Accidental Surrogate for Alpha

#Chapter 291 – Contractions

Ella

Slowly, I breathe through my contractions, taking deep breaths in through my nose and huffing them out of my mouth. The pain is…well, I suppose I can’t say like anything I’ve felt before, can I? Not after all I’ve been through in the past five months. But it’s incredible, the way it radiates through my body, making me grit my teeth against it.

I can feel my body moving, changing along with the contractions. The pain in my pelvis, particularly, is insane, as the bones shift to make room for the baby to pass through. My eyes flash open during one particularly difficult contraction and I hear myself cry out against the pain. God, I would have thought that being a wolf made this easier – wolves seem to have a whole litter of pups without much trouble, by themselves out in the woods.

Passingly, I consider shifting into my wolf form to ease this

–

But then, suddenly, Sinclair bursts into my room, dashing for me.

“What,” he gasps, almost skidding to the side, looking me all over for what is wrong. “What is it, Ella – I heard you scream –”

“No,” I say, gasping a little as the contraction starts to come to its end. “No, it’s just the contraction – god, Dominic, these suck – ”

He shakes his head, still panicked, trying to put it all together as he kneels by the side of the bed and takes my hand. “Cora is coming, she’s close,” he murmurs. “She’ll be allowed in.”

“And Hank?” I ask, looking at my mate. “And Roger?”

“Roger?” Sinclair asks, confused.

“Yes, Dominic! Roger! I want him here as well!”

wide with wonder now.

uncle! And his godfather! He should be here! I can’t

Sinclair sighs, reaching for the cell phone in his back pocket as I lean back on into the pillows, taking deep

determined. “And if I have to give birth in a war zone with no

he shifts. I watch him stand, leaning over me. Frowning, he leans over and grabs one of the pillows from the other side of the bed, quickly taking the pillowcase between his two hands and

in the movies. I’m

leaning down and wiping the sweat from my brow with the little

I can against the pillows, the next contraction not starting yet. “I feel… determined,” I say, gazing up at him. “Rafe is ready. He told me so.

my girl,” Sinclair says softly, taking my chin between the fingers of his big hand

–

though I’m scared and in pain.

–

moving low on my stomach. “Here comes

steady and tense. Then, as I start to breathe in that special way Cora made me practice, he breathes along with me.

quickly this way, with long stretches of pain followed up by a few minutes of respite. Unfortunately, those minutes are coming closer and closer together. I’m moving through this birth process fast, and I don’t have any control over it. If I could wait, just hold him in while we wait for Cora to get here…

and

to me throughout the process, helping me get ready in the moments between contractions. He helps me change into a cotton nightgown instead of the travel clothes I was wearing on the way here. He brings me two cool cups of water, one for drinking, the other for dipping more strips of pillowcase in to lay across my hot forehead. Throughout it

in not getting me to the hospital. I hold his gaze steadily whenever I can, letting him know, silently,

has passed when the door bursts open. Cora flies into the room, panting, a medical bag slung over her shoulder. I almost spill the glass

over to me, almost bowling Sinclair over in her singular focus to be at my

frustrated, as he puts out a hand to balance himself

enture

murmurs, her eyes sweeping over