Chapter 67

“Alpha Marcellus?” A squeaky voice called out to him from one corner of the room, one which took him by surprise that Marcellus snaped his head in its direction and bared his teeth and bracing his body into position, ready to attack if the voice posed a threat to his mate.

Glancing over, his stance relaxed a she recognised the mated couple, one of them holding the baby while sat on the sofa while the other stood behind and watched the two with the love and adoration evidently shining in his eyes.

“Justas? Raphael?” A light frown played on his face as he reached a hand up to scratch the back of his neck, feeling a mix of confusion and embarrassment. He was confused as to why they were here – though it did make sense as they appeared to be very close friends with his mate – but he was a tad bit mortified for being caught staring at her like that. Especially since he had kept their mate situation a secret for so long.

He had managed a month – nearly two by this point – nearly completely fine, at least in front of the pack, but one moment alone with her and he was about to be found out.

Before they could answer, another question rolled off the tip of his tongue and much to his surprise, he didn’t regret the words as soon as they left his mouth.

“Can I hold him?” He asked quietly, unable to take his eyes off the baby now that he had spotted him, gently being rocked in Justas’ arms as he paced around the room, trying to settle the little guy.

It was only when the baby was nestled into his arms and blinking up at him that he started panicking.

“I don’t think I can do this.” He murmured quietly, gulping as he stared down at the little wolf pup in his arms. “What if I drop him?”

Raphael laughed at the question as the bewildered look on his Alpha’s face while Justas swatted his mate’s shoulder and pushed him up from the couch, making room for the Alpha.

“Why don’t you take a seat, Alpha Marcellus?” He offered, gesturing to the now empty sofa. “Maybe that will ease some of your worries.”

Marcellus didn’t bother look up at them as he nodded and moved over to the sofa, the baby still nested in his arms, conscious that he needed to keep the neck supported.

For the first few moments, Marcellus held his breath as he stared down at the child who was now sucking gently on his thumb, his eyes slowly closing as sleep beckoned him. While he had expected to hate the child as he wasn’t his and indicated that his mate had started a family with someone else, he felt nothing but a sense of love and overprotectiveness of the child; surprising even himself.

I told you. His wolf murmured quietly as he stared down at the baby through his human’s eyes. It doesn’t matter that he’s biologically not your child. He’s our mate’s child which makes him our child.

Marcellus sniffled quietly and fought to keep back the lone tear that threatened to escape and roll down his face, feeling even more regretful of his actions than ever before. While he was determined to make things right with his mate before, now he needed to, for both of their sakes.

Looking down at the child in his arms, he knew that whatever life through at him, Marcellus would do anything and everything to protect him and his mother as they were the two most important people to him. Ever.

Do you smell that? His wolf asked abruptly, breaking his chain of thought as he continued sniffing.

Smell what? Marcellus frowned but one purposeful sniff and he knew what his wolf was referring to.

Straight away, Marcellus could scent out that this baby in his arms was a wolf pup, indicating that the father was a wolf however, much to his surprise, Anastasia’s scent on him was very faint. His eyebrows furrowed together in confused as he frowned down at the pup, confused as to why he didn’t smell like his mother as did every other wolf pup when they were born.

“Why does he not smell like Anastasia?” Marcellus asked quietly, so as to not wake his sleeping mate, as he lifted his head to glance at the mated couple, a questioning look in his eyes.

Raphael and Justas shared equally as confused expressions as they shared a look before turning back to the Alpha wolf currently holding their child.

“Sorry, Alpha.” Raphael apologised before he continued. “What do you mean?”

“This is Anastasia’s baby so why doesn’t he smell like her?”

Raphael’s lips parted in surprised and form an O shape while his mate chuckled from next to him, his lips twisting up into an amused grin.

“I can understand why you’re confused, Alpha.” Justas chuckled as he walked across the room to take baby Alistair from his arms as he had fallen asleep. “We thought you knew that Anastasia was just carrying the baby for us.”

“What?” Marcellus sounded aloud, his mind perplexed as he watched Justas walk over to the bed and carefully place down the baby in the bassinet. “You’re saying that she was just the surrogate?”

“Yes.” Raphael nodded in confirmation. “You see, Ana and I have been best friends for so long and when she found out that Justas and I,” he paused as he shared a loving, endearing look with his mate. “Were planning to look for a surrogate that could potentially carry our child for us, she offered herself.”

“Are you serious?” Marcellus exclaimed in the utmost surprise and shock, unable to believe what he was hearing.

“That’s why Justas and I travelled over to the werewolf clinic in New York for two weeks last year. You signed the papers, remember?”

Marcellus frowned deeply as he blinked back at both the mates.

“It’s not her baby?”

“Not technically, no. But she’s the Godmother and we’ll never forget all that she’s done for us.”

Justas and Raphael continued to explain the story but Marcellus zoned out, unable to look anywhere but toward his sleeping mate.

Even though he had planned to wait a little longer before spilling the beans and telling her the absolute truth, he knew he couldn’t go on like this anymore; he couldn’t keep lying to her. She deserved to know the truth and once she found just how despicable he had been with strategically omitting the truth from her since the day he found out they were mated; he just hoped that she would forgive him.

This past month, Marcellus had gotten to know his mate better and while he was confident that he would get a brow beating for his behaviour, he was sure that eventually after some time, she would be able to forgive him. However, he was determined to do whatever it took to make sure that happened and speed up the process.

Marcellus had transgressed against his mate – albeit, unknowingly – and he needed to pay for his mistakes.

Whatever happened, he just hoped that he wasn’t too late.