| pull back, looking into his exhausted eyes. “How long have | been out, baby?”


    He


    cups my face in his hand, his thumb rubbing across my cheek. “It’s been a month, love.”


    AMONTH! No wonder my mate looks awful.


    “Oh Ell, I’m so sorry. But I’m here now. I’m back and I’m not going anywhere.”


    | need to get closer to my mate. | want to reassure him that I’m okay and | need to reassure myself that he is okay. There are too


    many wires and lines connected to other beeping machines


    and | can’t get close to him.


    In frustration, | pull a tube from my nose and start to pull lines from my arms before Eli grabs me.”


    Careful, baby. Those have been keeping you and our son alive.”


    “Well, let''s get rid of the others, then. | need to snuggle with my mate.” | tell him and he hops off the bed and maneuvers the lines


    around, removing the ones that are monitoring me, but leaving


    the ones monitoring our son. Our son?


    “How do you know we''re having a boy?” | ask him again as heys back down. | curl up next to him and sigh as the feeling of


    love, protection andfort flood my system.


    “I can smell him. | haven''t let Sirona tell me. | wanted you to hear it at the same time, but Liam and Rik both said they knew


    based on smell, and | do too. He doesn’t smell like you at all He smells like what you said | smell like, sandlewood.”


    I smile. We''re having a boy!


    Sirona kept me in the hospital for another week. She said she is positive that our little boy is doing well, confirming that we are


    having a boy.


    I''d say | was frustrated with being kept in the hospital that long, but | had so many visitors and Sirona also went intobor. So, |


    got to meet her little girl in the same week that T, Lni and Lna brought in their little ones to meet me. The twins both had


    boys and in some odd twist of sprite weirdness, their sons were born at exactly the same time. Luckily, Alexander had Sirona


    ce them in the same room so he could be there for both births. T and Thomas had a little girl and | found out from Fane


    that she is having a boy. Angel brought Leana to meet me, and she told me she is pregnant again. Cara and | haven’t stopped


    teasing her about it. She just smiles happily. | can tell Cara is a little jealous, | know she wants another one and Rik has been


    holding out. I’m confident there’s another baby in her future.


    | listened with rapt attention while they told me about their deliveries and holding their precious


    +15 RONGS


    little ones for the first time. I’m so excited to hold my own child. Now, at least, my happiness for them is genuine with no


    heartache of my own. It’s not that | don’t trust Sirona, but Maia confirmed that our little boy is safely tucked away with her


    guarding him.


    Paisley brought Levi to visit me while | was


    in the hospital. She had been getting progressively stronger. | think | finally convinced her toe to a mate gathering. She


    hadn’t felt confident enough about it until now, but I’m d she’s going to go. More and more werewolves who are looking for


    their second chance mates are joining the mate gatherings and several matches have been made. | also tried to convince Benny


    to join, but he says he’s too old for that.


    After returning to the packhouse and Eli and | getting a couple nights of much needed sleep. things got back to normal. Now that


    the construction is nearly done, Eli, Carlos and Noah were back to their normal morning and afternoon training schedules. We


    set up transportation so the pups in our pack could be bused to and from school, and Cammy resigned as my Lead Omega to


    work in her diner with Benny’s assistance. Melinda took over the morning shift and she hired on another omega that she and


    Cammy agreed could take on the afternoon shift.


    Eli and | set up a nursery next door to our bedroom. Jeremy made our bass, crib and changing table. Eli took some time to


    carve little wolves into the furniture once we had it set up in the room. Then he painted the night sky on the ceiling, and | added


    the moon and some stars for our little one.Text property ? N?vel(D)ra/ma.Org.


    | had Anna make all of my baby and maternity clothes. It''s good to know a seamstress because in thest month of pregnancy. |


    felt like my little boy was growing like a weed and | was outgrowing my clothes almost weekly.


    Eli and | had agreed that we would name our son after his father. And nearly four months after | woke up in the hospital, we


    weed our son, Emerson Cale to the world.


    Cooper


    Author