Reign: A Royal Military Romance (57 page)

T
he next morning
, they woke up in a tangle of sheets and naked limbs, the sun just barely getting in through a crack in the curtains. The clock said it was almost six in the morning, about the time Nathan usually got up.

He shifted in bed, feeling a few strange muscles protest, and he grinned, remembering the night before.

Against him, Leah moved slightly, sighing in her sleep and snuggling down against him, her curly red hair tickling his chin as her soft, warm curves woke him up even more.

He drifted in and out of sleep for another hour before finally getting up, pulling on his boxers, and getting out of bed.

For the first time since he’d left Fjords, he turned his phone back on. He hadn’t cared to let anyone reach him while he’d been gone, and he’d even been slightly nervous that it could track him somehow. That was probably paranoia, he knew, but Brock had pack members everywhere, even with the Fjords Sheriff.

Sure enough, there were ten missed calls and two voicemails. All from Brock. Nathan sat in the armchair, still watching Leah —
my wife,
he remembered with a smile — sleep peacefully.

In the first message, Brock managed to sound normal.

“Nathan, I need you,” he said. “Leah Whitehorse has gone missing. Her father and husband are very worried. I want you to see if you can track her down. Call me back.”

Sitting in the hotel room, watching a very nude Leah sleep, he couldn’t help but smile. The next voicemail was from ten hours after the first one, and Nathan had a feeling it wouldn’t be nearly as calm.

“Nathan, you need to get in touch with me right away,” said Brock’s voice. He sound absolutely furious, the kind of fury that only disobeyed alpha could have, like he was moments from ripping someone limb from limb. “If you’ve taken Leah Whitehorse, then—”

“BRING MY DAUGHTER BACK OR I’LL STRANGLE YOU WITH MY OWN BARE HANDS—”

That was Jonah Whitehorse, roaring in the background.

“Her father’s very, very angry,” Brock said. “I need to hear from you, and soon.”

“IF THAT DEGENERATE LAYS A HAND ON HER—”

Click
.

Leah stirred in her sleep, the sheet slipping down to reveal most of her perfect, pale back, and Nathan smiled to himself. Her father might actually have a heart attack when he found out what they’d done, but now, there was nothing he could do. Even Jonah Whitehorse was powerless against the act of taking a mate.

It was done.

Leah was
his
.

She rolled onto her back, naked from the waist up, and opened her eyes.

“Hey,” she murmured, still half-asleep.

“Good morning, sunshine,” he said, standing.

Leah frowned.

“Don’t tell me you’re a morning person,” she muttered, closing her eyes again.

Nathan crawled back onto the bed on all fours, getting on top of her. He was already hard, and being able to feel her warm curves through the bed sheet only made him harder.

“Is it so bad if I am?” he asked.

Leah just made a noise.

“Think I could give you a proper wake up?” Nathan asked, grinning and leaning his face against her stomach.

He didn’t wait for an answer, instead trailing kisses down her belly.

Soon, Leah was
very
awake.

* * *

“
W
here do
you want to go?” Nathan asked two hours later, as they lay on the bed, sweaty and spent.

“What do you mean?”

“From here,” Nathan said, pulling gently on one of her curls, fascinated.

“You mean our honeymoon?”

“We could move somewhere else,” Nathan said. “We never have to see those people again, if you want. We could start over anywhere.”

She turned her head and examined his face for a moment.

“Isn’t that what your brother did?” she asked, softly.

Nathan just nodded.

“He’s happy,” Nathan said.

“You weren’t,” Leah said.

“We could move to Montana and join them,” Nathan said.

Leah thought about it for a moment, lost in thought, her head nestled against Nathan’s shoulder.

“I have to tell my family,” she said. “I can’t just disappear. I owe it to my brothers and sisters. I owe it to Emily.”

She looked up at Nathan.

“I want them to see that I’m happy,” she said. “I want them to know that they can make their own decisions too.”

He twirled her hair around his finger, thinking.

“Don’t tie it in knots,” she murmured. “It’s impossible to untangle.”

“Sorry,” he said, taking his finger out of the spiral.

“You don’t want to go back?”

