basically a spy. Kind of." I shrug my shoulders before pushing off the door, leaving the light on.

"Oh? And what information do you plan to get from me?" He asks, lifting his arm to encourage me back into bed.

"Mmm, I know everything about you already." I tease, throwing the covers back away from him, exposing his naked body. "I learned what I didn't know a few times last night."

He glares up at me.

"So you know why I am annoyed with you?" He asks, and I throw my head back and chuckle. "Because I am not naked?" I ask, and he smirks.

"You may know me pretty well."

"We have to go check on Tiago, and then maybe grab some food. I am starving and this baby isn't going to feed itself." I say, patting my belly under the oversized t-shirt I found in the dresser.

Hayes' face goes from sleepy sexiness to excited dad to be as he sits up quickly.

"When will you start to show?" He asks, reaching out and tugging on my shirt as he draws me closer, then rests his head on my stomach as I stand between his legs.

"Uh, well, I kind of feel like I already am showing a little," I frown, looking down at him. My stomach flutters and I place my hand in his hair, gently stroking my fingers through his strands, enjoying this sweet moment.

"I-i-I swear something just moved." He mutters, and I furrow my brows.

"I don't think I am far enough along that I can feel movement yet." I tell him. Then he looks up at me. His chin resting on my belly button.

"I have lycan hearing, my dear. I heard the movement." Then he grins widely. "There is really a baby in there."

I scoff and roll my eyes. "Did you think I made it up?"

"Hell no, but being told and then knowing? There is a difference." He whispers in awe, looking at the stomach, his hand brushing over the area. I swear I have a bump.

"Uh, huh." I tease, stepping back, bending and kissing his head before I walk over and grab him some clothes. "But for now, we have to go save your brother from the little dragon king heir."

"I am sure Tiago has been good." He assures me, and it's not that I disagree, but there has been so much that has happened in such a short time and with Tiago's random and extraordinary growth spurts as of late, who knows what he is and isn't comprehending.

"I just want to keep him a little close lately." I say, meeting Hayes' eyes.

I can sense he understands my feelings, the bond doing what it does best and making communication smoother by way of sharing our deep emotional connection.

"How do you think he will respond to a sibling?" He asks, looking excited. "I wonder if he will want a sister or a brother. Maybe he will help us pick a name?"

His shoulders straighten as he tugs

a shirt over his head and reveals his messy hair and happy smile. Hayes' is lost in thought, happy thoughts of a future he kept swearing up and down. He wanted nothing to do with. Back when Hayes tried to convince me he didn't want me, that he couldn't want me.

Back when he was so worried about how undeserving he was.

"Hayes," I whisper, tilting my head to the side, a sadness in my stomach causing my throat to grow tight.

"Yeah?" He asks while pulling the elastic waistband of his shorts over his legs.

"I know you are happy now, but...with everything that happened, all the things you said and how you felt,"

I pause, taking a deep breath. "Are you sure this is what you want?"

"What do you mean?" He asks, his eyes narrowing on me as he pushes himself to stand.

I exhale deeply and then grip my hands together.

"Maybe it's the hormones. Just forget I said anything." I murmur, turning back to the dresser as I reach for my clothes.

"No," He says sternly and I feel his demanding presence at my back, the warmth of his closeness, the breeze of his breath that tickles my neck. There is no hiding anything from each other. I can't do that, not again. All it does is breed discord and confusion."

I spin, finding myself looking up into his determined eyes.

"All of this has been sudden and nonstop. You went from wanting nothing to do with me to swearing you

can't live without me and I am just worried that-"

"Never, not once, have I lied to you." He tells me and I roll my eyes.

"He says as he lies." I say with a little sass.

"What I told you was truths I

believed based on lies I told myself. I

spent years convincing myself I

failed to protect Leandra. Hell, I

blamed my own brother. Instead seeing it for what it was, an unfortunate event that forever changed me. I allowed myself to stop living and when I saw you again, I convinced myself I didn't want to live because how could I live if I couldn't have you? If I couldn't protect you?"

"And now?" I ask him and he chuckles.

"We protect each other. I rely on you and you rely on me and together we protect what's ours." He says simply, as if it is the easiest answer he could ever devise.

I can't help but bite back a smile as I slide my hand up his cheek and lift on my toes slightly to press a soft kiss to his lips.

"Okay," I tell him, nodding my head. "I think I can live with that."

"Well, you damn well better KNOW you can live with that, because that is what it is. I choose you every day and not just because you are my mate, but because you are my everything." Hayes presses his forehead to mine, inhaling deeply.

"I love you, Kyra. every day, I will choose you and everyday we will grow stronger and more in love. And our babies, Tiago and the ten more we are going to have, will be so loved."

"Oh, wow!" I laugh, pulling back to see his mischievous grin. "Ten? Really, do I have any say in that?" He shrugs, dipping his head down as he nuzzles my neck.

"Well, we can do the work like we are trying for ten. Does that seem fair enough?" He murmurs against my skin, sending a shiver of delight up my spine.

"I suppose that works for me." I rasp out as his lips tease my mate mark.

"Let's practice real quick, then we can leave..." he murmurs, pressing his hip into me as I stumble back into the dresser.

"You are very convincing..." I breathe, closing my eyes as I arch my back toward him, my body already waiting and needing him.