Accidental Surrogate

Ella

I scrub the food from my body as steaming water pours down around me in a blissful cascade. A hot shower is exactly what I needed, but I feel like a silly school girl starcrossed in puppy love. I can’t stop replaying the events in the kitchen in my mind, reliving every word, every touch – every look from Sinclair’s penetrating green eyes.

I find myself running my hands over my bare skin in the same places he stroked and caressed me, imagining what he’ll do when he comes home. I know he was going to kiss me before Hugo interrupted us, and the memory of his lips so near mine sends shivers of excitement down my spine. Sinclair has kissed me before of course, but never in private, never simply because he wanted to.

My mind races with the possibilities. Will he make love to me when he returns? Is his attraction that strong? I can’t stop imagining it. Will he be gentle and tender the way he’s been when I most needed comfort? Will he be rough and dominating, unleashing the animal within? Or will he be some combination of the two, passion in all its varying forms?

I finally pull myself out of my daydreams when the water runs cold. I yelp when the heat disappears, dousing me in icy reality. What am I doing? Who is this silly, sex-crazed girl who’s taken over my mind? Sinclair and I don’t have a future together, so why am I letting the little voice in my head get so carried away with longing for the impossible? That’s not me – I’ve always been practical and realistic, not some starry eyed dreamer. Shaking myself, I cut off the water and grab a towel, determined to stop being so silly.

No sooner have I stepped out of the shower that a knock sounds at the bedroom door. “Miss, you have a visitor!” A maid calls through the thick wooden panel.

I do? This is a surprise. No one has ever visited me here, and the only person who might is Cora – but it’s the middle of the day, surely she’s at work. Even though I rationalized this, I’m still surprised when I get downstairs it’s not Cora waiting for me. It’s just about the last person I would have expected to see – Sinclair’s estranged brother, Roger.

“Hello Ella.” He greets me, standing from his chair.

I freeze in the doorway of the sitting room, unable to process the sight before me. “What are you doing here?”

“Easy now.” He raises his hands in supplication, “I come in peace.”

“Excuse me if I find that hard to believe.” I cut.

my brother brings out the worst in me. It was wrong to take that out on you.” Roger

really don’t understand you two.” I confess. “Where I come from, siblings are all you have – the

do you come

now that I don’t even have to think about it. “But my parents died when

I. Your circumstances pushed you and your siblings together, ours tore us apart. Being the sons of an Alpha sets you in competition with one another from a young age. Our father

been difficult.” I empathize, remembering what Sinclair also told me about their

am sorry.” He professes again, raising a finger to qualify his statement. “At least, for the way I spoke to you. But I’m afraid I can’t apologize for the things

shoulder’s stiffen. “Shouldn’t it

because I wasn’t lying.” Roger frowns deeply. “I may have been speaking spitefully

cut my eyes to him, “I don’t think spite can ever be the right

trying to warn you.” Roger insists, “And I’d warn

you have to say.” I concede, my morbid curiosity burgeoning. “but I won’t promise to take

relieved. “What has Dom told you about Lydia?”

about how I was nothing but a womb to him, that he’d toss me aside as soon as the pup came along, but I wasn’t expecting him to bring up Lydia. “That they were fated, but she left when he couldn’t

did he mention that she hasn’t had pup with her chosen mate either?”

inquire, though I

always assumed the root of fertility struggles lied with him.” Roger explains, “But now

turned her back on him, fated or not, but I also have to

name as if it’s an apology itself. “They’re fated. Take it from someone who learned the hard way – chosen

happened to you?” I ask, intrigued by