The Surrogates: The 5 Book Paranormal Pregnancy Romance Box Set Page 10

  Richard affected his best gaze of disinterest and picked up a nearby magazine to read.

  “You’re not in a pack, I see, still not one to play the game, eh?” he said.

  “You were the only man with balls enough to order me around. What would I do, sit at some Alpha’s feet, be his plaything, no, it’s the life of the Lone Wolf for me. The packs have their rules, and so do we.”

  Richard nodded. There were many rules to follow, and by their nature, the wolves were self-policing.

  “They sent me because they felt a familiar face would put you at ease,” she said. She took out a compact and began touching up her red lipstick.

  “Is this an ultimatum?” He glanced around. Indigo and Skye were nowhere to be seen, which could be good. He wanted them to have nothing to do with this monster.

  “Yes, of sorts, turn her or kill her, you have until the last new moon. Now, that nasty business is out of the way, let's find someplace more comfortable to talk.”

  Richard stood, brushed her hands away from him, and said, “Goodbye, Heidi, I expect to never see you again.”

  He turned his back on her faux pouting face and left. If she was here, at this time, then the planes being delayed were not an accident. He found Indigo and Skye in a nearby nook, their infatuation with each other had only grown, they kissed and cuddled, oblivious to the people around them. That is, until Richard’s scent caught them. They both turned as he approached. Indigo went a little pale.

  “No fucking way.”

  Skye coughed. “You never cuss.”

  “No, he’s right, this is bad.” Richard waved for them to follow.

  “We're not taking the plane,” said Indigo.

  “I wouldn’t put it past her to blow the plane up just to get us.”

  “Who’s ‘she’?” asked Skye.

  “Someone I hope you never meet,” replied Indigo.

  “Skye, get on your phone, find us a train or private plane, something to get us back home, we don’t have much time.”

  Richard paused once they were outside. It was late, the moon was just rising in the sky, and it was close, even he could feel the pull of it. Two more weeks; two more weeks to kill the woman he loved.

  *

  Reign was worried as the doctor packed up his kit. It was one week to the new moon, one week when all wolves shifted. If she did not give birth to the baby by then, her nightmare would come true. Not that it wasn’t already a nightmare. Richard had been back from his trip for nearly a month.

  Since his return, he was pensive and distant. Something happened and he hadn’t told her what. Now the baby wasn’t coming. She couldn't go to a hospital and have a C-section, she had to wait, and the waiting was nerve racking. A few more days and the baby would be a full month late.

  Richard and Cara were in the room with her, and for some reason, this made her feel vulnerable instead of secure. The doctor smiled as Richard walked him out, leaving her with Cara.

  Why was she feeling so alone, so awkward? As if this were a dream and she was waking up. It could not be right, she loved Richard, Cara saved her life, something else was going on.

  “I don’t feel very good,” she said. She brought the cup of water to her lips.

  “The doc cleared you, said everything was good, what’s wrong?”

  Reign looked about the room. She was alone. No one near was a human, they were all wolves, they had their rules and their customs, and she wasn’t included in any of it.

  “Cara, something’s not right, I don’t feel right, I feel like I’m alone, like I have nowhere to go, I feel trapped,” she said.

  Cara glanced around the room; something flashed across her face that Reign did not recognize.

  “I’m sure its just nerves.”

  “Have you ever had a baby?”

  “No,” Cara said.

  “Then how do you know its just nerves?”

  “Because you’re not the first girl in the history of the world to have a baby, and every one of them was nervous, and felt something was wrong. Don’t borrow trouble.”

  “It’s weeks late, Cara, weeks. Something is wrong, and I can’t shake the feeling you aren’t telling me everything.”

  “Reign, no one is hiding anything. We know what you know.”

  Reign laid her head back down, something wasn’t right. She could feel the baby move, she could feel the life inside of her, but it was as if something was invading her mind. Almost as if some malevolent force was trying to force her to carry the baby to the New Moon. Where it, and she, would most likely die. Cara stood in the corner, silent as always. Ever since her abduction, she spoke very little, if at all. Now Reign felt like her presence was a burden, not a boon.

  “There is something wrong. And I’m tired of being kept in the dark.”

  Reign slid her legs out of the bed, and the momentum was enough to pull herself up. She was awkward and off balance, but she stood. Her oversized pajamas were warm enough, but they did not allow for much movement, especially since she weighed almost thirty pounds more than her usual one thirty three.

  “Reign, this isn’t a good idea,” Cara moved, not to stop her, but to steady her. She didn’t really feel all that steady, but she was determined.

  “Help or get out of the way.”

  The dilemma she put Cara in was obvious, Reign did not belong to the pack, but she was Richard’s love. If she helped Reign, she crossed Richard, if she didn’t help, she crossed Richard.

