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BIANCA SLATER

Age: 27

DIANA RUSSELL

Age: 16

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“Elizabeth!” Jun yelled, crashing into me as soon as I opened the door.

Ashton growled lightly and Jun stepped back with a devious smile. “Welcome to Kris’ house. I just set some new traps so try not to set them off, okay?”

I gulped. I didn’t even want to imagine what kind of traps those were.

I looked around. Kristof was pacing back and forth, blushing and smiling to himself. Kevin was playing video games, Raúl and Jackson were having an argument and Beau was talking to a woman on the sofa. They looked up as we entered.

“Hi, Elizabeth,” Beau smiled. The lady beside him smiled and offered me a handshake.

“I am Lady Bianca, rank Beta,” she introduced. She had chocolate skin and curly black hair.

“Hi, I’m Elizabeth,” I smiled back.

“I heard you go to school with Ashton,” she said, sitting down and patting the space beside her. I sat down shyly as she made conversation with me.

“It’s about time Ashton found his soulmate,” she laughed. “I was surprised to hear that you were his betrothed too. And a human,” she added in fascination.

We ended up talking for a while. She was actually really interesting. She was a Beta like Beau and she was twenty-seven, three years older than him. At first, I was shy around her since it was our first time meeting, but soon we were chatting as if we’d know each other for years.

She was on the path to becoming an astrophysicist and had already completed her bachelor’s and master’s degrees. She was taking a small break and would be doing her doctorate in another year or two.

Anything with the sciences interested me and she was glad that there was someone else that she could talk to about her passion.

“Looks like they’ve bonded,” Beau grinned.

“Leave it to Elizabeth to get excited over stuff like that,” Ashton chuckled.

“I’m glad she has someone to talk to about it though,” Beau smiled lovingly at her. “I don’t understand half of it. I can’t even understand half the things in my own course,” he groaned. “After this semester I’ll finally be free.”

Bianca was showing me pictures of her university on her phone when she suddenly looked up in the direction of the door. A knock sounded and Kristof raced towards it, dodging Jun’s outstretched foot.

He opened the door and his face broke out into a smile of pure happiness. A girl that looked to be the same age as him stepped in with a guy beside her. She had straight black hair, copper skin and charming dark eyes. She contrasted against Kristof’s platinum blonde hair, pale skin and pale blue eyes.

As soon as their eyes connected, they engulfed each other in a tight hug.

“Aw,” Bianca cooed, pretending to wipe a tear from her eye. “Kris’ all grown up.”

They released each other as the guy who had come with her cleared his throat awkwardly.

Kristof led her over to us. “Everyone, this is my soulmate, Lady Diana Russell of Michigan, rank Delta,” he grinned wrapping his hand around her waist. “He is her older brother, Lord Uriah Russel of Ticca, rank Delta,” he mentioned nodding towards the guy who’d come with Diana.

He nodded awkwardly at us. “I’ll be back to pick you up in a few hours,” he reminded her.

She nodded and he promptly left the house.

We moved closer to her and everyone took turns introducing themselves. Jun stayed rooted on the sofa, completely ignoring her.

The delicate tinkle of a bell echoed from the dining room.

“Food’s ready,” Kevin grinned.

“Fooood!” Jun yelled and raced after him.

Diana was shy and a perpetual pink tinge stained her cheeks as the guys crowded around her. Kristof pushed through them and escorted her to the table. Ashton took my hand in his and led me to the table.

Kevin was about to sit beside me but Jun ran up and slid into the chair. “If you want to sit here, you have to fight me for it.”

Kevin rolled his eyes. “I’m not fighting you, Jun.”

Jun scowled and took a big bite of his appetizer. I giggled and everyone started eating.

“Hey everyone,” Beau said after we had finished eating. He glanced at Bianca with a smile. “We have an announcement to make.”

Eight curious pairs of eyes stared at them.

