Chapter 492 – Falling for the Alpha as a Surrogate Novel

Filed To Story: Falling for the Alpha as a Surrogate Novel

Ella

The pool we approach is wide and expansive – more of a large pond, or even a lake, really, shining below the open sky. I tilt my head curiously at I look at it, remembering Cora describing the pool as small and well tucked away in the forest. This one… Well. Maybe it’s different every time, for every child, every pair of godparents. I look up at the moon and smile, thinking fondly of my mother and all the blessings she’s given us. And also how she can sometimes be…a little bit tricky.

“Ready?” Sinclair murmurs.

“Almost,” I quip, stepping close to him and lifting myself up on my toes, tilting my chin up for a kiss. He smiles and bends his head, pressing his mouth briefly to mine.

“Ready now,” I say, grinning at him.

Sinclair takes a moment to look at me in the moonlight, running a hand over the length of my lose hair, and then we step forward to the edge of the pool.

“Goddess,” he murmurs, not bothering to raise his voice – he knows she can hear him. “We bring to you, tonight, this child our nephew Jesse. So that he may begin to know you.” “We wish to show him your light,” I say, repeating the words that Henry taught me as part of the ritual, a little shiver running down my spine as I do. ” And in doing so, let you see him and bring him into the spirit of your grace.” I smile as the light reflecting off the pool grows brighter, insubstantially at first but bolder as the moments pass. Mom – she’s here, and she’s ready to meet Jesse.

“Here you go, baby,” Sinclair murmurs, holding Jesse out so that I can reach over and quickly untuck his swaddling. Then, with the baby safe in my mate’s broad hands, Sinclair and I step forward to hold Jesse out over the pool, basking in the light of the moon.

I smile as I look down at Jesse, as the moonlight pools over him. He kicks his little feet and fusses for a moment, frowning a bit up at the sky before giving a little laugh. I can’t keep myself from laughing a little bit too, smiling down at my spunky little nephew, loving him so much already.

“He is called Jesse Sinclair,” my mate says, his voice a little choked. I glance up to see him gazing at the baby too, his first nephew, the child of his brother and best friend. “His parents, Cora and Roger, have asked us to bring him here to dedicate him to you. We do so in their name.” I grin, tucking myself close to my mate’s side, a thrill running through me. How many babies have been dedicated to the Goddess with these words, been welcomed into wolf culture? How many more will we, my little family, get to bring into the fold?

But there’s no time to ponder these questions, because as I gaze at the baby something begins to stir in the air beyond him.

“Oh,” I breathe, my eyes going wide. And then I take a deep breath, and am swept away in the vision that my mother gives us, the hint of the fate that she’s built for him.

My heart seizes as the first images fly by – a happy childhood, a handsome little boy, full of laughter and pranks. And by his side at almost every moment is another little boy – dark haired, always a little taller, always laughing and shouting at his cousin’s side. Rafe – Rafe! Happy, and healthy, and Jesse’s best friend, as I always dreamed they’d be.

The urge grows in me to reach out and seize each of the moments as they fly past a camping trip, gathered around the fire with Roger and Sinclair, slightly older but so happy – a birthday party with Jesse’s face brightly lit by eight candles I want to grab each moment of the vision, to study them each independently, to get the details in full But tears slip down my cheeks as I give in to the experience, knowing that this – like life – will fly by, and if I spend my time trying to hold onto the pieces I’ll miss it completely.

And so I watch, and my joy deepens when I start to realize that next to Jesse and Rafe, in every vision as they grow older, there’s a little girl too.

A little girl with a heart-shaped face and rose gold hair – between her brother and her cousin at all times, laughing with them, fully engaged with their games and antics – And then a vision comes of the three of them, draped over the pillows of a couch, fully exhausted with their arms and legs thrown over each other like exhausted puppies, sleeping wherever they landed And though there’s no real proof of it, I know she’s mine – the little baby growing in my stomach right now. She’s there, and she’s every bit as much a part of their little group as I hoped she’d be – Jesse – he has a rich friendship with his cousins, and the three of them… they’re a matched set.

I wipe at my face, hardly able to see through the blurr of my tears but eager to do so because there’s more The three – they’re older now, much older, in their early twenties, all dressed in black and gathered around a fire somewhere, in a room with stone walls that looks out over a dark landscape. They’re chatting and laughing, their cheeks ruddy and healthy, tired but happy. Jesse – he’s so tall and he looks just like Roger, with Cora’s warm brown eyes. He laughs easily, tossing a cashew at Rafe who God, I almost sob to see it – but who looks like Sinclair’s double And our little girl! She’s there too! I shake my head at…at how much she looks like me The three, they’re a team, and wherever they are, they’re there together. I shake my head, not understanding, because they certainly don’t look like they’re at college, not dressed like that. But wherever they are …well, they’re happy, and they’re together, and it’s more than I could ask for.

The vision fades, replaced by the next, and Jesse is alone. The laughter is gone from his face, replaced with determination. He moves through a darkness flecked with stars – a darkness which feels…palpable, and as I watch, I see him grab the darkness, shifting it, moving through it like…like he’s pushing silk in water… And then, when he steps out?

