Accidental Surrogate for Alpha

#Chapter 386 – The Long…Long Road

Ella

It takes me just a little over an hour to realize that…I hate road trips.

“Oh my god,” I murmur to Cora as the vibrations of the gigantic RV continue to shake through us, making poor Rafe grumble uncomfortably. “Is it night yet? Can we stop?”

“You’re being a baby, Ella,” my sister replies, looking up at me with a smirk, jumping her red king over three of Roger’s black checkers and capturing them. “It’s fun!”

“You’re only having fun because you’re kicking Roger’s ass for the third time at that game,” I murmur, sighing as I glance out the window.

“Seriously,” Roger sighs, leaning back against the white leather of the kitchenette’s booth. “You should quit that, Cora. For Ella’s sake – she’s trying to enjoy herself.” He runs a frustrated hand through his hair, staring at the board.

“Yes,” Cora replies, laughing. “For Ella’s sake, I’ll go easy on you.”

“I just thought it would be prettier,” I sigh, looking out the window at the endless highway miles. “Like, purple mountains majesty. Fruited plains. Etcetera.” Instead, it’s just hour after hour of looking at cars, and asphalt, and the sad little pine scrub that borders the highways.

“Maybe when we get further out,” Cora offers, hopeful. “Nah,” Roger replies, making his next move on the checker’s board. “After the forest it’s all corn for days.”

I groan, leaning my head back. “I hate corn.”

“No, you don’t,” Cora chides, instantly making her next move on the board and capturing two more of Roger’s pieces. He gasps in protest and then slumps back again.

“How are you doing this,” he murmurs, studying the board. “Are you a witch?”

she says with a shrug.”

if I decidedly do not like riding in the RV, I’m still excited to take this trip for my sister, to get

I might not feel the movement of the RV as much. The boys all stay together up front, studying maps and discussing ridiculous things like terrain and gas mileage things. they find endlessly fascinating for some weird boy reason. But I shrug and leave them to it. Cora and I curl up

little sun-soaked room at the back of the RV, laughing and talking with my sister, reconnecting with her

really over?” I ask her in a quiet moment as the sun starts to sink to the

“I don’t,” she sighs, telling me honestly. “I think…well, Ella, I think we picked mates with big lives. I think we’re going to have to snatch at moments of peace whenever we have them because the next challenge is always

“Are we dumb?” I ask quietly. ” Did we choose wrong? I

up at her in surprise to see her

nanny – I was

to stop helping people. I think it kind of makes sense that you ended up being

I guess I think she’s right. That this was perhaps always the life I wanted, even

she adds, her voice dropping lower. “I’m actually…I’m not sure if Roger isn’t

going wide. ” But you’re a

“But… Ella, this thing between us,” she says, shaking her

a mating bond snap into

me. “But Roger said it first, when we were out in that rainstorm – that day when we had

that day, and she blushes a little and rolls her eyes. But I lean

the way he said it so

I have no hesitations about Sinclair as my chosen mate, and I know that what’s between us is far beyond anything he had

says, shrugging

“Why not?”

me that I’m not.” “Well, I’ll go ask -” I say simply, scooching forward on the bed, ready to