The Alpha's Surrogate: A Paranormal Pregnancy Romance (26 page)

“Reign,” Cara moaned, “no more, god, no more please,” she whimpered.

Reign knelt by her friend, “Cara, what’s wrong?”

“For one,” she answered, wiping her mouth, “it’s incredibly painful, and it’s like the worst motion sickness ever,” Cara said as she carefully stood, not sure if she could trust her muscles.

“Reign, I think you could kill me there, in the Fade. I mean I was all there, with my wolf and everything. It’s like, if I die here I would go there, and live with them, but if you killed me there… I would be gone,” she said with a shudder. Without warning, she wrapped her arms around Reign. “Please don’t make me go back there, not ever. I would rather die.”

Reign didn’t know what to say, so she just returned the hug and reassured her friend that it would be okay. She was not sure why the vampires’ mode of travel was so different than her own, or maybe they didn’t even know. When she Fade Walked, it was instant; in one moment she was where she wanted to be, no travel involved. Perhaps the vampires weren’t as strong as they pretended to be, or perhaps she was something they hadn’t seen before.

“You okay?” she asked Cara.

“I will be, thanks, what’s next?”

“They know we know, but they probably think it will take some time to get here, so let’s look around. Can you shift? We could use your super sniffer?”

Cara looked uneasy. “I guess I have to at some point.” She took a step back and stripped off her dress and underthings. 

Reign admired her friend once again. “I’m kind of sad I don’t get to be a wolf,” she said with a little regret.

“Why?” Cara asked.

Reign pointed to Cara’s near perfect body and smirked “You could make millions turning people into wolves just so they would look like you!”

“Oh, yeah, I guess that’s part of the advantage, but I think if I had it to do again, I’d rather be me.’ The profound sadness in Cara’s voice tugged at her soul.

“I’m sorry,” she offered.

“It’s okay, I guess, at least…at least I know where I’m going when I die.” She shifted before Reign could respond.

The wolf was before her, and suddenly Reign realized that Cara was two people, her human self, and the wolf spirit, and right now, it was the wolf who looked out to her.

She knelt down beside it, putting her hand to its head. “Listen, I’m the least of your problems, right now these bloodsuckers have Richard, and I want him back, if Cara’s in there then you know this, so help me, and I won’t make any trouble for you or your kind, I swear.”

If her oath was good enough Reign didn’t know, she couldn’t read the wolf’s expression. It simply padded off into the bushes. Reign followed her. If she could find a way in where they didn’t have to deal with people, all the better. The wolf followed a track only it could see, around the side of the mansion, and then it stopped, sniffed the air a few times, and then followed the smell away from the mansion.

Reign wanted to say they were going in the wrong way, but she held her tongue. She followed behind down the road to the main avenue. It was dark and Westlake Drive was a business street, nothing was open late. The wolf came to the first building and pawed at the door, and whined a few times.

“Is this it?” Reign asked, the wolf pawed at the door again. Reign tried it -- locked. She looked inside the window; the sign said it was some kind of tackle shop, and everything inside seemed to match.

“Wait, let me try something, don’t eat anyone,” she said with a laugh.

She opened her eyes to the Fade. There was no door to follow, she figured as much, she got the feeling they vanished quickly. Raising her arms up, she focused on the Fade and she drew a circle in front of her. Then, she stepped through.

She was in the Fade, her actual physical body was there. She could still see the real world though, but it was hazy and indistinct. She walked a few feet forward, drew another circle then stepped through.

She was back in the real world, standing in the shop now. She let her Fade sense slip and looked around. It was dusty, no one used this shop, or took care of it. She opened the door from the inside, letting Cara in.

Something about the wolf was different now; she licked Reign’s hand and nuzzled it. Reign smiled and scratched her behind her ears. “Good girl, now, find us a way in.”

Cara prowled the shop, sniffing the air here and there. She sneezed once before finding what she was looking for.  She scratched at a bit of the floor with a rug on it. Reign lifted the rug up and sure enough, there was a trap door. The door wasn’t locked and opened with a tug. Cara lunged in first and was down the stairs and out of sight in an instant.

Reign leaped in after her, taking the steps two at a time trying to catch up. She was afraid to shout out after her, not wanting to give away the element of surprise. It took her a minute; the tunnel wasn’t flat, it went up slightly as she walked and the light in it was sparse. She heard scratching up ahead. She slowed down, wishing she had thought to bring a flashlight.

She found Cara scratching at a thick wooden door. A harsh red light shown above it, barely bright enough to illuminate Cara’s furry features. Reign tried the knob. It was unlocked.

“I don’t know what we’re going to find in here, but the only way for me to fight them is in the Fade, so let me hold on to you, and you guide me to him, and I’ll keep watch in the only place I can be of help, okay?”

Cara responded by licking Reign’s face with her leathery tongue.

“I’ll take that as a yes,” she deadpanned.

                                                          ***

Everything was hazy now, even the haze was dim and distorted. Pain and pleasure were two old friends of his, and they seemed to have taken up residence. Time meant nothing to him now, he’d lost track of how many times Dulci had fed on him, how often she’d cut into him, burned him. He looked down at his body, it was a shell of what it once was, his regenerative powers were working hard to keep him alive, but they wouldn’t last much longer.

