Chapter 295


    I groan when I wake up, but I don’t open my eyes. Not yet. I feel like I just closed them ten minutes ago


    anyway – my poor eyeballs need more rest.


    Instead, I take a moment to feel my body from the inside out, to check in with myself and see what


    hurts, what feels good. I’m surprised to find that I can feel remnants of my mother’s gift running through


    me – what feels like little sparkling tendrils of sunlight, working through my limbs, perhaps healing me. I


    smile to think of it, smile to think of my mother giving me something thatsts after so many years of


    her absence.


    She is a mother goddess, after all the mother to us all, not just me. But still, as my actual mother, it


    feels nice to finally have…a piece of her.


    I hear my little baby give a little cry and my eyes fly open, searching for him. I sit up in bed, a hand


    going to my head, and look blearily around..My eyes are drawn instantly – unsurprisingly – to the huge


    werewolf standing across the room, bouncing a little bundle of nkets in his arm. I smile at my mate’s


    turned back and quickly climb out of bed, moving towards him.


    Sinir hears meing and quietly turns, our little boy still fussing a little in his arms.


    “Has he been like this long?” I ask, yawning, reaching for my child. Sinir transfers him into my arms


    and I feel a quick rushing thrill at the feel of my baby returned to me.


    “No,” Sinir replies with a smile. “He’s been sleeping well – he just started crying now. Do you think


    he’s hungry?”


    I shrug and look up at him. “Probably. I know I am.”


    Together we carry Rafe back to the bed and I climb in, rearranging my top so that Rafe can try to eat.


    Sinir quietly watches as I work and I let out a little sigh of relief when Rafe quicklytches and


    begins to suck. I watch him for a moment, instinctually doing a little check on our bond and receiving a


    little push of happiness and satisfaction back from him.


    Suddenly, I begin to wonder something.


    Belonging ? N?velDram/a.Org.


    “Do you still have a bond with him?” I ask Sinir, my eyes going wide.


    He nods easily, his eyes still on the child.


    “Do you still have one with your father?” I press further, curious. This brings his eyes up to me,


    frowning.


    “Thave….a bond with my father, certainly,” Sinir responds. “But no – as you grow, the bond between


    parents and their children fades a bit. Once a child is able to speak andmunicate their needs on


    their own, it’s not necessary anymore.”


    My heart breaks a little bit at this news and Sinir clicks his tongue and reaches out a hand to cup my


    cheek when he sees tears fill my eyes.


    “I don’t want to lose my bond with my child,” I say, my voice trembling. “I can’t bear the thought of that


    “You won’t” my mate assures me, shaking his head. “It just…changes. You and Rafe will always be


    tied, just in different ways. Besides, when he grows up and meets his own mate, do you really want to


    be feeling what he’s feeling?” Sinir raises his eyebrow at me and gives me a smirk.


    I narrow my eyes at Sinir and then down at my little baby. “No mates for you, Rafe,” I scold. You’re


    mama’s boy, forever. I’m keeping you.‘


    Sinirughs. “You’ll feel differently when he’s a big hulking teenage wolf stinking up your house.”


    “No,” I murmur, leaning down to kiss my baby’s head. “I’m going to raise him to be a nice clean nerd, so


    no one likes him, and I get to keep him. No one will be good enough for him anyway.” “All right,”


    Sinir murmurs, shifting his position on the bed anding toy next to me, closing his eyes.


    “Whatever you say, trouble.” I smile at him, watching him drift off to sleep as the sunlight starts to


    brighten at the edges of the curtains. I suspect that he stayed up all night, rocking the baby in his arms,


    in order to let me sleep. So it’s the least I can do now to let him have his own rest.


    –


    Rafe falls asleep again soon after he finishes, and my baby pressed warm against my chest – I begin


    to drift off into a little half–daze as well. About an hourter, though, a little knockes at the door,


    waking me. I hesitate and stand, not knowing what to expect, but as I move towards the door I see it


    creak open a little crack, someone peeking in.


    “Oh, Dr. Hank!” I whisper, cheerful, stopping in the middle of the room and waving him forward. Come


    in!”


    He does, giving me a warm smile, and ncing at Sinir asleep in the bed. “How are you, E?” he


    asks, curious. Hees and looks down at the baby, reaching out a finger to stroke his cheek.


    “We’re doing well, I think.” I reply, heaving a big yawn. “He’s been surprisingly peaceful. Is that…


    normal?”


    “It’s not abnormal,” Hank says with a little shrug. “Perhaps just lucky. The ambnce is outside waiting


    – are you ready to go to the hospital for your checkup?”


    I nod, eager, suddenly feeling more awake. After a quick discussion, I agree to meet Hank at the


    pce entrance in a few minutes, after I wake Sinir. He nods and goes out to let the guards and


    paramedics know the n. Then, I move over to the wolf sleeping in the King’s bed.


    “Dominic,” I whisper, running a hand lightly through his hair. “Wake up. Time to go.”


    “No,” he murmurs, rolling over with a groan. “I’m going to be the king anyway. This is my bed. I’ll just…


    stay here, until the coronation.”


    ugh, and then look around, a little surprised that I hadn’t thought of that myself. I knew, of course,


    that these were the royal chambers, but all I really thought about was that they were the dead Prince’s


    bedrooms…not that they could one day be my own. As I look around, I find that I have mixed feelings


    about the prospect. While I like the idea of always having ess to the room where my son was


    born…


    The idea of living here, in this ce? Where there was so much violence?


    Of being the queen of a world torn apart?


    Of raising my son, and hopefully my future children, in that world?


    I bite my lip, suddenly anxious about it.


    “Hey,” Sinir says, and I feel him reach up to softly brush my arm. “All right?”


    “Yes,” I say, smiling down at him, Rafe’s warm little body pressed against me. “Just…mom worries. I


    think I’ll be having a lot of those, for the rest of my life.”


    “Not if I have anything to say about it,” Sinir murmurs, standing up from the bed anding close to


    me, wrapping an arm around my shoulder and pulling me close against his chest. “We’re going to get it


    all sorted, E,” he whispers, kissing the top of my head.


    I close my eyes, giving a little sigh, believing him but…knowing that that promise is going to be a hard


    fill.