~Ethan.
Admiration, pain, pride, and jealousy surged through me as I looked down at Aurora who was meticulously attending to the patients. She had been engrossed in taking care of the patients since we had them transferred to the royal infirmary.
I found it difficult to believe that I was seeing her after many years, after ten years of her sudden disappearance, and she was back and better and… better, handling the patients like a professional. I mean, Aurora was now a professional doctor with a son!
The small smile on my face fell as I shifted my eyes to the little boy by her side, his smile matched the one on Aurora's face, both their smiles big, bright and beautiful. Aurora was now bigger, brighter and more beautiful than she was ten years ago.
Aurora cleared her throat, pulling me away from my thoughts as she came to stand in front of me, slowly slipping the gloves off her fingers.
“I will do it. I will take care of the patients but,” she raised a finger, “not because you forced me to but because I have seen the patients' conditions and I can't afford to leave them like that. I am a doctor, I swore an oath to save lives.”
I gave her a nod, "I wouldn't have let you go either way.” I wasn't certain if I meant not letting Aurora abandon the patients or not letting her disappear on me again, but either way, I wasn't letting her go once more. Ever.
“He's your boy.” I raised a brow in the direction where the little boy was starting to fall asleep on a chair.
“Obviously. And you gave him quite a fright earlier.”
A light chuckle escaped my lips, “oh, come on, every parent scares their kids every once in a while.”
The smile on her face fell, and she pinned me a look with narrowed brows. “Parent?”
“I…his father, I meant his father, must scare him every once in a while?” I bit my tongue as I realized how ridiculous what I said was.
“No,” she replied sharply, "no, his father doesn't.”
I nodded," he is one lucky man,” I shifted my eyes from Aurora to the boy and back to her, "I hope he knows that.”
A corner of her lips rose in a small smile, "he does. He knows he is lucky.”
Of course, he knew. I ground my teeth against each other and cursed myself at how much I had let myself go.
I wasn't supposed to be all friendly with her. The Aurora in question, the Aurora before me, was the same one who disappeared on me when I needed her, the same one who went off to marry some guy and was back with his kid.
While I was experiencing hell in the hands of Isadora, her sister, Aurora went away and was back as a doctor, a wife, and mother, and I was still the same. If not worse than I have ever been.
“My Lord,” Sam called as he stepped into the ward, and Aurora took some steps back. Of course, there would always be a space between us. I forced a spittle down my throat to keep my anger and emotions down.
“Sam,” I replied without tearing my eyes away from Aurora.
“The elders are here, my Lord, they heard what happened, and they came to know why it happened and how you intend to handle the situation.”
“The situation has been handled, Sam,” I finally shifted my eyes to Sam, “it is past midnight, let them know that I have retired for the night.”
“But, my Lord,” he lowered his eyes as I raised a brow at him. Though Sam was a few years younger than I was, he served me like I was a grand master who had ruled the pack for many eons. Which was one of the reasons I kept him as my right-hand man. “Alpha, they are quite persistent tonight, I am not sure that they would agree to leave without seeing you.”
“Then they are welcome to wait until tomorrow morning because this Alpha is going to retire for the night.”
I wasn't in the right frame of mind to attend to anyone, let alone those elders that swore to drive me crazy. If I hadn't found a solution to our problems, if I hadn't found Aurora, I would have attended to them but, I had her and I was certain she was more than capable of dealing with anything.
“My lord, can't… can't you see then for just a minute?”
“Go and dismiss them, Sam. Tell them that everything has been handled for tonight and that we will be going to the hospital to speak with the doctors tomorrow and thereafter, they can come over for whatever meeting they would like us to have. Understood.”
He nodded. I searched the room for Aurora and found her now passed out on the chair with her little boy in her arms.
I don't know why but, my eyes searched her and the boy to find the smallest detail that will tell me that he wasn't his son and she, not his mother but all I found were striking resemblance between the both of them, from the thick dark hair and eyebrows to the long lashes and the birthmark above his waistline?
I narrowed my eyes at his waistline to confirm what I saw, and I found that my eyes truly weren't deceiving me. But that doesn't mean anything, does it?
The birthmark was a rare type and though it was only some people with royal blood that happened to get the mark doesn't mean the little boy couldn't get it, right?
Right. Of course, I was being paranoid for no reason.
“Sam,” I called as I exhaled deeply.
“My Lord,” his deep voice came from the side.
“Take them to the guest room and make sure they are comfortable. I need to clear my head.”
“Yes, my Lord.”
I inhaled sharply as I turned on my heels and out of the ward. I needed to find answers to Aurora, my ex being my mate and to that birthmark.