“I do.”
“I love Uncle Erich too!” Markus added, and we all chuckled.
“He is pretty great, isn’t he. That’s why I agreed to marry him,” Jaq said.
Thomas gasped. “It’s that serious?”
Jaq nodded.
“You’ll be marrying into the royal family. There’s no escaping the royal duties. Unless you two plan on running away. Which I will support, but it will make visiting you more difficult.”
Jaq sighed. “We’re not running away, tempting as that is. I know that we’ll be locked into this royal life forever.”
Thomas hugged his brother tight and tears well in his eyes. “I’m so happy for you.”
“You do realize that your father is not going to be happy about this. It could cause an international incident, and we’ll need to do damage control,” Jaq said.
“He can fuck off,” Cort said.
My eyes went wide. Jaq snorted out a laugh.
“What? No one’s here. They can’t hear me say that. He’s not the king anymore, and he’s most certainly not my king. What’s he going to do about it?”
“Make our lives a living hell, like he’s done since I was born?” Jaq said.
Thomas’s face set in stone. “You know I won’t let that happen. Neither will anyone else in this family. You’re ours now, and we’re keeping you.”
“Uncle Jaq, play!” Julien said. He’d had enough of this adult conversation. He carried a bin that had brightly colored blocks in it.
Jaq’s face transformed instantly when he turned his attention to his nephew. “Uncle Jaq will play, but first, did you brush your teeth? Are we going to have a PJ day or are you getting dressed?”
Thomas wrinkled his nose. “A PJ day sounds wonderful, but if we’re telling the rest of the family today, then the boys should probably get dressed.”
“Of course.” Jaq stood like he was going to go get the boys ready.
“No. Not you. This is your day off, and you have announcement to prepare for. We’ll meet you downstairs.” Thomas gripped his brother’s arm to keep him from following after Cort as he herded the boys to their room.
“Okay. Okay. Seems like everyone is telling me to enjoy my day off.” Jaq stood.
I wrapped my arms around his middle and kissed his neck. “Hmm, the ship has sailed on enjoying the day. Now we have to face my parents.”
“They are going to be so happy for you, truly. I can’t believe I didn’t know about this. You two are so cute.”
Jaq leaned into me. “I may have been a little stubborn.”
I scoffed. “A little?”
“Yes. Just a tiny bit.” Jaq kissed my cheek. “I made you work for me.”
“Indeed you did.”
Chapter 12
Jaq
It had been just over a week since Erich and I had been engaged and hard-launched our relationship to the entire family. Telling his parents had been nerve-wracking until his omega father pulled me into his arms and told me how excited he was.
In that moment, I felt it. The love of a family, the acceptance. Everything clicked into place. This was my home. It wasn’t just a place where I was mooching off the royal family. I was part of the family.
