#Chapter 488 – Cozy Little Nest
Ella
“Kinda wish I knew what Rafe’s power is going to be now,” I murmur as we lift Rafe’s carrier out of the car early the next morning.
Cora and Roger stayed up in their room for a few more minutes, but they came downstairs much more cheerful and ready to celebrate. I watched them carefully a long time, checking to see if they were just putting on good faces for their guests – but honestly? From everything I could see, they really decided to embrace the good news the Goddess gave them.
It was a wonderful night and a brilliant morning.
But now? Now I want to go to sleep.
“I already know what his gift is,” Sinclair says, slinging an arm around my shoulders as we start into the palace.
“You do?” I gasp, looking up into his face. But then I scowl when I see his smirk and realize that he’s kidding. ” Oh, you liar.”
“No really,” he says, raising his eyebrows at me. “His goddess-given power is just…handsome.”
“What!?” I squeak, a little aghast, my mouth falling open at this ridiculous idea.
“Come on!” Sinclair says, laughing and grinning down at me. “Look how good looking this kid is!” he continues, gesturing down at our son in his carrier, who is sleeping with a little bit of drool dribbling out the side of his mouth.
“Oh my god,” I groan, speeding up my steps and attempting to move ahead of my ridiculous mate.
“I’m serious!” Sinclair pushes, laughing, easily catching up to me with his long legs. “Didn’t you see him in that vision, all grown up? He is a handsome guy – it’s got to be his power.”
“Stop flattering yourself, Dominic,” I mutter, stepping into our elevator and jabbing the up button with my thumb. ” He looked just like you.”
“Precisely my point!” Sinclair says, wrapping my arm around my waist and tugging me close against his side as the elevator begins to raise, “he’s going to bring nations to their knees with just his smoldering gaze – ”
“Cover your ears, baby!” I call to Rafe, rolling my eyes at Sinclair. “Your dad is going to raise you to be vain and overly pleased with yourself -”
“I want the child to know the full extent of his power! He has to be prepared! He, too, is going to have demigoddesses just falling all over him
I can’t help it at this – I burst out laughing. “Stop it!” I gasp, smacking Sinclair on the chest. “We’re trying to raise a nice boy – not an egomaniac!”
“But you’re not saying that I’m wrong,” my mate says, smirking and cupping my face in his gigantic hand.
“Well, I don’t think it’s his gift,” I say, narrowing my eyes at him as the doors open. I bite my lip though. “But he really was handsome, wasn’t he? In the vision.”
“I’m telling you, Ella,” Sinclair says, grinning at me as we step into our hall. “If it’s not a gift it’s a curse. He’s going to have to keep a fly swatter at his side all the time to keep the girls off him – ”
I burst out laughing again at the mental image, leaning hard against my mate as my cheeks and my side begin to ache. We pass a few staff in the hallway who smile happily at us as we make our way down the hall to our door. Sinclair opens it, pressing a warm hand to my back as I head inside.
“Honestly,” I say with a happy sigh, looking down at our kid, “I think maybe his Goddess gift is…sleeping soundly. Through everything.”
“He’s just used to his loud mom,” Sinclair sighs, dropping a kiss on my cheek before I crouch down to lift the baby out of his carrier.
“Don’t you listen to anything daddy says,” I murmur to my sweet, floppy little baby as I gather him up in my arms. “He is a big ugly liar tonight -”
“I’m not ugly!” he calls from the closet, because of course his alpha hearing caught my private conversation with my son.
“He is,” I whisper, grinning at Rafe as I tuck him against my shoulder and stand to carry him into the closet, intent on getting him changed into some pajamas. “And whatever he says, you get your good looks from me.”
“Well, that I won’t contest,” Sinclair says, grabbing me to his half-naked body the moment I step through the door.
“Wise man,” I say, lifting myself on my toes for a kiss. Sinclair gives it to me a long, lingering one, and then he pats me on the ass before reaching for some pajama pants.
There’s a happy little silence in the closet then as we all get ready for bed even though its about seven in the morning. These baptisms – they’re exhausting, but there’s something nice about having an entire day of rest afterwards. Like the baby’s big day gives us all a little respite to sit back and think about our world, our lives.
When we’re all ready, Sinclair and I give Rafe a kiss and then tuck him into his little crib. I sigh after I put him down, crossing my arms over my chest. “Maybe we should take him into the nest tonight,” I murmur. “Keep him close while we can.”
“You can’t sleep with them every night,” Sinclair says softly, leaning in to kiss me on the side of my head, just above my ear.
“You just try to stop me,” I growl. ” Maybe I’ll gather all the children with us in bed until they’re sixty – ”
“That’s a bad idea,” my mate says, wrapping his arms around me and walking backwards towards the bed, tugging me with him so that we both fall back onto the mattress together.” You’ll traumatize them.”
“Fine,” I sigh, curling up with my mate in my fresh, cozy nest. “Just until they’re twenty, then.”
“Okay,” he agrees, tucking his head down against my shoulder and playing with my hair with one hand, the other moving down my side to caress my little baby bump. “How’s this one doing?”
“I think she’s okay,” I say, sighing happily. And then I bite my lip, turning mind fully to my daughter for the first real time tonight. “It was amazing to see her too, wasn’t it?”
“It was,” he murmurs. “What a gift it was to be Jesse’s godparent.”
“She’s so pretty,” I whisper, my voice squeaking a little in excitement.
“She looks just like you,” Sinclair whispers, laughing.
“I know,” I say, giggling. “Just think she’ll have Kings falling at her feet, nations collapsing under the weight of her smolder – ”
“Girls don’t smolder,” he murmurs, laughing along with me.
“This one will,” I sigh, putting my hand on top of his on my stomach. “I think she’s going to be really special, Dominic,” I whisper.
“I think so too,” he whispers back. And I smile, and snuggle up against my mate, and wrapped up warm in each other’s arms we fall asleep.
I’m my wolf in my dreams this morning, running breathless through the forest, the wind rippling through my hair. I toss my head back, sprinting for the joy of it. Sinclair is by my side, his own gigantic wolf keeping easy pace with me, and I nip at his side, teasing him, urging him faster.
He snaps his teeth at me playfully and obeys, speeding up to pass me, and at his heels is a little brown pup – yipping his joy as he chases his father’s tail. I laugh inwardly, joy racing through my heart, watching Rafe and Sinclair go.
But I don’t chase after them, because pressed close to my own side is my little charge. She’s just barely there half visible, half substantial in the morning light that filters through the trees. But I can feel her – in my heart and down my bond. My own little twin, a little rose-gold pup, who raises her snout to the sky and howls for joy.
I dip my snout, and give her a quick lick across the head, and she peers up at me with eyes so happy they squint.
And then I run, with my daughter by my side, all morning long.
