Surrogate for the Wolves

by Jasmine Wylder

  “So, Angela is pregnant with our baby,” Tyler said, and Max would have liked to throttle him. All of the others stared at the two of them in shock, but Tyler continued as casually as though he was talking about the latest Marvel movie. “There’s this whole thing with surrogacy and getting drunk and a bunch of stuff like that. But if this is someone targeting Max, then if they find out that she’s pregnant with what might be his baby—well, twins—then they might go after her.”

  Max stopped grimacing. That was… actually reasonable. And his wolf knocked into his chest, wanting him to turn and go back to her. “But the chances of them finding out—”

  “Are high enough,” Sly growled. He glared at the two of them and shook his head. “Take care of this. I’m going to try to get ahold of Ian, but it might take a while to get him back. Don’t let anything happen to his sister,” Sly added, shaking his head. “Or you might just wish that whoever did this,” he gestured at the body on the table, “really is after you.”

  Max grimaced and nodded. Fuck. Now, what were they going to do?

  Chapter Four

  Angela washed the diclectin down with some water, hoping that this dose would start helping her. Even though she had taken some before coming into work, it hadn’t helped at all. Her whole body felt like it was rejecting the necessity of standing. Moving was even worse and talking to people? She had to choke down her nausea constantly, especially with the greasy smells of the diner filling her nostrils.

  She wiped a hand over her face, hating the layers of foundation she’d had to cake on her face to make herself look presentable. After Tyler and Max’s visit, she’d wanted to go back to bed and sleep for a week, so that her brain could just take care of itself and she’d know exactly what to do from here on out.

  Smoothing her apron, she checked her reflection in the bathroom mirror. Too much makeup, sure, but otherwise she looked pristine. Her hair was braided around her head and the uniform really did help her figure. The nipped waist accentuated the narrowest part of her, and the apron gave her a nice, smooth line. Nobody would even guess she was pregnant.

  Or how shaken her talk with Max and Tyler had left her. She didn’t think there was anything worse than trying to give up these babies—until she realized that there could be legal pressure on her to abort them.

  Angela took a deep breath, trying to keep herself calm and level. She didn’t judge women who terminated their pregnancies, but it wasn’t for her. She just hated the fact that legalities and monetary problems might try to take that choice away from her.

  A pounding on the door made her jump and Bill, her boss, yelled through the door, “Pick up the pace, Angie, there are hungry people out there.”

  It was just her luck that Bill would pick today, of all days, to ‘help out’ at the diner. Whenever he was around, she always nearly quit. But now, with her new financial strain, she couldn’t afford to do that. Her dreams of a little farm were out the window, as was the chance of starting her own business.

  “I’ll be right there,” she called as Bill pounded on the door again.

  He grumbled and left. Angela leaned on the sink, forcing herself to re-center. She couldn’t afford finally flying off the handle at Bill today. She needed this job until she could figure out what was going to happen next. The fee she got from the surrogate agency had been enough to cover a down payment on the property she had her eye on, but now that had to go into a college fund. Not to mention that she was going to have high expenses when the babies were born. The hospital was one thing, then there were diapers and bottles and clothes…

  She inhaled deeply and then put on her best smile and headed out. She would figure it out—somehow.

  There were only half a dozen people in the diner and only one of them that she hadn’t taken an order from already. Angela made her rounds, making sure everybody was satisfied with what they had and refilling water and coffee.

  A tall, handsome man sitting in the far corner waved her down. As she filled up his mug, he asked her, “You wouldn’t happen to know where I can find a couple friends of mine, eh? Their names are Tyler and Max. I see that they have a funeral parlor in town, but I’ve been calling without any replies.”

  Angela frowned in surprise. “Are you sure you have the right number?”

  “Positive,” he replied, sipping at his coffee. “So, do you know their address or a personal number I can call them on? I’m just passing through—we knew each other back in the army, and I thought it’d be nice to catch up a bit.”

