Ella sat with Braxton on the couch in the front room, awaiting news of Abigail and the baby. All that could be heard though as a hint, was her aunt's faint cries but it didn't give onto if she was close to delivery or not.
Her anxiousness made her eyes wander to her lap and his near hand. He was drifting in and out of sleep, and she watched him do so. His eyes closing, his head relaxing back into the couch with each of his steady breaths. It made it easy for her to study his jaw and the way his stubble etched along his neck. Her mind wandered to her time with him so far, always proving to her he was capable, honest, tenacious maybe a bit too proficient but he wanted to keep her safe, had even wore himself thin just to see her. Her core knotted from guilt, she felt she should have understood him better the past two months of their relationship.
And now he was there, in front of her, not about to give up on her, even though she'd attempted to give up on him so many times.
She laced her fingers in between Braxton's, which made him stir and slowly open his eyes.
His smile that spread his charming face was enough to melt her. “Were you watching me sleep?”
She felt the blood in her face redden her cheeks.
He tilted his head toward her, “I won't hold it against you.”
“Braxton...” She let out a soft breath.
His eyes studied and traced over her lips like an attempt to gain satisfaction from only looking at her mouth, instead of kissing it.
She gulped.
“You haven't heard anything?” He asked through the silence, his hand tightening around hers.
Ella shook her head, “But you can hear her...”
He listened and nodded, “Sounds painful.”
She smiled. “Well, I don't think it's super pleasant to begin with.”
“I'm so glad, I'm a boy.”
She narrowed her eyes at him with a wrinkle of her nose to finish off her glare, “Yeah, I don't think you could handle being a girl.”
His smile came back but he said nothing.
She shifted uncomfortably on the couch after a few silent seconds. “What are you thinking about now?”
He stiffened and glanced away. “That maybe I should go to bed.”
She nodded, “Oh, sure, I'll show you where it is.”
He made a subtle movement to get up but she had to help him with the rest. “This whole injured thing is getting old.”
“I can only imagine.” She adjusted her grip on his bicep and let it fall away. “Can you
manage the stairs?”
He didn't answer, just turned and limped toward them, she stayed close behind him – incase he fell. She wasn't too sure of his wobbly step but he got up the flight of stairs and stopped so suddenly she hardly had time to react.
“What are you doing?” Ella walked to his side.
He turned his cheek toward her and lowered his voice, “So, you're sure your uncle won't kill me in the middle of the night?”
Ella almost laughed but bit the inside of her cheek instead.
Braxton was waiting for her word though.
“No, he's fine.” She took his arm and pulled him down the hall. “Well, he might, if I told him to, but I'm not gonna do that.”
“Why's that?” He winced as she stopped by the door that Colten had appointed as his.
She looked to him, wearing a meek smile.
His brow creased but exhaustion seemed to stop him from questioning her further. “Have a good sleep, Daniella.”
“You too.” She breathed as he walked into the room.
He turned to shut it and their eyes did a steady lock on one another.
“Night.” She breathed and he nodded once as he shut the door. Letting out a big sigh she looked down the hall to the shut door of her aunt and uncle. She wondered if the baby was any closer to coming and crept the wood floors till she was outside their bedroom, her ear pressed to the door like when she'd been a child, hoping to sneak down for cookies after they'd fallen asleep.
She listened, hearing Abigail's laboured but gentle cries through the walls. The minutes passed with her ear to the door and that's when it opened and she almost fell into her uncle on the other side.
Catching herself on the wall, she straightened, “Hey.”
“You're not very subtle.” Colten looked around her, “Where's your mate?”
She could see how on edge he was, but that was expected, his luna was in pain. “In bed. He's tired.”
“Mm.” Colten grunted, “You better get some sleep too--”
She caught him before he shut the door on her, “Is Abigail doing okay?”
He paused, wetting his lips and thinking of an answer. “She's fine.”
Ella wasn't sure he looked too firm on that reply, “Nothing is wrong, right?”
The stern expression on his face faded, “She's not really progressing much.”
“Oh.” Ella bit her cheek for the umpteenth time that night, “But-but she's okay?”
“She'll be fine, Ella. I'll come get you if anything changes.”
She nodded and he went to shut the door but before he actually did, he looked back out at her.
“Stay in your bedroom.” He pointed at her and she held her smile as he disappeared back inside the room.
#
Ella lied stretched from one corner of her bed to the other, there was too much on her mind to sleep. Her thoughts would spiral from one thing to another. She'd be thinking about wether Abigail was okay and the next, that her mate was down the hall in a bedroom... in a bed.
She tensed, pushing her face into the frilly pink pillow beneath her head. She'd never liked the bedding in her room but Abigail had and she'd always liked Abigail's approval. She wondered if that would fade once the tiny little thing was brought into the world...
It was somewhere between two and three in the morning when she heard the distant cries of a baby. Her heart slammed in her chest and she scrambled to her feet so fast she almost collided with the wall. She rushed out her door, down the hall and found herself bursting into Colten and Abigail's bedroom without even a knock.
Her eyes went to Abigail first, her aunt's eyes fluttering with tears against her blotchy red cheeks and sweat soaked hair as she stared down at the tiny infant in her arms. It was wrapped in a receiving blanket already and was only letting out soft little wails, nothing anyone seemed too concerned about. In fact, Ella noted how smitten her aunt looked, almost, drop to her knees in love.
