Today the compound celebrates ten years of operation, we had expanded the area several times to accommodate all of the humans. They were reasonably well behaved, most of them realised that our intention was to rebuild their population and we had to do so in a way that would make their lines healthy and sustainable. They weren't overly impressed at the fact that they couldn't completely choose their mate. We did what we thought was necessary and it was working. The children that are born are healthy and happy. The only problem was that we have had a few unexpected pregnancies, somehow some of the humans have managed to get past our watchful eye. I had reviewed the security footage, days upon days of watching the humans in question. The problem? Well that was buildings that towered beside each other creating shadowed pathways, an overgrown shrub and a few enthusiastic humans. The children that were created were tested, they would be reasonably healthy because their parents weren't directly related. But their little moment of free love had changed things in the compound. New areas had been built, the size of this place was unreal, it was almost like we were our own little city. The old section would be breeding females only, the children would be raised by them until they attain the age of eighteen, then they would be sent to the breeding program. The new section contained two areas, one for the breeding males and the other for both male and female that were done with breeding. In between the three areas was the new socialisation area where they could interact with each other. Many of them had complained at the lack of intimacy with the creation of the children, that it should be an act of love between a man and a woman. They couldn't see what we were trying to achieve, their future. But when I looked to Jonah I thought about what it would be like if our lives were reversed. If we were the ones being bred. What would I say if I couldn't lie in bed next to my husband every night? If we couldn't show our love and devotion to each other in one simple act. So we reinstated the joint living arrangements but with a whole new set of rules that included harsh penalties if they disobeyed. So far it has worked well, more so when it was explained to them the reason we wanted healthy lines. Longevity for their race.

The place was getting so populated that we had to do something. There was a real fear of creating slums out of the buildings, there had already been more discussions about expanding the walls even further. That was why I was now standing in front of the rock face, ready to receive the elders for the meeting. This was how our world was now, the four of the prophecy, their husbands and their first born child were all elders. The exception to this were Josie, Evie and Elston who were also considered elders. First out was my parents, bags in tow. They were planning on visiting for a couple of days. Then there was the horde of little monkeys and the poor frazzled maid that was trying to keep them in line. My mother snapped at them to behave and instantly they all stopped, rushing into a long line. It was a little surreal to see my siblings so well behaved and my mother so strict.

"Everything ok?"

"Of course darling."

"Your mother is at her wits end." my father grumbled.

"Pregnant again?"

"No, just some unexpected news."

Her eyes snapped to Jack. He was the next sibling down from me and has always been a bit of a loose cannon.

"Ooh, Jack what did you do now?"

He rolled his eyes as he thumped his arms to his body.

"Why do you assume I've done something bad."

"Because you always do something bad."

"It's not bad, I'm fine with it." he pouted.

"He got one of the maids pregnant."

"Oh my god, pops would be so proud of you Jacky. The apple that has fallen from the tree has skipped a generation but who cares?" I laughed.

"It's not funny Ivy." my mother chastises me.

"It is, just like pops and granny's beginning. How cool is that, history repeating itself."

Jack grins at me, our mother rolls her eyes.

"You are turning into your father, you realise that." I looked at her "What happened to the rebellious young woman who lived to piss her father off?"

She tried to protest but I stopped her.

"Who is it harming? No one. Does he love her?"

I looked at Jack who was nodding furiously.

"There you go. How much anguish did it cause you when your father tried to stop you and dad being together? Why are you doing the same to Jack? And you want to know something?"

She looked at me with curiosity.

"Becoming a father might settle him down and besides, it's done. There is no turning back now. He is prepared to accept his future, why can't you?"

"I never said I wasn't going to accept this, I'm just not impressed."

"He's just taking after his parents and his grandparents. Pregnant outside of marriage seems to be a common theme in our family."

"Yes alright." she snapped under her breath "Point made."

My father followed her into the house with a smug grin, the maid ushered the children after them. Jack hugged me hard.

"You rock Iv. Thanks a bunch."

"Any time, ya tart."

*******************************

The elders sat around the boardroom table, with one exception. Ariella wasn't here. Lucas gave the excuse that she was unwell but I didn't buy it for a second. Something was wrong and by the frown on Lucian's face, I'd say it had a lot to do with him. After ten years I would have thought they would be fine around each other but I guess not. I didn't press the subject; it was none of my business what they did in their lives.

