Chapter 393: Do You Know What I Know?

Cora

“What?” I asked, confused. “I—I have a gift?” I quickly searched for it within myself, but it wasn’t there. I mean, I knew how Ella felt—she’d passed it to me before, and I’d carried it—but now there was nothing within me that felt like that.

“Yours is different from your sisters’,” the Goddess explained. “Ella’s soul is that of a healer, and so that is her gift. Yours,” she smiled lightly, “reflects you. You’ve used it before,” she said, turning her head to glance at Roger with a little laugh. “I’m surprised you didn’t notice it then.”

“What?” I asked again, still baffled. She turned to go, and I grabbed her hand.

“Please,” I said, my voice shaking, “I don’t understand—”

“Perhaps you should ask your sister for help,” the Goddess said with a shrug. “She can guide you to it, I think, as hers is already unlocked. But you already have your gift, Cora,” she assured me. She hesitated, then laughed softly. “As does your child.”

“What!?” I exclaimed, my mouth falling open as I stared at her, then glanced down at my stomach before looking back up. “My child—”

“All your children,” she said simply, as if it were obvious. “Will be gifted, as you are, as Ella is. As you, my daughters, are gifts to me—it is my gift to you, and to all your children.”

“Whoa,” Roger said, sitting back in his chair and raising a hand to his head in shock. “All…all our kids are going to be magic?”

The Goddess chuckled. “Each will be gifted,” she said simply, turning back to me. “And each gift will be unique, reflecting each child’s unique spirit, as yours does, as Ella’s does. They’ll all have things in common, but—” she sighed happily, shaking her head as if it were too complicated to explain. “You will see, Cora. I need not explain it all. Your children will show you.”

“Thank you,” I whispered.

“I love you,” the Goddess said, raising her hand and brushing my cheek with her fingertips. “Carry that knowledge your whole life. I will see you again,” she promised, and I clung to that prophecy. “But until then, carry my love.”

Then, as Roger and I watched, my mother passed through a door in the back of the room—a door that I swear wasn’t there a moment ago. We stared at each other. He began to laugh—a low, delighted sound—as he got up, crossed the small room, and wrapped me tightly in his arms, rocking me back and forth as he buried his head against my neck.

“I knew it,” he murmured, still holding me tight. “I knew it was all going to be good news.”

“You didn’t,” I laughed, and as the shock subsided, a deep and resounding joy filled me. “You were as anxious as I was!”

“Yeah,” he admitted, his voice muffled against my skin. “But…deep down, I knew it was going to be all right. You know?”

“Sure, baby,” I said, patting his back, letting him think it. But despite everything, I couldn’t stop smiling. Inside, my wolf turned in a happy little circle, prancing around and shaking out her fur, enjoying the feeling of her body moving freely.

Roger straightened and grinned down at me. “This is so cool,” he murmured. “The baby is going to be a wolf, and you have a wolf, and we have a mating bond—” He shook his head, laughing, thrilled by it all.

“I know,” I murmured, smiling up at him and burying my fingers in his hair. “I feel…I feel crazy different, like expanded—” My whole body—

“Should we do it now?” he asked, interrupting me, looking down at my neck and reaching for the collar of my shirt.

“Huh?” Then, seeing him eyeing the soft place between my shoulder and neck, I burst into laughter and swatted him away. “Ew, Roger! No!”

“EW?!” he said, his mouth dropping open slightly—but we were both too happy for him to be actually offended. We were just…so connected now that the mating bond had snapped together on both ends. It was as if he could intuit my emotions and meaning without even looking at or listening to me.

“Why not?” he asked, and I sensed his mild disappointment.

“Because!” I said, playfully slapping his shoulder. “We’re in my mom’s house—people live here! We’re not just going to, like, throw down in the back of the temple—”

“Why the hell not?” he asked, looking at me as if I were crazy.

“Roger!” I gasped. “Absolutely not! I may be a wolf in spirit, but I was raised human. I have a little more decency than that.” As he wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me closer, looking hungrily down at me, I started laughing so hard my whole body shook. He joined me a moment later, and we shared our joy through the bond, a cycle that made me so happy I could barely breathe.

“Fine,” he murmured when we both calmed down a bit, after he pressed his lips warmly to mine, kissing me soundly and warmly, so the love swept through me and made me feel absolutely complete. “But as soon as we’re alone—really alone, Cora…” He snapped his teeth at me, letting me know his precise intentions.

I nudged him with my nose, just as my wolf did to his at the same moment. “You’d better,” I whispered, feeling an intense hunger for his mark that I hadn’t felt before.

Roger slowly exhaled and loosened his arms, his eyes drifting down my body to my stomach as he created space between us. “So cool that the baby’s going to have powers,” he murmured. “Sinclair and Ella are going to flip when we tell them that Rafe—”

But he froze, unable to finish his sentence. I felt his shock and awe through the bond before he looked up and whispered my name into my face.

“What?” I asked, my eyes widening. It wasn’t fear—nothing in his reaction suggested I should be afraid. But still…what?

Then, as he looked down at my stomach again, he passed something to me through the bond—something I didn’t understand, something without words…

Suddenly, I became aware of a new little connection inside me. A link that had been there but which I hadn’t been aware of before…

My wolf cocked her head, curious. Then, as we both realized what it was, I gasped, and she gambolled forward in excitement. Our pup! she shouted in my mind, her heart and mine leaping with joy.

“The baby,” I gasped—because now that my wolf was awake, I could feel the bond, the same way Roger could. “Is it…is it stronger for you now?”

“Yes,” he murmured, awestruck, looking back up at me with wide eyes. “Yes, I can feel it so much more now—I think…I think as much as Dominic did with Rafe…”

I flushed with joy at being able to give this to Roger, to feel it myself, this wonderful, miraculous new connection…

I bit my lip with happiness as I explored the bond, connecting with my little baby and saying hello, and realizing…

“Do you know what I know?” I whispered, my face alight with joy. A thrilled grin spread across Roger’s face. “Yes,” he said quietly, his voice almost shaking with joy. “I think I do.”

“A boy!” I shouted, laughing, throwing my arms around his neck as Roger caught me, picked me up, and spun me around, laughing and shouting with happiness.

“A little boy,” he murmured against my neck as I wrapped my legs around his waist. I took his face in my hands, beamed down at him, and kissed his mouth for the sheer joy of it. We stayed like that for a long time, absolutely thrilled and more connected to each other and our child than we’d ever been.

“Are you happy?” I asked him, pulling away just an inch. I smiled, already knowing the answer.

“How could I not be, Cora?” he sighed, looking up at me with such love in his eyes that I could hardly bear it. “This is everything. Absolutely everything.”

He kissed me again, and I kissed him back, sending a message down the bond with every beat of my heart: I love you, I love you, I love you.

And he sent it right back.