Chosen To Be The Alpha's Surrogate

** Malachi I**

The girl's looking at me like I just told her the sky's purple and pigs are flying out of my ass. Can't really blame her. It's not every day a girl finds out she's carrying the supernatural spawn of a one-night stand. "How..." Her voice shakes, her fingers clutching her belly like it's a damn life raft. "How can he be your descendant? I don't understand..."

**Course she doesn't. She's just a human, caught up in things bigger than she can wrap her pretty little head around.*

I push out of my chair, closing the distance between us in two long strides. She shrinks back as I loom over her, but there's nowhere to run. I crouch down, getting right in her face. The firelight flickers over her skin, turning it gold and shadows. "You remember that night, don't you, sweetheart?" I reach out, trailing the back of my fingers down her cheek, caressing her. She trembles but doesn't pull away. "You and me in that alley, the way I made you scream how your pathetic excuse of a husband never could?"

"Malachi..?" she murmurs in disbelief, her voice just above a whisper. The way my name rolls off her tongue pokes at something primal inside me. Color floods her face but there's something in her eyes. Something heated and needy. *Interesting.*

She bites her lip, her gaze breaking away from mine as she gives me a jerky nod.

*Good girl.*

I drag my thumb across her plump lips, feeling her quick breath. "You're special, Penelope. Fate chose you to carry my legacy."

Her eyes flash back to mine, wide and shocked. There's a hint of anger there too and damn if it doesn't make me want to bite her.

"Chose me?" She nearly spits the words. "For what? To be your personal incubator?"

*Ooh, kitty's got claws.*

A slow grin spread across my face.

*I do love when they fight.*

"Nah, sweetheart. Nothing so crude." I let my hand drift down, splaying across her rounded stomach. "But this kid? Gonna change the whole damn world. And you're the lucky lady who gets to bring him into it."

I can practically see the gears turning in her head, trying to make sense of this mess she's neck deep in. She tilts her chin up, defiant though I can smell her fear.

"What if I don't want any part of this?

*Brave. Stupid, but brave.*

"You don't get to just bust up my life and start making claims on *my* baby," she snaps. "I don't give a shit who you think you are."

A harsh laugh escapes me and I lean in closer, caging her in with my body. "Oh, but I do, little rabbit. See, your kid? Belongs to me. My blood's in his veins and no amount of running or fighting's gonna change that." I hold her gaze, letting a little bit of the beast shine through. Her breath hitches, pulse pounding like a drum against her throat.

*She's scared shitless.*

...

*Good.*

But beneath the terror, there's something else, something raw and instinctive that draws me to her.

*It'd be so fuckin' easy to take her right now, bend her over and remind her who's calling the shots here.*

But I already got what I want. It's just a shame she's so far beneath me.

*The Alpha King needs a Luna, not a damn waitress for a mate.*

"Here's the deal, sweetheart. You're human. Weak. Not exactly wife material for someone like me." I grip her chin, forcing her to meet my eyes. "But that kid in your belly? He's mine. And I always take care of what's mine." Confusion flickers across her face, followed by a dawning horror. "You...you want me to give him up? To *you*?" She jerks back, her arms wrapping protectively around her belly. "No. *No way*. He's *my* son, and I won't just hand him over to some some *monster*!"

*Monster.*

The word lands like a physical blow, rage spiking hot and vicious in my veins. It takes every ounce of control not to lash out, to paint the walls with her blood.

*But I need her. She's carrying my child.*

I take a slow breath, wrestling the beast back under control. "Careful, rabbit. That *monster* is the only thing standing between you and a short, brutal life on the streets." I bring my hand up to her neck and stroke a thumb over her racing pulse, squeezing just hard enough to make her gasp. "I'm offering you a way out. A chance to keep your miserable life in exchange for what's rightfully mine."

"Rightfully *yours*?" she echoes incredulously, pushing my hand away from her. "He's a baby, not a-a possession! I'm his mother, where I go he goes." Her voice cracks but she lifts her chin, meeting my gaze head on. "I won't give him up. Not now, not ever. So you can take your *offer* and go to hell!"

For a long moment, I just stare at her, torn between fury and a begrudging respect. She's just a human, breakable and so painfully outmatched. But she's got *fire*.

"You don't know what you're saying," I tell her quietly, straightening on my feet. "What kind of life do you think you can give him, huh? Working yourself to the bone, barely scraping by, always one day from disaster?" I plant my hands on the armrests at her sides, leaning close, my lips brushing the shell of her ear. "I can give him *everything*. Power, wealth, a place at the top of the food chain. All you have to do is walk away."

She quivers, fine tremors running through her body as anger simmers beneath her skin. "He'll have *me*. My love, my protection. That's worth more than anything you can offer." She turns her head, her eyes blazing into mine. "I'll *never* give him up. Not for all the pretty words and empty promises in the world."

*Is that what she thinks this is? An empty promise?*

I rear back, frustration boiling in my gut. I should kill her, rip the child from her cooling body and be done with it. It's not less than she deserves for thinking she can dictate terms to *me*.

But I force the rage down, locking it behind a mask of cold calculation. I need her cooperation, willing or not. I need the boy to understand that his place is with me, not this walking womb he'll outgrown in a few short years. *She'll give him up. Anyone can be bought...I just need to give her the right price.*

Suddenly, the plan crystallizes, cruel and perfect. My lips curl in a wintry smile as I abruptly straighten.

"Alright, rabbit. Have it your way."