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

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

まず

remember that we were attacked this morning – that I killed a man, ripped

bedroom…

gasps, her voice suddenly worried. Suddenly alert, Roger sits up, likewise

my best to smile at them as Sinclair

she opens her arms to me 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

happily tucked against his arm. All right?

“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 telling me all about your miracle.”

a 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

to this baby,” Roger murmurs, definitive, returning his ear to her stomach. “This one’s strong! “How do you know?” she asks, laughing and casually brushing his

laugh and she swats his head a little, making him sit up and grin

brother, curious. “Do you

a little, making my stomach twist. Cora likewise notices that

at Sinclair, blinking, remembering. “Yes,” she says softly. “I remember you talking about the bond.” She turns to Roger now. “You can feel the same

back at Sinclair. “But it feels….different to me,” he adds, “than

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

have to be exactly like what I felt with Rafe. If you feel it, it’s real. But what do you mean when you

with the baby, from very early on. And you said that you knew that Rafe was a boy from the very first moment you sensed

the baby’s sex?” I ask, leaning forward to stare at

trying harder. “I feel the link, for sure. But I’m getting…”

puts a hand on his brother’s shoulder, not concerned but