Page 4 of The Alpha's Surrogate

He decided to stop for a quick bite at Ellie’s diner. The door chimed when he pushed it open, and a breeze from the air conditioner in the ceiling cooled the sweat on the back of his neck.

He sighed appreciatively and walked to the counter. Ellie smiled when she saw him and wiped her hands on her apron. “Well, what do we have here? Morning, Alpha Callahan. It’s a delight to see your lovely face here every now and then.”

“Good morning, Ellie,” Callahan said, returning her smile with one of his own. “Where’s Phil?”

She gestured behind her with one hand while she rummaged around behind the counter with the other. “Somewhere in the back. Had to grab some supplies and whatnot.”

Callahan nodded and sat on a tall stool. Ellie was a middle-aged brown-haired woman with sharp gray eyes. She’d started developing crow’s feet in the corners of her eyes, and wrinkles had started to deepen on her face. But Callahan thought she still managed to look like the same young and energetic woman.

She ran the diner with her husband, Phil, although Phil spent more time in the fields during harvest. They were an inseparable pair, and sometimes Callahan caught himself watching longingly when the couple held each other or spoke tenderly to each other.

It felt like a long time since he’d experienced something like that. And if he was being entirely honest with himself, he had never had anything remotely close to what Phil and Ellie shared.

He shook his head. He knew better than to think about things that had happened a decade ago. There was no going back in time. He’d learned a hard lesson, and that lesson had stayed with him over the years.

Ellie set a mug in front of him, poured black coffee into it, added three cubes of sugar, and then topped it with cream. She stirred it for a few seconds, with the slow efficiency of someone who had performed a task a million times, and then pushed the cup toward Callahan.

“There,” she said. “Maybe that will make you stop frowning at my counter. “What’s got you in such a foul mood?”

Callahan looked up, confused, and then he smiled. He had no idea he’d zoned out. “I’m sorry, Ellie. It’s just…it’s a big day for me, that’s all. Thank you for the coffee.”

She eyed him critically, and then nodded. “Alright. What would you like to eat?”

He took a sip from the cup and thought a little. “Some sandwiches, some bacon and scrambled eggs. Oh, throw in some sausages as well.”

“Coming right up,” she said and turned to the stove behind her.

Stuffed animal heads lined the wall above Ellie, and Callahan looked at them with some interest as he sipped his coffee. He’d seen them a million times—Phil couldn’t stop talking about how he’d made each kill.

The stories were usually followed up with him talking about how marrying Ellie and having kids had changed him for the better. He still went out running, but he didn’t hunt as much as he used to anymore.

The stove sizzled and spat and the smell of fried bacon filled the diner, making Callahan’s mouth water. “Come on, Ellie. You’re going to kill me if I have to wait any longer.”

Ellie laughed and slid a plate heaped with food across to him. “That’s just how I love my men. Hungry and eager for my cooking. There you go.”

Callahan ate quietly as Ellie attended to some other customers. He wondered how long it was going to take before the agency found a surrogate for him. There was no way for him to know how many women participated in the program, and it was possible that the entire venture wouldn’t be as successful as he had expected.

He was proud of his pack and he knew them to be more advanced than their sister packs. He knew that they thought differently. But he could still be dead wrong about how they reacted to the surrogate agency. Dr. Stephanie was right, this was something new to them.

Ellie was still busy when he finished eating, so he drained his mug and left some bills under his plate, more than enough to cover what he’d been served. Ellie called inaudibly behind him and he waved, pushing out from the cool diner into the stiff heat outside.

The sun was right in the middle of the sky when he looked up. He’d spent more time with Ellie than he’d planned, and still had a couple of errands to run.

He knew he was too distracted with the surrogate agency to get much done, and he had a long drive ahead of him to Twin Moon. He put the car in gear and decided he could always run his errands later.

That was the biggest advantage of living in a small town. The pace was much slower, unlike the bigger cities, where you always felt like you were on a clock. Callahan had spent more time among humans than his other friends, but he still preferred the small-town life. They all did.

It took him about an hour to arrive at Twin Moon, and despite his slackened pace, he was still the first to arrive at their meeting spot. The bar room was empty and the bartender, Frank, nodded at him from the bar.

Callahan took a seat at their usual table and ordered a short beer. The grizzled bartender placed the drink in front of him and wiped his hands on his jeans. “Would you be wanting anything else, Callahan?”

“Nah,” Callahan replied, smiling. “I’m good for now. Just hoping I don’t have to wait too long for these…” He gestured at the empty table with his bottle of beer. “How’s the family, Frankie? How are you doing?”

“As good as can be, thank you for asking,” Frank said. “And yourself? You’re here mighty early and I can’t say as I’ve seen you here this early before. Easy day?”

“You bet,” Callahan said, smiling. “Just had some thinking to do before the guys showed up.”

“Well I won’t take up more of your time than is absolutely necessary,” Frank said. “You let me know if you need anything else, Alpha Callahan.”

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