Alpha Nocurne's Contracted Mate

Ann was woken up by a gentle tapping on the door and as she opened her eyes, the same wave of exhaustion that had swept
over her earlier, still seemed to sit above her tauntingly.
“Your highness? Are you awake?” Coral’s voice drifted through the doors.
“No. I feel like we got hit by a f*****g truck.” Maeve grumbled as she yawned and closed her eyes again.
“Yes, come in Coral.” Ann said, ignoring Maeve’s grouchy attitude, and sitting up and smiling gently at Coral’s nervous looking
expression as she entered the room with a tray of food.
“Sorry,” she shrugged apologetically, “As much as you clearly hate being mothered, I watched my sister go through a pregnancy
with multiples. If it wasn’t for the food that we sneaked her during the pregnancy, she would have spent her entire pregnancy in
the hospital.”
Ann chuckled softly as she gestured for Coral to sit and watched helplessly as she pulled the overbed table out and placed the
tray on it, before pulling a chair to sit alongside her. “I didn’t know you had a sister, Coral.” Ann said as she reached for the
smoothie and eyed it suspiciously.
“Don’t worry, your Grace. I made it myself.” Coral grinned knowingly as Ann’s shoulders sagged in relief.
“It’s like you read my mind.” she smiled ironically as she sipped at the smoothie and sat back a little, “So tell me, your sister?”
“Ah! Yes. Well, I was only young when she was still here. She found her mate and didn’t report it, or the marking ...or the
pregnancy. Linus was furious when he found out.” Coral explained as she lowered her eyes, but Ann didn’t miss the pain that
swam just below the surface.
“You have no idea how much you did for us all when you made him answer for his crimes.” she said with a smile, “We hid her for
as long as we could. Just long enough for her mate to gather enough supplies and get her out of this place.”
“So she’s still alive?” Ann asked gently. Coral nodded and smiled softly.
“Yeah. She was one of the lucky ones. They managed to get out of the kingdom, the guard she was mated to adores her, and the
kids. Sometimes, we get updates on them all and their little family,” she laughed suddenly, “I say family, but honestly, with twelve
pups now, I think using the word “little’ to describe their family is a bit of an understatement.”

“You know, if you need to take time off to go and see her, you can.” Ann smiled as she reached for a croissant. “What?” Coral
exclaimed in disbelief as she stared at her with huge eyes.
“Well, you get holidays as well Coral. Everyone does. This isn’t a twenty four hours a day, seven days a week job. Sure, you’re
my personal assistant but you’ll still be getting salaried with paid leave... I thought you already knew this?” Ann frowned.
“But, I’m just an omega..” Ann sighed, and folded her hands across her little bump as she fixed Coral with a severe stare.
“And? Omega’s are no different from the rest of us, Coral. You deserve to be treated well, like everyone else. The sooner you
accept this, the easier time you’ll have with your conscience. Were you not listening to the council meeting at all?”
Coral shrugged in embarrassment and grimaced.
“I was... I’m just...it’s h*ard, you know?”
“I know. Don’t worry. I worked with Eva until she found her own confidence and we can get you to that point too.”
“Eva was like me?!” Coral gasped, “But she’s so...”
“Confident?” Ann finished with a chuckle, “Yes. She is now, but in the beginning, she was a lot like you.”
Just then the doors to her bedroom burst open and Adam burst in holding a phone in his hand and a triumphant grin on his face.
“They did it!” He announced excitedly, “The restored communications and they found Greyson!”
“Already?!” Ann laughed excitedly as she moved the table out of the way and slid off the bed, approaching where Adam stood
and listening to his conversation.
“Ok, I’ll let them know. Thanks Allen. Be safe.” Adam said as he hung up and fixed Ann with a hopeful look, gripping her
shoulders tightly.
“There’s a group on the way back with a little girl requiring urgent care...” Adam said as Coral stood quickly from her chair.
“I’ll let the infirmary know. Anything specific they should be ready for?” she asked as she picked her bag up and slung it over her
shoulder.
“Allen said her soul had been used as some sort of a...a..human battery to power the shield. Lexi managed to free her but...her
mother didn’t make it. There’ll be a lot to deal with when she regains consciousness.”

“Got it, I’ll let them know. Call me if you need anything.” Coral nodded grimly as she left Ann and Adam alone in their room.
As the door closed behind her Adam wrapped his arm around her, steering herto her bed, Ann sighed and shook his arm off.
“I can’t stay in bed forever Adam.” she sighed in exasperation.
“But you need to rest.”
“If he tells us what we need one more time I’m going to restrain Adam and leave him in bed for a few days and see how he likes
it.” Maeve growled. “He’d probably enjoy it.” Ann snorted back as they ignored Adam’s pleading.
“Ann, don’t ignore me.” Adam snapped.
“If you like, I can let Maeve give you a piece of her mind instead.” Ann offered nonchalantly and smiled as Adam hesitated, “No?
Then stop trying to wrap me in cotton wool.”
Adam scowled at her as she reached up and t*ouched his face gently.
“Look, I’m doing as I’m told and having more rest than I usually would. I’m eating enough to feed a horse and I’m staying within
the Enclave, instead of racing headlong into the middle of things. Can’t you just be happy with that?”
He sighed heavily and took hold of her hand in his.
“The rest of the group that dealt with the rogue cleanup are due back in a few hours. I’ll make sure reinforcements are sent out to
Lexi and Alien’s coordinates.” Adam relented finally, “Just ...try to understand. I don’t want you stressed. It’s bad for the pups.”
“Trust me Adam, leaving me out of things is only going to leave me with more time on my hands to overthink things,” she said
with a wry smile, “I’ll let you take the lead, but please don’t keep me in the dark. I need to know that Narcissa and her daughter
are taken care of for good.”
Adam smiled gently. “As you wish, my Queen.”