"We can't keep extending the compound, it's getting out of hand." Jonah starts the meeting on a cheery note.

"The human population is expanding, what do you suggest?" Alina asks.

"There are humans that are of no real worth here, beyond their breeding years all they are good for now is the blood donation and that isn't really necessary either. We have enough here to accommodate the blood banks if the vampire population were to return to Elm'nyth."

"So what then? Kill them?" Terrance frowns at his son.

"No, don't be ridiculous. It's a thought but maybe we could sell them to the returning families as slave staff."

"Elm'nyth is certainly habitable now." Alina muses as she leans back in her chair "Provided we get the werewolves to do another sweep of the land I think that many could return to their land."

"General consensus among many of them is that they don't want to return." Terrance interjects.

"Yes they are far happier in Loach Issralk."

"Surely the extra population is a burden on the land." Alex interjects.

"How about an incentive package, entice them to return?"

Every single pair of eyes turn to me.

"And what would you suggest?"

"Maybe a few slaves per royal family, maybe a couple for the aristocracy and I don't know..." I shrugged "One for the common family."

"And vampires that live on their own?"

"Them too I suppose. The idea is to get them to willingly return whilst we unload some of our more unnecessary humans."

"How would we stop them from running off?"

"Tracking devices." Jonah turns to me with a slight grin.

"Sounds good to me." Alina turns to Evie "We can get started on that tomorrow, yeah?"

"Absolutely." Evie grinned widely. "Do up a notice advising them there is a great incentive program, they can move back to their old homes, continue to repair the planet."

"And those that do not willingly return?"

"Give them a time frame to return, say fifty years maybe?" I frowned as I thought about it "Then after that I suppose you could reassess the situation based on how many are left in the other realms."

"Ok, so once we have brought them back offer them maybe a male for a butler and a female for a maid. If they require any more they will have to purchase them. I grant you permission to sell the unusable humans to the vampire families, the money received from the sale is to be evenly split between your running costs and donating to the rectification works of the planet." Alina stands from the table. "Now, I think I'd like a tour of the new areas."

Everyone slowly moved out of the room, leaving Jonah and I alone with his mother.

"Are you happy with these changes?"

"We need to do something with them, the earth is not ready for them just yet."

Miranda smiles at me with a knowing grin, her eyes wandering between us. I winced slightly as a wall went up in my mind, not my usual wall, this one was a golden brick wall.

How long have you known? She whispered.

I raised an eyebrow at her as she continued to talk to her son.

Not long my mind whispered.

Does he know?

Not as yet I returned.

Before I could zone back into the conversation, Miranda turns with a smirk and wanders out of the room. Jonah looks at me with confusion.

"I know my mother was in your mind, so do you want to tell me what you two are up to? I don't want any surprise birthdays just so we are clear."

"Your birthday was months ago Jonah."

"I'm just getting in before you two start planning the next one." he wraps his arms around my waist drawing me closer.

"What happened to not invading the privacy of the mind?"

He shrugged "I could see the distraction on your face, I guess I got curious. Why was one of my mother's patented walls up in your mind?"

"Later Jonah, the tour is about to leave without us."

"Let them leave, I want to know what you two were conspiring about."

"We weren't conspiring." I sighed, knowing I could no longer avoid it.

I wanted to tell him, I knew he would be beyond happy. I just didn't want it to happen in the boardroom with the elders waiting for us to go on a tour of the compound. Something romantic would have been nice.

"I uh..." I looked up at him, my fingers toying with the silk tie. "I'm pregnant."

His face was plain for a brief moment, then the words finally sunk in. He whooped with one mighty grin as he lifted me and planted lots of kisses all over me. I couldn't help but grin back.

"Oh my god." he dropped me back to my feet "I didn't hurt you, did I?"

"No. Are you serious?"

The look on his face was enough to tell me he was indeed very serious. I had to nip this in the bud or I would be spending the next few months a captive in this house wrapped in cotton wool.

"Pregnancies are always fine Jonah; you do not need to worry about me or the baby."

"Nu-uh, not accepting it Ivy. I know what you are up to and it is not going to happen."

"Jonah." I chastised him.

"This is my baby too Ivy and I have the right to protect it."

