Alpha Dom and His Human Surrogate

Chapter 306 – Old Friends

Ella

Two hours later, Sinclair and I welcome our friends back to our house for a casual breakfast and coffee

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or mimosas, according to preference to celebrate Rafe’s moonlight baptism. I can tell our guests are dragging – they’ve been up all night, after all – but spirits are high.

“Wow,” I say, leaning back against Sinclair’s chest with a croissant in one hand, a cup of coffee in the other. Rafe, thankfully, is asleep in his little recline stroller. Usually I’d put him to bed in his crib, but I want people to be able to say goodbye if they have to leave. “I can’t believe everyone I still up,” I say, peering around at our friends and family. “I mean, I know we’re on baby time so normal hours mean nothing anymore, but everyone else…”

“It’s a special occasion,” Sinclair murmurs; lowering his face to my hair and taking a long sniff of my scent. “We’re used to it. In wolf culture shifter children are rarer than we’d like, so we take the time to celebrate them when they’re born.”

“That’s so nice…” I say, sniffing a little, my eyes filling with tears.

“What?” Sinclair asks, pulling away from me a little, shocked. “Are you – why are you crying –

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I swat at him, laughing a little. “What! Hormones! I’m tired! Leave me be.” Then I brush the tears off my cheeks, smiling despite them. I’m just overwhelmed and grateful, honestly, for all the love that our family has shown our baby. “It really is a beautiful tradition,” I murmur, and Sinclair kisses my cheek before moving away to talk to some of the Alphas who have come to see their new prince.

his place. “Hi, mama,” she says, giving me a warm smile as she wraps an arm around my waist. “How

me!” I cry out, wrapping my arms around her again, “how are you?

across the room lets me know that her words are an understatement. James raises a hand to me, little

rooms?” I ask Isabel quickly, taking her hand and squeezing it. “You can stay as long as

to get home. We have…a lot of work to do there.” Her face changes, then, and I feel my stomach twist to see it.

nods to a little love seat in

everyone and as private as we

and a little sad, “I know that you’ve been distracted – and there’s nothing wrong with that you’ve had such a hard pregnancy, and

staring at her and tightening my hold on her hand, “please just tell me –“My stomach is roiling with guilt to think that I’ve neglected something when I could have

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Sinclair has told you absolutely everything,” she says, “about how bad the refugee problem is now, after the last days of the war when you were away on the boat. It’s nothing that he’s done wrong –

no idea where he was, if

is standing. “I’m sorry maybe I shouldn’t have told you –”

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need to do this sort of work. If Sinclair intends to lead these people, I

you’re still

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knows me so well. “Thank you, love,” I say, giving her a little smile. “I’ll take care of myself, and my family. But I’m going to help too. Can you tell me? Who is the worst hit,

voice and looking

but giving her the space to work through her thoughts.

know that the right side won this war. That Damon would have worked to disenfranchise the humans completely, to enslave them if he could. Sinclair, we know, wants equal rights and peace – but there are people even on Sinclair’s side who still have…complicated ideas about hierarchies between shifters and

councils during the war