She glanced up from Abigail to where Colten was next to her on the bed and he was looking at her.
“Can I see?” Ella choked out against her palpating heart.
Colten nodded and she rushed over, crawling across the bed.
“Ella...” Colten watched her invade Abigail's space, but her aunt wasn't bothered by it.
Ella couldn't believe how tiny and precious it was...
“W-what is it?”
“A baby.” Her uncle snapped.
“Colten.” Abigail gave him an unamused glance and looked back to her with her same warm smile, like she hadn't just been in labour for hours on end. “It's a boy.”
Ella took in a sharp breath, a boy meant an alpha. It meant Forenone had a heir, it meant...
“He's sweet.” Ella breathed, staring the chubby faced thing that was inching itself as close to it's mother as it could. “Did you name him?”
“Oh, we don't know yet...” Abigail smiled at her son, “Maybe Austin?”
“Or not.” Colten said quickly.
Ella smiled at them, “You never discussed any names?”
Her uncle gave her a glance, “You sure burst in here fast.”
“I couldn't sleep!” Ella exclaimed, “Could you?”
Colten stared at her, “Sometimes I wonder about you.”
She wrinkled her nose at him and looked back down to the baby, looping her arm around Abigail's shoulders. “He's really cute.”
“I know.” Abigail's voice had the subtlest of a giggle to it. Her aunt was beyond happy and Ella didn't think she'd ever seen her this happy before. But could anything compare to holding a child they thought would never come? Ella swallowed the rock lump in her throat as she loosened her arm around Abigail.
“He's so amazing.” She breathed and inched off the bed.
“You can stay.” Abigail encouraged her but Colten's hold around his mate and child said another thing to Ella.
“I'll see you in the morning.” Ella said softly, “I think the no-sleep is now catching up to me.” She left the room, closing the door to the frame, her heart still beating frantic in her chest. She wished it would slow, she didn't understand why she was feeling the need to freak out...
Her blurring, tearing eyes went ahead down the hall and she walked for him, needing his comfort. She wasn't jealous of the baby, she knew that, she just didn't feel the same anymore and she couldn't put her finger on it.
Ella opened the door, creeping inside, much unlike her burst into her aunt and uncle's room to the see the new-born.
It was so dark she could only just make out his sleeping form.
“Daniella?” His voice was caught in his throat, he had been asleep.
She didn't move forward, the door behind her still in her grip. “Sorry... I just... the baby...”
He adjusted himself, pulling his back up against the pillows, “C'mere.”
She tensed but only for a moment, and then she shut his door quietly behind herself and walked over to the bed.
His raised hand invited her to lie down with him and she did, curling in toward him and settling her cheek on his firm chest. His arm adjusted on her shoulders, tugging her in close to him.
“So, did she have the pup?”
She bit her bottom lip and nodded, her cheek against his chest produced a sedating effect that made her whole body relax.
“Girl or boy?” His voice stayed deep and sleepy in his chest.
“Boy.” She answered.
He cupped her shoulder in his palm and held her, “Your uncle must be happy, secured his heir.”
She lifted her head and looked to him through the darkness, “I think he's more than that to them, Braxton.”
“I didn't mean it in that way, I'm sorry.”
She let out a tight breath and relaxed back on him with his gentle coaxing.
In the passing of dark silence, Ella stayed comforted by her mate, she found herself envisioning her life with him. Though it might be different than how she grew up with Forenone, it wouldn't necessarily be bad.
“Are you falling asleep?” He asked her.
She shook her head against him again.
“What are you thinking about then?” He liked to pick her brain and she figured it was because, they really didn't know all that much about each other.
“Nothing.” She lifted off him, so she could face him. “What are you thinking about?”
He paused, his hand slipping from her shoulder to her hip and then said in a rather diluted voice, “Our pups.”
She bolted away from him but he kept hold of her, not letting her get far, “Excuse me!”
“Well, we'd have to mate first.” He said, “And, just so you know, I'm still holding out for one day.”
She wanted to wring his neck but instead clenched her jaw, “That wasn't funny.”
He sighed, “I wasn't trying to be funny. I was being honest.”
“If you want to mate me, you shouldn't go telling me you're thinking of having babies already!”
He sat up just enough so he was within kissing distance of her and then, just as she thought he would do it, put her down on the bed beneath him. “I'm going to be completely honest with you, Daniella, ever since I met you, all I've wanted to do was mate you and make a pup.”
She snorted. “How degrading of you.”
“Only you would think so.” He retorted and sat up away from her. “You better get back to your room before your uncle notices or something. I really am not going to live through another beating.”
She got up from the bed without hesitation and walked toward the room with her normal determined step.
“Daniella.”
She spun to him with her hand on the door know, “What now?”
He stared at her through the darkness, “I only said those things because I'm convinced you want them too.”
“You are so wrong about that, Braxton.” She turned and shut his door firmly in place behind her, leaving her alone again and with her thoughts.
In truth, she wanted him to be wrong but the more time she spent with him, the more those things didn't seem so far away. It made her feel things she never had before, things she wasn't sure she would accept easily but she knew eventually, she would.