Page 25 of The Alpha's Surrogate

She looked at the state of his clothes, and his dusty shoes, and then she laughed. Callahan really was full of surprises. She got in and followed his directions as he led them away from town, deeper into the woods.

“Now I’m curious,” she said. “Where are we going, Callahan?”

“Okay, so you know how you got upset about not being able to work? Well, I called Quincy, a friend who works at our flower farms. I told him about you and he said it was alright for you to swing by and check it out. Cool, huh?”

She smiled and nodded. “Yeah. Actually, that’s kinda what I need right now. Thank you.” She took a turn off the road and saw a massive greenhouse, almost the size of a football field. There was a smaller building beside it, no doubt the office and living quarters of the people who worked there.

She worked in something similar back in Silver Peaks, and the sight was the most comfortable thing she’d seen in days. The only difference was that the facility back home was surrounded by electric fences and motion detector cameras, as well as sentries posted around the complex.

She parked in front of the building where a dark-haired man with a full beard and horn-rimmed glasses was waiting outside. “That’s Quincy,” Callahan said as they got out. “Be nice?”

Quincy held out a hand, smiling. “Josie, right? Callahan here has told me a lot about you. Says you’re also in this line of work? Well, please allow me to show you my babies.”

Josie smiled easily through the whole tour. Quincy was an animated guide, and he was interesting to listen to. She allowed him to show her all his interesting plants and was pleased that she recognized several as plants she had studied before.

It wasn’t long before they left Callahan behind, talking excitedly about the properties of certain plants, and how certain herbs acted in different locations. For the first time in days, she wasn’t thinking about anything but plants, and that was a blessing in itself.

Chapter 10 - Callahan

The last month had been almost magical for Callahan. Two weeks ago, Dr. Stephanie confirmed that Josie was pregnant and that the insemination was successful.

It was still difficult to act like they were strangers. That was the worst part of the entire arrangement for Callahan.

His relationship with Josie had improved after he took her out to the flower farms to see Quincy. Quincy came by once or twice a week, and had been a big help in setting up Josie’s lab.

Callahan didn’t have a lot of herb lore, but he provided everything she needed. Josie also made trips down to the greenhouse often. Without access to the mana crystal flowers and a functional lab, she had a lot of free time on her hands.

He didn’t mind her hanging out with Quincy either. Quincy never asked questions, and he was never presumptuous. It was clear his interest in Josie was purely academic and professional, but Callahan still found himself feeling jealous sometimes when they had their animated conversations.

Josie noticed, and tried to rope him into the conversation. She would do subtle things she hadn’t done in the past, like holding his hand, squeezing his shoulders, or kissing his cheeks.

Those little touches were more than enough to make up for whatever shared interests she and Quincy had. They also left him feeling confused. Did she like him? Did she want more? Was she just being friendly? It was impossible for him to know, and the lack of clarity chafed him.

He didn’t mind it, though. Not knowing where he and Josie stood was a small price to pay for the comfortable relationship they were developing. She laughed more, and their conversations didn’t seem nearly as forced as in the beginning.

Callahan dismissed every urge to make a bolder move. He knew Josie. She thrived in ambiguity, a lady of shadows. If he tried to give things a solid definition, or if he pushed too hard, she was going to flee. He knew that much about her. And that knowledge made him satisfied with what he had.

Josie was back in his life. That was all that mattered now. She was here, safe in his house, and carrying his child. He allowed himself to picture the fantasy of the perfect family. Heaven knew how desperately his home needed more people living in it.

He tried not to think about what came after Josie’s pregnancy. She would have to hand the child over to him, and then disappear from his life. She’d been eager to sign the papers in the beginning. Did she still feel so sure about leaving? After all they had shared?

The thought of going from this to an empty house was too much for him to bear. It stole whatever sliver of joy he found when he was with Josie. It made what they had look fickle and pointless. So he did his best not to think about what would happen when the time came.

He was determined to live in the present, taking each day as it came. He saw that in her own way, Josie did the same. Neither of them ever spoke about the were-bears anymore, and Callahan pretended like the episode had never happened. But every time her phone rang, his ears perked up and he wondered whether it was them on the phone. Always wondering.

The biggest change in his schedule was how often he saw his friends since Josie had moved in. He rarely saw them anymore. He’d been so busy getting Josie situated and comfortable, he hardly had the time to make the trip down to their usual spot at Twin Moon.

That excuse hadn’t sat well with Blake when he called Callahan to ask about his unexplained absences. He’d cussed him out a hundred different ways, and informed him that his presence at their next meeting wasn’t optional, but mandatory.

So Callahan found himself on his way to Twin Moon the next weekend, and all he could think about was Josie, alone at home, pregnant with his child. He considered turning the car around at least a dozen times in the first twenty minutes.

“Can I tag along?” she’d asked when he informed her he was heading out to meet up with his friends.

The question had caught him by surprise. When they had dated in the past, she hadn’t really been fond of outings or meeting his friends. It was a sore spot for him, one he wasn’t comfortable with, but he’d gone along to make her happy. He’d done so much to make her happy.

“Trust me, I want you to,” he’d said mournfully. “Unfortunately, it’s a boys-only gathering. Plus, they don’t know about…this. They haven’t seen you in years, and they have no idea that you’re my surrogate.

“So much has been going on lately. Things are different now. I need to bring them up to speed first, but I promise I’ll let them know you’re tagging along the next time we meet. How about that?”

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