The Rainbow Wolf And Her Alpha

Chapter 105 - Strategies

Zander's POV:

We ate dinner that one of the maids prepared earlier, and brought up to our room. Alexa and Max were nestled snugly on the couch in front of the TV opposite our bed, and three empty containers of chocolate ice cream were discarded on the coffee table. Alexa had helped Max demolish them, though I felt she ate more to avoid him getting himself to sick. 

Max was leaning on her growing baby bump, hugging her with his little arms as she played with his hair. They were watching a cartoon called Aladdin. Max's eyes never left the screen, a permanent look of awe and wonder etched onto his face.

Max kept saying how incredible everything was and thanked us for sharing the 'cartoons' with him. Poor kid never got to enjoy being a kid.

It didn't take long for me to feel Alexa's exhaustion through the bond and hear the light snoring coming from both of them. I picked Alexa up and placed her on our bed before carrying Max and walking towards Ella's room. I knocked on the door and stood there wondering what was taking so long. When Ben finally answered the door looking flustered, I initially thought I interrupted something. Looking at the tears in my sisters eyes as she appeared behind Ben, it was apparent I did, just not the thing I first thought of. 

Ben sighed before turning back around to Ella. "Look I'm sorry Ella, I barely know how to look after myself, I just don't think I'm ready for raising a baby."

"He's not a baby, his five!" She yelled frustrated at her mate. It was then she noticed Max in my arms asleep.

She whispered to Ben. "He doesn't need you to wipe his snot or change a nappy he just needs someone to love him. If you can't accept him then maybe you should just reject me."

I almost dropped Max at Ella's words. "Fuck Ella!" I hissed at her. "You know as well as I do that it could kill you." I knew they hadn't completed their mate bond yet, but occasionally mates can die from rejection if their wolf is unable to accept it.

Ben had previously told me he wasn't ready to join the pack yet and now with a spanner in the works I wasn't sure if he even would. "Any mated couple will likely die or suffer and go crazy like Derek did, and an unmated couple, though rare can experience this also!" I cursed at the thought of them doing something stupid in the heat of the moment.

"Wait, what?" Ben looked like I had just punched him in the face. Maybe I should have. 

"It doesn't matter, I'll die protecting Max. I won't just abandon him, his been through enough. I've promised him a better life and I intend to keep that promise, with or without your help." Ella says looking down at the boy in my arms.

Bens eyes widened in realisation. "Wait.. Sumi is Max? Your Max??"

"Yes Ben.." Ella sighed rubbing her teary eyes. "This is Max. His nickname is sometimes Sumi but only Alexa and I can call him that so don't even try it."

I watched Ben's shoulders sag. He walked over to the single bed and pulled the sheets out. When he came back towards me I waited for him to move so I could place him down. 

"Here, I can take it from here." Ben said reaching for Max. I couldn't mask the shock on my face just as Ella couldn't mask hers. Ben took Max out of my arms and tucked him in bed. "I'm sorry Ella I should have let you explain. I see now why your so protective of Max. I imagined a little toddler completely relying on me and it scared the hell out of me. Since I met him earlier on the training grounds I couldn't get him out of my head. I thought it was Zander's nephew or something."

"He 'is' my nephew Ben. My sister has adopted him. He is family now, just as much as you are." Ben scrunched up his face realising how silly his words sounded. He nodded once and politely lead me to the door.