He stroked her hair with a flat palm, thinking.

“It’s where your clan is,” Leah said. “It’s where you belong.”

He wanted to protest that he’d done too many bad things. That he’d alienated too many people in Fjords, but deep down, he knew she was right. He felt a pull to the place and to his people that he couldn’t quite explain, but it was in his bones. He wanted to show Leah how wonderful it could be there, how beautiful. He wanted their kids to see the glaciers and the stars underneath the Pinnacles.

Maybe we can start to fix it
, he thought.
It has to start somewhere, after all. It may as well start with us
.

“You’re right,” he said. “Let’s go back.”

* * *

W
hile Leah was
in the shower, he finally called Brock back. After all, it would probably be worse to simply show up with Leah in tow rather than give the alpha a few hours to fume.

Brock answered the phone with a snarl.

“Where are you?”

“Outside Anchorage,” Nathan said. “At the Midnight Sun casino.”

“And why are you there?”

“I got married,” Nathan said, as casually as he could.

On the other end of the line, stunned silence.

Then, a door slammed open, and Nathan could hear Jonah Whitehorse’s voice.

“Is that him?” he shouted. “Tell him—”

“Shut up!” Brock shouted back. “Get out.”

Silence again.

“I said get out, Jonah.”

Nathan knew that tone in Brock’s voice, and despite himself, he swallowed. It was a clear
don’t fuck with me
tone.

A door shut, and Brock spoke into the phone again.

“You got married to Leah Whitehorse?” he asked. His voice shook just a little, and Nathan could hear that he was struggling to keep himself in check.

“Yep,” he said. He opened the curtains of the hotel room and looked out at all the cars shining in the sun, down in the parking lot. “We’re coming back to town. Leah wants to see her family before they leave.”

Brock half-laughed, a totally humorless sound.

“I’m not sure they want to see her,” he said.

“Do you speak for her family, or just for her father?”

“Her father is the one that matters.”

“She doesn’t care about him. She wants to see her siblings and her mother.”

“Ian’s also pretty pissed, you know.”

Nathan snorted.

“She told him off already. He followed us to the casino somehow, and she got right in his face. You should have seen it, Brock.”

Silence again, but this time, Nathan could almost hear Brock’s anger mellowing over the phone. He wasn’t Ian’s biggest fan, either, but he’d been willing to make this match in order to ally the two clans together, and, more importantly, make
more
matches.

Now, Nathan could tell, the wheels in the other man’s brain were clicking. The clans were still allied. A Whitehorse woman was still married to a North Star man.

“He beat up Carson, you know,” Nathan went on. “To make me look bad to Leah.”

“Come home,” Brock said, still angry but not furious like he had been. “Come home and we’ll talk.”

Nathan heard the water in the shower shut off and hung up the phone.

T
he closer they
got to Fjords, the quieter Leah got. At the casino, far away from her family and especially from her father, she’d felt considerably braver. But now, all she could imagine was his pure alpha rage. She’d only seen him disobeyed a handful of times before, and it had never been her — despite everything, up until now, she’d been the good daughter.

Now, he was likely to hit the roof and go through it.

There was nothing he could do, though. Nathan was her mate now, officially, and there was nothing that her father could do to change that.

Bears mated for life, after all.

Though, there was a small problem: technically, they hadn’t mated. It was a two-part ritual: first the wedding, then the mating. And while what they’d done in bed had been incredible, it hadn’t, technically, been
mating
.

Technically, she was still a virgin, and she was afraid that her father might be able to tell.

It doesn’t matter
, she told herself.
You’re still married. You’re still his, and you’ve still been way more intimate with him than with anyone else.

Part of her felt guilty, though, that she hadn’t completely given herself to him yet. True, he hadn’t asked, and he seemed completely happy with what they were doing.

Still, Leah
wanted
to give him her virginity. She was just nervous about the logistics.

As he drove, Nathan looked over at her. He reached over and squeezed her hand.

“I’m right here,” he said.

She squeezed back.

“I know,” she said.

