Chapter 68

ANASTASIA MULBERRY

As soon as she woke up, a wave of panic and fear washed over her as she felt something missing. Instinctively, her hands pressed against her stomach only to find that it wasn’t protruding anymore as she had become accustomed to.

When she felt nothing but a slight curve over her stomach, Anastasia’ eyes shot open and she pressed her hands further into her stomach, desperately trying to feel something. Anything.

From all the questions that were currently running through her mind, there was one that prevailed and stood out the most.

Why wasn’t she pregnant anymore?

“Ana, calm down, babe.” A chuckle sounded from the left and when she turned her head to follow the voice, she found Raphael to be bent over the bassinet, making faces. When he noticed what she had done as soon as she woke up, he rose to full height and laughed as he made his way over to her. “There’s nothing to worry about. You’ve already given birth.”

As his words washed over her, she willed her body to relax and chuckled quietly, now amused by her own reaction.

She chuckled quietly and pressed a hand against her forehead, rubbing away the few beads of sweats that had arose from momentary fear.

“I couldn’t feel my stomach and I got scared.” Anastasia admitted with a slight chuckle as she remained laid down on the bed, her nether regions still very much and sore from when she had given birth only a few hours ago.

“I don’t blame you, babe.” Raphael carefully dropped himself down on the bed next to her, reaching over to fluff her pillow and help her into a sitting position.

“Is Alistair asleep?” She asked quietly, shuffling over slightly to rest her head on his shoulder, a content sigh passing her lips.

“Yeah.” Raphael murmured back, unconsciously glancing over at the sleeping baby in his bassinet, currently sucking on a pacifier.

“Where’s Justas?” She asked, lifting her head from his shoulder to glance around the room. When she found for the rest of it to be empty, she returned it to rest on his shoulder and leaned further into her best friend.

“In all the haste, we didn’t bring anything with us so he’s just popped home to get the car seat and a few other things.”

Anastasia hummed lightly and they both fell into a comfortable silence, but with how tense Raphael’s body was next to her, she knew something wasn’t quite right.

“Do you want to talk about it?” She asked quietly, reaching down to grab his hand and lace their fingers together, sensing that her friend needed the company and reassurance right now.

“Talk about what?” Raphael feigned innocence and confusion as he turned his head to look away from her.

“Don’t pretend like you don’t know.” She snorted and rolled her eyes playfully. “I know there’s something wrong with you so don’t bother trying to hide it.”

Raphael sighed and dropped his body back to lean against the headboard, pulling her back along with him.

“He doesn’t look like me.” He murmured quietly, his eyes downcast and the lump in his throat heavy as he was moved with emotion.

“Alistair?”

He merely nodded his head in confirmation, still not meeting her eyes.

Anastasia sighed breathily and gave his hand a reassuring squeeze, her lips pulling down slightly at the corners as she watched him; her heart hurting for him.

“He’s only a few hours old. There’s no way that you can know that he doesn’t look like you.” She murmured back, turning her body slightly so she was facing him, but winced when she moved too quick.

Anastasia understood why Raphael was melancholy, just as she understood that it was normal for him to feel like this. Unlike the conventional male-female relationship where the baby received DNA from both parents, Raphael and Justas had picked out donor eggs from a specialist werewolf clinic and the both of them had provided samples. It was common knowledge that one of their samples could be picked to fertilise the egg, though they had chosen to keep that anonymous.

However, now that baby Alistair was born, it was evident whose sample had been effective.

While Raphael was blonde with soft features and an ivory skin tone, Justas was the opposite of his mate with a dark mop of hair on his head, dark, harsh features; much more rugged than his mate. While baby Alistair was still a baby, he definitely looked like his dad with the dark wisps of hair on his head and his darker complexion, not at all resembling Raphael in any way.

Raphael sighed and finally turned his head to glance at her, a pointed look on her face.

“I think it’s pretty obvious that Justas is Alistair’s biological father.” He deadpanned, a forlorn expression on his face. “I know it shouldn’t bother me, so why does it? I’m so excited to be a father and I already love that kid to bits, so why am I so focused on the fact that he looks like Justas and not me?”

“I completely understand why you feel this way and just know, it’s completely normal. You’re not a bad dad for feeling this way, so don’t allow yourself to feel like that, okay?” Giving his hand another squeeze, Anastasia offered him a small smile. “Just because he may not biologically be your son, doesn’t mean that he’s not your son, you know? He’s Justas’ and yours baby and you need to remember that. He’s not going to love you any less and you’re not going to be any less of a dad just because he doesn’t look like you or share your DNA.”