#Chapter 414 – Three is Better than TWO
Ella
I’m really sobbing by the time that Cora tells me that her wolf led her to Roger’s wolf, and then to her pup – just ugly crying my little heart out in absolute happiness for my sister, as well as well, as well as in jealousy. Just a little bit.
“Ella!” Cora says, laughing and reaching out to put her hands on my shoulders. “Oh my god, I wouldn’t have told you if I thought you were going to react like this!”
“You’d better tell me!” I gasp between sobs, glaring at her. “You’d better text me every morning after you have a dream with your little pup in it! I want to hear everything! That is so amazing – what did he look like?”
“Well,” she says, biting her lip a little. “He’s still so small, so it’s hard to tell
And I start to cry again, making Cora roll her eyes and smack me on the knee.
“Okay, okay,” I say, taking a deep breath and working to steel myself. “I promise. I’ll keep it together.”
It’s a lie, but still – I will try.
“He had a little pink nose,” Cora says, grinning as I bite my lip. “And dark fur around his muzzle, just like Roger’s wolf has,” I press my eyes shut and clasp my hands to my chest. “And he has four little white paws – ”
“Okay stop,” I say, putting a hand out towards her and turning my face away. “That’s so cute – I can’t even handle it
She laughs then, and I control myself enough to open my eyes again and look at her, seeing that she’s shaking her head at me. “I can’t believe that you’re reacting like this, Ella,” she says, her voice awed. “I mean, you told me that you went running as your wolf in your dream and that Rafe was there, behind you! In little flashes!”
“Yes, but I didn’t get to touch him,” I say.
“Yes, you did,” she says, frowning at me. “When you I couldn’t reach Rafe through the bond, you told me that you found him in the forest! A full little baby! And you held him in your arms before he was born!”
“Cora,” I say, sighing and tilting my head to the side. “Don’t you see how that’s different?”
But she just stares at me, clearly not getting it, so I sigh and look down at my hands.
“Rafe was was sick, or something, and we were so worried we were going to lose him. What you and Roger got last night – you got to meet your baby, so young, and so healthy! With only happiness in his heart. All during my pregnancy with Rafe,” I say, glancing over at him, guilt running through me anew, “he went through so many terrible emotions.” I shake my head in my grief, remembering it. “Sinclair felt them more than I did – because he had his connection to Rafe sooner than me – but…”
When I look back at my sister, I see her nodding in understanding, her face fallen a little in pity.
“It’s good,” I say, reaching over our trays to take my sister’s hands and squeeze them. “I’m terribly envious – I’d have given anything to have my bond with Rafe as early as you do yours, and to have had him tell me so early that he feels happy, and to have met him as a little pup!”
I take a deep breath as Cora nods along with me, finally getting it.
“But,” I say, leaning forward and smiling at her. “I’m so glad that you got to have all of that, Cora. That is amazing. I want you to do it every night and then come and tell me all about it every day.”
“Done,” she says with a big happy breath, taking her hands from mine and laying down on the bed, propping her head up with her elbow. And then she studies me for a second before her face splits into a wicked little grin.” You know, Ella,” she says, “you could have it all – a second chance at it.”
“What?” I ask, confused.
“Stop breast feeding,” she says, nodding to Rafe. “Get pregnant. You’ll have the chance to do it all meet the little baby in the dream state, have a happy, healthy pregnancy – share it all with Sinclair, like you weren’t able to do with the first one.”
My breath hitches as I look over at Rafe, and then as I stare off into the distance, I…well, I actually let myself contemplate for real just how very much I want that. But still, there are so many reasons to hesitate…
“Not yet,” I say, my voice faint as I stare of and…and consider everything that still weighs on my little family.
“Why not?” Cora breathes, and I jump a little as I feel a tap on my knee. I smile when I look back at my sister, realizing that she kicked me. “Come on, we can be pregnant together. Torture the Sinclair brothers even more than we already do. It’ll be a blast.”
“Because,” I reply, taking a deep breath and sighing. “I…I can’t be pregnant again with all this uncertainty hanging over my head. I did it once, and it almost killed me -”
“Literally,” Cora points out, and I shrug, conceding the point.
“I want it, Cora,” I say, definite on that point and suddenly remembering the vision our mother’s priests gave me that one time – of a family of four, with two girls and two boys. And the second- oldest child – it had been a little girl, with long rose- just like mine… e-gold hair, and a face
“But not until this is sorted,” she finishes for me, nodding with understanding, I think remembering the vision at the same time I am.
“Not until Rafe is safe,” I agree, and then I grin. “Then! We can get me good and pregnant.”
“Well don’t wait too long,” she says, sighing. “I want our first three to be close in age, so they can all take care of each other.’
“Why can’t they do that with just two?” I ask, glancing at her stomach, where she’s carrying the child I know for sure is going to be Rafe’s best friend.
“Because,” she replies, grinning, ” these two boys are going to need a girl to keep things spicy.”
I laugh loudly then, leaning forward to grin at her. “You’re right,” I say, agreeing heartily. “Imagine how bored Dominic and Roger would be without us in their lives.”
And then, as if on que, the door opens and our mates come into the room, frowning at us – and certainly not bored. Seeing their faces, Cora and I burst into laughter.
“What is this,” Roger asks, trying to look stern as he comes over to us but failing to keep the smile from his lips. ” I don’t trust you two when you’re cackling like this.”
“Good choice,” I say, smiling at him and then reaching out a hand to my mate, who surprises me by ignoring my hand and lifting me bodily off the bed, holding me tight against him. “Oh!” I say, genuinely shocked but certainly not displeased.
“Trouble,” Sinclair growls, tucking his head close against me and taking a deep breath of my scent as I savor the feel of his stubble against my cheek. Feeling his worry down the bond, I press myself close to him, sending apology along down it as well. “Living up to your name today,” he murmurs, that’s for certain.”
“I’m sorry, Dominic,” I whisper to him, truly meaning it. “I – I got freaked out. But I really think it was the right thing to do – bringing them here, making them comfortable.”
“You did right,” he says, pulling away and nodding to me before pressing a quick kiss to my mouth and sitting down on the bed with me still in his arms. “It was just a big surprise, is all.”
“For us too,” I say, looking to Cora for confirmation. She raises her eyebrows and nods in agreement as Roger clears the trays from the bed and sits down next to his mate.
“How are they?” I ask, eager. “Did you find anything else out?”
“They’re very comfortable,” Roger replies, pulling Cora close as he speaks. “We really did put hospitality on it, making sure they have everything they could want. And the suite they’re in is nice, if indeed guarded. But no, we didn’t find much else out, and we won’t until tomorrow. We’re having dad come we know he’ll want to be in on the conversation.”
“Oh, good,” I reply, leaning into Sinclair and looking up at him. “What do you think?”
“Overall?” he says, looking down at me. “I think Sarah is who she says she is. And if that’s true then…” he sighs, shaking his head, “I think we’re going to hear a very sad story tomorrow. I can’t imagine what life must have been like, for two human girls raised in Xander’s home.”
And my heart sinks to think of it – Of the world from which they escaped, a world in which it’s logical to let your niece live in an orphanage her whole life and then, when the time is right, to swap sperm samples at her sister’s clinic and then try to steal the baby that resulted from that deception.
If I have already suffered so much at the hand of a man I’ve never met….
What must they have suffered as two humans serving in his home?