"So you think I am going to accept lock down for the entire pregnancy?" I squinted at him "And what about when the baby is born? Are you going to confine us both to the house? Time to get a reality check, this is our home, the entire compound is our life. You cannot constrict me or any of our children to one tiny yard."

"It's not tiny and you have the ability to go to mid jump, your parents place, my parents place, anywhere that is safe."

He flicked my hair out from my eyes and behind my ear, looking down to me with serious concern on his face.

"You are not to go out among the humans and I will put a tracker on you if you defy me even once Ivy."

His fingers traced over my stomach, I could feel the sparks as he felt the life force surge through him. Slowly the grin returned to his face as he searched for the child in my womb.

"Amazing." he whispered.

As his fingers left the skin of my stomach he looked up at me, the grin dropping away.

"My child too, you remember that when you think about going against my wishes."

*********************

I stood by the window in our bedroom, watching the little tour leave. Sulking as I squinted at them. It wasn't fair, he had guilt tripped me into being confined here. I wanted to do what he asked, he was right, he had the right to protect his unborn child and his wife but it was just ridiculous. He knew I could protect myself far better than any kings guard could. This was going to be hell; I was going to get cabin fever for sure. My only consolation was that at least I could go to mid jump; I could go to my parents. But I knew the second I said I was leaving the house he would insist on a king's guard to stalk my every movement. I sighed as I flopped into the lounge, deciding it was better to just accept it rather than one long constant argument with Jonah.

If I thought that being trapped in the house was hard, having Jonah hovering around me was far worse. Suddenly I was like some rare commodity, he was treating me as if I was made of glass and he was making it very obvious that something was different to everyone that sat at the dining table. My parents sat there with a unified look of amusement, clearly they had figured it out. His mother was sitting there with one arm propping up her head, the other tapping the table. I think she was far more annoyed at him than I was.

"Jonah!" she snapped "Sit down and leave the poor girl alone."

The faces around the table were very confused, I had to tell them, otherwise they would be wondering what was going on all night.

"I'm pregnant."

There was a round of congratulations, then as Jonah finally sat down beside me, he decided that some champagne to celebrate was in order. Champagne that was not allowed for yours truly. I huffed with one very big frown as I squinted at the table. This was going to be a very long pregnancy.

After dinner was done I quietly excused myself and after leaving the dining room, I found myself in our bedroom within seconds. Tears streamed down my cheeks, as I walked through the robe and collected my bed clothes. It was a guarantee that Jonah would fret about having sex with me too. Can't hurt the baby, what if it causes problems, I think we should wait, it will only be a couple of months. I could already hear the words pouring out of his mouth, like he had in fact said it already. It wasn't like Jonah to pass on sex but I knew he cared more about the safety of our child than gratifying his own urges. I undressed and moved into the shower, feeling the warm water envelop me as I quietly let the tears fall freely. We had been waiting for over ten years for this child to come to us and now all I can do is cry. Was it hormones? I looked down at my stomach, already I had a small swell. The water poured over me, wetting my hair, two hands took hold of my hips as he kissed the edge of my shoulder.

"Don't hate me." he whispered "I do it because I love you and I couldn't live a day without you."

I nodded quietly, feeling one hand move to the swell as he pulled me against his body.

"Do you want to know how far along you are?"

Turning to look at him, his other hand wiped the tears from my eyes with a soft smile.

"Five months, would you like to know the gender?"

"You know?"

"It's hard not to when I can see in there with the touch of my fingers."

"Sure."

"Well, you my lovely wife are actually carrying two little sweet babies in there."

I gasped as my eyes widened, then I grinned. Two, how cool was that?

"And there is, in fact, a boy and a girl in there."

He turned me to the tiles pressing me against them. I moaned softly as he kissed along my jaw, his body pressing against mine. His hand travelled over my chest, toying with my breasts that had suddenly become very tender. He continued his path to my hips, lifting my legs around his waist. Did I think he wasn't going to love me for the rest of the pregnancy? I was wrong, very wrong. He groaned low and huskily as he pushed into me, slowly giving me the love that I craved from him. Kissing me as we loved each other under the steaming heat of the shower. Slow and passionate love, an eternity of each other.

"You are my world Ivy."

I stared into his eyes, two bronze eyes stared back, swirling with love and lust, passion and excitement.

"Youare my world Jonah. Forever."