Chapter 420 – Falling for the Alpha as a Surrogate Novel

Filed To Story: Falling for the Alpha as a Surrogate Novel

“I hope you remember these tactics,” I sigh, watching Henry come back to his place at the table. Cora stands up, fetching Sarah a refill on her cup of tea as Sarah looks around at all of us.

“Thank you,” Sarah says, especially to Henry but looking around at us all. “I -I am grateful to have her out of earshot. I know you have questions, and I want to tell you everything but…” she glances over at her sister, who is giggling madly as she lays on the floor, letting kittens climb all over her. “Well, I don’t think Jessica needs to relive any of it, or hear details which I’ve tried very hard to keep from her.’

“We understand,” Cora says, setting the fresh cup of tea down next to Sarah and setting in her seat between Sarah and Roger.…

Sarah takes a deep breath then, pressing her lips together as she looks around at us. “Well, then,” she says, giving a little shrug. “Where can I begin?”

Sinclair and Roger take a larger role now, falling into some of their interrogation patterns that I recognize from our time at the bunker, as elsewhere. But I am very pleased to note that both of them – despite their eagerness to get all the information they want and need from Sarah – are careful to be warm, and kind, and conversational.

Henry intercedes at certain moments, pressing Sarah for a little more information when he needs it, but he’s mostly silent.

Cora and I, though we don’t ask the questions, are actually the ones to whom Sarah speaks, even though Sinclair and Roger are the one who ask the questions. It’s not that she neglects the men in the room, but…I’m not really sure why, but as she tells us her story, I find that her eyes are on our faces, her words directed to us. Perhaps it’s because Cora and I react more emotionally to the story, gasping and leaning forward, mumbling our empathy when things get tough, but either way –

As Sarah’s story unfolds, it’s clear that she’s more comfortable telling it to us. And so Sinclair and Roger lean back in their chairs, letting Cora and I take the lead.

And the story that Sarah tells us…it’s as sad as I thought it would be.

“I was born in that house,” Sarah says quietly, her eyes a bit far-off. “I don’t remember being anywhere else as a child – not really. I didn’t go to school, I didn’t have any friends – honestly, I’m not sure I knew that other children existed for a long, long time. My mother was only allowed to keep me – to keep us – because she promised that we could be raised to be obedient. That we would…replace her, when she became old and infirm.”

“And your father?” Henry asks, gentle phrasing the question so that Sarah can answer it in any way that is comfortable for her.

“I never knew him,” Sarah says, looking around at us, unashamed of the fact but seeming confused by it. “I don’t even know if Jessica and I have the same…” her head dips while she clears her throat a little before looking back up at us, taking a deep breath. Mother always said she would tell us when we were old enough to know. But then…she died before we were old enough, I guess.”

I look Sarah over, sympathy in my eyes. Because while she had a mother who loved her and was present in her ife, her reality was in so many ways so much more brutal than mine. Because I had Cora at my side – and we always had hope of a different, better life.

And Sarah, she’s about mine and Cora’s age now, but we both have so much that she doesn’t have. My heart aches for her.

“Sarah,” Cora says, turning my attention to her. “What happened to your mother?”

Cora asks Sarah about her mother in a frank, curious way that I think allows Sarah to straighten her spine and answer impassively, like she’s giving a report to a doctor instead of having to break a hard truth to a queen who will probably break into tears. And I smile a little at the back of my sister’s head, grateful for her for giving Sarah what she needs when I can’t.

“He beat her,” Sarah says, and my heart twists almost physically within me. “She…she was growing older, and she couldn’t do her chores the way she used to. And…” Sarah bites her lip and looks only at Cora now, telling her what she wouldn’t be able to say to the rest of us, not while holding her head high. “And he started to look at me, the way he looked at my mother. And she tried to keep me away from him, to find other chores in other parts of the house. And when he figured out what she was doing he…”

Sarah’s voice cracks here and I have to look away from her so that my eyes don’t fill with tears. Sinclair slips a hand onto my knee, wanting to give me comfort but not to distract from Sarah’s story.

