The study was quiet when Derek pushed the door open. He had expected an empty room. He had been looking forward to an empty room, frankly, after the morning he’d had, a full schedule of business correspondence and two back-to-back calls with allied Alphas that had run well past their allotted time.

What he got instead was his grandmother sitting behind his desk.

Nana had made herself entirely at home; her frame settled comfortably into his chair, her hands folded neatly on the desk surface in front of her, wearing a smile so bright that Derek stopped walking before he had fully entered the room.

Kai was leaning against the far bookshelf with his arms crossed, wearing the expression of a man who knew exactly what was happening and had been sworn to silence about it.

Derek looked at one, then the other.

"What are you two up to?" he asked.

"Come and sit down, my darling," Nana said, gesturing graciously to the chair on the visitor’s side of his own desk, as though she were receiving him and not the other way around.

Derek crossed the room slowly, with caution. He had grown up with this woman and knew that her smiles were brightest when she had either successfully meddled in someone’s life or was about to.

He sat, looked at Kai again for any indication of what he was walking into, and got nothing. Kai examined a spot on the ceiling with great interest.

Nana reached into the bag beside her and produced a slim folder. She slid it across the desk towards Derek with the satisfaction of someone delivering something they had been waiting a long time to hand over.

"What is this?" Derek asked, frowning at it.

"Open it and see for yourself."

He glanced at Kai one more time. Kai pressed his lips together and said nothing, though the effort appeared to cost him something.

Derek opened the folder.

Inside was a letter. Formal and official, bearing the seal of the Council of Elders in the top right corner, the seal he had been waiting to see for longer than he cared to admit.

He read the first line, then slowed down and read it again from the beginning, more carefully, the way you read something when you are not entirely certain your eyes are reporting correctly.

The Council of Elders of Dravengard, having reviewed the circumstances and requirements pertaining to the ascension of Derek Aldric Wolfe to the position of King, hereby formally approves the coronation ceremony to be held no later than fourteen days from the date of this letter. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

The room was very quiet.

Derek stared at the letter. He read it a third time. Leo stirred deep in his chest, a rolling howl of pure excitement building at the base of his ribs, and Derek pressed it down firmly and kept his face still, though the effort required more concentration than usual.

"Surprised?" Nana asked.

He looked up at her. She was watching him with those bright, warm eyes, the ones that had always seen straight through every wall he had ever built, the ones that reminded him uncomfortably of looking into a mirror that showed you what you actually were rather than what you were performing.

"How?" he said. "The council has been sitting on this for years. What changed their minds?"

Nana leaned back, looking entirely pleased with herself. "Never underestimate the influence of a grandmother who knows where all the skeletons are buried, Drek," she said. "Your grandmother has a great deal of influence when she chooses to use it."

Derek looked at Kai.

Kai was no longer examining the ceiling. He was beaming and making absolutely no attempt to hide it.

"You knew about this," Derek said. It was not a question.

"I may have had some advance notice," Kai said.

"And you said nothing."

"I was asked to say nothing."

"By a woman who is currently sitting in my chair."

"By our beloved grandmother," Kai corrected pleasantly, "who could ask me to walk into the sea and I would at least consider it."

Derek shook his head slowly, looking back at the letter. "You little devil."

Nana rose from the chair unhurriedly, looking like someone who had delivered what she came to deliver and considered the matter settled. She smoothed her jacket and came around the desk, placing one hand on Derek’s shoulder as she passed him.

"You are married," she said, looking down at him. "You are about to start a family. I see no reason to make you wait any longer for what was always yours."

She patted his shoulder once. "Get yourself ready. And get that lovely wife of yours ready, too." She smiled at him, the full, deep smile of a woman at peace with what she had set in motion. "I am so proud of you, my boy."

Derek leaned in and kissed her hand. "Thank you, Nana."

Nana sighed. "Now, I need my beauty nap before the fundraiser we’ve all been invited to tonight."

She collected her bag, nodded at Kai and walked out of the study.

The door clicked shut behind her.

Derek sat still for a moment. Then he looked at the letter one more time, set it down on the desk, drew a slow breath, and pumped his fist into the air.

"Yes!" he almost screamed. "Smart Derek: 100. Sweet Nana: 0."

Kai’s brow furrowed as he pushed off from the bookshelf. "I’m sorry?"

Derek chuckled and pushed up from the chair, crossing to the credenza against the far wall. "It’s a scoreboard thing," he said, pulling out a bottle of wine and two glasses.

"A mental tally of who’s winning the battle of wits in this house. Today, I’m definitely on top. Let’s celebrate."

He poured both glasses with easy generosity and handed one to Kai, who accepted it with an expression that suggested he was surprise to see his cousin in such mood.

"Let me guess," Kai said. "Kira taught you that."

Derek snorted, going behind his desk. "Who else has such a ridiculous sense of humour?"

Kai sipped his wine, lowered the glass, and looked at Derek with a particular directness.

"Speaking of which, what happens after this coronation?" he asked.

Derek settled into his chair, his own glass resting loosely in one hand. "What do you mean?"

"You know what I mean." Kai did not look away. "Are you in love with her?"

The study was quiet again. Derek looked at his glass for a moment, then swirled the wine inside it, then back at Kai. He sighed and shrugged. "I won’t say love. I care about her," he said.

Kai held his gaze. "And are you going to tell her the truth, now?"

Derek finished his wine in one swallow, and set the glass down on the desk. "There’s no need," he said. "She is carrying my heir after all. I don’t want to put unnecessary weight on her."

Kai went very still.

He stared at Derek for a long moment, his wine glass hovering somewhere between the desk and his mouth, forgotten entirely. "Wait... what? Kira is pregnant?"

Derek looked at him with the faintest trace of something that was not quite a smile and not quite confirmation.

"We’ll see," he said.