The last thing Easton wanted to do was to leave Noelle, but he knew that there was a line-up of men who are waiting to see her. He can't be selfish. 

"I have to go now, Elle, but I'll be back. Your father is coming to see you, and we can't have more than one person in the room. See you soon, my love", he explained, but obviously didn't receive an answer. He sighed at her sleeping state and kisses the crown of her head, reluctantly leaving the room, giving the fox one last glance, only to find her in the same exact position with her eyes closed. 

As soon as he closed the door behind him, Nathaniel ran up towards the door, the other two seated and looking as glum as ever. 

"Where's Victor?", Easton asks, breaking the silence. 

"With Robinson", his father answered, and Easton immediately felt his blood boil at the mention of his name. 

He was going to get his hands on that bastard.

He wants blood,

He wants the satisfaction of hearing his screams and cries for help,

Easton always get's what he wants. 

When he realises that he was standing in the middle of the waiting room, clenching his fists and jaw, he makes his way towards the basement. 

He felt Axel on the verge of taking over, but he didn't want that just yet. He wants to get his turn with Robinson too. 

He was greeted with the bows of the security guards as the opened the basement doors for him. He impatiently walked in, and heard the whispers of the still alive people he's tortured in here. He rolled his eyes at the sight of the bodies piled on top of each other, remembering to remind his men to clean that out, and made his way towards Victor, who was standing beside an unconscious Robinson

Easton smirked when he saw that he his hands were shackled to the wall by chains, and his clothes had been stripped off of him. 

"Is Noelle okay?", Victor instantly whispered once Easton came close enough. 

"She's okay, but it'll take her a while to shift back to her human form since she hasn't fully healed yet", Easton informs him, Victor sighing in relief. "You can go to the waiting room, Nate is having his time with her but you'll have your turn soon", Easton tells him and Victor nods, bowing in respect and leaving the basement. 

Easton's attention went back to the sh*tty excuse of a human being. 

"Wake the f*ck up b*tch", he slapped him a few times, jolting him back to consciousness. Robinson grunted before opening his eyes, and once he was greeted with Easton, he flinched, attempting the run away but then realised he was chained to the wall. He struggled against the chains, but to no avail. Easton laughed menacingly at the sight of his trying to escape. 

"You can't escape from me, dog", Easton spoke words of venom, spitting them out at the trembling man. "What have you got to say for yourself?", Easton asked while walking back and forth, waiting for a response. 

"I'm s-sorry", Robinson spoke quietly, his voice shaky and breathing unsteady. Easton paused in his tracks, turning to face him once again.

"You're sorry? Sorry for what? Capturing my beloved when she was only a child? Abusing her for years? Starving her? Mentally and physically assaulting her? Corrupting her beautiful soul? Anything else you want to enlighten me with?", he spoke through gritted teeth sarcastically, wanting nothing more than to rip his organs out of his body and feed to his sh*tty pack. 

"Why?", Easton breathed out. Robinson, however, looked down, not giving him a response. Easton punched him in the jaw. 

"I asked a f*cking question!", he yelled into his face, causing Robinson to flinch and let out a single tear. "Oh, are you going to cry? Poor you. Speak, dog."

Robinson, realising there is no way out, decided to tell him the truth.

"I was j-jealous! You get e-everything, m-money, land, s-soldiers and you even g-got the girl. I wanted t-to use her a-as a weapon, her p-powers would've made m-my pack invisible-", 

"Then why would you torment her for years?! You had no f*cking right to lay a single hand on her, but you did. You thought you could get away with everything, huh? You're wrong, dog, . You're lucky that I have more important sh*t to deal with right now, plus, I want you to feel the pain that my Noelle felt. I'm taking my time with you, and trust me dog, I'll have you begging for death", Easton threatened, his volume could be heard a mile off. He had never felt so much hatred for somebody in his life, but anyone who hurts Noelle will have to deal with Easton's wrath. 

"Oh, and one more thing-", he gave him another punch to his face, causing Robinson to groan in pain. 

Easton left the basement, and walked over to a maid that was working there. She instantly fixed her dress at the sight on the king, and placed the mop she was using back in the wet bucket. She bowed in respect. 

"Good afternoon, king", she spoke. 

"I need you to tell all the other maids to prepare Noelle's room. I want a new bed ordered, new dresser new everything. I want it cleaned and I need clothes delivered here as soon as possible. I don't care how much it costs just buy a bunch of sh*t with my card. Please and thank you", he finished, passing her his credit card and walked away from the flabbergasted blonde. Her eyes were fixated on the ground. 

