From Rejected Mate to Luna (Julia White) novel Chapter 238

Ivory

Chapter 238

“They’re not that bad yet, I say as he helps me into the SUV.

Matthew leans in, buckles my seat belt with hands that shake just enough for me to feel it against my skin. His eyes keep flicking to my face, like he’s trying to memorize it.

“Call Olivia,” I tell him when he slides behind the wheel. “She’s on call tonight.”

He nods, starts the engine, and at the same time sends a pulse down the matebond, warm and firm. I’m here. We’re okay. We can do this.

“Yeah, I whisper, resting my head back against the seat as he pulls out onto the wet road. “We can.”

My vision goes completely blurry.

“That’s your baby,” Olivia says, and I can hear the smile in her voice even over the cry. “Good lungs.”

I crane my neck, desperate, but all I see is the doctor’s back and a small, squirming bundle in his hands. He moves quickly, wiping, checking, doing all the things I know need to be done. The crying keeps going, indignant and furious and utterly alive.

Matthew goes utterly still.

I can feel it through the bond–the moment his brain catches up, the way his wolf drops to its knees inside him. His scent changes, all sharp edges melted into something warm and overwhelming. Bread and pine and something new I don’t have a name for.

“Is he- My voice cracks. I don’t even know what I’m asking.

“He’s perfect, the doctor answers, already wrapping the baby in a warm blanket. “Absolutely perfect.”

They place him on my chest.

He’s smaller than I imagined and heavier at the same time, a solid, living weight against my ribs. His skin is flushed, his hair a dark, damp fuzz against his skull. He lets out another insulted squawk, then snuffles, turning his head, nose wrinkling as he scents me.

My breath catches. My hands, clumsy and shaking, fly up to cup him, to make sure he doesn’t slide off, even though he’s tucked firmly

against me.

“He’s ours?” I whisper, because my brain is useless and my heart is about to burst out of my chest. “He’s really… he’s ours?”

Matthew sits down carefully on the edge of the bed, like he’s afraid the whole thing might disappear if he moves too fast. His hand comes

into my line of sight, big fingers trembling as they brush the top of the baby’s head, touch the silky dark hair like it’s made of spun glass.

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Chapter 238

“Yeah, he says, voice wrecked and soft and more open than I’ve ever heard it. “He’s ours, baby.”

When I look up at him, his eyes are wet. He doesn’t look away. He doesn’t even try to hide it.

Olivia adjusts the blankets around us, checks a few things, then steps back with a satisfied nod. “I’ll give you guys a minute,” she says. ‘Yell if you need me.”

The door clicks softly behind her. The monitor beeps slow and steady. Rain still falls outside, but it feels very far away.

Matthew clears his throat. “We, uh… we should probably decide if he’s going to have a name before he’s eighteen.”

I let out a watery laugh. We’d talked about names half–seriously for months. Made lists. Crossed things out when they started to feel

wrong. There was one we always circled back to.

I look down at his scrunched–up little face. His eyes are still mostly closed, lashes damp, but his brow furrows like he’s concentrating very hard on existing. His nose twitches as he breathes in my scent, Matthew’s, the clinic’s.

He already smells like home.

“Still think it fits?” Matthew asks quietly. There’s something like hesitation under the question. Like he’s ready to let me change

everything if I want.

I trace one fingertip along the curve of our son’s tiny ear. “Yeah,” I say slowly. The name settles over him in my mind like it was waiting

for this moment. “He looks like a Liam.”

Matthew leans down until his lips are close to that soft shell of ear, his breath warm on Liam’s skin. His hand is still on our son’s back,

covering half of it like a shield.

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