Accidental Surrogate

Ella

I take deep breaths, working to breathe through the contraction. Sinclair is seated on the bed next to me, one hand on my lower back, the other clutching my left hand as I squeeze his fingers, hard.

“You’re doing great, Ells,” Cora says, there on my right, coaching me through it. She was the obvious choice to help me deliver my baby, even though three other doctors wait patiently behind the door to our living room, as well as a small team of delivery nurses.

It’s all overkill, I know – but, well, why not have them on hand just in case. But in the room? It’s just the three of us for now. Roger and Henry are out there too, taking care of Rafe and probably drinking brandy and smoking cigars, for all I know.

The contraction ends and my head falls back as I pant, pressing my eyes shut and working hard to save my energy. Babygirl – she’s taking longer than Rafe, which is fine, it’s just…a completely different experience. While I was physically battered last time, this time I’m just…exhausted.

I can feel Sinclair’s anxiety for me down the line of our bond, even if he tries to hide it. He releases my hand, shakes his out a little bit, and then raises a cool washcloth to my head, patting away the sweat there.

“Thanks, baby,” I murmur, turning my face to him a little bit.

“Almost there, Ella,” he replies, supportive.

“He’s right,” Cora says, bending down low to check on my progress. “We’re going to start pushing on the next one.” She raises her head and grins at me. “You ready?”

“Are you kidding?” I say, raising my head to glare at her a little. “I’ve been ready for hours.”

My sister’s smile deepens as she stands up, moving over to the door to call the delivery nurses in so that there are some extra hands to help with the baby.

“Little Princess,” Sinclair says, giving me a squeeze. “She’ll be here soon.”

“I’m going to be jealous,” I mutter, glancing at him and working hard for a joke, even though I can feel the next contraction coming on, “when there’s another girl in your life, stealing all your attention.”

“Never,” he replies, kissing me on the side of the head. “You’re always my best girl.”

“Better be,” I gasp, but then all jokes are put aside, because the contraction comes on in full force. I groan as the pain grasps me and Cora moves quickly to the bedside, helping me better position my legs as she coaches me through it.

“Okay, Ella!” she says, her voice eager. “Let’s start to push!”

do – I bear down, and put my full force behind it, working to bring my

my world turning dark at the edges. I keep pushing, still

as I gasp a breath back in

coming fast now,” Cora says, her voice excited, “you’re

fades away and – and the shadows at the edge of my vision,

darkness at the edge of my vision that I’ve felt before when I’ve felt faint. This is – what the hell, it’s real shadows

as I whip my head, looking around the room, “do you

towards

I say, pulling my face from his hand, looking

voice shaking

– I don’t know – ” Cora says,

out, and the room grows dark as

and the room becomes somehow a shadow of itself, looking like…like a room in a dollhouse, or

the man who stands at the center of the room, who looks like he’s made of shadow itself. Except his eyes, which burn bright as coals in

says, his voice low and

clear from him, revealing a tall, broad-shouldered man with an angular face, impeccably dressed in rich fabrics, each a

I gasp, terrified and still in a great deal of pain, though my birth process is somehow…paused – I’m in the middle of it, but it’s

realm – only taken a second of your life. When we’re finished our

to get

mouth turning up. ” I’m afraid your mother has neglected you, then, if she hasn’t bothered

as I put the pieces together. My mother – goddess of the light, and the moon, and wolves frequently paired, rather unhappily, with her sometimes-paramour, the God

lack of a better term.

him, even more afraid now than I was before what on earth is he here for