Noelle is back? She thought to herself. No, she can't be, she's dead. 

"What has you looking so pale?", the head maid, Sapphire asked. 

"Noelle is back", those three words brought Sapphire into a trance of her own. 

It was so unbelievable. One would think you were drunk on seas of whiskey if you thought that the future queen came back.

"It's true, Saph. King Easton told me to tell all the maids to prepare her room, and buy new things with his card. That could only mean that she's back", Eve explained, still shocked at the news. 

"What? How? When?", she asked, her green eyes wide and wrinkled face tensed. 

"I don't know, but the King is bound to explain to the Kingdom soon, it will become a national holiday!."

"The day were the King was reunited with his queen, it will definitely be a day to remember", they both smiled at the thought. Sapphire took the card from Eve's hand, placing it in her pocket and ushering Eve to get back to work. 

Back at the hospital room:

Nathaniel still hasn't uttered a word, too busy basking in their embrace to even think.

His head was buried into her fur, wetting it due to his tears. Lilah is going to be ecstatic when she finds out, but right now, he just wants his time with his long-lost daughter. 

"You smell like home", he whispered through his tears, coming face-to-face with a sleeping Noelle. Her scent reminded him of the first time he held her, that baby scent that all babies had for some reason made him feel to at ease. 

Flashback:

Lilah had just finished feeding and burping Noelle, still getting used to being a mother. She had only met the girl yesterday, but is already so in love with her. Noelle felt no different, you'd think that she'd be crying for her real parents, but she feels so safe with these strangers. 

Nathaniel had been really busy with Kingdom duties that he hasn't really spent anytime with Lilah or Noelle. It made her frown.

"What if he isn't ready yet, Elle? What if he's too overwhelmed with the loss of our baby, and with having a new one, that he'll regret choosing to raise you? Whatever happens, I'll always be here to take care of you, even if your papa doesn't want to", her voice cracked at the end, the possibility of Nate leaving them scared her more than anything. 

Noelle couldn't understand what the woman was saying, and just stared at her with her chocolate brown eyes, Lilah's index finger in her tight grasp.

"I've always wanted to know why babies love to hold onto people's fingers", Lilah chuckled while speaking, giving her new daughter a kiss to the forehead. 

Nathaniel had heard everything she said. He understood why she was having doubts, since he was in fact avoiding Lilah and Noelle since she first came. 

"Hey", he greeted awkwardly, sitting down in front of his beloved. She looked up at him, his eyes puffy and red, she frowned at the sight. 

"What's wrong?", she asked, rocking Noelle back and forth. 

"Haven't had much sleep", he answered in a quiet voice, not wanting to scare the baby. 

"Did Noelle keep you up last night? I-I'm sorry, I can take her to another room if she's troubling you-", he interrupted her before she could say another word. 

"No."

His heart broke at his beloved's words. Did she seriously just offer to take their daughter to another room so he could sleep peacefully? That makes him sound so goddamn selfish.

"I'd rather have no sleep at all, than allow you two to sleep somewhere else", he said, reassuring Lilah. She smiled down at Noelle, who still wasn't sleeping. In fact, she was wide awake, staring at Nathaniel with a cute expression on her face. 

Nathaniel made eye contact with her, causing her to smile brightly. He couldn't help but smile back, her happiness was too contagious. 

"Why have you been avoiding us?", Lilah asked sadly, breaking Nate out of his trance. 

"I don't know, uh, I just felt overwhelmed. I don't have much experience with babies", he spoke truthfully, his eyes remained trained on the little girl who seemed to be taking an interest in him.

"I don't have much experience either, but I'm not going to cower away from her like how you did. We're meant to learn together, that's the whole point of having babies", she said in a pained voice. He sighed deeply. "You can start by learning how to hold her", she said, standing up to her full height carefully. His eyes widened, and his hands started shaking. 

"What if I break her?"

"You won't, dummy", she chuckled slightly, kneeling down and placing Noelle in Nate's arms. He had one arms under her body, and the other supporting her head. He awed at how happy she looked, his eyes softening. Lilah sat down once again, staring at the two with a smile etched on her face. He rocked her back and forth on the rocking chair. 

"Hi", he whispered in a soft tone. "I'm your Dada", he continued while stroking her cheeks with his thumb, as her body lied on his lap. Her eyes looked as if they were automatically closing, as his quiet humming lulled her to sleep. 

"See, you're a natural", Lilah encouraged him and he smiled at her. 

"It's not as bad as I thought", he chuckled quietly. "You're worth ruining my sleep schedule", he said to her sleeping self. 

Back to present time:

He smiled to himself at the old memory.