Accidental Surrogate for Alpha

Sinclair

When I arrive at Lydia’s hotel, I’m still thinking about Ella.

We’ve been doing well over the last two weeks, keeping our relationship affectionate but resisting our

shared desires as best we can. So far we’ve been able to avoid getting more intimate than we’d

already become before the doctor ordered bed rest, but the se.xual tension is still building – and the

suggestion that Ella could be less irresistible is nothing short of ridiculous.

What’s more, the baby is making her more wolf-like every day, and I’m worried our restraint can’t last

much longer. Her efforts to scent mark me today made that only too obvious. Before long she’s going to

start pushing me like any she-wolf denied her needs, either challenging my dominance or seducing me

outright. It will be up to me to resist, even though denying her needs goes against my every instinct.

I know we made the right decision about staying just friends, especially since I’ve already let my

attraction to Ella distract me from the campaign more than once. I was so preoccupied with the

beautiful human that I missed rogues pouring into my borders, and it cost the pack dearly. I got

drugged and apparently bred like a prize stud because I was too busy gushing about her to a pack of

bar flies than keeping my guard up.

None of that is to mention the harm I’m doing to Ella and our baby by keeping her in this fraudulent

political game. I need to confirm Lydia’s pregnancy or find another Luna – and whomever I choose

would never accept me having a relationship with Ella in private. That means we have to find a way to

be together without romance getting in the way, and so far we’re failing. I’m failing her – again.

I knock on the door of Lydia’s room, trying to push down memories of the last time I was here. I can’t

decide how I feel about this supposed pregnancy.

On one hand, the last thing I want is to have Lydia back in my life. On the other, a baby born from her

would solve some of my problems – the pack would accept me returning to my fated mate more easily

than they would understand me leaving Ella for another woman.

Still, I can’t help but thinking the best solution to all this would be to find a she-wolf to be my Luna after

the campaign, and to keep Rafe as my heir.

That way we avoid Lydia’s awfulness, while still giving Ella the safety and comfort she deserves. Before

I can consider the idea further, the door swings open, revealing Lydia in a hotel bathrobe.

She’s wearing a knowing smirk, and her dark hair is still wet from the shower. “Dominic, I’ve been

expecting you.” She preens, dropping her hand to her belly. “Or should I call you Daddy?”

My wolf gags in my head, and I can’t blame him. It amazes me to know how attractive I once found this

woman. The idiocy of youth, I suppose, and the cruel tricks of fate.

I promptly scent the air, pushing past the fragrant soaps and shampo0s lingering on her skin. I can

smell her familiar, distinct aroma: the cloying combination of lemon and pine. At one time it had smelled

natural and fresh to me, now it just reminds me of floor cleaner. I can’t smell a pup in her womb, which

doesn’t mean she isn’t breeding, but it does mean the child doesn’t belong to me.

I could smell Rafe from down the hall when Ella was only ten days along, but it’s been two weeks since

the apparent conception and I can’t detect a single hint of my own essence in Lydia.

“Nice try, Lydia, but if you are pregnant, it’s not mine.” I am ounce, overflowing with triumphant glee.

“What. How can you say that!?” She exclaims. “I’m not some slut, Dominic, I don’t sleep with just

anyone.”

Belatedly I realize she must not understand how quickly the bond between a father and pup forms. She

probably thought she had plenty of time to figure out how to pass of the child as mine, or to conceive

one for real.

“Darling, having never been pregnant, you couldn’t possibly know this,” I state coldly, watching her

flinch at my cruel phrasing and imagining Ella scolding me for intentionally targeting her weak spot.

“But if you were carrying my child, I would be able to smell it. Even now.”

Lydia’s mouth opens and closes as she struggles to find the right words. “Are you sure about that?”

She finally challenges, “you wouldn’t want to risk being wrong about something so important.”

I stalk forward, rudely reaching for her middle and uncinching her robe. I press my palm to her

stomach, telling myself that she deserves this and more. After all, this is nothing compared to drugging

someone and sleeping with them when they can’t consent. Again I feel nothing, no pulse of life, no tiny

consciousness or connection. “I’m sure.” I proclaim fiercely. “As soon as the egg implants, the bond to

the father forms. If you are breeding, it isn’t mine.”

Her hands close into fists, and she bares her fangs.

“Goddess damn it!” She explodes, Wrenching her body away from me and yanking her robe closed. If

you had just cooperated from the beginning -“

“Wait,” I interrupt. “What do you mean, if I had cooperated?”

She growls, throwing her hands up in exasperation. “Do you have any idea the lengths I went to in

order to drug you, Donm? To get you back here? That was supposed to be the hard part but of course,

you never make anything easy! You were out of your head on GHB, and still all you could think about

was that little whore of yours! You didn’t want anything to do with me, you kept going back and forth

between gushing over how wonderful she is and asking for her, trying to leave so you could go find her.

I had to practically tie you down just to keep you here, and then nothing I tried got you even a little

aroused- I should have shown you her photo, I’m sure you would have been hard in an instant!”

“So we didn’t even have se.x?” I clarify, relief coursing through my veins.

“Are you kidding? Your cock was like a limp noodle!” She bursts out, glaring at me. “I swear, that bitch

must be a witch. I’m still your fated mate, I ought to be able to turn you on if nothing else”

“What can I say?” I shrug, feeling very smug now.

Now that my wolf has gotten a taste of Ella, you can’t expect him to settle for anything less – and you

are absolutely, unequivocally less, Lydia.”

Her eyes blaze, glowing with her inner wolf.

There’s anger reflected in her dark irises, but also a world of pain. “Of course I am. How many times

did you even fuck her before she got pregnant? Once? Some sluts just open their legs and magically

conceive, while the rest of us struggle for years.”

“You don’t know Ella.” I growl. “It wasn’t like that, and it hasn’t been easy for her.” For one moment, I

allow myself to feel for her, for this she-wolf who I spent so many years trying to make a family with.

Our disappointment and failure was shared for so long, at a time when we both felt like our bodies were

betraying us – neither able to fulfill their core function of procreation. I’ve moved past that now, but I

know Lydia is still living it. “It’s not your fault that we couldn’t get pregnant, and I would never – never

blame you for that.” I begin.

Tears well in Lydia’s eyes, and she interrupts me before I can continue.. “You say it’s not my fault, but

the truth is that it was. You knocked Ella up without even trying, didn’t you? That means that I was the

problem all along.”

“I’m sorry, Lydia.” I profess, surprised to find I mean it. “But that’s not why she’s better. The difference is

that Ella is good and kind, and she only ever wanted to be a mother because she has so much love to

give- not because it was a way for her to secure power. I know that doesn’t make failing easier, but Ella

is truly worthy of being a Luna because she will selflessly sacrifice herself for her people or her family,

and you never would.”

“I don’t need to be pregnant to ruin you.” Lydia threatens, tears spilling down her cheeks. “If the pack

finds out you spent the night with me it won’t matter – they’ll turn on you all the same.”

Something truly bitter enters he voice now, and I suddenly realize the depth of her hatred for Ella. She

won them over so easily. She just batted her lashes and they fell at her feet, just like you. They’ll take

her side if the story comes out, even though you’ve been Alpha for years.”

“So what? You’re going to hold a press conference?” I growl.

“I’ll leak the story to the papers.” She corrects me fiercely. “And they’ll believe me, because I have the

photographs. I have proof. I’ll end your campaign once and for all.”