#Chapter 393 – Family Reunited Ella
I get tenser and tenser as the minutes pass, and I can feel Sinclair behind me likewise desperate to know what’s going on behind that closed door. A priestess comes by after a little while, offering us tea or seats, but we decline both because we’re very aware that we’re definitely not going to be able to relax until that door opens. Which it doesn’t do for a very, very long time.
“What are they even doing in there?” I ask, especially when I hear a little muffled shout come through that makes me go quite still. Sinclair chuckles a little and I spin to look up at him, not understanding what he means –
But then, when I see his raised eyebrow and the smirk on his face, I realize…
“Oh, EW!” I say, swatting at him with my free hand, the one that’s not holding the sleeping baby. “They are so not-”
“Roger would,” he murmurs, smiling at me and still laughing lightly.
“Cora would not,” I say, vehement. “ This is mom’s house.”
“She didn’t seem to mind about such activities outside the RV, where dad could have seen, were he to glance out the window.”
“Yeah, but that’s your dad,” I say, rolling my eyes and returning my focus to the door. “It’s different.”
“The Goddess is all-seeing,” Sinclair says, and I can feel him shrug. “She’ll spy if she wants to – what’s the difference between having s3x in her temple as opposed to anywhere else -”
But I hiss at him to shut up, looking around anxiously to make sure he wasn’t overhead. Chuckling, wrapping his arms around my waist again, Sinclair pulls me back against him. “If the baby weren’t here,” he murmurs low into my ear, pulling my hips back against him…
“Enough out of you,” I chide, though I can’t help the smile that tugs at my lips. Because…well, my mate is very difficult to resist. Even in an inappropriate religious space dedicated to my mom.
Luckily, the door opens then, and Cora and Roger come striding out, wide smiles stretching over both of their faces as they speak softly to each other, holding hands, completely oblivious to our tense waiting.
“Cora!” I cry, thrilled and excited. Her head spins to me and her smile widens as I dash over to her. But as I get within three feet of her I sense –
What is that? I stop dead in my tracks, raising my nose to sniff the air – but I can’t –
Sinclair, coming up behind me, likewise goes stiff and then starts to laugh. “Well, congratulations, sister-in -law,” he says, and I glance back to see a wide grin on his face. “Looks like you’re a wolf after all.”
“WHAT!” I shout, completely shocked and throwing an arm around my sister, tugging her to me and holding the baby to my side so that he doesn’t get smushed. “Are you serious?! Are you?” And then I back off a little again, sniffing around her and sensing –
Yes – yes –
I may not have been able to smell it months ago, before I was immersed in this world – but my sister has a wolf, and it’s awake in her, and prowling around.
Cora laughs, thrilled. “Yes, Ella,” she says, nodding and stepping away from me but holding my hand. “I have a wolf. Um, I’m still human, so I can’t shift? But apparently,” she shrugs, shaking her head still in disbelief, “I have always had a wolf soul, inherited from mom. I just…never knew. She helped me find it.”
“Wow,” I say, squeezing her hand and staring at her, baffled and thrilled. ” Cora, that’s amazing – I mean, I think it’s amazing. Do you?”
Thrilled, my sister nods and then takes her hand from mine, stepping back with her mate. “I do. We both do.” And then she puts a hand on her stomach, still smiling at me. “The baby does too.”
“WHAT!” I shout again, laughing and stumbling forward, putting my hand on her stomach as if I could feel the baby too. “You can feel the baby now?!”
“Yes,” she says, happy. “I can feel him through the bond.”
And then my eyes snap up to her and I feel my eyes instantly fill with tears as her words echo in my mind. “Feel…feel him?”
Slowly, grinning, Cora begins to nod.” Him.”
“A baby boy!” I shout, estatic, and my mate wisely slips my own baby boy from my arms before I hurl myself at my sister, wrapping her up as tight as I can as I cry against her, so happy – so incredibly excited for her, and for me to have a nephew, and for Rafe to have a best friend-
Because it’s not optional anymore Rafe and the baby are going to be best friends –
“Ella!” Cora laughs, holding me tight and shaking her head. “It’s all right! You’re choking me!”
But I have a hard time letting her go, so my sister just laughs and holds me as we rock back and forth, united in our joy.
When I am able to pull back a little and wipe my tears from my face, I see my own mate with his arm around his brother’s shoulder, beaming at him as Roger looks down at Rafe in Sinclair’s arms, probably considering that he’s going to have his own baby just like that in such a short amount of time.
“Do you know?” I ask, turning back to Cora. “How long the pregnancy will be?”
She pauses and then lets out a frustrated little groan, turning to Roger. “Roger, we forgot to ask!”
“Ask what?” he asks, looking up at her. “How long the pregnancy will be for a hybrid baby,” she answers, sighing, and I see Sinclair perk up at this, interested in the confirmation that the baby will indeed be part wolf and part human.
“Well, whatever,” Roger says with a shrug. “The baby will tell us when he’s ready, or whatever.”
“Or whatever,” Cora repeats, crossing her arms and glaring at him. “Easy for you to say.”
“Yes,” Roger says, grinning smugly at her but also with a great deal of love. I “Yes, it is.”
And then I laugh and loop my arm in my sister’s, tugging her with me as I head for the temple’s door. “Come on, let’s go tell Henry,” I say, smiling at her.
“Okay,” Cora says, sighing with happiness as if she hasn’t got a care in the world and I suppose she doesn’t 1 anymore, not after our mother answered so many of her questions. We give our thanks and goodbyes at the door to the priestess who let us in, who looks incredibly happy for us all, and then we start down the long stone steps just as the sky starts to turn pink with dusk.
“We still have so much to tell you,” Cora says, holding my hand as we trot excitedly down the steps.
“Really?” I ask, fascinated. What else is there to know?
“Yeah,” Roger says, smirking at his brother.
“Like what?” Sinclair says casually, clearly not really believing that there could be much else beyond the amazing news we’ve all just received.
“Like, that Rafe’s got magic powers,” Roger says with a wide grin. Sinclair and I both go dead still in our tracks, turning to our siblings. Then, as one, we both say the same thing: “Wait, what?”
And Roger and Cora burst into laughter.
