Accidental Surrogate

Ella

It was easy to be reasonable when it was just me and Cora.

When my sister’s low, steady voice was talking me through all my misguided rationalizations, I didn’t struggle to stay calm, I didn’t have to fight a tidal wave of raging emotions too tangled and convoluted to ever sort out. I was able to listen and really interrogate my assumptions, to use logic and reason without getting caught up in my emotions. However as soon as Sinclair appears, all that goes out the window.

Just seeing his handsome face makes me want to burst into tears, and I’m so miserable and furious that I don’t know what to do. A sense of utter betrayal slams into me, and for the first time I understand why I was so afraid of being love bombed. He might not have been manipulating me, but I think I’ve been falling in love with Sinclair all along – no matter how hard I tried to fight it.

Sinclair’s power washes over me the moment he enters the room. He barely pauses to greet Cora, his attention clearly elsewhere as his sharp eyes scan the room, only stopping once they land on me. He immediately crosses to the couch where I’m seated and kneels down in front of me. “Ella,” my name is a sigh of relief, and he unwinds my arms from my body so he can look me over, as if he’s worried I’ve somehow been injured in his absence. I try to resist his strength, but he makes a deep rumbling sound and I instinctively surrender. His hungry gaze rakes over every inch of my skin before finally rising to meet my eyes. He takes my face in his hands. “Are you alright?”

Knowing I’m playing with fire and not giving a damn, I shoot him a sulky glare. “What do you care?” I hate myself as soon as the words leave my lips. I sound like such a child.

His brows knit, “That’s a no.” He assesses gruffly, pursing his lips as if he’s internal cursing himself. “I’m so sorry about last night. I can explain–”

“I’m fine.” I counter sharply, not wanting him to see how badly I’m hurt. “I don’t give a damn what you do or who you see when we’re not together.”

Sinclair arches one dark brow, leveling me with an expression so stern I want to crawl under the couch and hide. “In that case we can go home and discuss the way you snuck out last night, without your guards, without letting anyone know where you were going.” His powerful hand slides around to my nape, and something deep and primal in my bones curls in on itself. “Not to mention crawling down trellises in the rain, especially when you’re carrying precious cargo.”

want to go anywhere with you.” I snap, hating to be reminded of how reckless I was with my

like gravel. “Because I’m not leaving you when you’re like this. So we can have

like these, and though part of me thinks it must be the baby’s influence, I’d be lying if I

growl, a

flashes his fangs, showing me his inner wolf. “Have it your way.” The next thing I know his shoulder is digging into my pelvis, and I’m being tipped upside. Before I know it I’m slung over his shoulder like a sack of flour. I yelp in

baby!” I

perfectly fine.” Sinclair promises, locking his arm over the back of my knees to cease my escape attempts. “You, on

right now!” I order, kicking my feet into his toned abs and remembering that his body is constructed of pure steel. The pain in my toes only enrages me more, and so I start beating my clenched fists against his firm backside. “This isn’t

baby.” Sinclair chuckles,

into the elevator, letting me vent my rage with so little reaction I wonder if he even notices my attack.

ferocious little mosquito bites, sweetheart.” Sinclair taunts, earning himself another outraged snarl. Of course, the big wolf only laughs. He carts me out of the building and onto the street, where anyone can

I object, stilling my movements for

you might want to stop making all those adorable little growling sounds. People are going to start searching if they

the other side. Unfortunately Sinclair’s shifter speed gets the better of me again, and I’m dragged back into the car. Furious, I move into the seat

Sinclair answers, sounding so sober I wonder if this is the same man who was teasing me a moment ago. “This is very serious to me, but I can’t help the way your defiance provokes my wolf any more than you can help feeling provoked by me.” His glowing, emerald eyes are boring into me, piercing straight through me with so much intensity I can’t doubt his honesty. “And I admit, I find you too cute to bear when you get riled up this way… but I don’t find anything

of my teeth. I pull away from him, not wanting to be soothed and coddled when I’m still so furious. Sinclair’s jaw clenches, but he lets me go. “Ella, If you stopped fighting me for a minute I could