Page 17 of The Alpha's Surrogate

Something else occurred to her. “Why did you come down to see me?” she asked quietly. In the silence, her quiet voice sounded like a loud cry.

Callahan kept his eyes on the road and remained quiet, and Josie thought he wasn’t going to answer. And then he said, “I needed to see you. After we met at the surrogacy center…I don’t know, something just seemed…off.” He glanced at her and sighed. “Looks like I was right.”

She raised a brow. “You drove all the way over a hunch?”

In response, Callahan simply shrugged and fell silent again. The silence crept through the car, and Josie had no interest in putting the pieces of the conversation back together. She was fine with the silence. She needed to think.

She shut her eyes and settled into her seat, but a storm raged in her mind. Although she felt safer now with Callahan at her side, she was still afraid. The reality of what had almost happened to her was chilling.

The night could have ended very differently for her. Instead of driving off toward Whispering Oaks in Callahan’s lovely sports car, she could have been bound and gagged, in the back of a truck, being dragged into the mountains. Or she could have been dead.

She shuddered at the thought and wrapped her arms around herself. She had no idea how she’d gotten into this situation, and she couldn’t see a way out of it. She was trapped in a nightmare, and she couldn’t wake up, no matter how hard she tried.

Despite insisting vehemently that she could take care of herself and that she didn’t need Callahan’s help, she was glad she wasn’t staying alone at her place tonight. She didn’t doubt that Klaus and Garry had hung around, waiting for Callahan to leave.

She glanced at him again, and a deep feeling of safety washed over her. His presence was the most comforting thing she’d experienced since her grandfather had died.

Whispering Oaks was nearly deserted when they finally arrived at the town. Callahan drove through the town, all the way to the other side, then took a side road that cut through the woods.

The road was little more than a game trail, and the woods got thicker the further he went, pressing in on both sides. Then they got to a clearing in the woods as wide as a football field, with a massive house nestled right in the middle.

Josie turned to Callahan. “Looks like you decided to go live in the middle of nowhere.”

He made an amused noise. “I was trying to make it hard for thugs to find me and kick down my front door.”

Josie frowned. “I told you already, they were—”

“Save it, Josie,” Callahan said tiredly. “I don’t need to hear whatever convenient lie you came up with. I know what I saw, and nothing you can say to me will convince me otherwise. So drop it. Okay?”

He was annoying, but he had saved her life. She owed him that much. She nodded, and that was enough for him. They got out of the car together and he led her toward the front door.

Despite its remote location, the house was beautiful. The lawn was perfectly manicured, with neatly trimmed grass on either side of the driveway. There were two other sports cars parked in a corner, and one truck for more practical purposes.

The interior was just as nice as the outside. The foyer had a high ceiling, with a massive chandelier hanging overhead, twinkling with a hundred warm lights. The wooden floors sounded as hard as concrete, and Josie could almost imagine how much that cost.

She’d always known Callahan was wealthy, but he was never ostentatious about it—except with his cars. He always knew how to find quality in simple things. But he didn’t do any of that in his house. Everything she saw smelled of wealth.

Somewhere in her mind, she wondered what Klaus would do if he ever found out just how well Callahan was living. She wouldn’t put it past him to try to get Callahan for everything he had.

She couldn’t stay here, she realized. Not long term. If Klaus was serious and he really did have a way of finding her, she could lead them down here, to Callahan. She’d done enough damage already, and she couldn’t drag him down with her into her mess.

“Hey, are you okay?” Callahan asked, rocking her shoulder slightly. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost. What’s wrong?”

She shook her head. “Nothing. I’m just thinking how I didn’t lock my door before we left.”

Callahan sighed. “Nothing we can do about that now, I’m sorry.” He looked at her more closely and his brows curved in worry. “You know what? Come here.”

He led her through a door on the right and into a massive, state-of-the-art kitchen. “Sit right here.” He pulled out a stool for her and gestured to it. He walked toward the cabinet and brought out a bottle and two glasses.

He poured into the two glasses and pushed one toward Josie. “Here. This should settle you some. Drink up.” He knocked his glass against hers and threw the whiskey back in one swallow. Josie grimaced but did the same.

He poured into the two glasses again and nodded at Josie. She groaned and this time, she knocked glasses with him. They swallowed together, and she felt the warmth spread through her immediately, setting her insides on fire.

Her cheeks regained some heat and she felt a lot better than she had earlier. She looked up and found Callahan watching her quietly. She could see a hundred questions dancing behind his eyes. His curiosity and worry were etched clearly on his lovely face.

She didn’t think she could give him the answers he sought, though. It would be nice to finish that bottle, telling him everything that had happened and how Klaus and the were-bears had come into her life at all. It would be nice to have someone to share the burden of knowing them with. He was one of the few people who would actually understand, she knew.

But she couldn’t bring herself to do it. She wouldn’t even know where to start. She’d never had that before, someone to confide in. Her whole life she had dealt with things on her own, and this situation with the were-bears was just another such situation.

---