  Angela couldn’t help the shiver that ran down her spine. There was something creepy about this guy, but she couldn’t put her finger on it. It was a general policy among the waitresses here that they didn’t give out any personal information about anybody in town, no matter who was asking. Luckily, in this case, she didn’t have to make up clever excuses as to why she couldn’t.

  “I’m afraid I don’t,” she replied in her cheerful, upbeat voice. “But I’m sure if you keep calling the funeral parlor they’ll answer. I didn’t even know they were part of the military,” she added, just to add a reason for the man to stop asking her about them. “I’m sure they’ll be happy to see you, though.”

  The man sipped at his coffee again. “Yes, that is probably for the best, isn’t it?”

  She was about to ask if there was anything else she could get him when he grinned. Her eyes widened as they locked on the distinctive fang in his mouth. The rest of his teeth were completely normal, not like a partly transformed shifter. Her heart jumped to her throat.

  “Is there a problem?” the man—the vampire—asked. His grin only widened.

  He knows I know. Angela shook her head. “C-can I get you anything else?”

  “No.” The vampire finished off his coffee. “You’ve given me plenty.”

  What did that mean? Angela nodded and all but fled into the back. She hurried to her locker and yanked it open. Her hands shook as she grabbed her phone and sent a text to Chloe. Vampire in diner.

  Her heart pounding, she stared at the phone, praying for a response.

  A crash made her jump and scream but it was only Bill coming out of the kitchen, his eyes narrowed at her. “Do I pay you to stand around playing on your phone?”

  She heaved, the taste of vomit in her mouth. Pushing past Bill, she ducked into the bathroom and hurled. Bill made a disgusted noise but left her to it. Apparently, he didn’t have much of a stomach.

  By the time she was finished vomiting, Chloe had replied. I’m taking over your shift. Devon and Sly will stay with me. Tyler and Max coming to pick you up.

  “No,” Angela whimpered but she didn’t have the strength to argue. Feeling like she might just need to lie down on the floor, her stomach hurting something awful, she headed into the kitchen—where the smell almost knocked her out again. She told Bill Chloe was coming to take over her shift.

  “Fine,” he snapped. “But in the meantime, get out there and take care of my customers.”

  Angela grimaced but had no reason to delay. When she stepped back out, though, the vampire was gone. Relief washed over her, and she nearly messaged Chloe and told her it was all a false alarm but no. She needed to get out of here.

  It wasn’t long before Max and Tyler showed up, both of them looking put-out and grim. Angela flinched at their expressions. They must be upset about having to lose out on their plans for the night because of her. But it was good that Chloe had decided to send these two… they were the ones the vampire had been asking about, after all.

  “I’m sorry,” she blurted automatically as she brought them coffee. She knew how they liked it—Max always took it black, Tyler had it with a shot of mint. Neither of which appealed to her at all, but different people had different taste buds. “I didn’t mean to cause you trouble.”

  Max grunted, not looking at her, but Tyler frowned. “Was it a false alarm, then?”

  “False…” She rubbed her stomach as a spike of pain moved from one side to the other. “No. The
re was a vampire. And he was asking for you two. Wanted to know if I had a number to call you. Said he was an old army buddy.”

  Both Max and Tyler grew even grimmer. Max chugged his coffee—then spit it back out, apparently having forgotten that coffee was hot. He cursed under his breath while Angela went to get a handful of napkins for him. Something twisted inside of her as she gazed at the two of them—these were the fathers of her babies. Well, only one of them, but how did she go about asking which one was the sperm donor? And did it even matter, if they didn’t want anything to do with the babies and now vampires were coming after them?

  “Sit down,” Max suddenly grunted, kicking out a chair. “You look like you’re about to topple over.”

  Her brain was feeling rather foggy at that. Angela sat, another surge of sickness accompanying a spike of pain. And she was completely distracted as Max started talking. Her blood rushed in her ears as he spoke to her. She didn’t process any of his words, though.