“We were going to tell you later, but since Lady Diana is here too, we’ve decided to share the news. Bianca and I are having a baby.”

The whole table erupted into noisy shouts of congratulations and when did this happens.

“You’ve been busy,” Raúl smirked and Bianca threw a napkin at him.

“We have been together for four years,” Beau reminded him, hugging Bianca.

“We’re excited to welcome our first child into the world,” she gushed.

I smiled at them. That’s why she was taking a break before doing her Doctorate.

“I think Kris is going to make an announcement like that soon,” Jun commented.

The whole table froze and then looked at Kristof whose eyes widened. Beside him Diana choked on her juice.

“I didn’t do anything,” he defended.

Jun shrugged. “Yet.”

Kristof threw an empty bottle at Jun who batted it right back at him.

“Manners,” Jackson scolded.

“You always said you wanted to be a dad.”

“But not now,” Kristof rebutted.

“You must be Kris’ little brother,” Diana guessed.

Jun stared at her in surprise, but didn’t say anything.

“Kris told me so much about you,” she smiled.

“He did?” Jun asked, glaring at Kristof suspiciously.

“Mhmm. It's nice to finally meet you.”

“Uh huh,” Jun muttered indifferently before going over to Raúl who swatted him away.

Jackson quietly slipped away after dinner, explaining that he had a lot of work to finish.

“I’m so happy for both of you,” I grinned as I congratulated Bianca.

“Thank you, Elizabeth,” she smiled. She was practically glowing with happiness.

The door bell rang and Ashton looked over in surprise and then frowned.

A helper went to get the door and in a moment, Ashton’s parents and Brooke came in. His mom was smiling and held a present. His dad wore an expression of approval. Kristof introduced Diana to them.

Brooke ran over to me. “Ellie!” she shouted, pushing Ashton out of the way.

“Hey, you haven’t seen me all day and this is how you treat me?” he pouted at her.

“I see you enough,” Brooke said, fanning him away. “I want to see Ellie more.”

Ashton huffed. “Go live with her then.”

“But then I won’t get to see mom and dad and Cavie,” she paused. “I barely see Cavie,” she murmured.

I was guessing she meant CaVaughn. Cavie and Ashie. Her nicknames for them were so adorable!

“I doubt they’ll miss you,” Ashton taunted her and I slapped his arm. Brooke stuck her tongue out at him.

“Congratulations,” the queen smiled at Bianca giving her a gentle hug as she heard the news. “We cannot wait to welcome our newest addition to the kingdom.”

“Newest addition?” Brooke asked curiously.

Bianca smiled down at her. “I’m going to have a baby.”

Brooke’s eyes glowed in awe. “Tomorrow?”

Bianca laughed at that. “We’ll have to wait a few more months first,” she told her.

“Oh,” Brooke said. “I’m patient,” she pointed out with a toothy smile.

She twirled around to face me. “You should have a baby too, Ellie.”

I balked at this. “Th-that’s not how it works.”

“Ashie can be the daddy,” she said, pointing to him.

“Uh-I- I-” I stuttered. I turned to Ashton for help but he was beginning to turn red.

“That is enough, Brooke,” Mrs. DeLorentes said as she came over and picked Brooke up.

“Please!” Brooke begged me.

“Please take her home,” Ashton begged his mother who chuckled at our red faces.

Everyone laughed at this.

Brooke played with the ring on Ashton’s finger as we talked.

“When will I get a royal ring like the one you and Cavie have?” she wondered.

“Soon. When you are a little older,” Ashton’s dad said and Ashton’s mood darkened considerably.

I glanced over at the other side of the room and made eye contact with the king who was observing me and Ashton rather calculatingly. I gave him a tight smile and turned back to face Ashton. Unfortunately, he took that as his cue to come over to us.

“I can’t wait to officially welcome Elizabeth into our family too,” he said loud enough for everyone to hear.

“Yes!” Brooke cheered as she wiggled to get out of her mom’s arms.

