The Surrogates: The 5 Book Paranormal Pregnancy Romance Box Set Read online

  "Something wrong, oh great Alpha?”

  He tried again, he screamed at his wolf, raged at him with all his being. He could hear the howl on the wind, he could feel him inside, but there was something...

  Richard looked to the IV.

  "How?"

  "Dave here is a chemist, a full on Pee-h-dee. That is until he cooked meth and spent a nickel at Walla-Walla."

  The meth-head smiled around his cigarette.

  "Turns out," he added, "making meth is a lot more lucrative than writing papers."

  Edward put his hand on the scrawny man’s shoulders. "Unfortunately for Dave, he also started smoking it, nasty habit. He cooked me up this little serum here, I won't bore you with the details, but let’s just say after much inhumane animal testing, we can now inhibit your wolf."

  "You tested this on your own pack," Richard couldn't hide his disdain. The wolf inside him made him who he was, it gave him his strength, shored up his weaknesses. To have it removed, was like losing a limb.

  "What pack, when I took over, there were ten men and two women, now there are just four men, and three women. Turns out, when you turn enough people, a few end up surviving. The ones that go bonkers, well, they become our test subjects."

  Richard took a deep breath, he had been a wolf a long time, and seen many advancements, though few as drastic in the last hundred years.

  "You know nothing of being one of us, Edward, I take it back, you're not fit to be challenged. Is this how you killed your Alpha, by drugging him?"

  "Isn't that how you climb the ranks, kill the guy above you?"

  In a blink he jammed the knife into Cara's stomach, her eyes widened in shock and she screamed.

  Richard struggled with his bonds, he called the wolf again, he couldn't remember the last time he was so angry, he could barely see. No, he thought, not anger –rage. .

  But the wolf could not come.

  "Oh god this is too good. I can't believe you idiots never figured this out, join the twenty first century, man. It's like you all become wolves and forget what decade you were born in."

  Richard tried to calm down, tried to center himself and reach deep down to the Wolf. There were other paths to calling him, he'd found them before, long ago.

  "You don't know, you think being one of us, is just some sort of physical transformation," Richard said, filling his is voice full of pity.

  "There's nothing supernatural about this bullshit, it's a virus, that's all."

  Richard closed his eyes, Edward stabbed Cara again, she screamed, but it was pathetic, and barely audible, her agony bled together to form one long constant wall of pain.

  "Edward, you really have no idea who, or what we are."

  "Stop saying that," he stabbed Cara again, "I'm the one in charge here, not you."

  "Then why does it feel like you're just a scared, pathetic, lost little boy who wants his mommy."

  Edwards face screwed with rage and he stabbed Cara again, and again.

  "Do you want her dead, is that it, I'll kill her, and I'll cook her, and make you eat her."

  "You are pathetic. You've been given the greatest gift man has ever known, and you squander it on petty power, and what? Rape? Is that because you can't get it up, or is your dick so small no one wants it."

  Edward turned to Richard, there was blood in his eyes, “Oh, you want to see my power, let me show you."

  With a viscous scream, Edward launched at Richard, the knife held with both hands as he drove the blade into Richard’s leg, completely out of control he stabbed blindly. Finally.

  “Abby, they’re going to kill her."

  "Come on. We got to go, she said for us to leave, and that's what we’re doing."

  "You do what you want," Reign said, "I'm not leaving her to die."

  She turned to look around the small security room, there wasn't any kind of emergency kit.

  "There's got to be something, a road flair, gun, something in here we can use to distract them."

  On the screen the three men had surrounded Skye, she looked pathetic, unable to move her legs, trying to crawl away as they kicked her and spat on her. One of them had a bloody machete that he used to taunt her.

  Reign tore through the small kitchen, and she found what she was looking for. She poured the drain cleaner in the metal pail they kept to mop the place with, then she dropped in a bottle of hydrogen peroxide.

  “Come on, we only got a minute."

  The two rushed to the front entrance, Abby hesitated on opening the door.

  "Reign, Richard will be very cross with me, promise me you will defend me?"

  "What? That's what you’re worried about," Reign took a closer look, and the girl did seem to be genuinely worried.

  "Yeah, of course, I'll tell him I overpowered you."

  Abby pulled the drop bar off the door, and shouldered it open.

  Reign shot out. She didn't have much time, she could hear the acid eating away at the plastic bottle.

  She charged down the trail to the parking area and got in position behind one of the trucks. She checked the pail, it was close now. She turned and signaled to Abby. The Goth chick pulled the breaker near the door, all the lights in the parking lot went on at once.

  Reign stepped out and spun, she shifted the buck out so it was at full length, the force of the spin held the contents inside.

  The two remaining humans with the rifles were busy shielding their eyes from the sudden brightness, and never saw the bucket of acid arc through the air at them. The wolf picked up on it at the last second, dropped and rolled behind the truck.

