The Sovereign Heir (Book 1)

“Breathe, baby, breathe! We are almost there. I would orb you, but you are too far in labor to risk it!”

“This breathing isn’t doing shit, Titus! I FEEL LIKE I’M GOING TO BE RIPPED IN HALF! ARRH.”

Delilah screams could be heard throughout the realm. Titus gently placed Delilah in the warm pool of luminescent water surrounding the Tree of Life. All twenty-one elders stood stoically around the tree. Andrea, Delilah’s mother was ready to guide Delilah’s knees to rest in a squatting position.

“ All right, Lilah, I’m here. When I tell you to push, bear down. Titus, have her hold your arm instead of your hand. She will shatter your bones otherwise.” Titus switched Delilah’s hand to his forearm instantly, rubbing circles along her back. Delilah howled and at that Andrea instructed her “ Push, push like your life depended on it!” Delilah grunted gritting her teeth, panting after every push. “I feel the head! Push one more time for me, sweetheart !” Andrea commanded. Delilah sobbed while leaning against Titus “I can’t, I just can’t. I’m so tired!”

“Baby please, push one more time and it’s over.” Titus pleaded with Delilah to keep pushing. Delilah let out a long-ragged sigh and propped herself up again and pushed with every muscle in her body, with the last strength she could muster. Suddenly crying could be heard, the water became too bright even for supernatural eyes to withstand. The Tree of Life set out tiny sparks similar to pixie dust throughout the air.

“Here is your beautiful baby girl.” Andrea placed Elaina in Delilah’s arms. She opened her eyes, and they were even more colorful than Delilah’s. She had the most beautiful eyes to ever exist, with honey colored skin, brown hair coiled with golden strands mixed throughout. Titus and Delilah instantly were more in love with their child than when they awaited her arrival into the world.

The Tree of Life seemed to open; several figures of pure light walked forward with not a single drop of water displaced. “Do not be in fear, it is I, Elijah. The child will save you all and bring peace amongst all living creatures.” Elijah placed his illuminated hand on Elaina’s head. Though, only a few minutes old and she turned her head to look at him with a smile that she couldn’t possibly be able to do so early after just being born. Elaina’s eyes began to glow. Elijah vanished instantly.

Elaina was kept in the realm for a few days before returning to the mortal world with her parents. There were instructions upon instructions, making Delilah’s head spin with information overload. The next two years became very eventful to say the least. Elaina could project images to me and Titus. She was able to orb at a whim. Elaina hit milestones faster than other supernatural children. By the age of two she was talking in complete sentences, highly intelligent with math and science. Sometimes I felt she was too smart but it comes with the territory of an original.

Taking time away from my research lab to be with Elaina wasn’t hard at all as I cherished every moment I had with her. Titus and I were able to bargain Elaina’s training more at home than in the realm until she was five, which was a battle in and of itself.

February 11, 2003

On Elaina’s third birthday she came to me as I was reviewing the budget drafts sent to us from our gene therapy project. “Mommy, I have something to tell you. “

“Yes, baby, what is it?”

“My brother doesn’t like pineapple juice.”

“Elaina, sweetheart, you don’t have a brother.”

“Yes, I do, mommy, he is right here,” Elaina place her hand on her my lower abdomen.

I looked at Elaina with my eyes bulging and my mouth wide open. I could catch flies with how gaped my mouth was. “Laina, are you saying mommy is having a baby?”

Elaina giggled, “Yes and I can’t wait to meet him. I will be with him forever!”

That child of mine had the biggest smile on her face, that always made my heart overjoyed. I snapped out of my euphoric state and called Titus at the lab, putting the call on speaker phone. “Hey, babe, I was just thinking about my favorite girls. What are you guys up to?”

“Titus, I’m pregnant.” Dead silence followed, “Titus, are you there?”

“Oh shit, are you sure?”

“No, but Elaina sure is!”

“Wait, what? Did Elaina tell you that?”

“Yes, Titus, she did, and she said he doesn’t like pineapple juice. Which I’ve been drinking every morning and terrible heart burn in the afternoon, bring home a test please. I love you, Titus.”

“I love you more, bye my little princess, daddy will be home soon. Then your birthday party will be underway. I love you, Munchkin.”

Elaina blew a kiss and orbed right out of the room. Thank the universe she only did that around us and not around any of the supe kids at school. Elaina spent most of her summers with my mother, father and Reggie in the realm being trained, she actually found it fun. Titus came home within an hour of our phone call, not with one but ten pregnancy tests in tow. Titus explaining each one to me like I wasn’t a damn scientist. All I could do was roll my eyes.

The palace ballroom was being prepared for Elaina’s birthday; thank goodness we didn’t actually have to live in it. We stayed on the property at a connected mansion through a series of tunnels built by our great-great grandmother over a thousand years before. I miss her so much being on this side as well as my grandmother. At least I am able to see them in the realm with my parents. One of the key things with our blood line, we are technically immortal as long as we do not become severely injured. Elaina on the other hand is going to be truly immortal, just like Elijah, when the time comes.

