Accidental Surrogate for Alpha

#Chapter 411 Ella Inside the Camp

“You, the future Queen,” Hank says, shaking his head at me, “asked me to be here, and already your friend Isabel is sniffing around me like I’m some kind of convict? Just because I’m a human?”

“What?” I ask, confused, glancing over at her. “Isabel Isabel is on our side in this, Hank – she wants to help humans too -”

“It’s not about what she wants, or she thinks she wants,” Hank says, shaking his head and catching my gaze, making me listen to him. “It’s about generations of families telling wolves to keep separate from humans, to not tell them their secrets. And then it’s about the very recent shock that humans have experienced, realizing that wolves are real – and having their world absolutely destroyed by that knowledge.”

“So…” I say, frowning, starting to understand. “Do you do you not want to help? Do you want to leave?”

“No” he says, surprised, “No, Ella, I want to help very much. I just think you need to be prepared for the kind of reception you’re going to get if you walk in there with fifteen wolves in tow. Especially if they, like Isabel, have good intentions but still see humans as inherently different at best, or at worst as dangerous, or untrustworthy.”

“Isabel doesn’t think that,” I snap, instantly defensive.

“She certainly didn’t trust me,” Hank says, shrugging, his eyes apologetic.” And again, Ella, you asked me to be here.”

I sigh, murmuring that I’ll talk to her, but then something else he said rings in my head. “Wait, fifteen?” I ask, confused and looking over my shoulder. “Where are you getting fifteen wolves from? We only brought four guards…and Isabel…”

Hank sighs and then nods to the two black cars in the parking lot that I didn’t notice. And then, as I look at them, the doors open and men begin to spill out. I groan, realizing that Sinclair sent more ahead of us.

“Okay,” I sigh, looking back at Hank. “I take your point. How do you think we should do this?”

“I think,” he says carefully, looking over at our group, “you should let me and Cora take the lead. And leave the vast majority of your guys at the gate, telling them to come in only in an emergency.”

“Sinclair will flip if I go in without a guard,” I say, shaking my head.

“Two,” he says, holding up as many fingers for me to see. “One for you, one for Cora. And Ella? Pick nice ones, okay?”

And I sigh, and nod, and we head back to our group.

Twenty minutes later, after a long conversation and a great deal of negotiation, Cora, Isabel, Hank and I head into the camp with three guards behind us – Conner, Anthony, and a new one named Theo who has a radio line to the men waiting outside the gate open at all times. He also has his phone constantly in his hand and sends Roger and Sinclair text updates what feels like every ten minutes.

“You really don’t have to do that,” I say to Theo, resting a hand on his arm and looking up at him. “My mate is just …overreacting.”

Theo nods to me and then looks down at his phone. “Alpha Sinclair said you’d say that,” he says with a little bit of chagrin. “And…he also said you forgot your phone again, so me being in constant touch with him is the consequence of that.”

“Oh damn it,” I murmur, scowling and pulling my hand away, frustrated. ” I did forget my phone, didn’t I?”

“Yes you did, Luna,” Theo says, giving me a little smile as he tucks his own phone into the carrier attached to his belt.

“Fine,” I sigh, turning to Hank and Cora, who are consulting with Isabel.” Okay!” I say. “Let’s get started!”

Unlike last time, Isabel doesn’t give us a tour of the camp. When I ask why, she tells me that while she felt it would bolster the wolves to see me visiting, she worries that it will have the opposite effect on the humans – that they might see us moving through the camp as a kind of predatory prowling.

“We can’t blame them for that,” I sigh as we head directly for the children’s medical tent. “Their world has been so displaced by the secret of shifter existence. Especially these humans.”

“Plus, humans are naturally more wary,” Isabel says passively, “we are predators to their prey, after all.”

“Isabel,” I say, stopping and putting a hand on her arm. “Do you really think that about humans?”

