The Royal Wolff

Prologue

Anya Wolff

It was a battle no one saw coming. No one except for the Lycan King himself on that one fateful day their son was born.

Prince Alexandro, son of King Aléxandros and Queen Mariana, was approximately eight months old when out of nowhere, they suddenly arrived at our home in New York City.

“Dì mamma (say mama), Anita.” I told my little girl in a soft voice as I smiled widely.

Anita’s wide gray and hazel eyes just blinked at me continuously, like my words entered inside her ear and immediately went out on the other side. I have made it a habit before bed time to get my daughter to call my name whilst Maximo was taking care of Mathieu, our little boy.

“Let’s try that again, okay, sweetie? Dì ma-mm-a.” I said it for the tenth time tonight, but this time making sure to say it very slowly in the hopes of her understanding it better this time.

Unfortunately, Anita had other plans as her wide eyes just continued to blink curiously at me as if each word I said were something foreign to her.

Suddenly, her little head looked up excitedly and her eyes twinkled like stars in a sparkly night. Her tiny mouth formed the most adorable small smile before she somewhat squeaked a word.

“Pa-pá!”

What? Did she just say her first word and it’s not mamma?!

“Oh la mia bambina (my baby).” I swiftly turned my head when a familiar voice resonated behind me.

My eyes squinted at the culprit who took my daughter’s attention and undeniably, her first word.

“Maximo.” I said in an unamused tone.

“Amore mio.” Maximo shot me with his usual charming smile that looked so innocent. “Was it just me or did our baby girl just say her first word?” He lowered himself down and carefully took Anita up in his arms as she cooed in her daddy’s arms.

“Was our six month old baby able to say her first word when they say it’s usually at seven to eight months?! Such a talented girl!” Maximo continued to gush at our daughter as he held her and Anita couldn’t stop giggling in his arms.

I may have been slightly rattled and shocked that the baby I honed inside me for nine months and carefully taught every night to say my name has ended up betraying me with that one word, but seeing the two of them right now - Maximo holding our daughter so dearly as he slowly swayed around and played with her while speaking softly and Anita replying with small sounds and a smile that was too cute for words.

These two, including our little boy, will always and forever have my entire heart. The many trials we had encountered, the tears, the times we almost felt like giving up, all of that has led to this and I will surely never trade it for anything in the world.

“Perché stai piangendo (why are you tearing up)?” I was immediately taken out of my moment, not realizing I was even crying as Maximo looked at me slightly worried and Anita wide-eyed as well.

“Oh, oh.” I chuckled awkwardly, wiping some of the tears away with the back of my hand. “I didn’t even notice.” I lightly chuckled as I gave Maximo a smile telling him not to worry.

“Is it that again? Are you thinking about how much of an amazing husband I am and you are glad I never gave up on you or us?” He wiggled his eyebrows at me and I immediately rolled my eyes at him with a laugh.

“Sure, sure. Whatever helps you sleep at night, Maximilian.” I teased him with the old nickname we used to call him and he immediately acted offended.

He made a fake shocked gasp. “We promised to bury that name!”

“Promise? What promise? Who did? I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I replied with a scoff and began to walk away, but Maximo caught my arm and gently pulled me back to him.

I softly hit the side of his body as Anita let out an excited sound. I felt Maximo’s warm breath by my ear and instantly felt tingles down my spine.

Between raising two babies and an even bigger baby which is the company, there hasn’t been much time with only the two of us so any little touch instantly sparks something. There is also no doubt that Maximo is still the most handsome and irresistible man that he is even after all the long nights with no sleep and even a few stressful ones when one of them shows signs of sickness.

Because Maximo had lost his wolf, we could not determine whether our children inherited that gene and the same goes with my side of the family, specifically my mother’s genes. We had consulted with Dottore Angelo and other doctors in the pack but even then they said it would be somewhat impossible to know until they grew up and started showing signs. A special case in our world, they said.

We were pretty much in a waiting game.

Maximo suddenly whispered something into my ear that took me out of my thoughts once again. “Where do you think you’re going, my Silver Princess?”

That nickname. I haven’t heard that in a long while and I felt shivers all over my body especially as Maximo’s warmth pressed against me.

