Chapter 59: A King’s Son

(CORRINE)

“You don’t have to sell your home here or all these things.” He looks around. “We can leave this place as it is. After all, once you are officially reestablished as my queen, you will have to visit the Human Wolf Kingdom for diplomatic events, on your own or with me. We can stay here.”

I blink. “Really?”

He looks serious. “This place is important to you. I don’t want you to lose something that means so much to you. This is also Finn’s childhood home. I want you to keep the house. We will stay here whenever we return to the human world.”

My eyes burn with tears, and I rest my forehead on his chest. “That’s a good plan.”

His arms come to settle around me, and he says quietly but firmly, “I don’t want you to sacrifice anything for anyone anymore. You are not to bow your head in front of anybody. You have changed, Corrine, and I am proud to be able to call you my mate. You should know that. Even back then, I was in awe of you. You were everything I could ever have dreamed of in a queen, and within such a short period of time, you brought about so much positive change in my kingdom. I can only imagine what you would have been able to achieve in these eight years that we could have been together.”

His words make my heart beat faster. I’ve always told myself that I worked incredibly hard to get to where I am. But to have Locke also acknowledge this feels different.

He lifts my face, his hands on my cheeks, a soft, intimate gesture. “Once we return, I will put the kingdom’s treasury at your disposal. I don’t want to bring you back to a land where you lack the comforts that you have grown accustomed to here. I think it’s time for the North to adapt to the wonders of human technology.”

My lips part as I gape at him. I’m shocked. “Are you saying what I think you’re saying?” The North is so entrenched in its olden ways that for Locke to even suggest such a massive change is mind-boggling.

“If you are willing to oversee this shift, then yes.” He looks serious, but the corner of his mouth is upturned.

“And if the elders object?”

“You let me worry about them. Handling the noble families is my problem. But I’m not so selfish as to ask my mate and son to return and give up the comforts of their lives here. And I’m sure that, whatever you do, you will keep my kingdom and my people in mind, like you did the first time.”

My lips tremble as I struggle to say something, but Locke isn’t done. “You could also keep your business here going.”

When I stare at him, he looks awkward. “Erik explained to me in detail that you have a small company that you founded. He also told me that you were considering expanding and hiring more employees. You can still do that if you want to.”

I tilt my head to consider his offer. “You’ve been doing a lot of thinking and planning.”

“I was trying to come up with a way to convince you to come home, but I also understood that your life here is important. I was trying to be mindful.”

I lean closer to him. “The man I remember wasn’t exactly known for being mindful.”

Locke narrows his eyes at me. “I was mindful,” my lips twitch.

“Sure you were.”

“I was. Only of you, though.”

Locke may not be a smooth talker like Erik, but his bluntness is endearing and throws me off. I feel the heat in my face.

“Okay.” I try to pull away, my heart beating too fast. There have been a lot of changes in a small span of time. I need to get my head screwed on straight before I do something foolish.

As I get to my feet, my eyes fall to the file on the table, and I pause, recalling what Locke told me earlier. We got so lost in the other part of the conversation that I completely forgot about the vital piece of information he shared with me.

“Locke,” I say, picking up the photo again and looking at him, “if you’re right, and this case is just like your parents’, that means whoever these people are, they’ve been operating for a long time, and they’ve only just recently gotten around to the human world.”

My voice trails off as something occurs to me. All this time, we have been under the assumption that there were only a handful of kidnapping cases. But what if we haven’t been looking in the right places?

“I have to make a call,” I say quickly, going in search of my phone. Five minutes later, I walk back into the living room, checking the time on the wall clock.

Locke is nowhere to be seen. I go out to the backyard and find Finn explaining his homework to his father and Derrick, both of whom are listening with the utmost concentration.

I clap my hands to get their attention. “Finn, go put on a jacket. We’re going to the carnival.”

My son’s jaw nearly drops to the ground, his eyes turning wide as saucers. “The one you said I couldn’t go to?”

“What’s a carnival?” Locke asks curiously.

“It’s something for entertainment,” I say offhandedly, my eyes pinned on my son. “Finn likes going to them, but he gets too excited. He nearly shifted once.”

“That was a long time ago!” my son argues.

“It was last year, Finn,” I reply dryly.

My mate frowns. “If the place is too stimulating for him—”

“You can handle him, right?” I ask, my eyebrows raised. “You were the one saying something about being the dominant wolf and all.”

Locke scowls. “Of course I can handle him. I’m his father.”

“Good. Because you will also be coming. I have to meet somebody there.”

As Finn rushes past me, Derrick murmurs, “I would also like to see this carnival.”

I shrug. “You’re free to come, but then you will also be on babysitting duty. It’s going to take two of you to look after Finn, anyway. He goes a little crazy with all the flashing lights and rides.”

“My son? Crazy?” Locke looks insulted.

My smile widens, a hint of malicious glee in it. “Oh, I’m sorry. Maybe I’m wrong.”

“Of course you are,” he says in an affronted manner. “Finn is a prince. He knows how to carry himself.”

Locke clearly hasn’t seen his little prince hanging upside down from a tree branch like a monkey.

I turn around and head into the house, gesturing with my hands as I do. “My bad. I’m sure you two will have no problem looking after him tonight.”

My sweet little boy is going to run circles around them.

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