Ileus: The Dark Prince

Chapter 513: Mates, as if!

"Where are you lost?" Anastasia's voice snagged his attention back to the party when she saw that he was glancing at the doors of the banquet hall.

He shook his head and looked at the center of the table where there was a large stuffed turkey that was being sliced by Aidan. Aidan offered him the piece and said, "This one is my recipe. Trust me, Darla loves it and I am extremely sure that my baby is going to love it as well! The way Darla eats it—"

"Oy!" Darla shouted. "You dare say—"

"She eats it like a pig!" Aidan completed the sentence with a wicked grin.

Darla narrowed her eyes as Fleur and Liam broke into a fit of laughter. Darla looked at her parents as if they were traitors. "At least I am not as fat as a pig!" she retorted, stuffing the turkey into her mouth and eating it with vengeance. She stopped herself from moaning at how succulent and delicious it was.

"No darling," Aidan said, serving another piece to Anastasia. "You are getting slightly less fat than a cow, but—"

"What?" Darla's eyes were wide with amusement mixed with a tinge of anger. "I am not fat. I am just more and I am certainly not like a cow!"

Kaizan snorted but focused on the meal. He had smelled a peculiar scent the last time he was in Silver Vales—something like honeysuckle. It made his body stiff beyond words and he had chased the scent in the forest, but it faded and he was left wondering as to why did he even chase it. It lingered in the air, around him… At the moment, all his thoughts were on that scent. It was drawing his attention, and he was trying his best to shove that feeling. So he focused and then some more, on the stuffed turkey.

"Most definitely now like a cow, my dear," Aidan replied with a sexy grin, his chest puffed. "But you are going towards it." He was actually too proud beneath that layer of teasing his wife for carrying his child. He had never thought that Darla would agree to marry him. Their marriage was a whirlwind. When he proposed to her, she had outrightly rejected his proposal because being such an independent woman, she didn't want a marriage that was purely because of a liability. She thought that just because she was pregnant, Aidan had proposed to marry him. It was a tedious task to convince Darla that he loved her for what she was and wanted to marry her for being her, and not because she was having his baby. It took him three months to convince her his point of view and as soon as she had finally agreed, he didn't give her a chance to overthink.

The best way to pressure her was to bring her family in the scenario, whom he had already informed about his intentions. His parents-in-laws were just too good. They intervened and before she could think of changing her decision, they persuaded her to marry Aidan. The best part was that they married right the next day in a very private ceremony with just her parents, his brother who he was close to, Haldir, Ileus and Anastasia.

Right now, he looked across at his wife who was eating the stuffed turkey that he had instructed the cook to make for her, and his chest swelled with pride. He had married the woman he loved. She asked him once what would happen if they found their mates. His heart raced and eyes stung with tears. He said, "You being a werewolf and me being a wizard, only defines our species. And mates are rare amongst us. My home is where I am happiest, and that my love is every time with you, anywhere with you and only you." Darla was taken for life—she knew it. They had had a very passionate night, and she thought that she was happy to never meet her mate. She had gone to the temple to take blessings from the wolf spirits the next day and make a vow.

"This is so delicious!" Anastasia said as she moaned in response to the first bite. "Aidan, you have changed a lot!"

"Oh, you bet he is!" Haldir's voice came from behind. He sat next to Liam, rolled his sleeves up and scanned the food. He arrived late for the party but he had work to do. "Now where's that stuffed turkey?"

"Oy!" Darla shouted when Haldir took the last part of it, which was incidentally one-third, on his plate. "I haven't had it properly!"

"Girl, your husband can make it any time for you!" Haldir replied, putting his arm around his plate as if protecting it from a pregnant werewolf. "So, stop leering at it." Ever since Theodir and Ilyana had left, his mansion continued to boom with roars, for he had been devouring his wife day and night. He was too relaxed and felt like he was in a holiday mood already. He had taken two days off from his duties to be with Inyanga. The problem was that even though he had joined his duties, devouring his wife continued. He had told her that he wanted to show how elves actually had sex. Well, that was bullshit. The horny elf wanted was to have sex with her in various positions, after becoming a life member of a certain library in the palace.

Darla pursed her lips and shot glares at Aidan as if saying this was all his fault. Aidan seemed to convey that he would make another one for her soon.

The dinner got over late at night. All of them were very tired. Liam and Fleur retired to their beds. The guests had left slowly but the friends still remained. They went to the living room where Aidan sprawled over a diwan with Darla leaning on him to sit and Ileus had pulled his wife on his lap on the couch. She was too sleepy and he had curled his arms around her, rocking her gently. Haldir snatched a cushion as he sprawled over a couch but a servant informed him that his wife needed him for baby-sitting. He had stared at the servant and suddenly snapped his fingers. Haldir vanished, leaving a stunned servant.

Kaizan raised his eyebrows from the sofa he was lounging on with his legs dangling from the armrest. He smirked at his friends who were so smitten by their wives. Mates, as if! He had come to the conclusion that only royalty found mates in the Lore. "Nonsense!" he muttered.

"Are you okay, love?" Ileus asked Anastasia.

She nodded with heavy eyelids.

"Would you like to visit him now or later?" he asked in a low voice.

He pressed a kiss on her temple and said, "As you like it, love."

Anastasia rested her head on his chest and smelled his woodsy, spicy scent. She closed her eyes as her mind drifted to sleep and the talks amongst the friends reduced to murmurs.

"Where is the Master?" the spy asked the witch. He was getting too nervous. His entire body had become tight.

"I don't know!" she said as she looked around the banquet hall.