Chapter 20

**ELLA**

I took Wyatt from Esmeralda and walked inside the living room. My son, as always, is capable of making me happy and bringing a smile to my face. Cole followed me and sat next to me on the couch. His eyes never left Wyatt's face as he is trying to process the new information.
My son was busy playing with his toys on the floor when I turned to Cole.
"Can you please don't tell him anything?" I asked him nervously.
"I can’t believe you hid him. And I can't believe how much alike they are, if you exclude his eyes which are the only thing that is the same with you, he is a mini him."
"I know, I know. But please promise me that you will not tell him anything."
"You can't avoid him forever."
"I did not have this in mind. He left very angrily, he needs to calm down and finish his duties first. Tomorrow he’ll come back, and I will tell him the truth. But I am scared."
"Of what? He will not harm your son…"
I held my head in my hands and shouted Esmeralda's name.
"Can you please keep an eye on Wyatt? Cole and I need to talk in private." I asked her when she entered the room. She nodded her head and sat down with my son to play together.
We exited the house and I sat at the front stairs while Cole was walking nervously around me. This entire situation is giving me a headache.
"Ella, what is happening? What is bothering you?" Cole asked after a few minutes, as he saw how desperate I was.
"I don’t want to return at Black Stone!" I confess.
"Do you think that Jonathan will leave his son behind? You? He was searching for so long for you. There is no way he'll let you stay here."
"And what am I supposed to do when I return? To watch him from afar?"
"What are you talking about, Ella?"
He kneeled in front of me and took my hands in his. I can see how tense he is, and how much is trying to calm me down. I started to cry for the umpteenth time today.
"I can't Cole, he has his family."
With that, he seemed to realize my fears but to my surprise, he smiled and I started to get angry with his behavior.
"Why are you smiling? Is this funny to you?" I got up and walked around him. I took the path which led to a small lake near the house. He grabbed me from the arm to stop me.
"Don’t run woman? Are you trying to get hurt? Because I need my head."
I look at him with one eyebrow up.
"Look Ella, I understand your fears but there is nothing to fear."
"What do you mean?"
"Claire's child wasn't Jonathan."
My jaw dropped and the only sound I could hear was my wolf who was howling from joy in my head. I opened my mouth to speak but couldn't make any sound. I felt like a heaviness left my soul. I also understand how terribly wrong I was all this time and I lost two years of my life for a lie. I jumped up to Cole and I hugged him. I was so happy by the news, that I didn't notice at first how awkward Cole was. I took a step back.
"Sorry," I whispered.
"It's ok, I just don’t want Jonathan to smell me on you. He shouted so loud in my mind when he left, and I don’t want to make him angry anymore."
I nodded my head and we started to walk back home. I was over the moon but deep inside I know that Jonathan will not forgive me easily.
"Well, how did you get here?" Cole asked me and I told him what happened all these months after I departed from the pack. He listened to me without making any comments while I was describing my new life with my son.
"You know, you gave birth without your mate. I am impressed."
"It was not easy."
Every wolf knows that every female needs her mate at the birth to take away some of her pain. When I was giving birth to Wyatt, I was pushing for like an hour, even Esmeralda with her magic couldn’t help me back then. That was when she took off my necklace and my connection with Jonathan got back, I heard his voice in my head, and with that my son came to life with one final push. I will never forget that night. Esmeralda told me that my son will be blessed like me, but I never noticed anything, and I don’t remember at what age I discovered my powers. Only the future can tell but I am sure that he will be a powerful Alpha just like his father.
"Do you know when he will be back?" I asked Cole before we entered the house.
"The meeting is tomorrow morning; I think he will be back by night."
I nodded my head and smiled. We walked into the dining room and found Esmeralda trying to feed Wyatt. I laugh with my friend who is covered with half of his food, and I sit next to him to help her.
"You stink," Cole commented and I turned to look at him with a murderous look.
"Watch your mouth pup." She told him.
"You are younger than me." He crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow. I rolled my eyes at that, my friend hit a nerve with her words.
"You think? Because I stopped counting a few centuries ago."
His eyes widened and I laughed.
"Sit down Cole, you don’t want to pick a fight with her," I told him.
He sat as much as afar he could and even Wyatt started laughing with his grimace.
The rest of the evening passed quickly with most of its parts Cole was telling me the news from my friends back at the pack. The announcement of Mia's birth gave me so much joy and I can't wait to meet her and her daughter. Cole told me that Jonathan had banned Claire a month after she gave birth and they don’t know where she lives now. They never learned the identity of the father but as much they know she did not have a mate.
I took Wyatt with me and left Cole to rest in his bedroom. We argued about this because apparently, he had orders from Jonathan to keep an eye on me all night long. Esmeralda helped me convince him because she explained about her magic shield which keeps us safe from the rogues.
I am laying on my bed with my son in my arms who is sleeping. I can dream of a better future for both of us. Eventually, Wyatt will have his father in his life, and he will no longer be a picture on my phone. I talked to him about his father every day and I am sure he will recognize him as soon as he sees Jonathan. My little boy understands so many things and I am very proud of him. I closed my eyes, finally happy after so long.
The next day however my nerves kicked in and I was trembling like a fish out of the water. I couldn't even concentrate on a single task and both Cole and Esmeralda were laughing at me. I was looking out of the window every five minutes but actually, this was unnecessary because if he was nearby, I could smell his sense. Even my heart couldn't calm down and at some point, I asked Esmeralda to give some of her botanics to help me.
Now the sunset was near and I was standing at the front door looking at the magical colors over the sky. Cole came to stand next to me.
"He is coming, he will be here in a few minutes."
With his sentence, my knees gave in and I held on to the door to keep my balance.
"Hey, don’t faint now." Cole grabbed my arm
"I can't believe that you are our future Luna." He mocked me and I growled in response. He said something else but I was no longer paying attention to him because Jonathan's scent hit my nose and I turned my gaze in his direction.
He came in his wolf form but I noticed that he had his clothes in his mouth. I watched him as he went behind a tree to shift. Then he walked back wearing only a pair of shorts. This didn't help much with my condition and I tried with all my will to focus on his face. He seems to be furious.
"Are you ready to leave? Did you kick out your loverboy?" He said with a growl and I gasped at his behavior.
*You deserve more.* Aria commented, obviously she is still mad with me too.
*You don’t help.*
*He is mad*.
*I know, now shut up.*
"I don’t have all night mate. Bring your luggage."
I swallowed and took a step back, for the first time he used his Alpha voice on me. It's not that I had to obey but I did not want to make him even more mad.
I turned my gaze to Cole who nodded his head to encourage me. I made my way into the living room where Wyatt and Esmeralda were. As soon as Jonathan looked inside the room he froze and I heard his heart losing a dangerous beat. His eyes were ready to pop out of their place and I held my breath waiting for his reaction.
Wyatt got up and looked in Jonathan's direction. He smiled at him and came closer.
"Hi." He told him with his melodic voice but Jonathan did not respond. Cole came next to him and patted him on his shoulder.
"Are you ok?" He asked him, looking worried.
Wyatt grabbed his shorts and started to pull them.
"Jonathan?" Cole tried again.
"Dad?" My son said and after that, with one quick move, Jonathan kneeled down and hugged him.
"My son." He said in an unnatural way. It was like, human and a wolf were speaking at the same time and made the announcement of the recognition of their pup.