Accidental Surrogate

Ella

“I can’t wait any longer” I say, two hours, one shower, and three sandwiches later. I stand up in the tiny steel kitchen, accidentally scattering the bag of chips I was picking at all over the counter. Honestly, I wasn’t even eating because I was hungry. I was just trying to distract myself.

“Ella,” Sinclair sighs, reaching for my wrist.

“No!” I say, moving away from his grasp. “They’re being selfish! They know I’m dying to know!”

“Let them take their time!” Sinclair urges, standing up with me. I turn to glare at him and see him looking longingly at the hallway as well.

“See?” I say, pointing at him and narrowing my eyes. “You want to go too.”

Caught, he looks at me and grimaces a little. “Well, obviously I want to go talk to them, Ella,” he says, rolling his eyes. “He’s my brother as much as she’s your sister – I want to know as badly as you do –”

“Then let’s go!” I laugh, slapping my hand on the table and grinning down at the baby, who looks at me curiously. I laugh again at his expression and coo down at him. “Let’s go see your auntie and your Roger and your new cousin!”

“Ella,” Sinclair warns, stoic. “It’s not right. They’re entitled to their time alone!”

“Oh whatever,” I say, waving a hand to dismiss the Idea as I grabbing the half–empty bag of chips off the table. “She’s probably hungry. She’s a pregnant woman! She needs sustenance!”

And then, before he can stop me, I’m charging down the hall, determined to see my sister and learn everything.

“No, stop!” Sinclair calls half–heartedly behind me, and grin over my shoulder at him, because I know he could catch and stop me if he wanted to. I laugh then, hurrying towards the door to our room and reaching for it, thinking that my mate is just as nosy as I am – he just has more qualms about indulging in it.

rap lightly on the door before pushing it open. “Hello!” I sing, sweeping into the room, my heart swelling with happiness when I see Cora laying down on the bed, her head propped up against the pillows, her shirt pushed up a little and Roger pressing his ear low against her stomach.

smile that does

how incredibly sad she was when she arrived at the bunker. And as I cross to her I think, suddenly, about the insane swing that this day has taken.

まず

that we were attacked this morning – that

bedroom…

alert, Roger sits up, likewise looking at me with

sit down hard on the bed and doing my best to smile at them as Sinclair comes to the door. “It’s just been a…big day, hasn’t

so I can come in for a hug. Sinclair closes the door behind him and comes to my side, taking the baby from me before I move across the bed and allow Cora

sits down on the edge of the bed, the baby happily tucked against his arm. All right? he

and then turn to Cora. “Come on,” I say, poking her with my elbow. “Cheer me up, then, distract me from the fact that my baby was almost kidnapped this morning by

little and complies with my request, looking down at her bare flat stomach and giving a little shrug. “There’s nothing much to say yet, Ella,” she says. “I’m barely pregnant. If a woman came to me in this condition, just hardly having missed her period, I would honestly advise her not to tell any family

casually brushing his hair away from his face. “Because,” he says, smug, “the

head a little, making him sit

his brother, curious. “Do

towards him then, and his face drops a little, making my stomach twist. Cora likewise notices that something is off and she sits

“I remember

feel it,” he says to her, reassuring, but then he looks back at Sinclair. “But it feels….different

that you feel it, yes?” I say eagerly, leaning forward, wanting it to be all right.

brother. “All bonds are different, it doesn’t have to be exactly like what I felt with Rafe. If you feel it, it’s real. But what do you

with the baby, from very early

a sense of the baby’s sex?” I

feel the link, for sure. But I’m getting…” he sighs and opens

brother’s shoulder, not concerned but wanting to