I swallowed nervously before taking a sharp inhale to recompose myself and turned to Maximo with a confident smile. “This Silver Princess is going to check up on our son. Now stop being a tease and take care of Anita. Right, my baby?” I turned to Anita and she instantly giggled as I slightly tickled her.

“I wasn’t teasing, though. You know how much I miss our…” Maximo took a pause as he bit his lip and looked at me rather ravenously. “Alone time.”

“Oh, shush.” I rolled my eyes at him playfully. “You should be concerning yourself with getting that little girl to bed. It’s way past bedtime!” I ordered him and Anita immediately pouted as if she knew exactly what I said.

For some reason, ever since she was born she has been the hardest to get to sleep. Meanwhile, Mathieu is probably already in snooze town dreaming about all the milk he is going to get tomorrow.

“It’s okay, cucciolotta. When your mamma is gone, we can play more.” I heard Maximo whisper to Anita as she went from pouting to giggling instantly.

“Hey! I heard that!” I turned around to them with widened eyes and arms crossed in front of my chest. “You are spoiling her way too much.”

Maximo chuckled lightly. “And you wonder why she called my name first?” He teased with a raised brow and as much as I tried to internally deny it, the realization was too real and he was right.

“Hmph! Bed for the two of you!” I said slightly in denial but in a joking manner before marching my way to Mathieu’s room and I could hear the two chuckling together behind me.

When I got to the front of Mathieu’s door, I made sure to carefully open the door and not make any noise as much as possible. Although he was quite a heavy sleeper, once he was woken up, one of the things that he needs before falling asleep again is to be carried by Maximo with a mix of my scent.

We figured it out when he was two months old that the only way he could fall asleep was if he could smell both mine and Maximo’s scent. If Maximo by some chance couldn’t make it home as he was busy with work, I had to wear one of his shirts to put Mathieu to sleep.

The doctor said this was normal for a baby as senses are evolving day by day. We figured he also got one of his father’s attributes, a strong sense of smell.

A small smile immediately formed on my lips the moment I spotted our little boy in his wooden crib that was designed to be made from a tree. Mathieu’s room is inspired by Maximo’s home back in Blood Moon Grove with tall trees and the feeling of the wide and open space as the wind blows against your hair.

This and Anita’s room was a small space that brought us back there every time and we made sure of that as juggling work and taking care of the family made it hard to go back home every weekend as much as we wanted to.

I walked closer to his crib and pushed back some of the hanging leaves that were meant to amuse Mathieu until he fell asleep. There were also some makeshift toy fireflies on top of the ceiling that lit up at night because they glowed in the dark. When Maximo and I planned this room, it took us months, but when it was done, it looked more beautiful than we could ever have imagined.

Mathieu was sleeping peacefully in his small bed and I instantly felt a strong tug at my heart. Every time I look at my babies, I couldn’t believe that something so small could have such a huge impact in our lives, that something so small could hold so much good in them.

I put a bit of my weight on the crib as I stood next to it, staring closely at my little boy and started to gently brush my finger through his light brown hair that turned into auburn in some light, a mix of both mine and Maximo’s hair colors. I will always find it amusing how one human can have so many physical attributes of the person you love and that is probably one of my favorite things about them, that wherever I looked, I saw the love of my life in him. I saw Maximo.

I pulled a bit of his blanket upwards to keep him warm and when I knew that Mathieu was well and in a deep sleep, I felt content to leave him for the night, but still made sure to check the baby monitor before stepping out of the room.

I once again carefully opened the door and quietly stepped out. When I turned around, I had a huge shock as I came face to face with people I least expected to see in our living room at ten in the evening.

“K-King Aléxandros and Queen Mariana.” I stuttered before bowing, still unable to process their presence here right now, but even more so when I realized there was someone else in the room too.

“Prince.” I gasped softly.

He was small, a little bit bigger than Mathieu and Anita as he was a couple of months older, but still a tiny baby. What in the world are they doing here at this time of the night?

“Anya, the Royal Family needs to talk to you.” Maximo appeared from behind them as he walked towards me with a rather tense look.