  There was a distinctive damp feeling between her legs. Without thinking about decency or where they were, she reached under her skirt and swiped her fingers against her thigh.

  The world screeched to a stop when she held her hand up to see blood sticking to her fingertips. Everything spun around her, and her lungs locked up. The pain in her stomach increased. A scream burst from her, loud and high. She couldn’t stop herself, even when Tyler kept asking her what was wrong over and over again.

  Max suddenly scooped her into his arms. She threw an arm around his neck, falling into silence through sheer shock. Bill had come out from the back and the other diners stared wide-eyed.

  “We’re taking her to the hospital,” Max snarled as he charged out the doors, not looking back.

  Angela was shivering by the time he put her in the truck and had started off. Tyler was on her other side. He ripped off his jacket and laid it over her, concern in his dark brown eyes. Tears flowed down her cheeks, sobs ripping from her as every horrible reason why she could be bleeding now crowded her mind.

  She clung to Tyler’s hand. “Don’t let anything happen to them,” she begged, knowing there was nothing he could do but begging all the same. “Don’t let anything happen!”

  Tyler put an arm around her. “Nothing is going to happen,” he promised her and when he kissed her forehead, she almost believed it.

  But there was that dark voice in the back of her mind, whispering that he and Max must be happy, now. If she had a miscarriage, they wouldn’t have to pay any additional fees. And they didn’t want kids to begin with, had signed up for a surrogate because of some drunken joke.

  So why would they care if her world was collapsing around her now?

  Chapter Five

  Tyler’s wolf paced in worry in his chest, no matter how often he tried to convince it to calm down. It growled at him constantly when he’d gone to grab a coffee and only stopped when he had bullied the nurse into letting him into Angela’s room. She looked pale and frightened, and Tyler had reacted on instinct to reassure her, taking her hand. She hadn’t let it go since then.

  Max, his arms folded over his chest and a fierce scowl on his face, stood in the corner, but Tyler noted how his eyes didn’t leave Angela. Any other time he would have teased him, but in the current situation, Tyler didn’t want to press his luck. Max’s expression was his “kill, kill, kill” face and that wasn’t something to be trifled with.

  A doctor came in, smiling in a strained way that showed he was overworked. Not surprising at the only hospital around. “You are not having a miscarriage. All your tests have come back clean. Are you still in any pain?”

  Angela shook her head, squeezing Tyler’s hand tighter.

  “Some spotting is normal—”

  “But this wasn’t spotting.” Max stepped forward, dropping his arms. “She bled through her underwear, enough for it to transfer to her fingers. That’s not normal.”

  The doctor turned to him, a hint of annoyance on his face. “The examination and tests have shown there is nothing to be seriously worried about. It is understandable to be concerned about that sort of bleeding, but it stopped before you even arrived at the hospital, and everything else has been fine. The ultrasound showed strong heartbeats. Sometimes these sorts of things happen because of stress.”

  Tyler frowned at that. But then, Angela had been under a lot of stress. That much was clear to see from the dark smudges beneath her eyes. Not to mention a fucking vampire showing up at the diner.

  “My recommendation is strict bed rest,” the doctor continued. “If you have anybody who can come stay with you, have them do so.”

  Angela lowered her head. “My brother is out of town. And I can’t expect my friends to come babysit me all the time.”

  “Of course not,” Tyler said, squeezing her hand. “So, you’ll just have to move up to our place.”

  All three of them looked at him in total disbelief. Angela was shocked, Max bordering on furious, the doctor disgusted. Clearly, their reputation was going to be an issue here. So he lowered himself down to be more even with Angela and smiled at her.

  “Ian’s part of the pack and that means you are, too. And I know that you’re all judgy about our parties—” Here, Angela blushed as red as her hair and looked away. “—So we just won’t have any until Ian’s back in town and you can go stay with him.”

  “Wait.” Max’s growl made Tyler’s wolf growl in response. He looked up at his partner, raising a brow. Max’s hands were clenched into fists. “She can’t stay with us!”

