Chapter 413 – A New Guest

Ella

"You," I breathed, staring at Sarah in awe as she eagerly nodded. I shook my head in wonder. "You were the one who warned us—who left the note that told us—"

My eyes snapped to Conner, standing a few feet away, watching us warily. Rafe slept in his arms.

Sarah's eyes followed mine. "Is that him?" she whispered. "The little baby?"

"Is that the prince?" Jessica asked, sitting up eagerly in her bed. "Oh—I've heard so much about him—"

I was instantly on my feet, moving to Conner to take my child. Turning to Theo as Conner transferred Rafe to my arms, I said, "Call Sinclair—tell him we're bringing someone home—two people. Prepare…whatever needs preparing. I don't know. And—and record this," I said, pointing to Jessica and Sarah. "I want him to see it. All of it."

"Luna," Theo said, frowning, "I can't do both at once—"

"Figure it out!" I called over my shoulder, quickly moving around the bed to Sarah's side, bringing the baby close so she and Jessica could see him.

Tears filled my eyes as I sat on the bed with Jessica on my left and Sarah, still in her bedside chair, on my right. I leaned forward so they could both see Rafe sleeping between them. "This is Rafe—this is the baby, the prince. And you saved him," I said, shaking my head and staring between them. My voice shook with the intensity of it—with how much I wanted them to know the impact they had, how grateful I was for their early warning. Because if we hadn't gotten that note—

If we hadn't known—

those men who came through my window would have completely surprised us. I never would have reacted in time. Sinclair might not have even been home—

And my baby would be gone—in Xander's hands.

"I owe you everything," I whispered to Sarah, tears streaming down my cheeks.

"It was my pleasure, Luna," Sarah said, crying and smiling at me, clearly happy to have helped, to finally meet me and Rafe, and to see the results of what must have been so dangerous for her to accomplish.

"He's so big," Jessica said, her eyes wide as she looked down at Rafe. Her words made me laugh. I looked back down at my sleeping baby. "Yeah, he's my little meatball," I said. "You should see his dad."

"He's beautiful, Luna," Sarah said, hesitating as she reached out a finger toward him. I held the baby forward, letting her brush his cheek. As she touched him, a huge smile spread across her face. "So lovely, the little prince."

"What's going on here?" Cora asked, suddenly standing behind Sarah, her eyes wide with surprise and worry. She had only been away for a few minutes, and everything had changed.

"This is Sarah," I said, smiling up at my sister and wiping my cheeks. "She…well, she wrote the note."

"The note?" Cora asked, confused.

"Yeah," I replied, nodding. "The one…on the doorstep, the day after the christening. That told us…"

"Oh," Cora said, gasping as she understood. "Oh my—oh my god." She crouched down beside Sarah. "Are you serious?"

Sarah laughed and shrugged, shy and unsure how to respond. "Yes," she said.

Cora turned to stare at me. "We have to bring them back!"

"I know," I said, nodding eagerly. But seeing Sarah shrink away at Cora's words, I reached out a hand to her, smiling at this new pair of sisters. "Would you like to come to the palace with us? As my guests? We can make you very comfortable there, and we want to thank you—"

Cora sharply turned her head, narrowing her eyes, silently indicating she expected the whole truth.

"And, well," I said, sighing, looking Sarah in the eye. "My mate will want to meet you too, and hear the story. And he will have questions."

"Oh," Sarah said, looking at Jessica, clearly worried.

"But I promise," I said, gently placing my hand on her knee. I withdrew it immediately when she flinched. Still, I persisted, leaning forward. "I promise, Sarah—you will not be harmed, and we—we will do everything we can to help you. We'd love to know more about you, that day, and your life…would that be all right?"

Sarah hesitated, looking between Cora and me.

"You can say no," I said softly. "Though I very much hope you will trust me and say yes. I…I owe you everything, Sarah."

With her eyes firmly on Rafe, Sarah nodded once. Cora immediately stood up, moving toward the guards to tell them to prepare. I stayed with Sarah and Jessica, talking softly with them for the next few hurried minutes while I heard my team working busily behind me.

Then, Theo tapped me on the shoulder. "We're ready, Luna," he said, his face serious. "If you are?"

"I think so," I said, turning to Sarah and Jessica. "Shall we?"

They stood up and walked with me out of the tent, out of the camp, and toward the cars that would take us to the palace.

About thirty very tense minutes later, our convoy pulled up to the back entrance of the palace and entered the underground garage. Cora sat tensely beside me as I persistently looked out the back window, toward the car carrying Sarah and Jessica.

I was very unhappy when Theo told me, in no uncertain terms, that Cora and I would be riding separately from the refugees. I had argued with him, but he was firm, holding out his phone to show me Sinclair's direct order in a text message. Since no one would get into the cars until I agreed, Sarah eventually gave me a soft touch on the elbow and told me it was all right. Only then did I relent, though I was still unhappy about it.

"Hank texted," Cora murmured as we slowly pulled into our parking space.

"You still text Hank?" I asked, my eyes widening as I looked at my sister for the first time during the ride.

"He didn't text me," she said, rolling her eyes. "He knows Roger would kill him. But he texted you, through me, because he says you're not answering your phone."

"Clever Hank," I murmured, leaning forward over Rafe's carrier. "What did he say?"

"He said to tell you he thinks you're doing right by Sarah and Jessica," she said warmly, "and that he'll meet us there again tomorrow, if he can."

"Okay," I said, starting to unbuckle Rafe as we stopped. "Text him back that I said thanks, and yes, we'll text him in the morning to let him know our plans."

"So stiff," Cora said, raising her eyebrows. "Where has my sweet sister gone? Don't you at least want me to include some kind of rainbow or star emojis to lighten that up a bit?"

I paused before lifting my son out of his car seat to glare at my sister. "This is serious, Cora," I snapped.

"Sorry, sorry," she sighed, getting out of the car.

I wasn't actually mad at her, but I didn't have time to tell her so. As soon as I got out of the car, I went to Sarah's side. "Okay," I said, smiling at the sisters. "Please come inside—we're going to get you settled in a room, and have dinner sent to you. Does that—does that sound all right?"

"That sounds fine," Sarah said, anxiously playing with her hair as Jessica pressed close to her, her arms wrapped around Sarah's hips.

"Okay," I said, giving them both a warm smile before seeing movement at the palace door—and then a very familiar, too-tall, too-broad silhouette. "You two stay right here for a second, okay?" I said, and Sarah nodded before I dashed away to Sinclair.

"Ella—" he said immediately, his voice worried as he looked beyond me.

"Look at me, Dominic," I demanded, and he instantly did so, his eyes wide with surprise.

"What is it?" he asked.

"What do you have planned for them?" I asked, bouncing Rafe in my arms because he was starting to cry—probably sensing my anxiety and the anger that was building as I anticipated my mate's response.

Because I knew—I just knew that his Alpha instinct would be to treat this woman like a prisoner of war, not like the savior she was.

And damn it, but there was no way in hell I was going to let him do that.