* * *

B
y the time
they reached the driveway to the house where her family was staying, Leah thought that her heart might beat clear out of her chest. She felt a mixture of brave and terrified; for the first time, she wasn’t under her father’s thumb anymore, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t do something. He wouldn’t hurt her — he’d never do that — but he could still fight Nathan or cut her off from her siblings who were still under his protection.

Like her little sister, Emily.

Nathan pulled the car up next to her family’s van and cut the engine. Leah just stared straight ahead, trying to gather her wits.

He reached over and took her hand, squeezing it tight.

“Don’t worry,” he said. “I’ll take care of it.”

“No,” she said.

Nathan raised his eyebrows.

“I’m going to tell him,” she said, squeezing his hand back. The fury was growing inside her, threatening to take her over.

She’d spent thirty-two years doing what her father wanted her to, and now, she was free, and it felt wonderful. She wanted to be the one to tell him that she’d defied him and see the look on his face when he realized he’d lost control.

Deep inside, her bear growled with satisfaction.

“Let’s go,” Leah said.

Nathan didn’t argue, just got out of the car and followed his wife to her front door.

As Leah raised her hand to knock, the door flew open.

“Leah!” her mother exclaimed, nearly knocking the girl down opening the screen door. She took her daughter in a bear hug, her gray hair tangling together with Leah’s bright orange hair.

“Oh my god, I was so worried,” she said, squeezing her daughter so tight that Leah could hardly breathe. “Are you okay? You disappeared and we thought the worst...”

With one final squeeze, she backed up and took her daughter’s face in her hands.

“I’m fine, mom,” Leah said, smiling. “And I got married.”

Tears rose into Margaret Whitehorse’s eyes.

“Are you happy?” she whispered.

“I am,” she said.

As her mom hugged her again, Leah could see a tall form darken the hallway behind her.

“Leah,” her father said.

“Father,” Leah said. She still stood in the doorway, Nathan quiet behind her.

“Come in,” he said.

Margaret released their daughter and stepped aside and let Leah and Nathan come in. Leah’s father stood still, and Leah could almost feel the anger radiating off of him.

There’s nothing he can do
, she reminded herself.

Nathan slid his hand into hers and squeezed it gently.

“You disobeyed me,” her father said.

His voice chilled her to the core, but Leah clenched her jaw and stood up straighter.

“I didn’t want to marry Ian,” she said. “I wanted to marry Nathan. So I did.”

“I don’t see rings.”

“We haven’t gotten them yet,” she said, her face going hot.

“What kind of man marries a woman without a ring?”

“Ian didn’t give me a ring,” she said, feeling her rage flicker brightly.

“He had approval,” Jonah said. He stepped forward, and Leah could see his eyes flash with anger. “I know what’s best for you, Leah. And that isn’t some violent playboy. Did Ian show you what he did to your cousin?”

Nathan started to say something but Leah cut him off, her words sharp.

“Nathan didn’t do that,” she said. “You know he didn’t.”

“He’s lying,” her father said, simply. “You have no reason to trust someone who’d bedded so many women he can’t even count them.”

Then he sniffed the air for a second, a slow realization coming onto his face, and addressed Nathan.

“Have you mated her yet?” he asked, his eyes narrowing.

“Yes,” Leah said firmly. She turned bright red, but her eyes were still flashing.

“Jonah,” Margaret said.

“Quiet,” he told her.

“I will not,” she said, marching past Leah and Nathan and right up to her husband. “Can’t you see how happy they are? You got what you wanted. She married into the North Star clan. Aren’t you satisfied?”

Leah’s father put his hands up, palms out, as if to ward off his wife’s demands, and Leah saw that the knuckles of his right hand were cut open.

Realization dawned on her.

“You beat up Carson,” she said.

“The hell are you talking about?” he asked, distracted for a moment. For the first time in years, Leah could tell that she’d caught her father off-guard.

“You beat up Carson so Ian could pin it on Nathan,” she said.

There was a creak at the top of the staircase to her right, and she looked up to see all three of her sisters and two brothers peering down, all watching the argument.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” he said, but he put his hands down, hiding the knuckles of his right behind his left.