  “Why not? We’ve got the room, unlike anybody else in the pack, and our place is closer than anybody else’s, too. Which means that Angela’s friends can come up and check on her easier. I guess she could go stay with Sly, Devon, and Chloe,” he continued, making his tone musing. “But we can’t just leave her here alone. Not in her condition. Not when she’s part of the pack.”

  He gave Max a significant look here, hoping he would stop being an idiot and pick up on what was going on. Someone looking like Max had been murdered in the woods. A vampire had shown up at the diner, specifically asking Angela about him and Tyler. She was pregnant with their children. There were too many things going on here for it to be a coincidence.

  Max’s scowl deepened but he nodded. “Fine. But only because Ian would kill us if he decided we could have done something and didn’t. But,” he added as he strode for the door, “you get to be the one to explain why we have his sister living with us.”

  Tyler rolled his eyes but smiled at Angela, who was still blushing terribly. “It’s settled, then.”

  “No,” Angela mumbled. “Because I never agreed.”

  “Why wouldn’t you? Max and I usually aren’t busy and when we are, we can always have someone over to take care of you.”

  She only flushed deeper and lowered her head. Not hearing any arguments, Tyler nodded. It wasn’t long before he was wheeling her toward the exit in a wheelchair. He was a little concerned that she was still blushing so furiously, but it was also nice. He dealt with dead bodies so often, with all the bloodless, colorlessness that came with it. To have someone so alive right here… it made him smile.

  “There we go,” he said as he situated her into the truck. “Now. Everything’s going to be just peachy, isn’t it? It’s all going to be good. Although it’s a shame about what the doc said about no strenuous activity.” He let his gaze trail over her curves as he climbed in next to her. “Since none of us even got the fun part of making a baby.”

  “Shut up,” Max snarled. “If you think that this is an excuse to start trying to seduce her when you know that Ian is against it—”

  “You shut up,” Tyler growled. “Didn’t you just hear me say that strenuous activity was off the table?”

  None of them spoke again as they headed up the mountain, although Angela did have a certain look on her face like she wasn’t certain that this was real or if she was dreaming. She kept looking at him, opening her mouth and then hunching back in on herse
lf like a baby bird. Tyler wanted to ask her to just spit it out, but the glares Max was sending him kept his mouth shut, too.

  His wolf was quite smug considering the situation. It kept prancing around as though they’d won a victory. Tyler wanted to roll his eyes. It really had no sense of what was going on, did it?

  When they got to the cabin, Tyler saw that the light was already on. And two wolves were sitting on the front porch, eating the ribs he’d been saving for dinner and chatting with each other.

  “Great,” Max snarled. “Now we have Kristoff and Lucas babysitting us. Who all did you tell about the vampire?”

  “No one,” Tyler snapped at him, tensing. They had been with each other nearly every moment since they’d heard the news. When did he have time to call anybody?

  “Not you.” Max turned his glare on Angela, making Tyler want to smack him. There was no reason to start frightening her. “Who did you tell?”

  “Chloe,” Angela replied in a small voice. “But didn’t you already know that because she was the one who told you to—”

  “Yes. But who else?”

  “Nobody.”

  Max frowned a moment. “Did you tell her that the vampire was asking about us specifically?”

  “I…” Angela rubbed her eyes. “I don’t remember. I called her and then you were there and then I started bleeding and… I’m just so tired right now. Can I just please go to bed?”

  The plea in her voice tore at Tyler’s heart. He put a protective arm around her as his wolf snarled at Max. “Of course,” he said soothingly. “Come on. We’ll have something ready for you in no time. I’m sure it’s been a hard day.”

  “Try a hard year,” Angela returned in a mutter.

  Max scoffed and jumped out of the truck, striding forward to talk to Kristoff and Lucas. Tyler, for his part, ignored them as he ushered Angela into the house. She really did look exhausted and there was no surprise about that. After everything that had happened, he was surprised she was still standing.