Before any of the Alpha males could utter a single syllable of shock, outrage, or confusion, Roxy gasped.
"Oh my god," Roxy choked out, her voice trembling. "Oh my god. Drax."
Zarek frowned, his arms tightening around her waist. "Roxy? What is it?"
"Drax!" Roxy gasped again, scrambling to turn around in Zarek’s lap so she could look him in the eye. Tears instantly flooded her vision, hot and stinging with sudden, vicious guilt. "Where is he? I didn’t even ask! I walked into the yard, I hugged the twins, I kissed Iris, I gave Tanith a gift... and I didn’t even look for my firstborn!"
A/N: How could we miss our Drax?
She buried her face in her hands, her shoulders shaking with fresh sobs.
"What kind of mother am I?" she wept, the self-loathing hitting her. "I threw a feast! I sat there and ate and laughed, and I forgot my oldest boy! I’m a monster. I’ve been gone for months, and the mont I get back, I forget him. He’s going to hate . He should hate ."
The panic attack was setting in fast, fueled by the sheer exhaustion of her journey and the emotional whiplash of the day.
"Roxy, stop," Zarek commanded, his voice a low, soothing rumble.
He gently grasped her wrists, pulling her hands away from her tear-streaked face. He didn’t look angry; he looked at her with a profound, grounding tenderness.
"You are not a bad mother," Zarek said firmly, wiping a tear from her cheek with his rough thumb. "Your mind was shattered by the ocean, and the journey. You saw the pups who were right in front of you. You did not forget Drax; you simply haven’t seen him yet."
"But why wasn’t he there?" Roxy sniffled, her chest heaving. "Is he hurt? Did sothing happen while I was gone?"
"He is perfectly fine," Kaelen interjected smoothly from the edge of the bed, his calm Alpha aura washing over the room to help settle her frayed nerves. "In fact, he is thriving."
Zarek nodded, a swell of paternal pride softening his harsh features. "Drax is not a pup anymore, Roxann. He has hit his growth. His dragon blood is burning hot. Three days ago, a territorial dispute broke out in the Dragon Peaks. As my heir, Drax requested to go and settle it himself."
"He went to the Peaks?" Roxy gasped, her maternal panic shifting from guilt to worry. "Alone?"
"He is not alone; he took a contingent of guards," Zarek assured her, kissing her forehead. "He is stepping into his role as a leader. He is making the pack proud. He will return in a few days, and when he does, he will be overjoyed to find you here."
"You promise?" Roxy whispered, leaning her head against Zarek’s broad chest. "You promise he won’t think I replaced him?"
"I promise," Zarek murmured, resting his chin on her hair. "Now, breathe. The boy is safe. Our pack is safe."
Torian cleared his throat from the right side of the bed. The White Tiger crossed his massive arms, his dark eyes focused intently on Roxy.
"We have addressed the missing heir," Torian stated, his voice a deep, thodical rumble. "Now, perhaps we can return to the statent regarding the... aquatic matrimony?"
Roxy flinched, rembering the bomb she had just dropped.
She took a deep, shuddering breath, pulling the silk robe a little tighter around her. She looked at the circle of n staring at her.
"It wasn’t a choice I made lightly," Roxy began, her voice dropping to a quiet, heavy cadence. "When I fell into the water, I was drowning. My lungs were filling with water. I was dying. And then... he found ."
"The rman," Syris hissed softly, his tongue flicking out.
"Caspian," Roxy nodded. "He is the King of the Deep Spires. He saved . He pulled down into a cave where there was air. He nursed back to health. But... he wouldn’t let go."
Zarek’s arms tightened around her like iron bands. A low, vibrating growl started deep in his chest. "He took you prisoner."
"He thought he was saving ," Roxy corrected gently, placing a hand over Zarek’s to calm him. "To him, the Surface is a wasteland of death. He thought keeping in the Spires was the only way to keep alive."
"How did you survive under the sea for months?" Kaelen asked, his brow furrowed.
Roxy swallowed hard. This was where the lies had to weave seamlessly with the truth. They didn’t know about the System. To them, her strange abilities and sudden appearances were the work of the Divine.
"The Gods intervened," Roxy said, infusing her voice with a quiet reverence. "The deities that brought to this world... they saw my suffering. They saw that Caspian had saved a daughter of the Surface. So, to save us both, they gifted . They gave a tail. They gave the power to breathe the ocean."
The n stared at her in absolute awe. To be touched so directly by the Divine was a concept that commanded absolute respect in the Beast World.
"If the Gods gave you the ability to swim," Kaelen pressed, "why did you not use that power to swim back to us imdiately? Why stay and take a crown?"
Roxy looked down at the soft linen sheets. She hated lying to them, but explaining interdinsional System quests, biological incompatibilities, and other chanics would only sound like madness.
"Because the Gods rarely give gifts without a price," Roxy half-lied, raising her eyes to et Kaelen’s. "It was a mission. The ocean was unbalanced. The Deep Spires were dying, facing a drought of magic and fertility. The Gods demanded that I stay and fulfill a role. To heal the rift. To bring life back to the Spires. Only then would the Gate to the Surface open for ."
Silence fell over the room again. They believed her. They believed she was a martyr, a saint chosen by the heavens to suffer for the balance of the world.
Zarek buried his face in the crook of her neck. "You have done well, and are very strong."
"You are ho now," Torian added softly, his eyes filled with a rare emotion. "The water did not wash you away completely. We have you back."
"I am ho," Roxy whispered, her throat tight. "But... fulfilling the mission ant I had to truly beco their Queen. And the Spires required an heir to stabilize everything."
She looked at Kaelen, then at Zarek, then at the others.
"I had no choice," she said. "I gave birth to a child. A son. For him."
The tension spiked instantly. The idea of another male claiming their mate, planting his seed, and taking a child from her was anathema to Alpha instincts. Zarek’s breathing turned ragged. Ren looked away, his jaw clenched tight.
"But," Roxy rushed to add, her voice fierce and unwavering, "I definitely do not regret him. He is beautiful. He has legs, just like us. And he is a part of ."
She waited for the anger. She waited for the jealousy to explode.
Instead, Kaelen shifted on the bed, moving closer until his knee touched hers. He reached out and gently cupped her cheek, his thumb brushing away a stray tear.
"Of course you do not regret him," Kaelen said softly, his voice echoing with profound warmth. "You are a mother, Roxy. And no mother ever regrets her child, regardless of how they ca into the world. He is your blood. That makes him worthy of love."
A broken sob escaped Roxy’s lips. She threw herself forward, wrapping her arms around Kaelen’s neck, while Zarek held her fiercely from behind. Ren crawled up the bed, pressing his forehead to her hip, and Syris and Torian moved in, creating a solid, impenetrable wall of warmth and acceptance around her.
She snuggled deep into the pile of her mates, finally feeling the last frozen shards of the ocean lt from her bones. She was safe. She was understood.
"Rest now, my brave Queen," Zarek murmured, his voice rumbling against her spine as he pulled the thick furs over her silk-clad shoulders. "Sleep deep. Gather your strength. Because tomorrow begins a very long week."
Roxy paused, her eyes fluttering shut against the exhaustion. The wording caught her off guard. Not a long day. Not a busy morning.
A very long week.
"Zarek," Roxy whispered into the quiet room, a knot of dread forming in her stomach. "What do you an?"
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