#Chapter 413 – Biding Time
Ella
Sinclair blinks at me in surprised confusion and then sighs as he speaks honestly. “We’ve prepped an interrogation cell -”
“No,” I snap, pointing a finger up into his face that he immediately swats away. “No,” I continue to insist, taking a step closer and frowning furiously up at him. Rafe, in my arms, starts to cry harder. “Those two have been through hell, and they saved Rafe’s life -”
“We have no idea who they are, Ella,” Sinclair growls down at me, “they could be anyone – ”
“They are not.” I snap, interrupting him and making him groan and tilt his head back in frustration. “They are refugees – two people who lost everything, if they ever had anything to begin with. I understand that we need to hear their story, Dominic, but we owe them everything. We owe our child’s life to that woman over there,” I continue, pointing behind me to where I know Sarah still stands.
“So, what would you have me do,” Sinclair says, forcing himself to be patient as he lifts his head again and looks at me.
“Treat them as our honored guests,” I reply. “Put them in a guest room – guard it if you have to! Bug it so you can listen to every word they say, if you’re that worried! I don’t care! But until we know more, we treat them as the honored guests I know them to be. Feed them, allow them to get clean and warm, let them sleep, and then tomorrow we ask questions. All right?”
Sinclair takes a deep breath, closing his eyes and rubbing them slowly with the thumb and forefinger of one hand. Then, after a moment, he drops his hand and looks at me again. “A guest suite, fully guarded. On a lower level – nowhere near where we sleep. And no one sees them until morning-not even you. All right?”
I nod sharply and he turns away, letting his staff know and coming up with a new plan.
As Sinclair does that, I move back to Sarah and Jessica, who are standing anxiously with Cora. I hurriedly tell them the plan – that we’ll let them take the night to relax and refresh, and then we’ll see them again in the morning. Sarah lets me know that she understands, and that this is fine, and I take her hand again, giving her a squeeze.
“Thank you, I say, smiling at her. ” For everything. And also for your patience – I know that this is…well, that it’s weird,” I say with a shrug.
“It’s okay, Luna,” she says, giving me a soft smile and running her hand over her sister’s hair. “We grew up in the home of a Duke, after all. We know what it’s like to have to bend to the needs of a royal household.”
And my jaw drops open at the woman’s revelation:
That she grew up in the home of my uncle Xander. And she might be the one who has the answers to all of the questions that we have about what he intends to do next.
I open my mouth to ask more when suddenly Theo is at my side.
“If I may, Luna,” he says formally, nodding to me and then at the rest of our little group. “We’re ready for you.”
And I sigh, nodding again to Sarah to let her know that I’m on her side. She nods back, and then, as a group, everyone moves into the palace to figure out our next steps.
Cora and I only caught bare glimpses of our mates in all that came next. Roger nodded to both of us, his face serious, as we passed him in the hall. Cora blew him a kiss and I smirked, a little, as I saw him reach into the air, pretending to snatch it – a gesture that to the Betas to whom he was speaking probably just looked like him stretching.
But it cheers me immensely, in all of my anxiety and sadness for Sarah and Jessica, to see Cora so happy. I bump her with my shoulder as we walk towards mine and Sinclair’s personal chambers – as Theo let us know Sinclair asked us to do – and she gives me a little wink, which further encourages me to consider that all is well.
I relax further when we get into the privacy of my rooms. Cora and I don’t say much, clearly both lost in our own thoughts a little bit as she hops into the shower and I give Rafe a little bath. Then Cora takes Rafe from me while I take my turn in shower, taking him into the bedroom to see if she can get him to sleep.
When I come out of my closet in a comfortable pair of pajamas, and see Cora likewise cozy in borrowed leggings and a zip-up hoodie, I can’t help but laugh.
“What?” she asks, grinning at me as she turns away from Rafe’s bassinet.
“I was just so worked up fifteen minutes ago,” I say, shaking my head and crossing the room to her, my comfortable slippers barely making a sound on the floor. “I fell immediately into the panic that I felt when we first found out that Rafe was being threatened. And now…well, now that we’re in pajamas, waiting for our mates to handle it, I feel…kind of silly.”
I peer down at my baby, who is just barely starting to fall asleep, as Cora puts an arm around my shoulders.
“Nah,” she says, “you did the right thing. Sinclair and Roger didn’t see them in that refugee center – they wouldn’t have realized what delicate people they were working with. Those two needed you to be hard on their side. Like you are for everyone who needs you.”
I sigh as I look up into my sister’s face. “You’re too nice to me,” I say quietly. “Too encouraging.”
“Well, I think there’s a pretty fair chance that Sinclair’s going to yell at you soon,” she says, wrinkling her nose and squeezing my shoulders. “So, I’m just trying to balance it out so that you get a good night’s sleep.”
A housekeeper comes then, bringing us our dinner, and Cora and I carry our trays to the bed where we can keep an eye on Rafe once she leaves. We tuck into our food quietly for a second before I take a deep breath, closing my eyes and forcing myself to relax.
What I really need, frankly – before Sinclair comes in and we have to have a big conversation about what we’re going to do next, and relive all the drama from those horrible days when we first found out that someone was coming for Rafe – is a distraction.
And quite suddenly, I remember how happy Cora was this morning.
“So,” I say, smirking as I open my eyes and peer at her.
“What is this new expression,” she says, leaning back warily as she takes in my smirk. “I don’t like this.”
“I was just wondering,” I say, my smile deepening, “why you were so happy this morning.”
“Oh,” she says, and a huge grin breaks out on her face as well.
“See!” I say, laughing and pointing my fork at her, my eagerness amplified by the fact that I’m using it to step away for a moment from my worries. “I know that something was up! Spill!”
“Wellllll,” Cora says, gathering her thoughts and picking up a little cup of chocolate pudding that’s sitting in the corner of her tray. She takes a little spoonful and lifts it to her mouth before she smiles and meets my eyes. Roger and I did the whole dream state thing last night.”
I shriek a little in excitement and Cora laughs but then smacks me on the knee, nodding to my almost-sleeping baby.
“Oh, he’s used to it,” I say, waving a hand at Rafe – who, indeed, does not budge and leaning eagerly towards my sister. “What was it like? Did you see the forest? Did you guys…do stuff?”
“Actually, no,” she says, laughing and likewise eagerly leaning forward. But as she does, I suddenly lean back. “What!?” I gasp. “You did the dream state and you didn’t get naked!? What even was the point -”
“Ella,” she says, laughing and rolling her eyes. “Would you just listen?”
And I do, reaching for my own cup of pudding and eating it eagerly as I soak in the details of my sister’s beach dream, my eyes getting wider and wider as she goes.
“Oh my god!” I gasp when she tells me about feeling her bond with the baby for the first time – and the first emotion coming through, and it being happiness. My eyes instantly fill with tears for the fifth or sixth time that day.
“Jeeze, Ella,” Cora says, leaning forward and wiping at my cheeks, though she can’t help her smile. “You must be so dehydrated all the time – ”
But I smack her hand away, wiping my own eyes and ignoring her comments. “What happened next?” I ask.
And Cora leans forward, eager to tell me the really good part.
