The Alpha's Temptation

"Pregnant?" Eltanin snapped his head towards Tania so hard that the bones cracked. Blood drained from his face as his mouth fell into the shape of 'O'. Every thought vanished from his mind and it became numb. The king of Draka froze in his place. "T-Tania?" he sputtered.

Tania too was shocked to hear it from Tabit and Fafnir. "What do you mean that I am pregnant? How do you know?"

Tabit stared at Tania with a raised eyebrow and then slowly turned her face to look at Fafnir, who was equally flabbergasted. He looked so scared that he didn't know what to say. This was the third time in the past few hours that words left him. Dumbstruck, he shook his head, hoping that Tabit helped him.

"Tabit?" Tania called her rather loudly. "Explain yourself!"

Ever since Tabit had entered the room, she was smelling a sweet almond smell mixed with Tania's citrusy scent. It was the typical smell of a pregnant woman, one that she had smelled when Meissa was also pregnant. However, over the few months, Meissa's scent changed more. This was the scent emitted by the pregnant women during the time when they just conceived. Wasn't it evident to anyone else? Why were they so surprised? Or were they keeping it a secret?

"You smell like sweet almonds, Tania," she replied slowly, carefully.

"Yes, that is the scent even I can smell," Fafnir added.

Tabit took hold of Tania's hand and said, "That is the scent of women who are in their early pregnancy." She looked at Eltanin. "Haven't you smelled that faint sweet almond smell on her?"

Eltanin let out a rough exhale as he came back to earth. "I was smelling it, but I thought that she had had too many almonds or because she was unwell." He scratched his head, feeling like a total idiot. His wife was pregnant and he didn't know. But how would he know? He had never experienced that in his life. Or never knew what pregnant women smelled like.

Tabit chuckled. She tugged Tania to the bed and made her sit down. Tania was looking bewildered. Her gaze shifted from Tabit to Eltanin to Fafnir. Her breath was labored. She had been vomiting so much and feeling unwell that she thought she was ill, but she was not at all thinking even in her dreams that she would be pregnant. At the same time she couldn't help feeling... ecstatic. "Is it true?" she asked in a low voice. She wanted it to be true. She didn't want fake assurances.

Tabit knew that Tania was shocked and surprised. She cupped her cheeks and said, "From what I know, this scent belongs to pregnant women unless you possess that smell, which is rare. But--" she tilted her head and glanced at Eltanin pointedly. "You must get it checked by the royal healer. Afterall I am speaking it from my personal knowledge."

"Goddess!" he rasped. He came to sit next to Tania and pulled her in his lap. "You are pregnant, love."

Tania giggled. "It still needs to be verified by the royal healer." She was feeling so joyous that she didn't know how to express herself, so she ended up kissing her husband on his lips and said a soft thank you.

"No, love!" Eltanin replied. "Thank you to you!" He squeezed her a little, his face splitting into a wide grin. "I am going to be a mommy!"

Everyone in the room burst out laughing. "We are going to be parents!" Tania corrected him, but Eltanin was in a different zone. All his wishes were coming true. He had thought of his own family and imagined pups with Tania as to how they would look like. And now-- now his wife, his mate, his love was going to give him the best present of his life. His pups. This was BIG.

Eltanin looked at Tabit and Fafnir and said, "You both can't come in the carriage with us. Tania would need a lot of space to sprawl in it. Besides, she is not well. She would be needing a lot of mattresses in the carriage for rest. And I think we should start for Draka as soon as possible. But wait!" Eltanin was now over-excited. He turned his face to Tania and said, "I can't let you travel like this."

"What are you going to do, Elty?" she asked him. She doubted that her husband was going to come up with something really silly.

And silly he came up with. Half an hour later, he took a soft blanket and wrapped it around her belly. He took another one and wrapped it around her chest and then one around her legs. "What the hell are you doing?" Tania chided him.

He scooped her in his arms and said, "I am making sure that you don't get affected by all the bounces on the road. The road is bumpy and I don't want you to get any jerks!" Saying that he carried her to the carriage as everyone around them looked at their king wondering if he had gone insane.

Tabit and Fafnir watched Eltanin taking Tania like that. Tabit wanted to stop Eltanin from doing all that but the king was too stubborn. He wouldn't listen to a word from anyone else when it came to protecting his wife, and now his wife was expecting. Even God won't be able to sway his decision.

On his way to the carriage, he said to Fafnir, "If Tabit's information is correct, then I am giving you a double raise."

Fafnir's heart somersaulted. More money for his mate. He bowed to his king with a smile and crossed his fingers, praying to the deities that Tania be pregnant.

As the carriage started, the soldiers saw even something stranger. General Fafnir who was never ever seen with a woman was now riding with a girl in front of him and apparently that girl was no one else, but Princess Tabit.

Fafnir grabbed his mate's waist tightly, very tightly, even though they were accompanying a very slow carriage. The king had ordered everyone to go at a snail pace. Excruciatingly slow pace, it was.

"You don't have to hold me so tightly," Tabit murmured, feeling awkward.