Accidental Surrogate

Ella

I’m so focused on Sinclair, I don’t even see the car until it’s almost upon me.

I’m too stunned to move, not that there’s time to get out of the way. The only thing I can do it try to turn my body away from the vehicle, to shield my unborn child from the inevitable crash.

Time itself seems to slow down, and there’s a dull roaring in my ears. My thoughts fly by, and I’m amazed at the logical clarity I’m able to find in a single, split second. I tell myself to go limp, the impact won’t be as terrible if my body isn’t tense with fear. Isn’t that why drunk people often survive car accidents that would be fatal otherwise?

Unfortunately I don’t have time to unwind my tight muscles, as soon as I’ve had the thought a huge weight collides with my back, slamming into me with so much force the breath is knocked from my lungs. I’m spinning, twisting as the wall of iron surrounds me, forcing my feet off the ground. A deafening crash fills the air, though it seems delayed. Haven’t I already been hit?

Then I’m being thrust forward, or is it backwards? I’m moving, flying through the air and yet my limbs are completely constrained. My eyes are clenched shut, and the sound of wrending metal and shattering glass explodes around me. It’s all so sudden, I don’t have time to be afraid, to say prayers for my baby, if not for myself.

I wait for the pain, but it doesn’t come. After a few moments of holding my breath I realize I’m not moving anymore. Am I dead? Was it so sudden that I didn’t feel it?

I peek open one eye, and sunlight blinds me. Is there a sun in the afterlife? I know shifters have a version of heaven, but I didn’t imagine humans got to go there.

There’s a click, like a car door opening, and then the sound of racing footsteps. “Catch them!” Sinclair’s deep voice snarls, so loud that I think he must be yelling in my ear.

I wonder belatedly, imagining myself sprawled over the hood of a vehicle, in too much shock to feel the impact on my broken body. Shouldn’t a car that’s been sitting in the snow

I see the empty street in front of me.

to reach me, but he hadn’t had time to push

crumpled metal surface, my knees giving out as soon as my feet hit the ground. I vomit into the pristine white snow, feeling Sinclair follow me at a pace much too slow for his supernatural strength. I’m afraid to look at him, but he’s hovering beside me, surreptitiously running his hands over my body, searching for signs of injury yet trying not to disturb . “Stop.” I choke, “I’m alright… it’s you

such an accident unharmed. His handsome face is a tight grimace of pain, but I’m not sure he’s even registering the sensations. His attention is focused on me, his green eyes scouring my

reach towards his battered body. His shirt has been torn to shreds by glass from the windshield, and I can only imagine how

struggle in the distance. I follow the sound with my eyes, catching our chauffeur wrestling the homicidal driver to the ground a few meters down the road. He must have tried to make a run for it when the car stalled, unable to simply plow through Sinclair’s iron body the way it would have my own. I immediately recognize the driver as one of the rogues who attacked me in the alley, and suddenly my vision turns

any I’ve known before. That rogue hurt Sinclair. He wanted to end my baby’s life and would have taken mine

snarl, pushing myself up on shaky legs and lunging towards

me back. “Woah Ella, come here, let

I want to kill him!” I insist, not recognizing this bloodthirsty woman I’ve apparently

too, trouble, but right now you’re more important.” Sinclair murmurs in my ear. I can already hear sirens in the distance, loud, shrill, and drawing closer with every moment that

my overflowing lashes. “He hurt you! Let me go

if the internal engine that fuels his rumbles and growls has been damaged. “I know little one, we’ll make him

my feet to the ground. “You’re all bloody.” I observe pitifully, wishing I knew how to heal his wounds. “I want to

palm pressed to my belly, his eyes scouring me for the hundredth time. “The baby’s okay.” He sighs, “but I need