#Chapter 363 – Trouble, Trouble, Trouble
Ella
Cora and I stand silently in the garage of the bunker, watching our mates pack their cars in preparation for their assault. Rafe is in my arms, fussing unhappily, and Henry has rolled his chair up on Cora’s other side, likewise watching tensely.
“It will be finished tonight,” Henry says, nodding confidently. “I know it. The boys will finish this.”
“I hope you are right, Henry,” I sigh. “I don’t know how much longer I can keep sending him off like this.”
Henry looks up at me, sympathy in his eyes, but I can’t return his gaze – I’m too overwhelmed. Instead, I look down at my little red baby, who is now crying unhappily in my arms.
Minutes – I know we’ve got minutes left until Roger and Sinclair leave. And I can barely take it.
“Come here, mini trouble,” Sinclair murmurs, and I jump a little as I realize that he’s close to me now, reaching out for the baby. I was too lost in my thoughts. I look up at my mate, my eyes filled with tears, and silently hand over the baby in to his waiting arms.
He doesn’t turn his attention to Rafe, though, instead putting out his other arm to wrap around me. I rest my head against his chest, looking away from him. But my eyes just fall on Cora and Roger, saying their own goodbyes next to me, and I can’t take that either.
So I turn my head in the other direction, pressing my eyes shut.
“It will be okay, Ella,” Sinclair whispers to me, the baby going quiet in his arms, as he always does, “I promise you, it will be okay.”
“I know you’ll do everything you can, Dominic,” I whisper. “I trust you – it’s just the rest of the world, and what it has in store, that I can’t trust.”
He nods, understanding, and then presses a kiss to my hair, pulling away too soon.
“No,” I gasp, wrapping my hand around the strap of his bullet-proof vest and keeping him close.
“Ella,” he murmurs, turning my face up to him with a touch of his fingers beneath y chin. And I stare up at him, my my beautiful, tender, ferocious mate. I’m coming back to you. Tonight. And then we’ll have peace.”
“You’d better,” I growl, narrowing my eyes at him. “Or I am going to be very mean to your ghost.”
Sinclair laughs at this, shaking his head and passing the baby back to me. Then he presses a kiss to my mouth, tells me he loves me, and turns towards his car. Cora moves close to me next, slipping her hand around my elbow with a big sigh.
“This is it, Ella,” she says. “The big push. After this, we’ll have peace.”
“I feel like I’ve been hearing that a lot, Cora,” I say as I turn to look at her, my bad spirits getting the best of me for just a moment.
“Well,” she says, her lips twitching a little towards a smile as she holds the hope for both of us. “At some point, it’s got to be right.”
And together, we watch our mates and their team pull out of the garage and drive away. Predictably, things are simultaneously boring and tense once the boys are gone.
“What should we do?” Cora asks as the three of us file into the little kitchen and sink down around the table. The bunker isn’t totally quiet – there’s still a good number of people left here.
Mostly those persons who are still too ill to join the assault team, or those members whose skills lie more in research than in war.
It’s good to have more people around, but still, I know that the three of us feel like we’re the only people in the world right now, so united are we in our misery. Or, well, four people, if we’re including Rafe. But I sigh as I look down at the little baby, who is falling asleep now. “You don’t even know what’s going on, baby,” I murmur, a little jealous.
“I think,” Henry says, dipping a hand into the pocket of his wheelchair and coming out with a deck of cards. “That this is a moment that calls for a distraction.
Cora perks up a little. “Nothing says distraction like a couple hands of high- stakes poker,” she quips. I smile at her, knowing that Cora loves cards. She’s clever and precise enough with them to be a bit of a card sharp. That’s how she kept us supplied with pocket money and candy in the orphanage, after all.
“Yes,” I say, leaning forward a little eagerly. “Now that the boys are gone, let’s gamble away all their money,” I say, perking up myself at the idea.” Show them what they get for going off to war without us.”
“Only fair,” Henry murmurs as he shuffles and we sit, a little smile playing at his lips. “What shall the buy in be, ladies? Half a million? Each of my sons’ first-born child?”
“Why not both?” I ask, grinning.
Two hours later, Henry has put us both to shame and earned not only a million dollars but also apparent ownership of his two grandchildren.
“Here you go,” I sigh, pretending to hand the sleeping baby off to him. ” He’s all yours now.”
Henry laughs and puts up a hand. “I’ll let you maintain ownership for now,” he laughs, pulling the cards towards him to put them neatly back in their box. “I know you’re fond of him, after all. I’ll call for him when I am ready to put him to work.”
“What about this one,” Cora says, looking down at her still-flat tummy. She cocks her head to the side and smirks at Henry. “Should we agree on a lay-away plan for this one as well?”
Henry laughs again and shakes his head, opening his mouth to reply, but suddenly there’s a huge bang from down the hall from the entrance to the bunker.
The three of us go silent, tensely turning towards the door, waiting to see
BOOM.
It comes again, followed by the creaking of metal.
“Shit,” Henry curses – something that makes me turn to him with wide eyes. Never, ever have I heard him utter a curse before.
This, more than the banging, lets me know that something is truly wrong.
Quick as a whip, Henry grabs his phone from its place on the table, glancing at it. “Nothing else from the boys,” he murmurs, slipping the phone into the pocket of his chair and starting to roll towards the door. “Come,” he snaps at us. “Now, Ella, Cora. Come now.”
We both jump to our feet, our hands shaking again as BOOM –
Rafe is still in my arms but some piece of me thinks to grab his carrier as Cora and I follow Henry. As I leave he kitchen I turn towards the bunker entrance towards the huge metal door that seals us in here. And to my horror, I can see it beginning to peel back at the corner. I go pale realizing – Realizing that someone is trying to get in
“Oh my god,” Cora gasps, raising trembling hands to her mouth. “Henry
“COME!” he commands, wheeling fast down the hall against a wave of our own men who all come out of their rooms, heading towards the door.
My sister and I are in action as the hall fills with more noise – more pounding from the door, the shouts of our men – Henry’s own insistent calls to follow him –
We catch up with him as Henry wheels fast into the conference room, and we look around at the worried faces of the few men who are still in here, working on some new plans –
“GO!” Henry barks at them. “Can’t you see we’re under attack!? Go! Defend your Luna!”
