Viktoria’s POVI couldn’t believe that we were actually married as I lay in the early morning light studying Fynn’s face. My revelation of the night before still rang in my mind. I was madly in love with Fynn. I had been ever since I stayed with the pack. I would never admit it to anybody, not even Fynn, but over the past couple of years, I read everything I could find about the beasts. Our library didn’t have much, unfortunately, but it did have the basics that explained how their ranking system worked, which, of course, the ancient had put into place, choosing only the strongest of the beasts for the higher ranks. It also covered that they had destined mates, but not who decided on that destiny. I figured out why Fynn was so in love with me and why we had to go through that rejection thing for him to leave me alone, but it seemed as though whatever we did, didn’t exactly stick. I sneaked out of bed and out of our room to feed and was met by two beasts outside my door!They introduce

Viktoria’s POVIn the fourth hour, I could hear the witch start to chant and by now, I could feel that the ancient was fully awake. I could feel that he wasn’t strong enough to do anything yet, but there was a clear tugging sensation in my mind. I knew it was him trying to get in like he did before and I couldn’t allow it. I caught a glimpse of Fynn as he walked over to the door to check on me and my father. He frowned and whispered something in my mother’s ear and she nodded. I must have shown signs of distress because in an instant my father was beside me.“Viktoria, are you okay?” He looked worried as he put his hand on my forehead and I realized that my forehead was clammy. I had been concentrating so hard to stop the ancient from getting through that I didn’t even notice I was perspiring! My father quickly moved me over to where Fynn and my mother were waiting and Fynn shouted for the witch to stop.“NO! If we stop now, we won’t be able to do this for at least another year!” I sh

Viktoria’s POV“It’s a boy!” The doctor shouted, sounding as if he had just won the biggest prize. Silence fell as all eyes turned to me. I looked at Fynn who was wiping my hair from my forehead.“We have a son.” I smiled as a nurse rushed to my side and started to flashlight into my eyes. I could feel the tension in the room while the doctor was still doing something down there. All the eyes in the room were darting from me to him and back until he finally told us that it looked as if everything was going to be okay. I wasn’t bleeding abnormally like normal vampire females did when they gave birth and he couldn’t find anything else wrong with me. A loud sigh of relief rushed over everyone and I told Fynn to let me go so he could look after our son.A couple of minutes later, they brought little Friedrich to me and Fynn softly placed him in my arms. He was the most perfect porcelain doll I had ever seen, and then he scrunched up his little button nose and tears started to stream down

Viktoria’s POVFynn looked older and it was a shock to my system to see him as he slowly picked me up out of the coffin. Friedrich eagerly explained that after we killed the ancient, I fell into a coma that the doctors couldn’t explain. I remember the incredible weight I felt pushing down on me before everything went dark. Friedrich looked at Fynn, who nodded before they told me that I had missed out on three years of everybody’s lives. When it became clear that I wasn’t waking up, my father suggested that they move me to the coffin to protect my body.To make sure I was fed, they connected the tubes that we used for the ancient, and that way they knew I would wake up when I was ready. Nobody had ever attempted what we had done, which meant nobody knew if I would ever wake up. I was relieved to find out that all of our people survived and nobody died due to a link to the ancient. We did it. We broke the link with him.“But,” My father looked sad and I could see he was having a hard ti

Viktoria’s POVEvery year Friedrich’s birthday came and went, but none was as important as the year he was meant to turn fourteen. Each year we waited patiently to see if he shifted on his birthday and each year he was disappointed. Our son no longer looked like a young boy. He was a grown man compared to all his friends who were celebrating their birthdays with him. Today, Friedrich would join his friends for the shifting ceremony. It wouldn’t matter if he shifted or not, it could always happen later in his life, but today was the day. I could feel it. It was in the air around him.I didn’t tell Fynn what I was feeling, but there was excitement growing in the pit of my stomach. I had watched Friedrich train during the day and he was the spitting image of his father. Tall and handsome. He will be a great king one day. I didn’t allow myself to think about the possibility that he might not even live that long thanks to the rate at which he grew. I just kept my mind on the good things we