Accidental Surrogate for Alpha novel Chapter 486

#Chapter 486 – The Goddess’ Light Ella

The pool we approach is wide and expansive – more of a large pond, or even a lake, really, shining below the open sky. I tilt my head curiously at I look at it, remembering Cora describing the pool as small and well tucked away in the forest. This one…

Well. Maybe it’s different every time, for every child, every pair of godparents. I look up at the moon and smile, thinking fondly of my mother and all the blessings she’s given us. And also how she can sometimes be…a little bit tricky.

“Ready?” Sinclair murmurs.

“Almost,” I quip, stepping close to him and lifting myself up on my toes, tilting my chin up for a kiss. He smiles and bends his head, pressing his mouth briefly to mine.

“Ready now,” I say, grinning at him.

Sinclair takes a moment to look at me in the moonlight, running a hand over the length of my lose hair, and then we step forward to the edge of the pool.

“Goddess,” he murmurs, not bothering to raise his voice – he knows she can hear him. “We bring to you, tonight, this child our nephew Jesse. So that he may begin to know you.”

“We wish to show him your light,” I say, repeating the words that Henry taught me as part of the ritual, a little shiver running down my spine as I do. ” And in doing so, let you see him and bring him into the spirit of your grace.”

I smile as the light reflecting off the pool grows brighter, insubstantially at first but bolder as the moments pass. Mom – she’s here, and she’s ready to meet Jesse.

“Here you go, baby,” Sinclair murmurs, holding Jesse out so that I can reach over and quickly untuck his swaddling. Then, with the baby safe in my mate’s broad hands, Sinclair and I step forward to hold Jesse out over the pool, basking in the light of the moon.

I smile as I look down at Jesse, as the moonlight pools over him. He kicks his little feet and fusses for a moment, frowning a bit up at the sky before giving a little laugh. I can’t keep myself from laughing a little bit too, smiling down at my spunky little nephew, loving him so much already.

“He is called Jesse Sinclair,” my mate says, his voice a little choked. I glance up to see him gazing at the baby too, his first nephew, the child of his brother and best friend. “His parents, Cora and Roger, have asked us to bring him here to dedicate him to you. We do so in their name.”

I grin, tucking myself close to my mate’s side, a thrill running through me. How many babies have been dedicated to the Goddess with these words, been welcomed into wolf culture? How many more will we, my little family, get to bring into the fold?

But there’s no time to ponder these questions, because as I gaze at the baby something begins to stir in the air beyond him.

“Oh,” I breathe, my eyes going wide. And then I take a deep breath, and am swept away in the vision that my mother gives us, the hint of the fate that she’s built for him.

My heart seizes as the first images fly by – a happy childhood, a handsome little boy, full of laughter and pranks. And by his side at almost every moment is another little boy – dark haired, always a little taller, always laughing and shouting at his cousin’s side. Rafe – Rafe! Happy, and healthy, and Jesse’s best friend, as I always dreamed they’d be.

The urge grows in me to reach out and seize each of the moments as they fly past a camping trip, gathered around the fire with Roger and Sinclair, slightly older but so happy – a birthday party with Jesse’s face brightly lit by eight candles

I want to grab each moment of the vision, to study them each independently, to get the details in full

But tears slip down my cheeks as I give in to the experience, knowing that this – like life – will fly by, and if I spend my time trying to hold onto the pieces I’ll miss it completely.

And so I watch, and my joy deepens when I start to realize that next to Jesse and Rafe, in every vision as they grow older, there’s a little girl too.

A little girl with a heart-shaped face and rose gold hair – between her brother and her cousin at all times, laughing with them, fully engaged with their games and antics –