Accidental Surrogate

Cora

“Um, should we go get Ella?” I ask, hesitant. Because while I do just want to spill everything right here, right now, while I feel so safe with Roger, I do know that Ella will want to hear this. And quite frankly, I don’t want to tell it twice.

Roger stays still for a moment but then he starts to move. “Sure, Cora,” he says, taking his arm from around my shoulders and climbing off the bed. “I’ll go get them now –“:

I see him walking towards the door and instantly miss his warmth beside me. Suddenly, I very much don’t want to be alone in this room. “I’ll come with you,” I say in a hurry, scootching off the bed and moving to his side.

“All right,” he says, smiling down at me as he opens the door. Then, we both move through it together, me just a step behind so that Roger can lead the way. I glance at the grandfather clock down the wall – still a little askew, I realize, from one of Ella’s wheelchair adventures – and see that it’s early – probably too early to wake them, when they’ve gotten so little sleep.

“Should we,” I say, hesitating as we arrive at their bedroom door, but Roger just shakes his head at me. “They’ll want to know,” he says, twisting the knob and pushing the door open just a crack so we can peek inside.

We’re met with an instant snarl as Sinclair sits up in bed, hearing the door open and reacting instantly against a potential threat. I gasp, falling back a step, but Roger’s hand is instantly on my back, holding me steady.

“It’s all right, Dominic,” Roger calls out, pushing the door open fully so Sinclair and Ella can see us. I see, then, that the pair of them were already mostly awake – Ella nursing Rafe quietly in bed while Sinclair dozed next to her. The instinctual fear that kindled in me at the sound of Sinclair’s snarl begins to fade as I see the actual sweet reality of the scene before me.

“Cora!” Ella, cries, working to stand up, but I move into the bedroom before she can.

“No,” I say, crossing the room to her bedside. “Stay down – you’re busy, obviously

“Are you all right?” she asks, worried, reaching out a hand to take mine.

“Um,” I say, looking between her and Sinclair, blushing a little to see that Sinclair is mostly naked. Roger, at my side again, doesn’t blush at all even though he can see most of Ella’s breast as she mothers all the time – but the casual way that wolves accept the naked body…I’m not sure I’ll ever get used to it.

I’m reminded, quite suddenly, of Hank’s awkwardness when confronted with Ella and Sinclair’s frank comfort with their bodies and their sexuality – he’s a surgeon, after all, not an OBGYN – and suddenly I think –

my god,

with worry – honestly, I

for my phone, but

down at me with concern and

got more important things to do. “Ella,” I say, looking at her seriously again. “I…I remember things. Important things. I think you should

genuine, curious but not pressuring me.

Ella

Roger curiously for a second, but his eyes are trained on my sister, watching, listening. I adjust my hold on Rafe, who is still happily eating, and lean

I forgot it,” Cora says, looking down at her hands and shaking her head. “It’s like a nightmare you forget about it in the morning when you wake up, but then something reminds you

is it, Cora?” I whisper, wanting to let her go at her own pace but also

man,” she says, looking up and meeting my

I say, shaking my head. “I didn’t

– I’d have the same

see tears starting in her eyes again and my heart wrenches to see her so upset. “He never approached us – never spoke to us. But I would see him, like a specter from a dream – suddenly, he’d be there. Standing across the school yard, watching

a hand to her neck, closing her eyes tight against the memory. “And every time I saw him – I’d forget him, until I saw him again – and then I’d remember –”

I coo, leaning forward towards her.

“He’s the one who made me switch the sperm samples – I’m so sorry, Ella – it’s all my fault it really was me

I say, fierce, taking her hand and squeezing it hard. “You did everything right – that priest, he did something to you, hypnotized you, made you

this – the priests who followed Ella her whole life, they

wiping a tear from her eye. “I can tell – I know it in my bones. There’s a tie there, some…similarity. But they’re not the same order. This man he

know more about shifter religion than I do. “Are you aware of some…subset? Or a cult of priests?