I gasp, because…it’s…god, it looks for all things like a different world, a world wrapped in darkness. He looks up into the sky and I blink to see that there is no moon. Not merely a night without a moon but… an…an absence there that I can feel. He bares his teeth, and pulls a dagger from his hip, and storms forward I blink then, because – because – The vision fades. There’s nothing else.

“That can’t be it,” I breathe, my voice frantic. I whip my head up to my mate, whose face is likewise pale. “That can’t be it! He – we need to know! He has to come back!” Sinclair looks at me and shakes his head – he just doesn’t know, it’s a mystery – “That can’t be it!” I shout, suddenly livid, and I stumble forward, my feet sinking into the pool as I spin and glare up at the moon.

“Ella!” Sinclair shouts, reaching for me.

“You can’t leave it like that!” I shout up at the moon. “You can’t send me back to my sister with that as your final image! I won’t go!” “Ella please,” Sinclair shouts, seeing me stumble and almost lose my balance as my shoes sink into the mud at the bottom of the silver pool.

“I’m not going!” I shout, waving a hand at Sinclair but not taking my eyes off the moon! “You owe us more than this!” And as I glare up into the sky, soft words float to my ears – barely audible words, kissed by starlight.

“Ella, you can’t just demand But I glare at Sinclair, slicing my hand through the air and shaking my head as I realize that he can’t hear what I’m hearing.

And the first thing that comes to my ears… Is a laugh.

“All right, little daughter,” a soft voice says, and I instantly recognize it as my mother. “I stopped there for a reason, but if you get out of my pool, I’ll give you one more.” I narrow my eyes at the moon but do as the Goddess bids, stepping out of the pool.

“I ended there because I do not know the outcome,” she says, her voice sorrowful. “His mission will be…his own. But, I do know this…” And I reach out and put a hand on Sinclair’s arm, very tense. I gasp a little as a new vision forms very fleeting, very brief – But in it, Jesse is an old, old man wrinkles crinkle around his eyes as he smiles down at a child in his arms His grandchild, or maybe his great- grandchild or maybe not a child of his blood at all, but certainly one he loves very, very much – It’s gone as soon as it comes, but it’s enough.

Jesse – he lives. And it’s enough.

“”Thank you,” I breathe, my eyes turned up now towards the sky, the tension falling from my shoulders. ” Thank you.” “Trust them,” the Goddess says, her words even fainter now than they were before. “Even if you don’t trust this world, or me, trust them.” And I nod, understanding, committing to it.

And suddenly, whatever magic was here lifts, and she’s gone.

The light from the pool fades until it’s just…a lake, or a pond again.

“What…what just happened?” Sinclair asks, staring down at me with wide eyes.

“Did you see?” I ask, desperate to know.

“See what?” he asks, shaking his head at me. “See you plunge into the pond yelling at the sky like a literal lunatic!?” “See the last vision!” I explain, and when he continues to stare at me I let out a deep breath. “Okay. Guess that one was just for me.” “She showed you more!?” I nod slowly. “She knew I was upset when the vision ended with Jesse in darkness. So, she showed me him as an old man, holding a tiny child.” My mate scowls at me and then glances up at the moon, as if he wants to get mad now but he’s a little too scared of her for blasphemy. “Well, that hardly seems fair,” he murmurs. ” Why do you get extra visions?” “Well, you,” I say, pointing down at his shoes, “have warm dry feet. So. Fair trade.” He laughs at me almost despite himself, shaking his head as he wraps Jesse up tightly in his blanket. The baby’s face is peaceful now, his eyes starting to drift shut. “Leave it to you, trouble,” he murmurs, “to bully the Goddess into showing you extra magical visions.” “I’m his godmother,” I say, grinning and taking the baby from Sinclair’s arms when he offers him to me, probably knowing that I’m upset and want to hold the baby close. “If I’m not going to bully a diety for him, who is?” “I’ll leave it to you,” Sinclair sighs, wrapping a warm arm around my shoulders.

“Come on. Let’s go get you into some warm socks.” About an hour later, Sinclair makes good on his promise and comes out of Cora and Roger’s closet, tossing a pair of fluffy socks onto my lap.

“All right, Ella,” Cora says, frowning down at me with her baby in her arms, ” spill.” “I told you,” I say on a sigh, “it’s not bad.” But, of course, she doesn’t believe me. Cora took one look at the wet hem of my gown, my ruined shoes, and Sinclair’s pale face when we came out of the forest and went totally still. We tried to put on a good show, ensuring the group of all the wonderful things we saw which is true! – but Cora didn’t say much at all, ushering everyone into the waiting vans so that we could all get back to the house as fast as possible.

She’s a polite hostess of course, and she made sure that everyone was happily settled in the house with food and drink so Jesse’s celebration could continue, but I could tell: the entire time, she just wanted to get us alone so that she could get the full details.

Roger is just as worried, though he’s doing a bit better playing it off.

“They said it’s all right, Cora,” he says, putting a hand on her shoulders. ” They wouldn’t say that if it wasn’t true.” He looks between us now, a desperate hope in his eyes.

“We wouldn’t,” Sinclair assures him.

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