Lahat ng Kabanata ng THE ALPHA'S SURROGATE MATE: Kabanata 21 - Kabanata 30

CHAPTER 20 Two men I didn't recognize stood outside my door."Who assigned you?" I asked."Alpha Roman's orders.""Why?"Neither answered.One shifted his weight. The other kept his eyes fixed somewhere over my shoulder.I stared at them for another second before turning away.If Roman wanted to surround me with guards, he could at least have the courage to explain why.I found him in his study twenty minutes later, still surrounded by the reports from the night before."Why are there two guards outside my door?""Because you're not safe.""That isn't an answer."He set down the paper in his hand."After what happened in Lyra's study, I'm not taking chances.""You told me to be careful. You never told me what I was supposed to be careful of. Now I have strangers standing outside my room, and I still don't know why.""It's necessary.""That's not a reason. That's an order."I crossed my arms."I'm not a prisoner.""I know.""Then stop treating me like one."He didn't answer immediate

CHAPTER 22 "What does that mean?"Roman didn't answer right away.The silence after his words felt louder than anything he could have said."Do you mean you don't want me to leave because of the baby?""No.""Because of the contract?""No."I swallowed."Then because of me?"He looked at me.Something raw and unguarded crossed his face before he could hide it."I shouldn't have said it like that.""So you didn't mean it?""I didn't say that.""Then what are you saying?"He exhaled slowly, like the question cost him something."I don't know what happens after the contract. I don't want you making decisions based on one conversation in a garden.""I can't build a future around something you're going to regret tomorrow."I crossed my arms."I'm not asking you to promise me forever. I'm asking whether what you said was real."His eyes held mine."It was real.""Then why does it feel like you're trying to take it back?"He was quiet.I waited."Is this about the baby?"His expression tigh

Chapter 24 The book Sable handed Roman was older than the mansion itself. Its leather cover had cracked along the spine, and its brittle pages smelled of dust and something faintly metallic.At the center of the open page, someone had circled a passage in faded red ink.When the old blood wakes, the moon itself takes notice.I read the words twice."What does that mean?"Roman stood across the table, his expression unreadable. "I don't know yet.""You're telling me you found a book that might explain my abnormal blood results, and you don't know what it means?""I'm telling you the truth." He pushed the book toward me. "Sable discovered it while comparing your results against historical records. She believes the descriptions might be connected to what she's seeing in your blood.""Might be?""She hasn't confirmed anything."I stared at him, searching his face for the familiar signs of a decision he'd already made on my behalf. The careful wording. The protective silence. The promise

Chapter 26 "We need a full lineage test," Sable said.I stared at her."A full what?""Lineage test. Not another routine compatibility assessment. I want to examine your inherited markers more extensively and compare them against every reference available to me.""How far back can you go?""As far as the evidence allows."Her answer should have reassured me. Instead, it made my stomach tighten.I thought about the ancient book, the missing pages, and the word that had followed me into my sleep.Moonborn."Is it dangerous?" I asked."The blood draw itself is routine. The investigation is more complicated." She paused. "I can't promise the results will give us every answer, and I don't know what we'll discover.""You're worried about what the test might reveal.""I'm concerned about what we don't understand."I studied her face."That's not quite the same thing.""No," she admitted. "It isn't."I thought about the documents Corvin had been examining, the strange gaps in my family's hi

CHAPTER 28 "Who else knows what I am?"Roman didn't answer.That was the answer."Roman.""I'm thinking.""No." I set the transparent sleeve containing the damaged manuscript on the table. "You're remembering something. I watched it cross your face when I asked that question. What do you know?"He looked at the sleeve."Nothing about Moonborn. I swear that on my life.""Then what was that look?""The missing pages. Someone removed them, and we don't know when or why." His jaw tightened. "When you asked who knew, I started thinking about how you came to Blackthorn."I went still."What does that mean?""Your selection wasn't as straightforward as I believed."The room seemed to grow colder."I signed a contract. You told me there was a selection process. Screening, compatibility, medical assessments.""There was.""But?"He hesitated."Your name came through Edric Hale."I stared at him."Who is Edric Hale?""He advised my father for thirty years. He handled sensitive family matters