  Reign timed it perfectly. The bottle of hydrogen peroxide disintegrated just as the bucket was over their heads, the reaction with the acid caused a massive, and sudden, expansion. The acid rained down on them.

  Reign's heart caught in her chest, she hadn't thought about the effects, but now she was seeing them. The men screamed, they dropped to their knees and clawed at their melting faces. It only took thirty seconds and they were both dead.

  Skye was caught in the deadly rain, but her regenerative powers were enough to keep her alive. She writhed on the ground as the acid ate away at her, but she was alive.

  Reign rushed to the side of the lodge, there was a hose for gardening, turned it on, and sprinted back to Skye. She started spraying the Scot as soon as she could see her.

  Instant relief shuddered through the red head, and her whole body relaxed as the cool water washed off the remaining acid.

  Reign choked as an arm slipped around her throat.

  "Good effort, little morsel, but you missed me," he growled.

  * * *

  On the third plunge of the knife Edward stopped, he dropped the blade and stumbled back. His eyes went from the shady hazel to bright yellow.

  Richard closed his eyes and focused, the pain in his legs was intense, it could easily distract him, but he used it to focus.

  Indigo, I need you. I need all of you. Change.

  All around the barn the howl of wolves could be heard. Both were, and natural. Moonlight shone through the small window, it seemed to seek something, searching, and then it stopped. Richard was bathed in it.

  Edward shook his head, the echo of the wolves came from everywhere. The light enshrined Richard, his wounds healed, his muscles bulged, and he snapped the bonds as if they were made of tinsel.

  "Seven hundred years I've walked this Earth, Edward, I respect our traditions and our rituals because they were given to us by the Wolf. The one who made us. He would never have approved of you.”

  Edward was shifting, slowly, agonizingly, he never learned to master it, he always fought it, and for him shifting was pain. He rejected the wolf.

  Richard turned instantly. One second he was the man, the next he was the wolf. Large silver fur rippled down his muscular back. The meth-head ran, but Richard was on him in a second, he gurgled and died as Richard ripped his throat out.

  Edward was still fighting the change when Richard padded nex
t to Cara. He used his teeth like a fine scalpel and cut her bonds. She fell against him, weeping. Richard lifted his head to the moon and howled. A haunting, piercing, angry howl.

  Cara through her head back and screamed. A scream that turned to the howl of a wolf as she too changed. Her wolf was tiny next to Richard, a blondish fur with black streaks. She limped out of the barn with nary a second glance.

  Edward was finished, gone was the man, now a wolf, and Edward ran. He darted out of the barn in a dash. Richard didn't chase. Outside Edwards skidded on his haunches, scrambling to turn around.

  The entire pack was there, all as wolves, waiting for him. He turned and tried to go back in the barn, it was too late. Richard was in the door, his massive jaws snapped at the little wolf. Edward whimpered as he barely escaped the bite.

  He had nowhere to go, he was surrounded, and left with no option but to fight.

  He charged Richard.

  With one dip of his head, and snap of his jaw, Edward’s life ended in a yelp. Richard cast the limp body aside, faced the moon, and howled.

  * * *

  Reign breathed a sigh of relief as Abby padded around the truck, her sleek black wolf growling with menace. The man holding her tensed, he squeezed her neck until she couldn't breathe.

  Skye screamed, her body jerked and she was a wolf again.

  "That's not possible," the man holding her said.

  He threw Reign to the ground and turned to run, trying to change as he shed his clothes. Abby was on him in a heartbeat, her paws drove him to the ground, her teeth sinking deep into his shoulders. He screamed, and scrambled out from under her. He let out his own howl as the change took him. Before he could finish it, the large red wolf that was Skye was on him, her white fangs glowing in the sudden moonlight.

  When it was done, there nothing left but a carcass’

  The celebration was in full swing. The lodge was decorated with Christmas lights, and any other festive light they could find. They mourned for Chuck, but in a way they were sure he would want. With lots of booze.

  "None for you," Indigo said, taking the red solo cup out of Reigns hands.

  "That was the punch with the kick, here's the normal stuff."

  "Thanks, wouldn't want to hurt the baby."

  "You sure you're pregnant, you look as skinny as ever, and if I might add, hot."

  "No you might not add, louse," Skye broke in, coming up behind the Spaniard and encircling her arms about his waist.

  "Watch out for this one lass, he'll charm the pants off you and leave you for the next girl he finds," Skye said.

  "Did I ever tell you I've a thing for gingers," Indigo replied with a smile. He turned and scooped her up, his mouth found hers and they kissed. She threw her legs around his waist, he effortlessly carried her off in the direction of his bedroom.

