Chosen To Be The Alpha's Surrogate

** Penelope **

Lightning illuminates the garden in harsh flashes, turning familiar shapes into looming shadows. The storm shows no signs of letting up, each thunderclap seeming to shake the very foundation of the gazebo. Despite Jax's presence and his jacket on me, I can't help but shiver.

He notices of course he does. Without a word, he shifts closer, his body heat radiating through my damp clothes. His fingers find the edges of his jacket, adjusting it more securely around my shoulders with a gentleness that tugs at my heart. The simple gesture triggers a memory so vivid it makes my muscles tense. Another storm, another night. Malachi in his wolf form, massive and beautiful, curled protectively around me on that old dock. Even transformed, he'd been so gentle, so careful. He'd stayed with me until the last rumble of thunder faded, his warmth keeping the fear at bay.

Tears spring to my eyes before I can stop them. I try to blink them away, but they spill over anyway, mixing with the raindrops still drying on my cheeks.

"Penelope?" Jax's voice is soft with concern. His hands come up to frame my face. "What is it?"

I shake my head, unable to speak past the lump in my throat. How can I explain that I'm crying over memories of another man while his touch sets my skin on fire? That my heart feels like it's being torn in two directions? "Talk to me, princess," he urges, thumbs wiping away my tears. "Please."

The gentleness in his voice only makes it worse. "I miss him," I whisper, the confession falling from my lips like the rain outside. "The storms... they remind me of him." Something flickers in Jax's eyes-pain, maybe, or understanding. But he doesn't pull away like I expect. Instead, his touch gentles further, barely there against my skin.

"Tell me," he says, and it's not a command but not necessarily a request either.

I take a shaky breath, my fingers absently tracing the moonfire opal. "I'd run away that night. I'd overheard something I shouldn't have, about not being good enough to be Luna. I wasn't thinking clearly-I just ran into the woods." My voice catches. "I got lost when the storm hit."

Jax's hand finds mine, his thumb tracing soothing patterns on my palm. The gesture is so gentle it makes my heart ache.

"I found this dock," I continue, the memory still so vivid. "I was terrified, alone, pregnant... and then I heard growls in the darkness. When Malachi emerged in his wolf form, he was enormous, magnificent, strong. For a moment, I thought..." I swallow hard. "I thought he might kill me."

"But he didn't," Jax says softly, his eyes intent on my face.

I shake my head. "No. Even in wolf form, even when his instincts were in control, he was gentle. He recognized me, protected me. He curled around me to keep me warm until the storm passed." Fresh tears spill down my cheeks. "He made me feel safe when I was at my most vulnerable."

"And now you're vulnerable again," Jax says, his voice rough. "But this time, he's not here to protect you."

I nod, my lip quivering as my gaze flickers down. Silence falls between us for a while. But it's not uncomfortable.

"I understand loneliness," he says finally. "Or at least the ache of missing someone you've never even met."

I look up at him then. In the dim storm light, his features seem softer, more vulnerable. "What do you mean?"

He shifts, settling beside me on the bench. His thigh presses against mine, warm through our wet clothes. "I first felt you years ago," he admits. "Just the faintest whisper of a connection. I searched everywhere, followed every lead, but..." He shakes his head, a muscle working in his jaw. "Do you know what it's like? To know your true mate is out there somewhere, but not being able to find her?"

The raw honesty in his voice makes my heart clench. "Jax..."

"And then one day, I caught your scent on the wind." His eyes find mine, intense and burning. "But you were already with him. Already carrying his child." Thunder crashes overhead, but neither of us flinches. We're caught in something deeper now, more primal than any storm.

"I watched you, you know," he continues, his voice dropping lower. "Not in a creepy way, just... I needed to know you were safe. Happy." His hand finds mine, fingers intertwining before I can think to pull away. "You'd smile at him like he hung the moon, and it killed me. But I told myself if you were truly happy, I could live with that."

"I was happy," I whisper, but even to my own ears, the words sound uncertain.

"Were you?" His other hand comes up to brush a strand of wet hair from my face. "Or were you just grateful to finally have somewhere to call home?"

The question hits too close to home, striking chords I've been trying to ignore. "That's not fair."

"None of this is fair," he agrees, his thumb tracing patterns on my palm. "It's not fair that I had to watch another man mark what should have been mine. It's not fair that you had to grow up not knowing who you really are. And it's not fair that despite everything, despite him, we can't fight this pull between us."

His words sink into me like rain into parched earth, drawing me in closer-if at all possible. I know I should pull away. I should remind him and myself that I'm marked, mated, carrying another man's child.

But when his free hand cups my cheek, turning my face to his, I don't resist. His forehead rests against mine, our breath mingling in the humid air. The moonfire opal pulses against my chest, matching the thundering of my heart. "Tell me you don't feel it," he whispers, his lips a breath away from mine. "Tell me you don't lie awake at night wondering what it would be like if you'd found me first."

*I have. I do.*

But I can't say it. The words stick in my throat, choking me with their truth. Everything in me yearns to close that final distance, to discover if his kiss would feel as right as his touch.

*Stop this. Think of Malachi. Think of your baby.*

But in this moment, caught between lightning flashes with Jax's warmth seeping into my bones, those thoughts feel distant. All I can focus on is the way his thumb traces my bottom lip, the way his scent wraps around me like a physical embrace.

"Jax," I breathe, and I'm not sure if it's a warning or a plea.

Thunder rolls overhead, but neither of us notices. We're lost in something deeper, something that blurs the lines between comfort and desire until I can't tell where one ends and the other begins. And that... that is more dangerous than the looming storm.