All Chapters of A SURROGATE FOR MY SISTER'S ALPHA HUSBAND: Chapter 41 - Chapter 45

MicaNeither of us spoke for a long moment after he stopped himself, the unfinished word hanging between us like something physical, something I could almost reach out and touch if I tried."It's okay," I finally said, though it wasn't entirely true, some part of me aching with the particular frustration of standing at the edge of understanding without quite crossing over. "You don't have to say it before you're ready.""I want to." His voice was rough, unguarded in a way I rarely saw from him. "I want to say it, Mica. I just don't know how to make it mean what it needs to mean without also acknowledging everything it changes, everything it asks of both of us, and I'm terrified of getting that wrong.""Then don't say the word yet. Just—" I hesitated, some instinct pulling me forward despite every reasonable caution I should have been exercising. "Just let me understand what you're feeling, even without the word attached to it."He looked at me, something shifting in his expression, th

NyricI finally let go of her hand somewhere near the estate gates, only because navigating the final turn required both hands on the wheel, and even then, the moment I'd parked, I reached for it again almost immediately, some instinct refusing to fully release the contact."You're going to need both hands eventually," Mica said, amusement threading through her voice despite the exhausting morning we'd just survived."Eventually. Not yet."She let me hold on a while longer, and I was grateful, more grateful than I could easily explain, for her patience with whatever this particular need actually was.That evening, once she'd retreated upstairs for an early rest, exhausted from the emotional weight of the day, I found myself alone in the study, the echoes of the appointment still sitting heavy in my chest.Ethan found me there sometime after dinner, a bottle of whiskey between us that neither of us had touched yet."How is she?" he asked, settling into the familiar chair across from my

MicaNyric posted extra guards at the gates that night, and though he tried to keep his concern from showing too plainly in front of me, I recognized the particular tightness in his jaw that meant he was taking the unfamiliar car far more seriously than his careful reassurances suggested."It's probably nothing," he said, settling into bed beside me hours later than usual, his own restlessness obvious despite the words. "A reporter, most likely. Or someone lost.""You don't believe that.""I believe in being cautious regardless of what I believe." He pulled me gently against him, one hand resting protectively over my stomach the way it often did now. "Try to sleep. The guards will radio if anything changes."I didn't sleep well, drifting in and out of shallow, anxious dreams, and when I finally woke to gray morning light, I found Nyric already gone from the bed, his side cold enough to suggest he'd been up for some time.I found him in the entryway, still in yesterday's clothes, Ethan