Page 20 of The Alpha's Surrogate

Josie glanced down at the depression in the bed, where they had been lying a few minutes ago. “What are you doing here?” she asked again, her voice harder than the first time.

Callahan sighed and got out of the bed. He pushed the curtains aside and opened the windows, allowing a cool summer breeze and early morning light into the room. He turned the chair at the desk in the corner so he could look at Josie, thinking of how to respond.

“I’m sorry I came in here, Josie,” he said, “but I was worried. You had a nightmare and you were crying and thrashing in your sleep. You kept saying, ‘don’t kill me please.’ I held you and tried to wake you up, then comforted you back to sleep.”

Her face paled and her mouth hung open. There was an embarrassed look on her face and some other emotion he couldn’t read, but she looked away before he could process it.

He pulled his chair closer to her, but far enough that she wouldn’t have to jump away from him. He wanted to reach out and touch her, but he resisted the urge. “Josie…I was worried last night. That was why I came in. I didn’t want you to hurt yourself. I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine, Callahan,” she said, refusing to meet his eye. “You have nothing to be sorry for. I was just surprised to see us so…close. That’s all.”

He drew closer again. “Josie…can you tell me what was bothering you? What were you dreaming about? Can you remember your dream?”

She looked up at him and fear flashed across her face. “It was nothing,” she said in a hard voice. “I’m sorry you had to witness that, but it’s nothing you need to worry about. I sometimes have bad dreams, that’s all. I have herbs in my room that help me sleep, but I didn’t have time to get some last night.”

Callahan would have believed her if she didn’t look so sick and if her hands weren’t shaking so visibly. She was lying to him. He knew why she was doing so, but it hurt him regardless.

Did she not see that he was only trying to help? That was all he had been trying to do from the start. Why did she insist on going through life all alone? Why did she embrace loneliness so eagerly? What was she running away from?

This was why things had gone so sour for them in the past. Him, always trying to become a deeper part of her life. And her, retreating deeper into her shell, locking doors behind her as she went.

Ten years later and he still found himself trying to kick down doors to get to her. It was enough to drive a man mad. Callahan had needed to drag himself away from the precipice of insanity on multiple occasions.

“Okay, Josie.” Callahan decided to let it go. “Look, I’m sorry I got into bed with you…but it felt great. It felt intimate. I just wanted to be there for you and keep you safe. It worked too.”

Josie shifted. “Can we please not talk about that? I don’t remember much of it and I’d like to put it behind me now. I told you yesterday, I don’t need saving. Besides, I have to get going if I’m going to get to work in time. I didn’t call in sick and I have a ton of stuff to do today.”

“Work?” Callahan asked incredulously, looking up. “I’m sorry, Josie, but it looks like you misunderstood me last night. Those men broke into your house. Smashed right through your door. What’s to stop them from coming back? You really want to go back there?”

“Yes, Callahan!” Her voice was sharp and cold. “It’s my house. I’m not just going to leave my house and come stay…here, just ’cause you said so. I’m not going to run away from my home.”

He wanted to scream at her, shake her till some sense entered her head. He’d acted on those impulses before, and he’d lost her with every wrong step he’d taken, and every ill-advised reaction he’d had.

However, he was older and wiser now. He had more experience, had seen more. He also understood her better than he had a decade ago.

If he was going to have a prayer of a chance here, he couldn’t wind up making the same mistakes he’d made in the past. He also didn’t plan on giving up easily, so he had to be willing to play the long game.

“I hear you, Josie,” he said placatingly. “I really do. I know that your job is important and that this arrangement is very…sudden. We can find a way to make it work in your favor.

“But I need you to hear me too. You’re not going back to Silver Peaks. Not when there are were-bears breaking into your home and making you beg for your life in your sleep. I won’t allow it, for your own good.”

She scoffed and rose to her feet. “Well, you better prepare to bind me hands and feet, Callahan Finn, because you can’t make me stay. I have a life to go back to.”

She started pulling on her boots and Callahan squatted in front of her. He gently brushed her hands off and took the shoes away from her. “You’re still not listening to me, Josie. You’re not leaving, not until I’m assured of your safety.

“Now, you can either tell me who those men were, and I find a way to deal with them so they don’t bother you anymore. Or, you keep that information to yourself, and you stay put with me. We both know you’re not going to tell me who they are, so it looks like you’re staying.”

“And what are you going to do if I try to walk out of here?” she asked him, seething.

“Simple. Nothing.” Callahan tossed the boots on the floor in front of her and returned to the chair. She watched him suspiciously, trying to decide what she wanted to do next, and then she grabbed the boots and started strapping them on again.

“Of course, if you choose to leave,” Callahan said quietly, “I’ll have to call the surrogacy clinic and inform them of my unwillingness to have you as my surrogate for security reasons.

“I told you already, Josie. You’re going to be carrying my child. I will only permit you to do that if I can trust that you will be safe. And right now, I don’t believe that you are. So, the choice is yours. You can leave whenever you want.”

Josie stared daggers at him, her hands stuck in motion as she tied a shoelace. After what seemed like forever, she cursed and threw her hands in the air in exasperation.

Callahan let out a soft sigh of relief. It was a gamble putting her on the spot like that, but he’d guessed from the beginning that she had a reason for signing up for surrogacy. Whatever it was, it was important to her, just as she’d proved.

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