#Chapter 377 – Rebuild Ella
“Hey, handsome,” I say again, in the real world this time. A little smirk pulls on my lips as Sinclair’s eyes flutter open. We’re laying pressed quite close together in the little hospital bed, so I can see every twitch of his eyelash as he begins to focus on me.
He doesn’t say anything at first, just stares at me while he takes a couple of deep breaths. And then, quite slowly, he lifts a hand close to my face, sliding the knuckle of his index finger slowly down the length of my cheek. “Hey, trouble,” he murmurs, his voice scratchy after so many days of disuse.
I burst into a happy grin, so thrilled to see him awake and aware that I can barely contain myself. But I force myself to stay still, to not grab him, to…. let him get used to consciousness again in his battered body..
“Rafe?” he asks, his eyes worried as his memories of his last conscious moments come back to him.
“He’s fine,” I say softly, gesturing with my chin behind my mate, hoping that he understands that the baby is here in the room with us, asleep. “He missed you,” I whisper. “He doesn’t like it when he doesn’t have his dad around to hold him.” I wrinkle my nose and playfully glare at my mate. “He likes you better.”
A little laugh shudders from Sinclair’s mouth. “Does not,” he murmurs, staring at me steadily, as if he can’t get enough of the sight of my face. “You feed him, and sing to him. When you leave the room, he looks for you.”
“Really?” I ask, surprised and pleased. I hadn’t known this before.
“Well, he’s not alone,” Sinclair smirks, shifting forward to press his forehead against mine, a gesture that makes me grin with pleasure, joy pulsing through me at a ridiculous rate to have him back. “You’re the center of the world, Ella. We all turn to you.”
“Good,” I sigh, content. “I like all my boys obsessed with me. Makes it easier to boss you around.”
Sinclair chuckles a little and then pulls back a bit, frowning. I sigh again, but in resignation this time because I know our little stolen moment of peace is over that he needs to know about the world and what’s happened since he’s been gone from it.
“The priestess?” he asks.
“Dead,” I say solemnly. “Roger killed her the moment after you knocked her down.”
“And Rafe is…”
“He’s totally fine,” I say, unable to keep the little smile from my mouth. ” Though I want to hear more about how you caught him in the air with your teeth and didn’t leave a mark on him, Dominic – ”
“Dad skills,” he says with a smug shrug that makes me laugh again. little
But then he continues. “Cora? Dad?”
“They’re both okay,” I say, raising my eyebrows with the pleased memory of using the gift on Cora, patching her up, and then the slightly worse memory of Henry arriving at the clinic, terribly battered needing quite a bite of care.
“It’s a long story,” I say with a sigh, but they’re both fine now. And so are you, by the way,” I add, giving him a little push on the shoulder, wondering why his own health is the last that he asked about. “Seriously? Not curious at all about what’s going on with you?”
“Well, I think I knew that,” he murmurs, rolling his shoulders a little experimentally and glancing down at himself, or at least as much as he can see tucked into the tiny bed with me. I’m not in pain anymore…”
“But you were asleep for three whole days, Dominic.”
“Really?” he asks, raising his eyebrows in surprise. “But you…healed me? With the gift?”
“Yeah,” I say quietly, watching him carefully. “I patched you up almost immediately when we got to you, and then Hank and Roger helped me get you inside – you’re very heavy -“I inform him, giving him a little glare that makes him laugh.
“So why was I asleep?” my mate asks me, smiling a little now.
“Apparently I can fix you up,” I say, ” but I can’t make new blood, or restore lost energy.” I pause here, letting the worry of the past three days creep my face a little. “It was really bad, Dominic. If I hadn’t been there, if I had …if my gift had still been bound…” into
He shakes his head then and pulls me close so that my body is as flush against his as it can be, my head tucked neatly under his chin. “You saved me, Ella,” he sighs into my hair. “I can…never thank you. I’m so grateful. You’re a miracle.”
