Accidental Surrogate for Alpha-Chapter 476
Posted on February 08, 2025 · 1 mins read
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"Oh geez," I said as we pulled up to Cora and Roger's house in the predawn morning and saw that every light was on. "You ready for this?"

"Sure!" Sinclair said, grinning and putting the car in park at the end of the driveway. "It'll be a nice role reversal—this time Roger can be the one worried sick, and I can be in the background cracking jokes."

"Aww, sweetheart," I said, grinning and putting a hand on his cheek. "It's cute that you think you're funny enough to crack jokes."

Sinclair frowned. "What are you talking about? I'm very funny."

"Okay, baby," I murmured, patting his shoulder as I turned to climb out of the car.

"I am!" he insisted, getting out and walking around the car.

"Dominic," I sighed, hiding my grin as I leaned back into the car to unbuckle Rafe, pulling him into my arms. "You have so many blessings. Why do you need to be funny, too?"

"Because I am funny!" Sinclair said, crossing his arms and glaring at me.

"Okay!" I said cheerfully, moving quickly toward the front door.

"Ella!" he scoffed, striding after me.

"What!?" I laughed, knocking on the door. I wanted to give Cora and Roger some privacy if they weren't ready for us. We did get here very quickly; the roads were empty this early.

"I make you laugh all the time," Sinclair said, still frowning.

"Yes, sweetheart," I said, grinning mischievously, "but I'm laughing at you, not with you." He growled, starting to get miffed, and I burst into laughter. Sinclair opened his mouth to protest, but our attention snapped to the door as it flew open, revealing a harried Roger staring at us, fingers already tangled in his hair.

"Come in," he said frantically. "I need you to talk sense into her—"

"No, he doesn't!" Cora called, and I grinned, peering past Roger to see her starting up the stairs, leaning heavily on the banister. "Everything is fine, please come in!"

Roger sighed deeply, and I patted his shoulder as I hurried past him and up the stairs to Cora, taking the plate of toast she was carrying from her hand. Rafe was perched on my hip. Cora smiled her thanks and pressed her hand to her lower back as she climbed the stairs.

"Why don't you just use the stair lift?" I asked, gesturing toward it.

"Because I'm perfectly capable of getting up the stairs, Ella," Cora growled, continuing to climb, glaring at me.

"Well, duh," I said, rolling my eyes. "It's just fun." This made her laugh a little, and she shook her head. "Okay, good," she said. "Someone sane is here. Can you please have Dominic tie the other one up downstairs until this is all finished?"

"Can you please talk some sense into her, Ella?" Roger called from the bottom of the steps. I turned to see him looking desperately up at me.

"About what?" I asked, looking between them, baffled. Honestly, Cora looked fine—just very pregnant and in early labor. And she would know if anything were actually wrong; she's an OB/GYN.

"We need to go to the hospital!" Roger insisted as Sinclair closed the front door and stood beside his brother, radiating support but unable to hide a small smile, clearly enjoying his brother's distress. "This home birth was a terrible idea—what were we thinking—"

"We decided on a home birth months ago, Roger!" Cora called over her shoulder, sighing. I grinned; this was an argument they'd been having all night, and she was clearly tired of it. "We're not changing plans now!"

"We were idiots months ago," Roger growled, starting to follow us up the stairs. Sinclair followed as Cora and I walked to the bedroom.

"I think a home birth is a good idea," I said, following Cora into her bedroom and to the bed, where I placed her toast on the side table before settling Rafe more securely in my arms. Cora climbed into bed and held out her hands for Rafe, whom I lowered for a kiss, though I didn't give him to her. She already had one baby to worry about.

"It is a good idea," she sighed after kissing and mussing Rafe's hair. "I'm perfectly healthy—there's no reason not to do it at home, and I've got doctors on standby! Ridiculous," she muttered, pulling the blankets up.

"You'll be safer in a hospital," Roger said, crossing his arms.

"No, I won't," she sighed, giving him a glare as she arranged the blankets. "My sister, the magical healer, is here. It'll be fine. I couldn't be any safer."

"I had a home birth, Roger," I said, turning to him and gesturing to Rafe, who gave a happy squeak. "Or, well, a palace birth, even if it wasn't our home yet. And everything turned out fine!"

Roger's face went slack. "You almost died, Ella!"

"Oh," I said, tilting my head. "Oh yeah!" I laughed, shrugging. "Honestly, I always forget that part…"

Roger groaned, turning away and covering his face. "He's watched too much Little House on the Prairie," Cora murmured, rolling her eyes. "He thinks a home birth is all boiling water, screaming, and blood everywhere—"

Roger groaned again, louder this time, and I saw Sinclair clench his jaw to keep from laughing as he patted his brother's back.

"It's going to be fine," I said, smiling at Roger's back, but turned back to Cora when I heard her moan. "Contraction?" I asked.

"Yup," Cora answered tightly, taking a deep breath. "About five minutes apart."

"Did your water break?" She nodded, clearly gritting her teeth through the pain. I murmured consolingly and reached for her hand, Rafe still nestled in my other arm.

"Oh my god," I heard Roger murmur, coming quickly to my side. "Is she…is she all right?"

"I'm right here!" Cora growled, lifting her head to glare at him.

"I'm just asking!"

"You can ask me!"

"Okay!" he said frantically. "Are you all right!?"

Cora squeezed my hand and glared at Roger for a long half-minute. Then she gasped as the pain subsided. She panted and looked at Sinclair. "Please, Dominic," she said, shaking her head. "Can you please take him downstairs and get him drunk or something? I can't take this frantic energy."

"I'll be calm!" Roger insisted, whipping his head around as if we were going to lock him away.

"Come on, brother," Sinclair said, crossing the room to take Rafe from me and then putting his arm around Roger's shoulders, guiding him out of the room.

"Seriously, maybe you do need a drink—"

"I need six drinks," Roger sighed, allowing himself to be led away.

Cora sighed and leaned back against the pillows as we heard their footsteps and voices downstairs. I sat next to her on the bed, smiling.

"He's just going crazy because he loves you," I said quietly.

"I know," she sighed, looking at the empty doorway. "And I love him, too. He's just driving me nuts, and he's not allowing me to freak out at all." She paused, hands going to her swollen belly before looking up. "He's supposed to be the calm one; I'm supposed to be the one freaking out about pushing a gigantic Sinclair baby through a very small opening in a few hours!"

"Aww, sis," I said, hugging her. Secretly, I passed Cora's words down the bond to Sinclair, advising him to tell Roger that Cora needed him to be calm and collected so she didn't have to be.

My mate sent back a pulse of confirmation.

"How long do you think you've got?" I asked, pulling away and looking at her, seeing the tension and fear as well as her determination. I smiled—my sweet, tough sister, ready to take this on.

"Hard to tell," she sighed, running her hand over her belly. "A few hours, at least. But I'm glad you're here, Ella."

"No place I'd rather be," I said, smiling and crawling across the bed to snuggle against her shoulder. She sighed and grabbed the remote. "We've got about four minutes until the next bout of agonizing pain. Want to watch TV?"

"Sure," I said, nodding as Cora turned on a mindless reality show. And together, we settled in to wait for the baby.