He would not, he could not, give in to her. What she failed to realize was that he knew the price, and he was willing to pay it, and no amount of pain or forced pleasure would pull him away from it.

The chain trapped him, if it weren’t for its slithering band he would have escaped long ago, but its magical properties bound him too tightly. The door opened again and he felt the rush of cold air on his skin. Dulci was back, her long black hair in a bun this time, her face smeared with makeup in a gaudy fashion that Richard knew Reign would never wear.

.

“I see your almost ready, my dear, there isn’t much left of you to feed on, your time is short. Join me and together we can bring each other such joy and beauty,” Dulci said with a feverish conviction.

During the great war, Richard decided to take up arms in defense of his country. He enlisted as a spy, essentially, and he was trained to resist interrogation, truth serums, and all kinds of torture.

No human could resist forever, but they never imagined a werewolf using those same techniques.

“The monkey climbed up the coconut tree and picked a coconut,” he said aloud and in his mind. Dulci screamed with frustration, she pulled the knife down from the wall and stabbed him in his stomach. The pain was sharp, but the constant torture had made him familiar with the pain.

“The monkey climbed up the coconut tree and picked a coconut,” he grunted.

“Say something else, say you’ll worship at my feet and this will all end!”

She bit down onto his neck, the intense pleasure of her bite sharpening his senses and making the pain from the dagger wound even more real. She forced his head aside as she fed, drinking his blood in huge gulps.

“The monkey climbed up the coconut tree and picked a coconut,” he said weakly.

She growled as she fed.  Richard realized that this time she would not stop, and this was it. He closed his eyes and imagined Reign, her dark hair and features, her smile, her laugh, the way she snuggled with him when she was cold, or how she always used three towels when taking a shower. He even imagined he could hear her voice.

“Get away from him, you bitch,” Reign shouted in the room. Dulci pulled her head up, Richard’s blood spattering against her face.

Richard opened his eyes and lifted his head as far as the chain would let him. Reign was there, with a wolf that looked like Cara’s. Richard thought he must be hallucinating, he was dead and this was the end. Cara was dead, could she be there with Reign?

Dulci wiped her mouth with a long sleeve. “So you’re the little tramp he can’t get over?”

“I’m tempted to just kill you and everyone here, but if you let him go, I’ll let you walk away,” Reign threatened. Had he heard her right? How would Reign kill a vampire?

“Don’t make me laugh, child, no one has such power. For your insolence, you and your friend will die, slowly, painfully, but first you will see him beg for me to fuck him!”

A cloud rolled over Reign’s features, there was something terribly wrong with how she looked. Her hands spread out and she pointed one finger at Dulci.

“I’ve got news for you, I know what you really are, and how to kill you.”

Reign pointed her hand at the thrall that flanked Dulci; with a chopping motion the thrall fell, though Reign never touched him, one more chop and the next one fell. Dulci was stunned. “How?”

“You are of the Fade and I control it. Release him.”

The door burst open behind Reign. Pearson, a vampire Richard didn’t recognize, was there, accompanied by Devado.

Pearson moved like lightning and wrapped his arms around Reign, his head back and teeth bared, he tried to bite her neck. Cara was just as fast slamming into him with her weight and the force of her muscles. The two collapsed into the wall as they fought for position to bite.  Reign turned, her hand out, slashing behind her. The other vampire screamed and his body convulsed as he collapsed in on himself. The entirety of his being was sucked through a small hole back into the Fade.

“How?” Devado and Dulci asked at the same time.

“Magic,” Reign said with a smirk. She turned to Dulci, her arm up. “This is for touching him, you bitch!”

She slashed her arm down. Richard had no idea how this was effecting anyone, he couldn’t see the sword of shining light Reign used to sever the Vampires’ connection to the Fade. Dulci screamed, “No!” She ran for Reign but it was too late, her body convulsed and shook as her very being was sucked through a hole the size of a penny.

Reign turned to Cara. The wolf had the vampire Pearson down; he was sobbing for he’d witnessed what just happened and knew he was next.

“Please, I just want to live,” he cried.

“Tell that to your victims,” Reign snarled as she brought her hand down again. He followed his mistress into hell.

Reign turned to Devado. “Free him or die.” Devado was stunned; she gazed at the spot her mistress had stood a moment before and couldn’t speak. Reign shook her shoulders. “Do you want to die?”

“No, no, of course not, you don’t understand, I didn’t have a choice, it was serve or be a thrall, and I didn’t want to be one, you have to believe me.” Devado was in tears as she spoke.

“Free him!” Reign's words were echoed by Cara’s growl.

Richard watched as Devado waved her hands and spoke a line in Latin. The chain fell free. He stumbled off the bed; Reign was there, holding him up. She kissed his cheek.

“Is it really you, babe? How can it be?” he whispered.

“It’s really me; I will always come for you!”

“I’ve got to shift, it’s the only way, I’m sorry.” He could feel Reign’s tears on him as he spoke, but his body was giving out, and if he had any hope, it would be as a wolf.