Sarah takes a deep breath before she continues. “He told her she was an idiot and a whore, for trying to keep his property from him. And that he could do what we wanted with all of us take our bodies, our lives. And then,” she shrugs, looking down at the tablecloth. “He did. He took her life then, to show her…and to show me.”

I make myself look back at Sarah now, who looks up at Cora, and then at me. And I hope that she sees, shining in my eyes, my deep and renewed desire for vengeance. Because there is absolutely no way that I am going to let this man live.

“That was the moment,” she says, nodding to me and then looking at Sinclair too, though a little shier now. ” When mother died? I decided that…that if he could take what I loved most from me, I could take what he most wanted too. The little baby – I could…I could take that away from him. And so I did or, I tried.”

“You succeeded,” Sinclair says quietly, next to me.

“No,” she says, shaking her head vehemently and looking down at her hands. “You’d have been safe anyway – you’d have figured it out.”

“The note,” Roger says, leaning around Cora to look clearly at Sarah, to make sure she hears him. “It gave us an advantage that…without it, Sarah, they very well could have taken Rafe. We owe you a great debt.”

“No,” she says instantly, flushing red. “I don’t – I don’t want anything. And I don’t want you to think that I did this so that you would give me anything.”

“We don’t think that, Sarah,” I say softly, hugging my baby close and leaning forward to catch her eye. “But we want to help you, like we want to help the other refugees. Though I admit,” my mouth cocks into a little smile here, “I do want to help you a little bit more than the others. Because I’m so, so grateful. I mean, what would you like – you can have anything!” My face splits into a wide grin here as I point at my sister’s mate. “You can even take Roger! He’s the least useful-…

Cora gives a little squeak of protest as Sinclair bursts into laughter and Roger turns to glare at me, his mouth falling open. Sarah starts to laugh too as she realizes my joke and shake her head, rather vehemently, no.

But seeing Sarah decline my offer, Roger turns his shock on her.

“Wait, you don’t want me either!?” he gasps, and we all start to laugh harder as he sinks back into his chair, playing along now and exaggerating his fury for the sake of the mood in the room. Because…

frankly, we need a laugh.

And I want Sarah to know that we hear her but…well, I want to give her some of the hope that Cora and I always had. That things can get better – and they will. And maybe that starts today, with a little laughter at Roger’s willing expense. I turn an apologetic look his way but he just gives me a wink, understanding, and I turn back to Sarah.

“We’ll talk about it, okay?” I say, still holding my baby tight. “But…we’re going to be friends now, Sarah. Good friends friends for life. And friends help each other get back on their feet.”

Sarah’s smile is slow, but when it reaches its full extent I swear my heart could burst with joy of it. Because I see it there that hope I was looking for.

And I intend to keep every part of my word. Sarah is going to have a good life, and I’m going to help her get it.

“Ohhhh, Sarah!” Jessica moans, running over with two kittens, one in each hand, her eyes filled with worry and woe. “Please, please can we keep them?” She looks down at the little orange ball of fur and then at the grey one, her voice a little frantic. “I love them so much – I can’t you have to let me keep them!”

“Oh, Jessica,” Sarah sighs, putting her arms out and wrapping them around her little sister. “We don’t even have a home to take them to yet -”

“And they’re too young,” Henry adds, looking at Jessica seriously, “to leave their mother. Perhaps in a few weeks, when they’re ready? You and your sister can talk about it again?”

Jessica groans with grief at the idea of leaving the two little kittens, making me laugh a little.

“Well, you can stay here until we find you a home of your own,” I say, crossing my fingers under the table a bit as I make this rather reckless offer without even asking my mate. “So you can still see them every day, Jessica. When you’re not at school, of course.”

“School?” she says, looking at me with wide eyes. “I – I get to go to school?”

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