Accidental Surrogate for Alpha

Chapter 313

#Chapter 313 – Cora at Home

Cora

When I wake up it’s almost eight at night and I groan, realizing that my sleep schedule is

completely wrecked. I’m reminded, suddenly, of my years as a medical resident when this sort of thing was normal – sleeping all day, taking night shifts, living moment to moment rather than a steady, scheduled life.

And quite frankly, right now? That sounds really wonderful, compared against a whole night of empty hours in which I have nothing to do but… think.

Think about what I’m doing in my life, think about my career which has gone in a really weird direction, think about my relationship…s.

About a certain kiss in the woods.

About a sweet doctor who, apparently, wants to build a life with me.

I sigh and sit up, looking around at my sterile little apartment. I never really decorated, I realize as

I look around at the grey and beige furniture, the simple linens, the charmless curtains. Everything is functional and high quality but none of it is… me?

Or is it?

I frown at my space, thinking of Ella’s sweet home that – even though Sinclair picked out most of the furniture before she moved in – still sings Ella Ella Ella in every corner. It’s warm and sweet

and comfortable. What does my space say about me?

I mean, I’m an orphan – I never had any possessions or any control over the environments in

which I lived, so where would I have learned to decorate? I never had a mother to show me how

So where did Ella…

I groan, rolling my eyes at myself, sick, again, of being jealous of my sister.

I love her so, so much – and I’m so happy she has what she wants in her life. But sometimes she’s just so….perfect. That it makes me realize how unhappy I am, when I stand next to her.

I roll over, reaching for my phone, seeking some kind of distraction from these disquieting- thoughts. But when I pick it up the first thing I see is one of those relationships I’m trying to avoid leaving me an assortment of messages. I sigh and click open my message app.

Hank: Hey, Cora – how did the baptism go? Dinner later?

Hank: Cora? You okay?

2

Hank: Hey, send me a text when you get up – I know you were up all night but I’m worried that I

haven’t heard from you.

Sighing, I swipe the messages away and click through the rest of my phone, trying, determinedly,

to not let it bother me that there’s nothing at all from Roger. Not a peep. As I take a deep breath and check my email, another message from Hank pops up.

Hank: Hey, are you home? I’m… I mean, this is a little pathetic, but I’m outside. Can you let me in? I

your apartment door…

My heart twinges a little bit when I see that. Hank. He’s being so sweet and I’m…well, I’m not being fair to him, am I?

Ella’s right. I’m holding a space for Roger, one he doesn’t even want – despite what might have passed between us last night, it doesn’t change anything. And there’s a man standing outside my door with mooshoo pork, dying to love me.

God, what’s wrong with me? Quickly, I jump out of my bed and dash for the front door of my apartment.

When I get to it, I yank it open, hoping

Hank jumps a little, his eyes going wide, accidentally dropping the large bag of Chinese on the little mail table I keep outside my door. “Gah!”

I continue, smiling at him, “I just woke up – we were up all night. It’s – I’m very sorry.

Hank says, giving me his rare, warm smile. “I get it – you

you want to come in?” I ask, leaning against my door frame and gesturing towards my little apartment. “I am…well, I am

up a bit at the corner.

eating right out of the containers with the supplied chopsticks, Hank tells me all about his day. He held down the fort at the

day with some tricky cases. I watch Hank closely as he tells me his story,

I feel something twist in my stomach as I watch him, something that makes me…well, makes- me want to

making me blink and focus on him. “Did you hear me?”

sorry, Hank,” I say, giving him an apologetic look. “I got….lost in my thoughts a little bit.

it a bit before sitting back. “I was

she’d be dying to be more involved in the clinic,” I respond instantly, looking down at my chicken with broccoli and picking up a morsel. “But she doesn’t have any medical experience. Would she really be

”

need most.”

administration,” Hank says, swirling some noodles around his chopsticks. “And it’s true that she doesn’t have

head at him,

powers,” Hank clarifies quietly.

gift?” I ask, raising my

a little. “It was incredible, what she was able to do to herself twice now. To bring herself out of that coma that should have killed her. And then I saw her, before my eyes, almost instantly heal wounds that should have incapacitated her for days. If she were able to harness that power… Or, Cora,” he says seriously,

the takeout to my lap. I had honestly never thought of it – of leveraging my mother’s power for the practice of medicine. It seemed somehow…

things like

but I’m wary. I mean, I gave the gift back to Ella – and our mother gave it to her in the first place.

if I had it, would I use it

says softly. “Did I…was it wrong to suggest

back to him. “Um, but it’s a bigger question than just I

can have that conversation soon.

say, grinning at him, excited. “And it’s not like she’s got anything else on her plate

food out of my hands and putting it on the table next to me. “At least, not for the next twelve hours or so,

body over mine, bringing his face close to me and slipping a hand behind my

use that hand on my back to lay

312 – Reinforcements

Cora

are tangled in the sheets of my bed, talking softly to each other about

–

Hank gasps, sitting up and whipping his head to look

my apartment.

me. The pounding halts for a moment and we both sit there, frozen, not knowing what to do. Then, suddenly, a voice breaks

drops a little because…well, because I know that voice.

damn door, Cora!”

naked body in my sheets – weirdly bashful in this moment. As I do,

asks, hurriedly getting out of bed and pulling his

switching the sheets for my robe hanging on the back of my door and

living room.

my bedroom, sees for himself the moment I pull

open.

is still raised as my door flies open, but he drops it as he glares down at

storming past me

pho-

and goes silent, though, the moment he sees Hank standing in the doorway to my bedroom, pulling on his shirt. And then Roger turns slowly and

hiss, filling the void that his silence left as I slamming the door shut and stalking forward to give him a shove.

his attention to me as he blatantly ignores Hank. “It’s a crisis – Ella and Sinclair have been blowing up your phone for

hour –”

—

grab it and see that Roger is right that

  1. do.

–

in fear, my heart suddenly in my throat. I can’t grasp the whole

–

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