  Reign softened. “I’m sorry, Cara, but I need to know what I don’t know.”

  Cara nodded and moved to support the girl. “He’s gonna be so mad at me.”

  With Cara’s help, Reign made it to the door. She could hear the voices on the other side, Richard and Indigo, and the doctor. The wolves always thought they were whispering, but they were so loud.

  “... I don’t know,” said the doctor’s voice. “Nothing medical.”

  Well, that is something.

  “Could it be the child is a wolf, is that what the delay is?”

  “As I said, it’s nothing medical, she’s stressed, to be sure, her heart rate, BP, all of it is elevated, but physically, she’s fine.”

  Indigo spoke up, “Boss, could it be pack m...”

  Richard cut him off with a grunt. “Don’t even say that, it would take all of them

  to --”

  Reign couldn’t take it anymore. Something was wrong. In addition, she needed to know. She burst through the door, levelling her gaze right at Richard.

  “Take all of them to do what?”

  Richard glared at Cara, who turned beet red under the gaze of her Alpha.

  “Don’t blame her, look at me. I may be nineteen, but I’m no idiot, you can’t hide something from me and think I won’t notice. Now tell me.”

  Richard’s face showed the war that played out. Anger, frustration, and finally surrender. She knew he couldn’t hide it from her, she just needed him to know that.

  “Richard, I can take it, I’m no wimp for god’s sake. I’m nine months pregnant, and this ain't easy, so spill.”

  The doctor coughed politely. “Perhaps I should excuse myself, pack business is not my concern.” He did, being led out by Indigo and Cara, leaving Richard alone with Reign. Richard took her hand and led her back to bed, making her comfortable before sitting down himself next to her.

  “You know about the rule, no humans can know,” he started. She nodded.

  “Well, it’s not strictly true, obviously,” He gestured at the now departed doctor. “There are exceptions, doctors on rare occasion need to know, lawyers, etc. But never are we to date, or love humans. Love is a tricky thing and it, more than anything, can burn us. And I’ve broken that rule Reign, god, have I.”

  He placed his hand on hers, placing her fingers against his lips. “I love you more than I ever have anyone, more deeply than I knew possible.”

  Shame leaped unbidden into her heart for doubting him, his sincerity and honesty; the tears in his eyes
mirrored her own.

  “Richard, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have questioned...”

  He interrupted her with a raised hand. “Yes, you should have. You’re human, you’re young, pregnant for the first time, as if that wasn’t bad enough, you’re surrounded by the pack. We’ve lost touch with our humanity, and we forget.”

  He took a deep breath, letting his pride and stubbornness out with his breath. “Do you recall that day on the cliff?”

  Reign did, her face burned red with the memory of their intimacy. “Of course I remember. That was the moment I was yours.”

  Richard smiled. “Okay, yes, that, but I meant before that, when I turned into a wolf. It’s

  not an easy thing to force me into. I have scent.... A long time of practice, I turned because of pack magic.”

  Reign knew that there was something like that, of course, she was in love with a werewolf, so why wouldn’t there be magic.

  “I don’t understand, I thought it was some kind of telepathy or link or something.”

  “Call it what you want, but it’s magic, there is a magic to werewolves, it’s not biology, or science, it's magic. Just like there is magic to all the supernatural.”

  “All the... what do you mean? There’s more?” Reign asked.

  “A lot more, more than I could ever tell you. For now, just accept there is magic in us. And this will be easier.”

  “Okay, I can do that, I think.” She had seen him, first hand, shift from human to wolf. A part of her always assumed that what they called magic was some sort of science. She could accept that he called it magic, but to believe in actual magic, she didn’t know if that was something she could do.

  “For now that’s good enough, but soon you might have to let go of your ideas on how the universe works, and that’s not an easy thing to do,” Richard said.

  She nodded. She loved him with all her heart, it hurt just to be away from him, but there was a difference in loving someone, and accepting them telling you that the sky is red when you know, know, it is blue.

  “The Alphas, they can get together and use a ritual that links all of us. Like I was to Cara, to help her through the pain. They share a link, we all do, all the children of the moon. Through this link, we are stronger than if we were alone. It’s why we have packs, it’s why wolves run in packs; together we can do far more, bring down larger prey, protect our cubs. A pack is strong, a wolf is not.”

  “This ritual, are they using it to hurt me?”

  “Not you, they share a link with our daughter, through me.”

  Reign’s heart caught in her throat, our daughter.

  “What are they doing to her?”

  “Keeping her from being born until she kills you, then they will let her go.”

  The icy dread that had haunted the back of her mind for the last few months became a reality. The nightmares, the feeling of someone watching her, all of it, made sense now. And it was too much, the room spun, her vision swam, and all she could hear was her heart pounding in her ears.

