Alle Kapitel von Surrogate to the Beastly Alpha : Kapitel 31 – Kapitel 40

Cassius"We are going to find a man named Richard," I said, the venom dripping from every syllable. "And we are going to teach him exactly what happens when you threaten something that belongs to Thornwood."I pushed the hospital doors open, the freezing dawn air hitting my face."Alpha, wait!"The shrill, panicked voice echoed down the hospital corridor behind me. I stopped, my jaw clenching as I turned around.Clara was running down the hallway, her maid's uniform disheveled, holding a glowing silver communication stone. The magical artifact was pulsing erratically, a direct line to the High Ridge coven."The High Priestess just sent an urgent transmission," Clara gasped, completely out of breath as she skidded to a halt in front of me. "It’s the Luna. The stabilization failed. She is convulsing again, Alpha! The Priestess says her core is completely collapsing. You have to go back to the mountain immediately. They need your Alpha aura to anchor her magic, or she won't survive the h

Cassius The carriage ride up the mountain was a frozen blur. I pushed the horses to the brink of collapse just to reach the heavy iron doors of the High Ridge coven. The blizzard howled, tearing through my thin coat, but the biting wind was nothing compared to the dread sitting heavy in my gut. I shoved through the grand entrance. My boots echoed against the stone floors. The air inside smelled of burnt sage and copper blood. "Where is she?" I demanded, grabbing a young acolyte by the arm. "The main chamber, Alpha," the girl stammered. Her eyes went wide at the dried blood staining my shirt. "She's awake." I didn't wait for an escort. I crossed the courtyard and pushed open the heavy wooden doors of the healing chamber. Selena sat on the stone altar, propped against a pile of furs. Her silver hair was damp with sweat. Her skin was deathly pale. But the moment the doors clicked shut, her icy blue eyes locked onto mine. She didn't look like a woman who had just survived a mag

CassiusThe heavy oak doors of my study clicked shut. For the first time in two weeks, I was alone.I walked to the mahogany desk, gripping the edge until my knuckles turned white. I let my head drop and closed my eyes as the exhaustion of the day hit me.Pregnant.I let out a shaky breath. For five years, I had watched my mate waste away. I subjected my pack to the shame of a surrogate contract. I endured the council's whispers and nearly lost my mind, all because the healers swore Selena’s womb was barren.But the Goddess had given us a miracle. My true heir was growing inside her.A fierce need to protect them settled in my chest, quieting my wolf. I was going to be a father. The line of Thornwood would continue through my mate, just as the laws of our kind dictated.But the joy vanished, replaced by heavy guilt.I had abandoned her. While my pregnant wife convulsed on a stone altar, trying to protect our unborn pup, I was a hundred miles away. I was in a hospital room, giving my b

AriaMy hands were raw and blistered from scrubbing the marble floors of the east wing—a direct, humiliating order from Selena that morning.The winter air in the courtyard was biting, but it was the only place I could escape the suffocating reality of the castle. I sat on the edge of the freezing stone fountain, wrapping my thin maid’s apron tighter around my waist. Out here, the wind smelled like pine needles and frost, not expensive perfumes and bleach."You are going to freeze to death out here, Aria."I turned, my tense shoulders dropping as a warm smile spread across my face.Finn was making his way across the snowy courtyard, moving slower than usual. Beneath the heavy collar of his guard’s cloak, I could just barely see the edge of the thick bandages wrapping his shoulder, a brutal reminder of the rogue wolf's claws."Should you even be out of bed?" I asked, standing up."If I stay in that barracks staring at the ceiling for one more day, I will lose my mind," Finn chuckled. H

AriaMy muscles still burned with a deep, persistent ache. Every time I took a breath, I felt the phantom weight of Cassius’s massive body pressing me into the hard canvas of the underground training mat. We had fought for two hours that afternoon. He had pushed me to my absolute physical limit, but beneath the punches and the blocks, there was a heavy, suffocating heat that neither of us could ignore.When he had finally pinned me, our chests heaving, his face only inches from mine, his control had nearly snapped. Stay in your room, he had ordered, his voice rough, strained, and laced with a feral warning. Do not leave until I send for you.I had obeyed. I was sitting on the edge of my bed, nursing a bruised shoulder in the quiet safety of my room, when the heavy oak door suddenly swung open.A senior maid marched in. Her face was set in a deep scowl, and over her arm, she carried a stiff, scratchy black-and-white server’s uniform. She threw the garments onto my mattress."Get dresse