Page 75 of The Billionaire Alpha Surrogate

He looked at her seriously for a minute and grinned. “We have a lot to talk about when you get out of the hospital.”

Is he going to ask me to go through the mating ceremony with him? I think he loves me.

Lucy started to ask him but then didn’t. She was too afraid of his answer.

“I have a meeting I have to get to,” Micah said. “Zac needs to talk to everyone in the pack. I’ll be back later.”

“I love you,” Lucy blurted out.

Micah grinned and brushed a kiss across her lips. “We’ll talk about it when you get out of the hospital.”

Tears sprang to Lucy’s eyes as she watched him leave. Did I screw up?

24

Micah

Zac, the alpha of the Nightshade pack, was standing on the dais at the pack meeting hall. Micah, Sean, Ian, Conner, and two other pack members sat in the chairs positioned in front of the dais. Micah noticed that only the strongest members of the pack were there.

“We have a problem,” Zac said. “There are at least ten coyote shifters out there that broke away from that Arizona pack. They’ve been killing other shifters, mundane animals, and even some mundane humans as they traveled from there to here. Now, they are in our territory. They chased down a family who was camping on the mountain and killed the father. Marvin and another dragon shifter just happened to be in the area and stopped them from hurting the rest of the family too badly. Instead of chasing down the coyotes, the dragons helped the mother and two kids back to their vehicle and then called the rangers.”

“That must have been a shock,” Ian said. “To be attacked by coyotes, have a couple of dragons swoop in to save them, and then see the dragons turn into humans.”

“They’re likely going to need therapy for a long time,” Conner agreed. “But at least they are alive to need it.”

“True enough,” Zac said. “We have to stop the coyote shifters. We have an idea as to where they are, so we need to get there before they leave our territory and move on to hurt people and animals in other areas. We leave now.”

Zac pulled Micah aside and said, “If you need to stay, I understand, although we could certainly use your help.”

“Lucy is doing well and the babies are fine,” Micah said. “I’m in. I’ll just give her a quick call.”

Zac nodded and walked over to the other men and women in the group. They all had pulled out their phones to let their loved ones know that they were going to be gone for a while.

“Hey, Lucy. How are you feeling?”

“I’m good,” Lucy said. “The babies are moving, Vera is keeping me fed, and I’m working on my book.”

“Excellent. Listen, there is an emergency going on in our territory. Some coyote shifters are hunting other shifters, mundane animals, and mundane humans. They killed someone this morning. We need to take care of the problem before anyone else gets hurt.”

“Go. You have to help protect the pack and everyone else. That’s who you are,” Lucy said. “Be safe.”

“I promise,” Micah said. “See you soon.”

He wanted to say the words back to her, but it was so hard. Micah could admit to himself that he loved her, but to actually say those words to her was a completely different matter.

I’ll sort it all out when I get back, he promised himself. I’ve got time. Right now, I need to put all of my focus on this hunt.

Everyone finished their phone calls, loaded up in a couple of trucks, and headed up the mountain. They hurried to the space where everyone shifted, undressed, put their clothes and truck keys in the bags, and carefully hid them in the trees. Then, they shifted.

“Let’s break into teams,” Zac said telepathically. “Conner and Micah will go northwest. Ian, Sean, and Sadie will go due north. Kayla and I will go northeast. Call out as soon as you see them. Don’t engage if you can help it because there are at least ten against two or three.”

The teams trotted off. After three hours, Micah started to get tired. “Do you think they are in this direction?”

A few seconds later, they picked up the scent. This particular band of coyote shifters reeked of old blood. Micah and Conner stopped in their tracks and listened intently. They were talking about what had happened that morning.

“Did you see the look on their faces?” one of them asked.

“They were priceless,” another said.

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