Chapter 205 – Boom

Sinclair

“Where are you now?” Ella asked, her beautiful face looking up at me from my phone screen.

“We’re headed to the Storm Forest pack, but we have several hours on the road ahead of us.” I sighed, wishing we hadn’t needed Gabriel’s planes for the refugees so we could have flown.

“Storm Forest,” Ella murmured, her eyes lighting up. “Does that mean you’re finally going to see some trees?”

Chuckling, I turned my phone toward the window so she could see the rolling salt flats speeding by in the distance. “No, unfortunately, they chose that name to honor their ancestral lands before coming to the hidden territories. I’m afraid the only trees here are those planted in Gabriel’s gardens.”

Ella’s face fell, and her lips formed an adorable pout, begging to be kissed. “I don’t know how they can stand it.”

“My poor little forest wolf,” I purred sympathetically. “Our dream forest isn’t enough, is it?”

She shook her head. “It’s not the same, just like being with you there isn’t the same as being with you in reality.”

“I know, baby,” I said honestly. “I feel it too.” (I omitted the internal monologue as it was repetitive and less impactful in this context)

“How many days?” Ella asked, giving me a sultry look that told me she knew exactly how much I longed for her. I wished I weren't in the back of a car surrounded by my men, and that she wasn't currently cuddled up with the pups in the nursery.

We could pull over, my wolf suggested slyly. Sneak off and have her do the same.

No, I responded, disliking the idea as much as he did. We needed to keep moving, and she needed her rest. “Five,” I finally answered, resisting the urge to adjust my trousers. “Five more days, and we’ll be together again.”

Ella pouted again, and my wolf rumbled in my head: Naughty mate, tempting me like this. Doesn't she know how delectable she looks? It should be illegal to have such full, luscious lips.

She visibly shivered, and I realized I’d growled aloud. Intentional or not, I didn’t regret it—I loved seeing my sweet mate squirm with anticipation and desire. She dropped her gaze in submission, and my growl softened into a pleased purr. “I can’t wait to see you.”

“Me too,” she confirmed, flushing. “Although, there’s something I need to talk to you about.”

“Oh?” I asked, disliking the sudden somber note in her silken voice. “What is it, gorgeous?”

“Well, I was talking to Henry, and he offered to help track down my mother,” she confessed, sounding nervous.

My heart softened. “Of course, we’ll all help you, sweetheart. As soon as Damon is dealt with, we’ll find her.”

“No, Dominic, that’s the problem,” Ella admitted with a grimace. “I don’t think it should wait. I think I need to find her as soon as possible.”

I tried to keep my face blank as I processed this information. She hadn’t said it explicitly, but I understood she was talking about another separation. There was no way I could go searching with her, meaning she wanted to do it alone. My wolf vehemently opposed this idea, and I felt the same. Still, I didn’t want to dismiss her without considering her feelings. “Ella, are you sure this is necessary, and not simply what you want?” I asked. “I understand you feel compelled to find her, but I have to tell you that I don’t like the idea of rushing this.”

“You mean you don’t want to let me go off on my own, even though you just did the same thing in the name of duty,” Ella assessed, her golden eyes narrowed.

“I mean you’re in the final stages of your pregnancy, and we’re at war. If you want me to even consider letting you out of my sight, you need to give me a very good reason,” I replied sternly.

Ella huffed and rolled her eyes, and my responding growl sent shudders through the other men in the car, but not my defiant mate. She simply glared at me. “Based on my memory, my mother met the Goddess—she spoke with her and was convinced to give me up. I think there’s a chance she has information—answers about all of this, things that might not exist in my past.”

“I’m hearing a lot of ‘maybes’ and ‘mights,’ little one,” I replied gently, remembering she’d been waiting for a mother for over thirty years. I hated the idea of keeping Ella from anything she wanted, especially this, but I couldn’t bear the thought of her taking even more risks.

“But ‘maybes’ and ‘mights’ that could turn the tide in this war,” Ella argued. “Isn’t that worth finding out, Dominic?”

“And if she’s somewhere you cannot follow? Somewhere so far away that it will take months to find her?” I asked sharply. “How far are you willing to go for answers? Is finding her important enough to risk our pup? To miss the war you were born to fight?”

“That isn’t fair,” Ella answered, her hurt evident. “I didn’t ask to be born to fight this war. I didn’t ask for any of this—the only thing I did ask for was our baby; I wouldn’t ever do anything to risk him.”

“I know,” I exhaled, regretting my words. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that.” I desperately wanted to put a smile back on her face—to ease the pain I saw in her eyes, but which our distance kept me from feeling through the bond. “You didn’t ask for me either,” I reminded her with a smirk. “And look how well we’ve turned out.”

Ella scoffed, but there was clear mischief in her expression. “Ha—as if I enjoy having a giant, grumpy wolf bossing me around every second of every day.”

I chuckled. “Deny it all you want, trouble, but remember I can hear the way your heart races every time I touch you.”

“Ogre,” she accused, sticking her tongue out at me.

My wolf groaned in my head. That’s a dangerous thing to do, sweet mate. You’re lucky we’re not together, or I’d teach that precious tongue a lesson. Hugo cleared his throat and shot me an exasperated look—an important reminder that I wasn’t alone. Ella heard it too, and my temporary distraction ended. Though she giggled and flushed, she also glanced at the pups snuggled around her to make sure they were still sleeping, and steered the conversation back to safer territory.

“I wasn’t saying any of this just because I want to meet my mother, Dominic.” She paused, averting her gaze. “I mean, I want to… of course I do… but I can be patient. I’ve waited this long, and I can wait longer… but every time I go into a session with Leon, I learn something new and overwhelming… I just thought that if there’s someone out there who has all these answers, then maybe I wouldn’t have to keep doing this—learning bits and pieces every few days in the most agonizing ways…” Ella looked back up at me with wide eyes. “Maybe that makes me a coward—wanting the answers without doing the work.”

“You are the farthest thing from a coward I have ever seen,” I said seriously. “And I’m not just saying that because I love you or want you to feel better. It’s natural to want to avoid unnecessary pain, and I don’t blame you for feeling this way at all.”

“But you don’t want me to go,” she assessed, slightly mollified.

“I don’t want any of this,” I confessed, hoping she realized how deeply I understood and shared her frustration. “If I had my way, you and I would have a little cottage in the mountains where we could raise our children and run in the forest, and never have to think about politics or prophecies.”

“But that will never be our life,” Ella lamented huskily, her eyes shining.

“Maybe one day, when this is over and our pups are grown. When Rafe takes the throne and I retire, we can go and find that place. We’ll get old and grey and fat, and all of this will seem like a bad dream,” I suggested.

“Not all bad,” Ella protested, and I could see her arm moving, caressing her belly. “There’s been a lot of good too. It’s just hard to appreciate sometimes when everything else is so terrible. It feels wrong to enjoy what we have when so many other people are losing everything they hold dear.”

“I know,” I agreed, “but it’s also why we have to cherish what we have and not take it for granted. This war is a horrible reminder of how quickly it can all end.”

“I won’t ever take you for granted,” Ella promised with a smile. “No matter how bossy you get. You’re my everything, Dominic—I never felt alive until I met you.”

“I won’t take you for granted either,” I vowed, and these promises reminded me of the mating ceremony we’d never had. We’d told the pack we were waiting until after Rafe was born, and by the time we finally confessed the truth and might have considered having one sooner, all hell broke loose. A new idea occurred to me, and as soon as I thought it, I knew it was right. We should have our mating ceremony before I went into battle, before we could be separated again. “Ella—”

Before I could make my proposal, a deafening explosion rocked us, and the world went black.