Alpha Dom and His Human Surrogate

Ella

That night, again around the fire, Henry leans forward in his chair and rests his elbows on his knees, smiling around at us.

“So, tell me if I’ve got this right,” he says, clearly tickled by it. “My two sons are mated to two sisters, who each have the Goddess’ blood in their veins, which means…” .” he pauses here, putting his thoughts together, “that all of my grandchildren are going to have mystical powers?”

Cora shrugs, grinning at him. “That’s what she told us,” she says, laughing a little bit.

“Well,” Henry says, pleased, leaning back in his chair and shaking his head in disbelief. “This saves me a great deal of worry.”

Sinclair turns to him confused. ” What? Why?”

“Because,” Henry says, shrugging, trying to hold back his grin. “Imagine if just one of you were mated to a Goddess -born wolf, and only half of my grandchildren had magical powers. At least this way, I don’t have to pretend that I like the non-magical ones as much as the others.”

We all laugh at this, but I shake my head at Henry’s streak of dark humor. Because, beneath it, we all know that it’s not true. He was always going to love all of the grandchildren equally, no matter what.

“I wonder what your gift will be, little baby,” I say to Rafe, who is awake and sitting up in my lap, holding my fingers in his little fists and looking interestedly around at our group. I was very intrigued when Cora told me that all of their gifts would vary according to their personalities – I, like her, had assumed that they would be the same. We still haven’t figured out Cora’s gift yet, though we’ve all be thinking.

“Rafe’s will probably be shooting lasers from his eyes,” Roger murmurs, leaning forward to study my son. I shoot a little glare at Roger and he grins at me.

“No, he’s going to be a healer, like mommy,” I say, kissing Rafe’s head and making him look up at me with a little baby smile. I smile back at him, unable to help it.

“Nah, Rafe’s got a warrior’s soul,” Sinclair says at my side, leaning back in his chair and proudly considering son. It will be something to do with that.”

“Nooo,” I say in denial, glaring at my mate now. “Rafe is gentle. His powers will be for peace.”

“What about ours?” Roger asks, turning to Cora. “Are you getting any hints down the bond?”

“No,” she replies, sighing a little. “I can’t even figure out what mine is, let alone the baby.” She frowns a little in frustration, even though we’re all aware that nothing is going to wipe out her joy today. Everything for her – for all of us – is coming up roses.

contented sigh, leaning back in my

hand and scowling at me a bit, “if

be convenient, but not everyone can be as gentle, and loving, and restorative

gives me a little false glare, and I laugh, Sinclair nods as if it’s a fair point. But then Cora cocks her head to the side,

says to the men, “would you mind if Ella

stand up but Roger frowns just a

mom said,” Cora says, turning to him, “about Ella…being able to help. Do you mind? A little sister time, to see if we can sort

a bit – but I forgive him, because I know he doesn’t want to be separated from her

Roger’s shoulders after taking Rafe from my arms so that Cora and I can concentrate

I laugh as the men help Henry onto

to my sister’s so that we can better see each other in the dim light

at her hands and clearly thinking it through as she goes. “She said that you could help me figure it out.” Cora looks up at me now, her mouth twisted to the side as

puts up a hand to stop me. “No, I mean like, do I need to be healed? With your powers? So that I

mean, that would make sense – I had to go out into the desert to get the gift from mom – or at least to access it. Maybe…maybe we need to like, do something to get it going. Some sort of ceremony like

shrugging.” Do

I run my power through and over her body. Her wolf raises her nose to the gift as it passes her, giving it a warm little nudge, and I smile as I sense her. Such

as I scan Cora, seeking any places that she’s hurt or tied up

hands and sinking back onto the chair. “You’re totally fine,

she says, likewise sinking back in the chair and gnawing at her lip. I watch her as she moves on to

ask, my face twisting

can…heal a little? And maybe doing that will allow me to like, access

bottle cap, T say with a sigh, realizing that I’ve been meaning to heal it all day and just got distracted.

to fall into the meditative state I use when I access

very slight tingling at my fingertip where the cut is. I see Cora push and concentrate, but then, five minutes later, when she

there,” she says,

hand.