The guys whooped in the background.

“Uh-” I said with a nervous smile.

“It is amazing. Two new members of the kingdom are here in this room, as well as my future daughter-in-law, ” he said, looking at Diana and Bianca and then his eyes rested on me. I could almost see the gears in his head turning.

“Diana might want to stay with her kingdom,” Ashton’s mom reminded him gently.

“I see." His eyes were still intently glued to me. “The future queen should convince Diana and Kristof to stay.”

I suddenly felt nauseous.

“You’ve said enough,” Ashton said, coming over and shielding me with his body. He stared at the king who chuckled drily.

“I have,” he agreed. “But I still don’t think you get it.”

Ashton groaned lowly and touched his fingers to his head. I moved from behind him to look at him in worry. He was breathing heavily, but he was staring defiantly at the king.

His father laughed coldly. “Don’t make a scene, son. Remember that your sister is here." He gave him a taunting pat on the shoulder and then turned to everyone else.

“We just arrived,” he said, motioning to himself and his wife. “But I’m afraid we must leave.”

He flashed me a small smile and then strode out. The queen glanced at Ashton in worry before she stepped out of the room.

The guys looked at Ashton and the atmosphere felt tense as they shot irate glances in the direction of the king. Bianca pursed her lips, but Diana was blissfully unaware of everything and was smiling happily at Kristof. I guess I could call this one the ‘Kristof daze’.

Kevin came over to us. “You okay?” he asked Ashton.

He looked over at Kevin and anger was dancing in his eyes. Kevin nodded at him uncertainly as he whispered something.

I looked between both of them in confusion.

“What are you talking about?” I asked.

Ashton nodded at something Kevin told him and left the room. I looked up at Kevin in confusion.

“Where’s he going?”

Kevin forced a smile and took my hand. “Let’s go talk with the others,” he suggested, pointing to the room where everyone had begun drifting to.

I glanced back at where Ashton had left and followed Kevin blindly as he gently pulled me along.

“What’s going on, Kevin?” I asked as worry snaked around my stomach.

He didn’t answer, but instead looked preoccupied and his brows were pulled together in thought.

I stepped in front of him, pressing my hand against his chest. I looked him straight in the eyes and he sighed.

“Ashton asked me to keep you here,” he said tightly.

“Why?” I asked. “Why would he do that?”

Kevin stared at the ground. I thought about it and tried to make sense of it. Ashton stormed out after the king left… Don’t tell me…

My hands flew to my mouth as my eyes widened. Kevin reached for my hand, but I pulled away. He sighed.

“Liz, please just stay here,” he requested.

“No, I’m going to go find Ashton,” I said, running out of the room.

“Liz!” Kevin shouted, running after me. He caught me easily.

“Kevin, let me go,” I pleaded. “I have a really bad feeling about this.”

“You feel it too, don’t you?” I searched his eyes.

He sighed and then grabbed my hand.

“Kev-”

“Don’t just run out there by yourself,” he said with a tight smile. “Ashton’s going to kill me, but let’s go.”

I smiled at him gratefully and we rushed out. I hugged Bianca and Diana goodbye on the way out.

Once outside, I looked around trying to figure out where Ashton was. Kevin’s head snapped left and he ran off in that direction. I was out of breath by the time he came to a stop. He looked at me in concern.

“Are you okay?”

I nodded and tried to steady my breathing.

“Now, you stay here,” he told me.

“What? No!” I protested.

“It might be dangerous if I bring you with me,” he argued.

“I don’t care.”

“Were you always this stubborn?”

“I prefer the word determined,” I said, rolling my eyes.

He didnt get a chance to answer because a pain filled yell pierced the quiet air and sent shivers down my spine.

“Stay here,” he commanded, glaring in the direction of the shout.

“No! If that was Ashton… I have to come with you!”

Kevin stared at me, torn, and then sighed for the millionth time. “Alright, but stay behind me at all times.”

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