  I’m gonna die, was her final thought before passing out into the cold grasp of unconsciousness.

  Richard sat patiently outside her room; both Skye and Doctor Messing were in the room with her, and she was perfectly safe, at least physically. He was in a corner, and he was exactly where the Alphas and Heidi wanted him; they knew he would agree to anything to get them to stop. Why couldn’t they just leave well enough alone?

  Damn European elitists.

  They were the reason he left Europe all those years ago. Their rules and structure, and their using the packs as a means of becoming more powerful. They had their reasons; the wolves were the natural enemies of the vampires, who banded together both their own kind and human thralls. The wolves’ strength was also their weakness. A lone wolf was stronger than any two vampires, a pack stronger than any coven. The bloodsuckers did not fight fair; they banded together dozens of vampires, and hundreds of thralls and picked off the wolves one pack at a time.

  It was why there was even an association of Alphas. Their pack magic bonded together and the eighteen or so alphas became as powerful as gods, or so they thought. Richard had met a god or two, and he knew better. He wanted none of it; after their last war with the undead, it was over. There would never again be a war like that, both sides had too much to lose. Both sides had already lost too much. The wolves were determined to not forget the lessons, hence the Alphas were staying together.

  Richard left Europe and them behind. In the New World, the Alphas had less power, less influence. Apparently, he was wrong. For this to be working, they had to be close; Portland or Seattle, maybe Vancouver, but no further.

  “What’s the plan, Boss?” Indigo, as always, was at his side.

  “I suppose killing them all would be out of the question.” He meant it as a joke, but Indigo did not smile.

  “Wouldn’t be the first time we faced impossible odds. We are behind you, you’re our Alpha, ours. You lead, we follow.”

  Richard’s heart swelled with pride and love; in that moment he could feel every one of the pack, and each of them felt exactly the same way. Something wonderful had happened with Cara’s kidnapping, a kind of bond had formed between them all, even the newcomers could feel it, and it overwhelmed them all. Love, respect, family, they were more deeply bonded than any mortal had a right to be.

  “If I thought we could win, I would thank you, thank you all,” he projected.

  The link faded but they were still there, ready to fight, to die, for him and Reign.

  “We can’t let her die, Boss. Those fools are short sighted, they still think we’ll heal from the blight, but I’m thinking if we were going to heal, we would have by now.”

  Richard nodded. “It’s possible, and I mean remotely possible, the new moon will heal us. But I doubt it.”

  The two sat in silence for a few more moments. Richard needed his friend there, needed his council and support. He honestly had no idea what to do next.

  “You know, there’s an option you’re not considering,” Indigo said quietly.

  “Loptr,” Richard said with barely a sound.

  “He does owe you.”

  An icy dread clawed its way to Richard’s heart; it could work, but the price could be higher than Reign’s life.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Reign awoke a few hours later. She felt no better for her rest, but now she knew what was going on. She accepted that Richard believed that it was magic, after all, he was a werewolf, but she could not. There had to be a way to stop it.

  They could go underground or far away. Was there a range limit? Could they do this thing, whatever it was, from across the world, and how were they doing it? Reign was sure Skye knew a way to induce labor; certainly, the baby didn’t get to decide when it was born.

  She opened her eyes after many minutes. The sun dipped on the horizon, her time was ticking away. She took a deep breath, calmed her nerves and cleared her mind.

  Freaking out about dying isn’t going to stop the dying. Focus.

  She sat up carefully. Her stomach felt like she was wearing a sack of flour and every time she moved, her bladder compressed to nothing. The baby had to be huge, so that in itself worried her. Reign was not a large woman, how would she birth a baby that was so late?

  “Reign, honey, what are you doing?” asked Skye, sitting in the corner with a book in her lap.

  “I need to go for a walk, maybe I can induce with enough exercise.”

  Skye smiled, the look in her eyes told Reign that she believed it was futile. But she humored the girl, grabbed both their coats, helped Reign into hers, and led her out the door to the front of the lodge. They had moved her to a downstairs bedroom to keep her from having to go up and down stairs. Richard wasn’t there, for which she was thankful. She needed some time to think, to figure out what to do. She couldn’t wait for someone else to solve her problems.

  “Skye, what would happen if I was bitten?”

  “By a wolf?
”

  “Yeah, would it kill the baby, or would we both survive?”

  Skye sighed and was silent for a long time. They walked out the door into the cold December air; the last rays of the sun faded over the forest leaving behind pink fire in the sky.

  “I nae think you understand what it tis yer asken,” Skye's sudden return of her thick brogue caught Reign by surprise. She’d known Skye for months and she only ever spoke like that when she was stressed.

  “I know if I was one of you, none of this would be happening; none of you would be in danger, and my baby wouldn’t be in danger.”