And then Isabel’s mouth falls open a bit and she blushes. “Oh my goodness,” she murmurs, shaking her head. “I…I just heard what I said. Forgive me, Ella,” she continues, clearly contrite and embarrassed, “I…I grew up in a wolf household. I really do understand humans and wolves to be equal, I just spent my entire life with wolves.”

“It’s okay,” I say, cocking my head to the side. “I’m sure you’re not alone in that. And that plenty of humans have a lot of ideas about what wolves are like. But…”

“No,” she says, interrupting me and nodding eagerly. “I get it. I need to… spend some time thinking through those preconceived notions.” She glances now to where Conner, Cora, and Hank are waiting for us at the entrance to the tent. Both of the doctors arms are crossed in frustration, clearly eager to get to work. “And I think I was…not very nice to your human friend there,” she murmurs before looking back at me. “I’m so sorry, Ella. Will you forgive me?”

“There’s nothing to forgive,” I say, smiling at her. “Your heart is in the right place, Isabel. I know you and I know that we can just move forward.”

Smiling at me, nodding, Isabel takes my arm and we join Conner, Cora and Hank, the two guards following behind. Without a word, we all pass into the tent and my heart instantly sinks at what I see.

“Oh my god,” I murmur, one hand immediately going to my mouth as another presses my baby closer against my chest.

The tent is loud filled to the brim with crying children and only a very small number of adults working their way around the room. I grit my teeth with frustration because these poor people they clearly need so much help, and they certainly have not been getting their fair share of it. As bad as the children’s medical tent was at the Wolf Camp?

This one is…five times worse.

“We have to get to work,” Cora says, turning angry eyes to me. I nod, agreeing completely as Hank strides away, already seeking action.

“Same old plan?” I murmur, seeking her guidance, and she nods once before striding off herself, Isabel going with her. One of the guards follows her as Conner comes to my side.

“I’m with you, Luna?” he asks.

“You’re with me, Conner,” I say, and then I nod to Theo as well, who is likewise assigned to my duty. And, with that as our final word, we get started.

The hours pass quickly as we move through the tent. We follow our old methods, with Cora and Hank discerning the worst cases and me attending to those first. The guards stay to the side as best they can, letting us consult and heal, and throughout the day I see their expressions changing. At first they were hesitant, wary, as the humans with whom we worked gave us glares and clutched the children to them protectively.

But then, as our guards Theo and Anthony see the work we’re doing – see the relief we bring to the children, see the change in their parents’ faces as they see their children given new life – an ease comes to my guards’ expressions and their postures.

After I open my eyes and smile down at a little boy named Benny whose breath had been rasping, but who is now smiling and breathing easily, Theo looks at me in wonder and nods, his head bobbing eagerly. I smile at him, glad that he’s truly on the team now, in spirit as well as assignment. Behind him, holding Rafe in his arms, Conner grins and gives me a thumbs-up.

I move to stand up, smiling at both of my guards, but the little boy catches my hand.

“Hey!” he says, grinning up at me.

“Hey,” I reply, laughing and sitting back down to smile at him. “How are you feeling?”

“Better,” Benny says quickly, obviously eager to move on from that very boring subject. “Hey, are you one of the wolf people?”

“I am,” I say, laughing.

“No, you’re not,” he says, narrowing his eyes at me, still holding my hand.

“Why don’t you think so?” I asked, grinning and cocking my head to the side, charmed by his bold, frank nature.

“Because,” he replies with a frown, ” you are pretty. And so small.”

I laugh and wrinkle my nose at him. ” Wolves come in all shapes and sizes. My mate is very big. You would believe he was a wolf, if you saw him. But my sister is a human,” I say, pointing over at Cora, who is checking a young man’s vitals in a bed nearby.

“That’s impossible,” Benny says, narrowing his eyes at me. “If your sister is a person, you are also a person!”

I laugh and shake my head. “Not in this case,” I say, grinning at him. “I promise, I’m a shifter.”

“Prove it,” the little boy says, smiling fully at me now and revealing a missing front tooth that’s so cute it breaks my heart. “Turn into a wolf!”