“How could you say those things about Nathan when you did that to your own flesh and blood?” Leah said. Now she was starting to shout. “Carson’s your
nephew
.”

“Did you, Jonah?” asked her mom, her voice nearly a whisper.

For the first time that she’d ever seen, Leah’s father looked almost lost, between his eldest daughter and his wife.

He was silent for a moment, and Leah could sense his bear threatening to break free, the muscles in his face working desperately.

Then he turned to Leah, taking a step toward her, towering over her. Behind her, Nathan stepped forward as well, more than willing to fight her father, but Leah held him back with one hand.

“You’ll come around someday,” Jonah said, smirking. “When he decides that he’s going to go back to having a different woman every week, and when he goes back to doing his alpha’s dirty work. People don’t change, Leah.”

“Maybe you don’t, father,” she said. Deep down, she was terrified, but she’d also never felt braver. “The rest of us still have a chance.”

Her father gave her a long, withering glare, looked once at Nathan, and then stormed out of the narrow hallway.

For a moment, there was dead silence. Then all of Leah’s siblings charged down the stairs, her sisters in the lead, and practically jumped on top of her, drowning her in hugs.

“You’re back!”

“You got
married
!”

“To him! Who knew?”

“Tell me everything!”

This is why I came back
, she thought, practically lifted off the floor by the enthusiasm of her sisters.

“Okay, okay,” she said. “Everyone calm down.”

She walked into the sitting room, surrounded by her family, and looked over her shoulder as she did.

Still in the hallway, she saw her mother approach Nathan, still standing where Leah had left him, looking a little surprised and bowled over by her sisters’ enthusiasm.

Her mother said something to him, and Nathan responded.

Then they hugged.

It’s going to be a work in progress
, Leah thought, only to have her thoughts interrupted by Abigail’s whisper.

“Did you do it yet?” she asked with a wink.

Leah turned pink.

Her sisters all giggled.

* * *

L
eah and Nathan
didn’t see her father again that day, despite staying at the house for dinner.

Afterward, Nathan insisted on doing the dishes and chased all the women out of the kitchen.

“I’ve lived by myself for almost twenty years,” he told a fretting Margaret. “I can clean a kitchen.”

The women congregated in the dining room, not really sure what to do or how to relax.

“Ian left,” Emily volunteered.

Rebecca and Abigail nodded.

“What do you mean?” Leah asked, twisting her napkin in her hands.

“His store is closed up,” Emily said. “And I heard Father talking to Brock about it. Whatever you told him really worked.”

Leah smiled, still looking down into her lap.

“He was kind of creepy,” said Rebecca.

“And too old for you,” added Abigail.

“Nathan’s much cuter,” said Rebecca. “And he’s got a great body.”

Abigail punched her sister playfully in the arm.

“He has very nice eyes,” her mother said, diplomatically. “And he does the dishes.”

Leah could hear her father stomping around on the floor above, but she didn’t care anymore. It was obvious that she’d won.

“Leah,” her mother started, then stopped. She frowned, as if looking for the right words. She sighed. “I’m so sorry I missed your wedding.”

“Mom, it’s—”

“Let me finish,” her mother said, some of the formality coming back into her voice. “I didn’t want to miss my daughter’s wedding, but let us throw you a reception, at least. To welcome Nathan to the family and you to the North Star clan.”

Leah smiled.

“Of course, mom,” she said.

“Father won’t have any of that,” observed Abigail.

Rebecca just shrugged.

“Forget Father,” said Emily. “Let’s have a party.”

Leah looked around at her family, listening to the dishes clink together in the next room.

We’re gonna be okay
, she thought.

* * *

T
he next day
, Leah drove Nathan to work and then took the car into town. Her mother let her clean out her room the night before, but all she had were dresses made from floral, ugly patterned cloth. They all had long sleeves and came down to mid-calf.

She didn’t own pants or shorts or even skirts that showed her knee, and she definitely didn’t own any high heeled shoes.

She definitely,
definitely
didn’t own anything sexy, or anything that could be considered lingerie-adjacent. The best she had were the white bras and white panties she wore with her frumpy dresses, and they just weren’t attractive at all.