“T-talk with me? Why? What is going on? Did something happen with the Dark Moon? Is your family okay?” I asked, completely worried and Maximo placed his arm on my shoulder to calm me down.

“All is fine with them. This is something else. They need-”

“We need help with our son and I think only you can do that, Anya.” The King cut off Maximo as both him and the Queen looked at each other with the same heavy expression on their faces, the Prince sitting behind them.

“Me? Why me? What can I do for the Royal Family?” I asked, flustered.

The last time I saw them was during his coronation but that was when we were in Italy and I was still pregnant, watching from a live video they had set up in the Italian pack’s Luna Rossa Grove. The really, really last time I saw them in person, specifically just the King, was when he was still a Prince - the day he arrived at Blood Moon Grove with a lead on who was killing the werewolf kind, also known as when all hell broke loose.

Back then I was still rather naive and was not the person who I was, meaning I didn’t have the knowledge of the moon, including its power passed down to me by my mother. It was then that I knew what they could possibly need from me.

Years have passed since anyone has honed this kind of power - the power to heal, to bring forth life, to sense things no simple person can, and many others I have yet to discover, which is why it had been kept hidden when I discovered the strength of my power in the hopes of what happened to my mother not happening to me again.

Only my family and the Royals knew about it.

“Our son… We need to confirm if it’s true.” The King said in a serious tone as he looked down at me with a sympathetic look.

I tilted my head slightly confused, unsure of what he specifically wanted, but when the Queen took hold of the Prince and lifted him up to me, there was a sudden push of power that took me by complete surprise. Imagine two opposite magnets that were pushed together; no matter how many times you tried, you couldn’t connect them because their opposite attractions were far too strong.

I felt it. In this small boy, this eight month old, he held the strength of the strongest warrior of the werewolf kind, but as he becomes older, it will grow with him. Each day, each tooth that grew in his mouth, each strand that got longer on his head, and more, he would become stronger and stronger…

Until he surpasses the strength of any creature in the world.

“It’s true…” I spoke up, my voice low as I was rather stunned but it was clear enough for them to understand and they knew what this meant.

The Queen felt weak as she almost fell to the ground, but the King immediately took hold of her and their son.

“Oh, mi Rey (my King)... What are we going to do now?” She whispered weakly, her eyes obvious they were about to tear up.

“Let me carry him for you.” Maximo offered to take the Prince to lessen the weight and they passed the little boy to him.

The King took a deep exhale before comforting the Queen. It was my first time seeing them like this in person, seeing them so comforting of one another not as Royals but as two people in love with one another and worried about their family. I have seen pictures and videos of them as a family and even before that and I knew the two were absolutely in love. The way they looked at each other was definitive of that because it was the way I looked at Maximo as well.

“Don’t worry, mi Reina (my Queen). We will get through this.” The King reassured her as he helped settle her down on our couch.

When they were settling down, I turned to Maximo and I couldn’t help but smile as I watched him bond with the small Prince. He was a spitting image of his father, strands of blonde hair were beginning to grow on his head and had fair skin that looked like it would become as olive as his father in the future. A handsome young boy… but held something far greater than man could comprehend.

“What did you feel, babe?” Maximo asked as I got closer to them.

I swallowed nervously as I looked down at the small boy who was crawling on the floor. I can’t even begin to imagine what he would be like when he grew up.

I looked up at Maximo with pursed lips before speaking. “I-”

“War. She felt the power of my son and the war it will bring amongst our kind.” I was unable to finish my sentence when the King spoke up while walking towards us.

“I apologize for the very late intrusion in your home, but now you understand the urgency.” The King sighed deeply.

“Our home is always open for you, King.” Maximo reassured him and they nodded at one another.

“This war… Is it serious?” Maximo asked and I could sense in his tone the slight nervousness in it.

The King glanced at me before looking at him and nodding his head with a solemn expression. “It is. It will be. And-” He placed his arm on Maximo’s shoulder, an action that was very rare for a Royal so it meant a lot.

“I hope I can count on you when the time comes.” The King said and Maximo didn’t let a second pass before he responded.

“Of course. Whatever it is, whatever you need and whenever, I will do my best and give my all for the Royal Family.” He bowed down respectfully.

