Accidental Surrogate for Alpha novel Chapter 250

Ella

If I thought the dress my devious friends designed behind my back was stunning on the hanger, it’s nothing compared to the way it looks on me. I’ve never seen anything like it. The pearlescent fabric hugs my curves, the neckline plunging between my breasts and thin straps leaving my back and sides almost completely bare. The skirt billows out into a cascade of shimmering chiffon, with a modest train that flows behind me as I walk.

Of course, my threat to ruin my makeup with tears is soon fulfilled as my eyes well and I reach for Cora and Isabel, babbling thank yous and declarations of love for them both. Then placate me for a few minutes, before my sister puts her foot down.

“Enough.” Cora says after my third outpouring of thanks, “let’s not waste all this beauty on us. Your mate is waiting.”

My heart is pounding as we leave the suite, and I caress my belly in wonderment. Your Daddy has done it again, I tell my tiny pup. You make sure to pay close attention to his romantic instincts as you grow up, and just ignore Mommy’s. You definitely want to follow his example when it’s time to choose a mate. Even as I think the words, I realize how profoundly I believe them. I couldn’t ask for a better role model for my son, and I almost start crying again just thinking about the kind of man we’ll raise together.

I don’t even mind walking into the unknown anymore, not when I know Sinclair is pulling the strings behind all this. I lift my skirts as we exit my room, grinning inanely at the lacy white heels which peek out below my baby bump. I expected Cora and Isabel to lead me to the ballroom, instead I find myself following them towards the palace gardens, my breath catching the closer we get. When the balcony doors open I have one startled moment of panic when I fear my knees might actually give out – and the last thing I want to do is land on my ass before I’ve even taken a step down the aisle.

Still, if anyone is to blame for my dizzy spell, it’s surely the palace elves who have been running around working their magic to create the scene before us. It must have taken days, and yet I managed to miss it all. The neatly landscaped flower beds and familiar sculpted topiaries have been concealed by a vision directly out of a fairy tale. An enchanted woodland sprawls where there was once only a hedge maze, wreathed in fairy lights and wildflowers. Lanterns cast glowing amber light over the petal-strewn pathway at my feet, which winds down to an archway of towering trees. And at its center stands my mate, his father and brother stationed by his side, looking up at me with an awe-struck expression that fills my heart to bursting.

All the Alpha delegations, the Vanaran courtiers, and scores upon scores of refugees have filed into the spaces between the trees. I feel their outpouring of support and affection like a tangible embrace, and I can only laugh and smile with incandescent bliss. The pups from the nursery are all dressed up in formal dresses and tiny tuxes, and Isabel leads them down the aisle as they scatter more flower petals wherever they can.

Ethereal music floats through the air, though I cannot decipher its origin. As the tune shifts my sister turns to me. “Are you ready?” She asks, clucking and wiping an escaped tear from my cheek.

“Are you giving me away?” I hiccup, wondering how I’ll ever be able to stay serene enough to get through my vows.

“Of course not.” Cora laughs. “That’s a human tradition. Wolves believe that nothing can break the bonds of family, and finding your mate certainly doesn’t mean giving up your family. I’m just here to lead the way.”

“What if I want you to walk with me?” I ask, feeling oddly vulnerable. It’s not as if Sinclair hasn’t already claimed me, or that this is changing anything. Yet at the same time, I can’t help but feel the magnitude of this ceremony. Perhaps it’s something to do with the fact that we spent so much of our relationship caught up in secrets, and now everything is out in the open. Perhaps it’s because devoting ourselves to one another in private feels so intimate and meaningful, but doing it before the entire world lends an unavoidable gravity to the affair. Perhaps it’s simply the visceral magic in the air, like an electric current pulsing around and within us – in a way that makes me wonder if the Goddess might be looking down at us this very moment.

“Well only a monster would refuse such a request.” Cora smiles, moving beside me and looping her arm through my own. “I’ve got you, little sister.”

My vision goes blurry, and I look up at my sister with trembling lips, “I love you.”

Cora dips her forehead, resting it against my own and swallowing me up in her chocolatey gaze. “I love you too.” A wave of Alpha power reaches us as we take in this moment, and I understand that my mate is feeling impatient.

“We better get going.” Cora laughs, “before he storms up here and decides to escort you himself.

As we begin our descent Sinclair’s expression goes from worshipful to ravenous and possessive, then back again at least three times. I can’t take my eyes off him, and I can feel his passion for me as keenly as I feel my own desire.