“I can’t lose you, Dominic,” I say quietly, my voice shaking a little as I hold him tight. “It was so…so scary. We can’t keep doing this – living like this. We have Rafe now – and the rest of our lives – I don’t want to do this anymore
“I know,” he replies, and I can feel him nodding, agreeing with me. “I’m so sorry, Ella. Never again. You’re right it’s not worth it. I can’t keep putting my body on the line like this. Peace, now. Peace.”
“Do you promise?” I sigh, hoping to hell that he means it – because that’s. all I want in the world. My mate, my baby, and peace.
“I promise,” he says. “I swear it, Ella.’
“Okay.” I say, clenching my jaw shut against the hope that blooms in me. Because I want to believe him so bad…
But I also know that this isn’t finished. That there are still loose ends that need to be tied up.
Sinclair is still holding me tight when we hear the soft creak of the door opening behind us. I lift my head a little, peering over Sinclair’s arm. I smile when I see Hank peering through. the dim light of the room at us. It’s late in the evening, but I’ve drawn the blinds closed anyway.
“Hey, Hank,” I say, working to sit up.
He smiles at me and then blinks in surprise at Sinclair. “Is he up?” Hank asks. “Did calling for him in the dream finally work?”
“Yeah,” I say, nodding happily as I lean forward and smile at my while Sinclair too works to sit up behind me. friend
“Hey, Hank,” my mate murmurs, looking a little ruefully at him, which makes me laugh. “How’s your jaw?”
“It’s fine,” Hank says, shooting my mate a smirking little glare as he comes to take the chart off of the end of the bed, flipping through it. “Roger has apologized, though I…don’t think he liked it very much. How are you feeling?”
Sinclair lets the awkwardness pass and takes a deep breath, stretching his arms high over his head. “Rested,” he answers, quite simply.
“Good,” Hank says, tucking the chart away and looking Sinclair up and down. “Well, there’s not much for me to do,” he says a little ruefully as he crosses his arms. “Your mate has made my job obsolete, after all.”
“Has she?” Sinclair asks, grinning proudly at me.
“Yes,” Hank replies as I swing my legs off of the bed and begin to move towards Rafe, who is still napping in his little basinet in the corner. “She healed you with a goddess’ gift, and then you slept, and then she went to fetch you from your unconscious state in a dream state. None of which is… standard medical procedure,” he continues with a casual shrug, “but… I’m starting to get used to this family’s bizarre healing methods.”
Sinclair laughs a little at this and leans back against the pillows, looking seriously at Hank as I pick up my sleeping baby, holding him close in my arms and letting him continue his little nap.
“I owe you an apology, Hank,” Sinclair says quietly. “We all do. Well, not Cora,” he says, tilting his head. “To be fair – she never suspected you had joined the cult of a dark god.”
“And me!” I interrupt. “I only suspected for like, thirty seconds! And then again was team Hank!”
Hank laughs quietly, shaking his head and holding up a hand. “No, I get it. I mean, I was offended at first but once Ella and Cora explained it to me, and I got to see Roger grovel a little bit,” he smirks here, “which was…quite satisfying in its own way. Well, after all of it, I understand.”
Hank tilts his head a little and looks seriously into my mate’s eyes before continuing. “I do hope, though,” he says quietly, significantly, “that any doubts that you had are now gone.”
“I saw the way you chased the woman who kidnapped my son, Hank, how you tried to get him back,” Sinclair says seriously, holding Hank’s gaze. “I saw what you did for us, and I know what you’ve done. You have this family’s faith forever, along with its gratitude.”
Hank nods his head a little, accepting. “Friendship,” he says quietly. “Would be enough.”
“Well that you have,” I assure him, giving him a big smile. “Also forever.”
“Good,” Hank says, smiling at both of us. “Because there’s still a lot of work to do, healing this nation. And together, I think we could do a lot of good.”
And as I step to Sinclair’s side, smiling at our friend, I’m newly excited about getting started on that work.