“Gracias, Maximo Wolff.” The King smiled gratefully.

“Oh, Alex! Alex is walking!” We were all taken aback when the Queen shouted and pointed out to the side.

When we turned to where she was pointing, we saw Prince Alexandro walking on his legs. Yes, not just crawling, but walking on his two legs with no assistance at all. We were beyond surprised as at this age, it was very rare for a baby to start walking by themself.

The King looked absolutely perplexed as the Queen ran up to where we were standing.

“Where is he going?” The King asked as we watched Prince Alexandro continue to walk, his tiny legs moving somewhat determinedly.

Maximo and I turned to each other as we both realized at the same time where it was he was so intent on getting to.

“That is Anita’s room. Our daughter.” We said to the King.

When the Prince arrived in front of the door, he suddenly stopped and it was like we were all holding our breaths and you could almost hear a pin drop from the quietness in the entire place. We were all anxiously waiting for what he was going to do.

And then he fell back down on the floor. The little Prince dropped down and asked for his mother like nothing had happened.

The Queen immediately ran up to him and picked him back up.

“I can’t believe my son’s first steps are to go to a girl’s room.” The King chuckled lightly.

We all let out a chuckle as well. It was indeed a very surprising sight, but when the Royal Family said their thank you’s and farewells, there was no doubt a lingering feeling remained amongst us.

The feeling that something inevitable was going to happen and all we could do was hope and pray it wasn’t going to be as disastrous.

-

Maximo Wolff

It was a nice Saturday morning, sunny in the Spring so the weather was grand. We were getting ready to finally get a chance to go to Blood Moon Grove and stay for the weekend as the schedule at work finally cleared up.

Things have been going so well with the business that it also meant having to sacrifice a lot of free time from meeting clients all over the world and sealing deals to putting up a new location almost once every few months. I felt like Batman… without the cape, that is.

“Oh, no, no.” I said in distraught when my phone started beeping and I looked at it.

Anya turned to me with squinted eyes as she held onto the twins’ bags as we were seconds away from stepping out of the door.

“What is it, Maximo? Did you forget something? Don’t tell me you forgot to pass by the candle place for Cristina!”

Ah, Cristina and her candles. Years later she still asks me to bring that darn thing every time we came, but unfortunately, that was a much smaller problem right now.

I flashed Anya a guilty smile before walking towards her in a flirty way. “Did I tell you how beautiful you looked this morning? I didn’t want to let you get out of bed, did you know that?” I said to her, bringing out all my charms as I wrapped her in my arms and for a second, it seemed like it was working as she loosened in my hold.

“Nuh-uh, Maximo Wolff. I am not letting you get away that easily.”

Until it didn’t work anymore.

Anya pulled away from my hold and turned to me with her arms crossed in front of her chest and a very unamused look. “Spill. Now.”

Shoot. This time I had no escape.

“Um…” I cleared my throat nervously. Look at me, Maximo Wolff, TIME Magazine’s Top 10 CEO of the Year and I’m standing in front of my wife nervous as hell. Only Anya Silva-Wolff could do this to me.

“You see… I forgot that there was a meeting with Marco today. We’re trying to close a deal with another jet for American Airlines.” I pursed my lips as I raised my hands up in a pleading position, internally begging for her not to shout at me for forgetting.

It was an important time for us as we hadn’t been able to go back home in months and I knew her and the kids were absolutely looking forward to it.

There was a few seconds of silence, agonizing silence at that, until she broke it off with a smile. “We’ll go ahead then. Make sure to take your vitamins and we’ll see you later tonight. Don’t be late for dinner.”

Wait… did she just agree? That was easier than expected.

“Uh… I- I will, yes. Thank you, mi amore. I’ll say goodbye to the kids.” I replied slightly flustered but had to make a move on before she could change her mind.

“Papá!”

Anita and Mathieu run towards me, these two little ones who have grown in just the blink of an eye. It seems just like yesterday that I was swaying them both to sleep, and Anita who always went past her bedtime.

“Hello, mi cucciolotti." I greeted the two before carrying them up in my arms. “You two are getting heavier by the day, huh? Are you excited to see famiglia?”