  It was something that took getting used to. Reign wasn't a prude, but the wolves were a force of nature. They loved, and fought, and lived with a fiery passion she had never believed possible. When they went for something, they went for it.

  There were new faces here as well, two men, and the lone surviving woman from East Cascade. The rest had opted to go lone, and try to start new somewhere else. She didn't know any of them, and honestly she was surprised Richard let them join after what they did.

  She still didn't understand all the wolf stuff about alphas and packs. His pack seemed to love him, and they would do anything for him. Edward’s pack seemed to operate purely from fear.

  She did see one face she recognized. The claw marks had mostly healed on the big giant. They left three paper thin scars down the middle of his face. He had found himself a corner to hide in and was nursing a drink.

  Reign glanced around for Richard, found his face through the crowd, as if he knew she was looking at him he turned to her and smiled. It sent little bolts of electricity through her fingers. She smiled back. Her tummy ached just seeing his beautiful face.

  I’ve never been into older men, why does just looking at him do the things it does?

  With a deliberate effort she broke eye contact with him, she knew once she was with him, there would be no escaping, and there was someone else she needed to talk to first.

  She wandered around the party, saying hi to one person or another, trying not to make it look like she was deliberately making her way to him. She didn't know his name, and the only time she ever met him was when he tried to kill her.

  "Hi, I never got your name?"

  He seemed shocked that she was there. Nervous even. He glanced around looking for support.

  "I'm not sure you should be talking to me."

  Now that he wasn't screaming obscenities he had a pleasant voice, a little higher than she expected.

  "I can pretty much do what I want, so don't worry about that. I'm Reign," she held out her man.

  His hand dwarfed hers, he made even Richard look small next to him.

  "Timothy, most people call me TJ."

  "I'm surprised you made the switch, why not lone wolf it?"

  He shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the next, his eyes fell to the floor. He looked like a little boy afraid to answer.

  “It's okay, were all friends here, TJ."

  "That's why, I don't want to be alone. I've never done very well alone. But I'm rather good at following orders, I guess I just got lost there for a while."

  "Richard’s a good man, TJ, and he has good people, if you knew nothing else about him, that should be enough. Hey, I want you to meet a friend of mine," Reign waived at Abby to come join her.

  "TJ, this is Abby, neither of you talk much, so enjoy."

  She left the two loners to themselves, and a smile from Abby promised that she would be friendly.

  Mission accomplished, and with a self-satisfied smile on her face, she made her way to Richard.

  He was talking quietly to Cara, the poor girl had still not recovered to her full self. And she wasn't at all happy with those who switched over. She couldn't even look at them without shuddering. Physically she was fine, but her wounds ran deep. Reign briefly wondered if they had a wolf psychologist they could talk to.

  Cara wouldn't talk about what happened, though how she dressed, bundled up in sweaters and coats, and baggy pants, told the story well enough. Richard had made sure that each of the three wolves who joined up had nothing to do with Cara's torture, and they hadn't. All they knew was that she was being held in the barn.

  Cara spied Reign and gave her a forced smile, followed by a hug.

  "I'm glad you came down," Reign said, stepping in next to Richard and casually putting her arm around his waist. Cara's eyebrows raised slightly, she looked at Reign, then Richard. “My alpha," she nodded, and walked quickly away.

  "What was that all about," asked Reign.

  "It's complicated, you have to understand, I have a past with everyone here, and sometimes not everything is uncomplicated."

  Reign nodded, she wanted to form some sort of coherent, intelligent conversation, but her mind wandered back to the cliff, and what they had done. And not done.

  "Would they miss you?"

  “Who?”

  "Your pack, if we slipped out..." she let her voice linger. She raised an eyebrow at him. Her stomach clenched and sweat broke out on her skin. She wasn't sure if he felt this way about her, but she was sure she did.

  "No, not at all. I'll follow you."

  She didn't trust herself to respond, she just grabbed his hand and led him up the stairs, her head down, face burning red. People left for the rooms for only one reason.

  * * *

  "Wow, it's nice in here."

  His room was big, a king sized bed, oak dresser, a full mirror, walk in closet, and a bathroom bigger than her room at home.

  "I'm glad you like it."

  He was hesitant, she could feel it. He wasn't sure what she wanted or possibly, what he wanted. She liked that, it made her feel in charge. She was wearing a blue pullover and jeans, nothing too fancy. She didn'
t exactly have a large wardrobe to begin with.

  She turned to face him, her back against the foot of the bed.

  "I know I'm not pretty like Cara or Skye, but am I pretty enough?"

  She waited for the rejection, she braced herself inwardly for it to come. Richard swept forward, he took her hands in his, "Oh my dear Reign," he brushed her black hair out from her eyes. She felt his lips on her forehead, his hot breath on her face, her eyes fluttered and her chest tightened.