All Chapters of Surrogate for the Alpha, Bound by Desire: Chapter 1 - Chapter 5

Laura Sam Halewood’s POV I stood frozen in the hospital hallway, the echo of the nurse’s words still ringing sharp in my head. Everything that had just happened with Alpha Zed— the heat, the warning, the way it felt like the whole world narrowed down to just him and me. It all blurred into nothing next to the ICU and right away. None of that mattered anymore but her. I ran. My legs burned, my bag slapped hard against my side, but I didn’t slow down until I skidded to a halt outside the ICU doors. The doctor was already there, face drawn, waiting. “She’s stable for now,” he said before I could even catch my breath. “But Laura, it’s worse. Much worse. Her pulmonary hypertension is climbing faster than our worst projections. The scarring in her lungs is spreading. Every day it gets a little harder for her to breathe.” He paused, voice heavy and honest, no soft lies to make it easier. “Without that transplant and the lifelong specialized care only the best private centers can arran

Laura Sam Halewood’s POV The car rolled through the gates of Thornhold Domain before dawn, the sky still streaked deep indigo and faint silver. Beta Asher drove steady, quiet, the same way he did everything, like he’d mapped every turn, every risk, every detail long before we left the hospital. We didn’t talk much on the way. I’d said goodbye to Chloe hours before, sat holding her hand while she slept, memorized the way her chest rose and fell slowly, the faint sketch of a cat she’d drawn on her wrist. That was the only reason I was here. The only thing that mattered. Everything else, the rules, the walls, the man waiting at the center of it all, was just the deal. Just the price I’d agreed to pay. When we pulled up to the main house, it was larger than I’d pictured, solid stone and dark glass. No fancy frills, no unnecessary shine. Exactly like the man who owned it. “This is the private west wing,” Beta Asher said as we walked inside, leading the way down a wide, quiet hall