“Sì! Sì!” They both shouted excitedly in unison while nodding their heads. These two had so much energy.

“Well, papá has to go somewhere this morning but I will meet you two there tonight, okay? Be good and don’t give mamma a hard time. Inteso (understood)?” I looked at my two fast-growing kids who were looking back at me with such bright eyes.

“Sì! Certo papà!” They once again replied at the same time and giggled together.

We weren’t sure if it was because they were twins that they always somewhat said the same thing at the same time or because they were just together almost 24/7. Whichever it was, we were just glad the two got along very well. It was rare for the two to fight. Mathieu was a great older brother to Anita just as Anita was a sweet sister to him. We couldn’t have asked for better kids.

“Good. Cioccolatini (chocolates) for you two later.” I whispered to them and gave a quick wink to keep our secret between the three of us.

“Ah-ah, what are you three conniving there again?” Anya exclaimed as she appeared out of nowhere and the two ran away squealing.

“Nothing, amore mio. Take care, okay?” I immediately tried to change the subject and fortunately, Anya let it go.

I pulled her in close to me and gave her a quick but deep kiss before whispering to her. “Ti amo tanto, mia moglie (I love you so much, my wife).”

“I love you too, my forbidden apple.” She teased as she gathered the kids by the door and shot me a quick teasing wink before they stepped out.

I let out a deep sigh. “This meeting best finish early.”

-

I had been running back and forth to the conference room and my office for the past hour as I kept forgetting things. For some reason, my brain felt like it was all over the place.

After sealing the deal like Marcos and I were undoubtedly going to do before it even started, I was getting ready to leave the office in order to drive to the Grove and reach dinner time, but for the third time, I forgot something once again.

“Huh…” My feet suddenly paused out of nowhere while walking the hallway of the fifth floor and when I turned, I was somehow right next to the vending machine.

My brows furrowed in confusion at how I ended up here out of all the places. I stared at it for a few seconds, wondering what was wrong with this machine, when my phone began to buzz like crazy.

I hurriedly took it out of my pocket. My eyes shot wide open at the sight of who was calling. Three eights on my screen.

The King's number.

I became flustered as I fumbled to answer the phone. I cleared my throat before speaking up.

“H-hello? King Aléxandros?”

The next few words were ones I should have expected to hear, but for some reason, hearing them still truly gave me the shock of my life.

“Maximo. The battle has begun. We need you.”

“I’ll be there.” I replied and there was the sound of the call after it ended.

I let out a deep exhale as my heart began to feel heavy. My legs began to feel like jelly that I had to steady myself with the machine in front of me, leaning on it as I put most of my weight as I felt like I was going to collapse.

What was this feeling? Out of nowhere, there was something inside of me that began to feel heavy but light at the same time. It was hard to decipher, to distinguish, and almost impossible to grasp.

“Ouch…” I exhaled deeply, in and out, trying to catch my breath as if I had just ran a marathon.

I looked up and saw my reflection on the machine. My eyes seemed like it was somehow turning darker as my insides felt like there was a force reckoning to come out.

My phone continued to ring endlessly with Anya’s set ringtone and I accidentally dropped it on the floor, unable to hold onto it as my body somewhat felt like it was beginning to get taken over.

I didn’t know what was happening until the very last second that it hit me almost like if the earth got hit by a meteor, it would be a massive destruction.

But this force didn’t feel like it was going to destroy me…

No. This was far from that.

It felt like my rebirth.

Wolf.

He was back. There was no doubt about it. It had been years since I’ve felt him, but god damn it, it felt good.

And there was something different about this feeling. He was stronger. We were stronger.

Missed me? We’ve got a lot of work to do.

-

Hehe surprise! Decided to share this prologue before January ends. I wanted to give a bit of a background on this story and somewhat connect it to where Book 1 ended!

Also a quick question for you awesome readers - would you prefer more words per chapter making it longer but costing more coins to unlock or less words per chapter making it shorter and will cost less coins to unlock? Please do let me know your preference. Because of the recent author's benefit change from Dreame, I'm tweaking the final word count of this story but it won't affect the quality in any way. Just working around what you guys would prefer in general.

Thanks everyone! Excited to share more of our new Wolffs ♡