The Alpha's Surrogate: A Paranormal Pregnancy Romance Read Free Page A

of her legs hooked around his waist, he did not resist.
     
                                              *              *              *
     
    Many hours later, Cara lay naked and asleep in his bed. The waning moonlight illuminated her skin, and made his heart skip a beat. If only she'd found the submissive wolf in her before, she would have been an incredible mate. And she would be, but for someone else. He could never declare her his mate, it would be seen as a sign of weakness. She could stay in the pack, though, she would not try this again.
     
    Richard crept out of bed, careful not to wake her. He slipped into his brown woolen pajama pants decorated with the silhouettes of little moose. They were silly, but oh so comfortable.
     
    Downstairs the celebration had subsided, and the pack retired to the bedrooms. With the death of some of the pack it left others unpaired. But they were family, and family took care of their own.
     
    Several of the pack spent the night in more than one room, and others had more than two in a room. The sounds of their love filled the downstairs, as it had the upstairs, and it brought a warm smile to his face.
     
    Once, years before, he had the unfortunate experience of visiting a vampire’s coven. The scene was similar to what one might see in the wolf pack. But where the wolves mated out of love, and respect, and out of a desire to fulfil the needs of their family, vampires merely had sex for no other reason than to dominate and to control. The idea of love was lost on those monsters, and if Richard never had to deal with them again, it would be too soon.
     
    He found the door he'd been looking for, and nudged it open. Indigo leaned back in a chair, Skye, his current girlfriend, knelt between his legs, her head bobbing up and down. Little moans of pleasure came from them both.
     
    He caught his Lieutenant’s eyes, and mouthed "when you're done," to which Indigo nodded. Skye was a new edition to the pack. Her parents hailed from Scotland, and she still had her brogue when she got excited.
     
    For some reason, the West Cascade pack seemed to pick up a lot of immigrants, perhaps because the closest big city was Seattle, a favorite destination of those seeking a better life.
     
    Half an hour later, Indigo appeared in the kitchen, half dressed like Richard, but he wore purple silk pajama pants that swirled around his legs as he walked.
     
    "Glad to see you and Skye getting along so well."
     
    Indigo grinned, "she's amazing, if I ever mated for life, it would be with a woman like her, maybe even her. Keep an eye on her, she'll be running the women in no time."
     
    "I will, but for tonight we have another discussion; here, it's cold out."
     
    Richard handed the Spaniard a steaming cup of coffee. The kitchen led out onto the back deck, which offered and amazing view of Mount Rainier in the distance. The moon was low in the sky, and the eastern horizon was slowly turning pink.
     
    "Cara's barren."
     
    The way Richard dropped it left no room for doubt. Indigo's head sagged slightly, his expression hinted of the sadness his heart felt.
     
    "We can't turn anyone, if we do, they will just get the blight as well. Weak from becoming the wolf, it will kill them long before they can be with child."
     
    Richard nodded, it was an old discussion, one he had with himself a million times. It took years, if not a full decade of practice before anyone, man or woman, could fully control the change. Regardless of control, once a year they must change during the last new moon of the year, the one directly after the winter solstice. If a wolf was with child when that happened, she would lose the child.
     
    "What are we to do, Indigo? We lost too many."
     
    "Will figure out a way, we always have, you always have."
     
    "In the past," Richard said, "we could replenish our numbers with births, and the occasional newcomer. But now, now we dare not