I try not to think about the time we have left but enjoying the time we have now. As I was lost in thought Titus was still rambling on. “ Titus, I get it, I’m not a scientist for nothing. Now give them to me, jeez!” I gave him one last eye roll going into the bathroom. I peed on the early detection one, being a supe with an unpredictable fertility cycle sucked. Wolves/Lycans went into heat even though they could get pregnant at any time, same with other shifters. Witches’ cycles were more like humans. Vampires had years in between their cycles. Sirens were pretty much at will with their cycles.

I could hear Titus pacing back and forth in front of the bathroom. “Delilah, anything yet?”

“No, Titus. I have two more minutes.”

“Are you even looking at it?”

“Damn it, Titus,” I got up and opened the door grabbing his hand and dragging him in with me, so we could sit and wait together. “Are you sure she said brother, Lilah? I mean could it just be wishful thinking on her part, she is only three. Could she really have the ability to sense that this early in age?”

“Hun, our little lady can project images, orb, astral project, cause dead flowers to grow. Remember when she shifted into a siren at one of the saltwater pools near the Kingdom of the Sea. Titus, she can lift the back end of a small car at two, are you really that surprised?”

“After you say it like that, not really. I just wonder what else she will eventually be able to do?” Delilah looked into Titus’ polar gray eyes, and it was like falling in love all over again when they first met. Six foot four inches, solid muscle, beautiful jet-black curly hair, and the most beautiful caramel skin she had ever seen. He hadn’t aged a day and neither did Delilah in over three hundred years. I leaned over and kissed him ever so softly.

The alarm went off, causing us both to jump. Titus grabbed the pregnancy test and they both blinked. “Holy shit, I am pregnant! We’re pregnant!” They jumped up and down excitedly. Elaina orbed into the bathroom just as they were celebrating. “Told you and his name is Bryant.” She put her head down typing away on a calculator, her honey blonde/mahogany brown blended curls hanging just over her eyes, as she is intently concentrating.

“Munchkin, what are you doing?” Titus got down to her level, pushing her curls back.

“I’m finishing the budget calculations mommy didn’t finish. Here daddy, all done!” Elaina planted both her hands on Titus’ face giving him a kiss, skipping right out of the bathroom. Titus went to my desk and wrote her calculations down. He inputted it into excel, sure enough Elaina’s numbers were spot on; down to the eighth of a penny.

“Our baby is brilliant; I pray for anyone who underestimates her!”

“Titus, Hun. That’s something we never talked about. Her possible mate. So many regions want to arrange her into marriage now in all the territories, instead of waiting for our daughter to come of age for her destined mate. What should we do about it?”

“Well, those fuckers can’t pressure us, just like they couldn’t pressure your mother, it will be her choice. The only thing I think we should do is appease them is to allow them to meet Elaina when she turns eighteen, only she will know who is right for her and so will he. If she rejects him, so be it. I don’t feel it is right to put that type of pressure on her with everything else that will be dumped on her plate.”

“I agree, Love. We will set dates between her eighteenth and twenty first birthday. It will be up to her. Who knows, it could be anyone, a wolf, fae, even a Lycan.”

“What about a Lycan? Oh, hell no, that bloodline is too power hungry, straight maniacs with their mates!”

“Titus, you said it could be whomever she chooses, we can’t hold the past against them forever. Especially something we never personally experienced against an entire species. From what we have heard there are many changes happening. Plus, you are part Lycan and look at us now. We are together, happy, not perfect but still happy.”

Titus pulled Delilah closer wrapping his arms around her. “You’re right, but I’m also part fae, that helped tremendously!” They both laughed at that .

Elaina’s birthday party was underway a few hours later. She actually allowed me and her grandmother to put her gorgeous wild curls into a bun with her tiny crown surrounding it this year.

“She is becoming even more beautiful every day. Her father looks at her just like yours looked at you all those years ago after you were born. Nothing but love.”

“She loves her grandpa too. I’m just glad the elders and the council allowed you and dad to actively train her along with the others in the realm. Time there passes so slowly, three months stretched into eighteen months. Thank God she hasn’t physically changed. That would be almost impossible to explain.”

“That’s the benefit of the realm, Elaina can manage it. She was made for this. She has exceeded everyone’s expectations. Elaina is getting along great with the others. They will be her closest allies when the time comes. Just look at her, she shares willingly with them all. She will rule well.”

“Mom, how is she with…”

“Fighting and combat? My dear daughter, she is a force to be reckoned with and I’ll leave it at that. Your brother is very impressed. Bryce wished he could be here today, but Brigette is having a hard pregnancy. He did, however, send this for Elaina to open in private and this is for you.” My mother grinned like a Cheshire cat.

I missed Bryce so much. I’m just glad he is happy, healthy, and no longer being a man whore. “I’ll call him later to check on him and Brie. Speaking of which, your granddaughter announced that you’re going to be a new grandmother again, to a boy to be exact. Elaina was adamant his name is Bryant.” My mother didn’t look too surprised by the news and turned her head quickly.

“Mom? Mom, did Elaina tell you this before?”

“Yes, she did, last day in the realm last year. Elaina told your father and I, her brother Bryant was going to be her best birthday present ever. We told her to not alarm you and Titus until her birthday. The glimpses into the future are getting stronger, almost precise down to the date. Please don’t be alarmed. Your baby girl is still just that; even when she ascends the throne with whomever her mate may be.”