Accidental Surrogate

Ella

A few hours later our entire party is gathered in the forest close to midnight, sipping champagne and mingling quietly as we wait for the hour to be right for Jesse’s baptism. We have a priestess here as well, of course, though this one is much more thoroughly vetted than the last.

I’m in incredibly good spirits as I look around at our party of loved-ones, truly enjoying my night, but when my eyes fall on Cora I see that she’s gnawing her lip a bit with anxiety.

“Oh, Cors,” I sigh, reaching out and putting a hand on her shoulder. I glance over at where Roger is standing a few feet away next to Henry with the baby in his arms, both of them talking with Sinclair, who has a sleeping Rafe held tight against his shoulder. “It will be all right!”

“I know it will,” she sighs, twisting her hands together and speaking softly to me. “And that even if it’s not, it’s not like I can change anything, you know?”

“I know,” I say, remembering how anxious I was at Rafe’s baptism. “But mom she can’t have anything really bad in store for him. It’s going to be all good things!”

“Oh, come on, Ella,” Cora says, shooting me a little glare. “It’s not like mom gave us the easy road just because we’re her daughters. We grew up in an orphanage. We had dark priests stalking us our whole lives.”

“But we had each other!”

“I just want my baby to have a good life,” she sighs, looking anxiously up at the sky, almost as if she can bully our mom into giving her baby a blessing if she glares at the moon enough. “It tortures me to think that he’s going to have to go through…half of what we did.”

“He’s going to have ups and downs, like the rest of us,” I say, wrapping my arms around my sister. “You can’t spare him from that.”

“Yes, I can,” she growls. “I’ll just… lock him in a very comfortable little basement. Very safe, very cozy.”

I laugh and shake my head at her. ” Your baby is going to have a big life, Cora,” I say, giving her a squeeze.

as I look down at it, tapping on my little bond with babygirl to say hello. But she’s sleeping or something at the moment and doesn’t reply, which is fine. I’m distracted anyway, and I like to give her my full attention

sigh, happy but knowing that Cora’s right. “I’ll be a

from my first two weeks with Rafe, except with significantly less drama in my personal life. And while I treasured every single moment I was pregnant with Rafe, this pregnancy? Well, it’s kind of been a dream – the

grateful to

about Jesse – and as much as I could gush about my pregnancy

woman this time, dressed in the silvery-white robes of the goddess.

say, slipping my arm to Cora’s waist and walking forward with her. Our mates meet us there in front of the goddess, and Henry draws

give Rafe a little kiss on his sleeping cheek before Sinclair hands our baby over to Henry

safe,” Henry says, giving us a wink.

Sinclair assures him, running a hand over Rafe’s dark

without me,” Cora whispers, her voice breaking a little. “I haven’t been away

I feel emotion stirring in

deep breath and

start crying already,” Sinclair murmurs, his

I mumble back, laughing a little. “I’m a

laughs with me, but we turn our attention to the priestess, who reaches out her arms for Jesse. Cora gives a half

he peers back

for dedication?” the priestess says, smiling at the four

Roger replies, his voice steady and more serious

nods, and I smile, recognizing the words and the process from Rafe’s ceremony. “And who will carry him to