Filed To Story: Falling for the Alpha as a Surrogate Novel
Cora snaps immediately back into doctor mode, moving down on the bed to position herself between my knees, nodding. “All right, Ella,” she says, pulling me a little lower so that I’m flatter on my back now. “When you’re ready, you push.”
“Ella,” Sinclair growls next to me, and even as the contraction takes hold I turn my face to him and press my eyes shut, passing all of my emotions down our bond – my fear, and my shock, but alongside it my conviction that…that I’m okay, right now, and so is the baby but we’ve got to concentrate on this.
“All right,” he says, his voice low as he sits up and puts his hands my shoulders. “Let’s do this.”
And, with my mate behind me, and my sister ready to welcome my little girl, I push with all my might.
Half an hour later, our little baby girl is born.
I’m inconsolable as Cora places her in my arms, the tears dripping down my face as I peer at my baby, reaching out a finger to stroke her teeny tiny fingers, her perfect little nose. She shouts her unhappiness and shakes her little head, which only makes me laugh as I try to wipe my tears away.
“She’s perfect,” Sinclair breathes, tucked close behind me, peering at our baby over my shoulder.
“She really is,” I say between gasping breaths. “Oh god, she’s so cute – ”
Cora laughs, coming to sit next to me and stroke a hand over her little head. We’re quiet for a long moment as I press my child against the skin of my chest.
“She’s precious,” Cora murmurs, her voice almost reverent. “And I love her, and I’m going to be her favorite aunt.”
“Only aunt,” Sinclair murmurs, his voice a little dry.
“Even if she had sixty,” Cora coos, tapping the baby’s little belly with a single finger, “I’d be the best.” She leans forward, kissing me on the cheek. “I’ll give you two a couple of minute, all right? Go break the news to the drunk ones in there.”
I turn my face up and kiss my sister as well as she scrunches her nose at me and turns to the door, taking the team of nurses with her. Everyone did such a wonderful job – I’m so grateful to them
But honestly, as much as I want to shout my thanks out after them, all I can do is stare down at my perfect little girl.
I lean back against Sinclair as I study her face and he wraps his arms around me, doing the same.
“She looks just like you, Ella,” he breathes, fascinated.
“What!?” I protest, honestly a little shocked. “Dominic, she’s all scrunchy
He laughs at this, and I can feel him shaking his head. “Newborn scrunch aside – her features? And the shape of her face? Rafe is all me, but Ella…this one is you.”
“Little baby girl,” I murmur, rocking her a little and passing love and comfort down our bond so that she settles, just a bit. I can feel the tumult of her emotions down our bond – she’s happy to be close to me, but cold, and a little frightened. She cries the sweetest little mewing sounds, and I cuddle her close, thinking that it must be so hard, being brand new to the world. I do my best to let her know that she’s all right, that I’m still right here. I press a kiss to her forehead, loving her so much already that I can hardly bear it.
Outside the windows of the palace we can hear the crowd start to cheer as the announcement goes out – their Princess has been born, safe and sound. They started to gather late last night, wanting to be the first ones to lay eyes on her. And today? I had peeked out the front window earlier as I paced the halls, trying to ease the bangs of labor, and was shocked to see the masses of people waiting out there, eager to lay eyes on her.
“I can’t say their enthusiasm is misplaced,” Sinclair sighs. “She’s a really good baby.”
“Hear that, baby?” I murmur, smiling at her. “They’re cheering for you!”
We take a long, quiet moment together before Sinclair reaches a hand out and strokes my hair. “Ella,” he says quietly, and I hear the worry come back into his voice. “What…what happened? Earlier, when you -”
But I shake my head, because of course I know precisely the moment he’s talking about. I turn a little so that I can see him and quickly, briefly, give him the fast version of what happened, because I know that we only have a few minutes before the doctors come back in, and Rafe comes to meet his sister, and we have a great deal to do.
My mate goes pale as I tell him how the Dark God took me away into the pocket realm, how he gave our daughter some kind of gift, how he ensured me it was a blessing and not a curse.
“But from the Dark God,” Sinclair murmurs, shaking his head, his voice heavy with dread, “who knows what a blessing is to him.”
“I know,” I say, my voice soft, a little mournful. “But honestly, Sinclair, as it …came to me, the gift – it didn’t feel bad. He was angry at mom for keeping secrets from him for all of these years but I did not get the impression, from the gift itself, that he wanted to hurt the baby or use it as vengeance.”
“Then what did it feel like?” he asks, confused.
“I don’t know,” I say with a shrug. “It felt…a great deal like an open door.” As the words fall from my mouth I have no idea where they came from, and that they make absolutely no sense. But, somehow, they’re right.
But still, as I look down at my baby girl, my stomach twists with anxiety for all the things it can mean for her future.
“So you’re all right? You’re both all right?” My mate asks, pressing his forehead to mine, still reeling from the strange news of the Dark God’s gift.
“We are,” I say, nodding, sure of it. And then I shift again, passing the baby to him. “See for yourself, new papa,” I sigh, placing the little girl in her father’s arms.
On Sinclair’s face, and through our bond, I see his heart absolutely melt. ” Oh god,” he sighs, shaking his head as he stares down at his little girl. “I’m a gonner, Ella. This one she’s already got me in the palm of her hands, even as I hold her in mine.”
“Don’t worry,” I sigh, curling up next to him, indulging in the sight of my mate the one I love most in the world falling in love with our tiny daughter, as I’ve already done. “I won’t tell her the power she wields.”
“It will be our secret,” he says with a nod and a little smirk on his lips. We’re quiet for a moment, studying her, when suddenly I realize that she doesn’t have a name.
“What do you think?” I ask quietly, resting my head on his shoulder. “Is she an Emma? Or an Eloise?”
My mate’s smile deepens as he looks up at me, and I already know his answer before he says it, because it’s precisely the same as mine.
Those names are great – but they’re not hers.
“Nah,” Sinclair says, grinning at me before turning back to his little girl. ” She’s totally, completely an Ariel.”
“I know,” I sigh, tracing a finger down her cheek. “Welcome to the world, Ariel Sinclair. You are already so, so loved.”
New Book: Veiled Desires of the Alpha King Novel
Dayson was the alpha of the largest pack in North America. Powerful figures from other packs sought to offer gorgeous girls as potential mates for Dayson. He steadfastly rejected these advances, he was not a pawn to be manipulated. But eventually there came a mysterious girl he could hardly say No. Who was she?