The King's Wife Is The Alpha's Mate

"Oh, Nicholas," Sophie blushed but rolled her eyes at him. She patted the empty space on her bed and beckoned him to join her. "You can stop saying those things now and just eat with me. We have a lot of things to do today as usual."

"What if I wanted to have you for breakfast?" Nicholas smirked. "Would you let me eat you?"

"Nicholas Ferdinand!" Sophie was red-faced at how the young man could say them without a hint of shame or embarrassment. "What would your mother and relatives think if they knew that you're like this?"

Nicholas chuckled and took Sophie's hand in his as their fingers interlaced together. He leaned close to her and kissed her cheek. "Well, I think that my parents will tell me to take responsibility for all of my actions."

"Responsibility?" Sophie raised a brow at him and then her eyes suddenly widened. She knew that most women who slept before marriage often asked for the man to marry them, but she didn't think of that with Nicholas at all. "Wait do you really mean—"

Nicholas sat down beside her, took away the tray of breakfast, and placed it aside for a moment to look her in the eye. "You have to take responsibility too, Sophie."

Sophie's face reddened and she felt her heart pound. It was so easy to become confused and feel like her stomach was fluttering with butterflies around this man. However, as far as she was aware, men didn't ask women to take responsibility at all.

"What are you talking about? I have no idea what actions I did to be responsible for. I'm not asking anything from you either," Sophie said and gulped slightly.

"You've taken my heart and soul, Sophie." Nicholas chuckled and kissed her hand and placed it close to his chest. "Whenever I'm with you, it feels like my entire world is just you and you alone. I love you, Sophie."

"Nicholas…" Sophie found herself looking at him in amazement as she felt his heart also pounding loudly beneath his chest. She couldn't believe his words and yet they managed to touch her heart and made her feel something she hadn't experienced before.

Her face felt incredibly hot.

Did this mean that Sophie loved him back?

It was so different from the love that Sophie knew from being around her parents, but this was love wasn't it? Sophie took a deep breath and looked him in the eye, she cupped his cheek and leaned down for a kiss.

The moment where their lips brushed was electric and it made Sophie feel things that she didn't think were possible. More than that though, Sophie did realize that there was a place in her heart that found it easy to find Nicholas there.

She loved him.

He was like the sun that warmed everything he touched and she was happy whenever she was with Nicholas. The idea of spending their days together here in Hautingen filled Sophie with joy and earnestness.

She could see and was looking forward to being with him.

Once the two of them parted away, Nicholas reached out and squeezed both of her hands. There was a warm and rosy color in his cheeks as he found the courage to finally ask her the question.

"Will you spend the rest of your life with me, Sophie?" he asked.

Sophie's face heated up and she looked him in the eye. "This is so sudden…"

"I can't imagine loving another woman but you," Nicholas chuckled. "So why should we wait when we can spend the rest of our lives together like this? I'll love you every day and never leave your side. I'll be with you through thick and thin, the good times and bad, I will be with you always."

Tears pricked Sophie's eyes and she tried to blink them away.

Nicholas' eyes widened and he reached out to gently wipe a tear that fell down her cheek. He didn't think that he'd ever see such a reaction from her. Was it too sudden? Did his words scare her away?

"Sophie?" he asked with a hint of nervousness evident in his tone and expression. He said her name but it conveyed everything that he was feeling at that moment.

"You didn't say anything wrong," Sophie laughed a bit and shook her head. She smiled at him. "I… I just can't believe it. You really want to stay with me and make me your wife?"

Nicholas nodded. "Yes. There's no one else I'd rather spend my days with than with you, Sophie."

"You really do?" Sophie asked him again. "What if you're just mistaking this one moment of us being physically attracted to each other as love? What if you're only feeling a sense of debt and gratitude to me that you feel obliged to marry me and say you love me?"

Nicholas noticed the doubt on her face and he treated it with gentleness.

"Sophie, I'll tell you every day and repeat it how many times that you want me to." He gave her a warm and loving smile. "I, Nicholas, unconditionally and irrevocably love you, Sophie, with all my heart and soul and nothing will ever change that."

Ever since Sophie's parents died and she started to grow up with her relatives in Hastings, a certain part of herself became locked out and closed off to protect her heart from getting hurt anymore.

There wasn't ever a day that Sophie found herself devastated that the people who were supposed to care and love for her turned out to be one of the most selfish and most greedy people alive.

It hurt to see them.

Especially after when the young Nicholas left to return to his home and her aunt's men picked her up, she started dreaming of a happy life with Aunt Helga, Uncle Stevan, and her two cousins.

Those dreams were dashed and she learned how to never expect anything from others again. Sophie never imagined that she'd find herself running back into the arms of Nicholas and loving him because of it.

"I do."

"Huh?"

"I said yes to your proposal, I do." Sophie's tears reemerged as happy ones as she looked at Nicholas. "I love you and will marry you, Nicholas."