Page 5 of The Alpha's Surrogate

Callahan nodded and smiled and watched Frank lumber away toward his spot behind the bar. He turned to the window in time to see Fannar’s massive truck rolling to a stop. The Yeti got out of his car, stretched, and made his slow, graceful way into the bar.

“Callahan,” Fannar said, sliding into the seat across from him. “You’re here early.”

“Bite me,” Callahan replied, reaching across the table to shake his friend’s hand.

The others arrived in pairs shortly after, Rowan with Articus, and Xander with Blake. The only person absent was Asher, and the Ghostbound alpha had sent a message about his absence earlier.

The six men exchanged greetings, and Callahan sipped his drink quietly while everyone was brought up to speed on each other’s lives. He watched Xander and Blake for signs of bad blood between the two, but it looked like all of that had ended after the birth of Joy. Either that, or they were both really good at hiding things.

After a while, it was his turn to speak, and all eyes turned in his direction at the same time. “Don’t know if you heard, but there’s a surrogate agency that just opened shop in my town. Heard about it?”

Xander made an obvious face and Articus raised a brow. “They asked about starting operations in my town a few months ago,” Articus said. “Didn’t really sit well with me, you know? Looks like they found a nest.”

Callahan nodded and took a swig from his bottle. This is going to be fun. “What about you, Blake? What do you think?”

Blake shrugged. “I mean, if they were going to find somewhere, it had to be the Summer Rain pack. You guys are so…modern. I doubt my people would have accepted something like that as easily as yours did. Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s an amazing thing and I think it helps us wolves. Just takes some getting used to is all.”

“Hear hear,” Fannar said, sipping quietly from his bottle.

Callahan searched the faces of his friends, drumming his fingers on the wooden table and thinking of how to continue with what he wanted to say next. He wasn’t truly bothered, these were his true friends, and he knew he could count on their support in anything. And still…

“Anyways, that’s just part of the story,” Callahan said. “You all know how I’ve always wanted to start a family, right? Well, I decided to be the first name signed up for surrogacy and I’m currently waiting to be paired with a surrogate.”

Rowan shook his head. Fannar and Articus laughed. Only Blake and Xander managed to keep straight faces. All five of them did exchange a knowing look, though.

Callahan frowned. “Well? If you’re going to say something, I think you should say it already. What’s with all of you looking at each other as if you know something that I don’t?”

Blake knocked his bottle on the table and held Callahan’s offended gaze. He stuck an accusing finger out at Callahan. “That’s because we all know something. You’ve refused to date again because you’re still hung up on Josie.

“This surrogacy talk is crazy talk. We know how badly you want a family. But not like this. Josie left and you refused to move on or find someone new. It’s been what, ten years? Admit it. That’s the reason you’re even considering this at all.”

His words struck a nerve and Callahan shifted in his seat. He tried not to think too much about his icy ex-girlfriend. She’d shattered his heart and he’d never been able to get over it.

But he expected his friends to understand. She was his soulmate, and when she left, she’d taken a part of him with her. The part of him that could have loved another woman. He didn’t want to replace her. She’d hurt him, but he couldn’t bring himself to love another woman the way he had loved her.

“You know how that ended,” Callahan said quietly. “I was nothing but a toy to her. Her interest in me was curiosity at best.” He shook his head, fighting back painful memories. He turned to Fannar and asked, “How’s she doing? Do you see her around? And her grandpa?”

“Not so often,” Fannar replied. “It’s a big town. Her grandfather died about a month ago. She doesn’t come out much. She doesn’t really mingle with the pack. She goes to work, and back home. That’s all I know.”

Callahan nodded absentmindedly. Her grandfather had died. How was she dealing with the loss? He hadn’t thought about her in a long time, and now he found himself full of worry for her.

Josie had never been enthusiastic about sharing about her life, and Callahan knew next to nothing about her personally. While he didn’t know much about her, he knew her family life was complicated. Every time he had tried to pry, she’d always stormed out or had gone icy cold on him.

He considered visiting, but they hadn’t seen each other in ten long years. So much had changed in that time. He couldn’t just show up at her front door unannounced.

Besides, he doubted she would remember him, knowing how cold and robotic she used to be. And if Fannar was being honest, then she’d probably only gotten worse over the years. Still, Callahan wished he could show her some sort of support.

Rowan nudged him. “Hey, are you alright?”

Callahan nodded and sipped his flat beer. But he wasn’t alright. He was far from alright. A door had been opened in his mind. A door he’d struggled to keep locked for so long. He definitely wasn’t alright.

Chapter 3 - Josie

The sharp vibration of her phone on the kitchen counter shook Josie out of her reverie. She startled awake and grabbed the phone. She hadn’t really fallen asleep, but she might as well have for how deeply she had disappeared into her own mind, deep in thought.

It was Klaus, again. She felt a chill run up her spine and her hand shook. She set down the phone face-first and ran her hands through her hair. He’d been calling her all day and she’d been ducking his calls.

What does he want? The surrogacy center had come through and sent her an up-front payment, just as the ad had said. She’d added some of her own money, and sent it all to Klaus. The total came up to just ten percent of her debt to the were-bears.

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