All Chapters of The Billionaire Alpha’s Secret Surrogate : Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

For a long moment neither of us moved. The streetlight above us flickered, buzzing, and somewhere down the block a dog barked at nothing, and still we stood there, the silence between us thick with everything unsaid since the last time we’d stood this close.He hadn’t so much as looked at me properly since the clinic. Since he’d walked out of that room without a backward glance, leaving me to wonder if I’d imagined the whole incident. Now here he was on my street, and I didn’t know which version of him I would be talking to, the one who’d fled a room over a handshake, or the one standing here with his jaw set like granite.“You shouldn’t be here.” My voice came out stiffer than I meant it to. “This isn’t part of the arrangement.”“None of tonight is part of the arrangement.” He didn’t come any closer. If anything, he kept a careful distance, hands in his pockets, posture rigid and deliberate. “I got an anonymous call twenty minutes ago fro, telling me my surrogate’s family has complic

My hands wouldn’t stop shaking while I wiped down the counter. It was twelve noon at the diner where I’d spent the last two years scrubbing grease and serving cheap coffee, but today the familiar smell of fried bacon and stale coffee made my stomach turn. My mind was trapped in a loop, repeating Killian’s final words from the night before. Silas just filed an emergency petition with the council... and the hearing is tomorrow morning. He had walked away right after, leaving me on the damp curb with a hundred unanswered questions. What hearing? What did any of it have to do with me? I was just a girl working double shifts to keep a roof over my sister’s head. I wasn't supposed to be caught in the middle of a war between an Alpha and an elder. "Elara, sweetie, you're going to scrub a hole right through that table."I jumped, nearly dropping the rag. Mrs. Odaka was watching me from behind the register, her warm eyes lined with concern."Sorry," I muttered, forcing a small smile a

" we wait."The words hung between us, thick and heavy.Killian didn't step back. He stood so close I could feel the intense heat rolling radiating off his chest, burning right through the soft fabric of my sweater. His dark grey eyes stayed locked on mine, fixed with a raw, intense focus that made my heart hammer wildly against my ribs."Wait for what?" I managed to ask, my voice barely keeping its composure as my pulse fluttered in my throat. "For the bad guys to come get me?""For the storm to pass," Killian rasped. His gaze dropped to my lips for a fraction of a second before rising back to meet my eyes, a subtle glint of silver flaring deep within his irises.He lifted a hand, his long fingers hovering just an inch from my jawline. Every nerve ending in my body zapped to life, screaming for him to close that tiny gap. But just as the tip of his knuckle brushed the warmth of my skin, he froze.His jaw clenched tightly, a sharp muscle twitching under his stubble. A dark, turbulent

The silence in the grand hall after Elara retired to her wing was deafening.I remained at the head of the dark timber table long after her plate had been cleared, staring blankly at the glowing screen of my tablet. The contract files, border patrol requisitions, and pack intelligence reports were all laid out in neat, precise lines.None of it registered.My entire focus was pinned to the subtle scent lingering in the quiet air; honey, fresh rain, and the faint, warm trace of her skin.It was driving me insane.My wolf clawed viciously against my ribs, growling at the four feet of empty space I had forced between us during dinner. It wanted me to go after her. It wanted me to tear down the doors to her quarters, pull her into my arms, and mark her until the entire territory knew she belonged to the Alpha.I gripped the edge of the mahogany table, my knuckles turning white as I forced the beast back down into the dark corners of my mind.No.I stood up, pushing the heavy chair back wi

The polished hood of the black SUV gleamed beneath the sun, reflecting the peaks of the Northridge range like a mirror. I stood by the rear passenger door, waiting as Jace finalized communication with the perimeter patrols.My mind, however, was nowhere near the pack assembly, Blackwood company meetings or the High Council’s bureaucratic posturing.It was still lingering ten yards back, anchored to the sunlit flagstones of the courtyard.I couldn't shake the image of her standing there in that thin, pale cardigan. She hadn't cowered under my tone. She hadn't bristled or thrown back a defiant retort, as she so often did when I pushed her into a corner. Instead, she had offered a smooth response; a quiet, polite wall that was far more unnerving than any open challenge.“I’ll make sure to bring a coat next time.”Her voice had been entirely devoid of the sharp curiosity that usually lit up her dark eyes whenever I drew near. She was treating me like a distant landlord.It was precisely