Chapter 5 - Alexander

‘Get it the FUCK together, Alexander!’ Lucius growled. 

‘Don’t you think I would if it were that easy?’ I growled back as I held the side of the garage for support.

I know he’s pissed at me. I’m pissed at myself. But this isn’t something I have control over. It’s not like I wanted to have this reaction to Delilah, let alone to her being my mate. Why didn’t anyone tell me she was the surrogate? It would have been nice to have some warning before finding her like this. Pregnant with my cousin’s babies. 

I choked back the vomit as I tried to control my reaction. Seriously, why do the actions of that damn bitch still mess with me? Wasn’t it bad enough that I haven’t been able to touch a woman since I lost all trust in their gender? Now the ripple effect of what she did has me throwing up after meeting my mate. I don’t think anything in my past made me deserve this. 

I closed my eyes and let myself slide down the garage wall to sit on the ground. I groaned as I pulled my legs up and placed my head against them. This can’t fucking be happening. This is not how I wanted meeting my mate to go. This isn’t how I wanted seeing Delilah again to go. And, of course, she’d be my mate. I sighed and raised my head to look at the moon.

“You have a twisted sense of humor,” I grumbled to the Goddess. 

‘Of course, she does. She paired André, the hands-down gayest man to ever gay, with Darren, a military guy that never even kissed a guy.’ Lucius sighed.

‘But she always has a reason. And at least now, it all makes sense. Why we felt a connection to her all those years ago. Why we felt the loss of her more than anyone else after the incident.’ He sighed. 

‘Is that supposed to make any of this better?’ I questioned.

‘No, but it should give some perspective.’ He said.

‘How’s this for perspective? My mate is the one person who completely cut me out of their life at the start of the incident and didn’t try to reach back out after it blew up.’ I growled as I pushed to my feet and started to pace.

‘My mate is seventeen weeks pregnant with essential quadruplets for my BEST FRIEND and his mate?’ I continued my rant as I paced.

‘No one bothered to tell me that Delilah was the surrogate. Mates aside, no one could have known that. But no one told me it was her.’ I threw my hands up in the air.

‘My best fucking friend called me home and let me be shell shocked seeing her for the first time in over two years, and as a cherry on top, she’s pregnant. He knows how fucked in the head I’ve been since Lia.’ I huffed. 

‘And shouldn’t you feel something about her being pregnant? We know that the surrogate’s eggs were used. So biologically, she’s having kids with my cousin and his mate.’ I asked.

‘As a wolf, yes, of course, I’m not thrilled that our mate is carrying someone else’s child.’ Lucius conceded. ‘But…’

‘But nothing. Don’t try to do that. Could you maybe be on the same page as me here? I’m freaking out. I don’t need you trying to be all logical and shit.’ I rolled my eyes.

‘We can’t both be freaking out. It’s unhealthy and doesn’t bode well for us getting with Delilah and her wolf, whom I haven’t met.’ Lucius and his damn logic. 

“Zio Alexander?” Lando’s voice pulled me out of my tirade with Lucius.

I sighed and ran my hand through my hair before smiling at the boy. He’s a sweet kid, and if Madonie weren’t so stuck in their bloodline or conquest ways about the Alpha title, I wouldn’t have a seventeen-week pregnant mate acting as a surrogate to my gay best friend and his mate so they can provide a biological heir. Honestly, I think the kid could do well as an Alpha. 

“Ciao, Lando.” I smiled. 

“How have you been, kiddo?” I asked, ruffling his soft curly hair. “Did you get taller while I was gone?”

He laughed and batted my hand away. Oh, to be a young pre-shifted kid again. Hard to imagine that the scrawny eight-year-old kid scavenging for food at the packhouse when André and Darren arrived in Madonie would grow up to be the stronger, nearly fourteen-year-old leader before me.

And I can say, leader, even if I’ve been gone the last nine months, I know he’s the leader amongst the kids his age. He’s the one they look to. Sure, it’s probably because he’s the prince, but it’s also because he has the right mindset to lead. 

“Maybe.” Lando shrugged. “I am going to be fourteen soon. Or maybe you’re shrinking with age, Zio Alexander.” He teased me.

“You spend too much time with your papas. You’re picking up their senses of humor, and it’s freaking me out.” I chuckled and hugged him. 

“I’ll take that as a compliment.” Lando smiled. 

“Have you been to see Zia Delilah? Is she going to be okay? Are my siblings going to be okay?” He asked with a glance in the direction of the guest house.

I sighed heavily and ran my hand over my face. Of course, Lando knows she’s the surrogate. I can’t hold that against him. He’s a kid, and she is living in the guest house at his family villa. Plus, it’s not like he would have known or thought to tell me anything about the surrogate least of all that it’s Delilah. 

“Sort of.” I shrugged. 

“Her medical condition isn’t as life-threatening as you may think. Delilah and the babies will be fine if she’s on bed rest and takes things easy the rest of the pregnancy.” I assured him.

Something tells me my presence and us being mates will be a detriment to her taking it easy. If anything, this is going to add stress. She cut me out of her life two years ago, and I can’t imagine her feelings on that will suddenly change because of the mate bond. It didn’t change when the truth came out about Lia. So, what hope do I have that it would change now?

“That’s good to know. There was just so much blood this morning, and Zia Delilah screamed so loud even I heard her from my room.” Lando frowned. 

I frowned, now worried that maybe Annamaria had missed something. I wasn’t given specifics, just told to come home and the diagnosis. I don’t know how much blood Delilah lost, and since I haven’t gone to the hospital, I can’t check her chart and look at any ultrasounds taken to show the severity of the placental abruption. The shock of her being my mate and my issues with her condition aside, this isn’t a doctor’s behavior.

I can get through treating her if I stop thinking about her as Delilah or my mate. That’s how I’m going to survive this. I’ll go mental and emotional walls up and treat her like any patient. I have a job to do. I can’t leave the heirs of Madonie in any danger. And I don’t want to be why Lando is still worried about them.

I’ll deal with my feelings about all this later. Like I’ll deal with my family and their reasoning for keeping me in the dark about Delilah. I still can’t wrap my head around that. What reason would they have not told me who the surrogate was? I’m the fucking Beta and a member of this damn family. Or I thought I was. I suppose neither of those are good enough reasons for them to keep me in the loop. 

“I’m sure that scared you, Lando.” I sighed. 

“But don’t worry, it’s going to be all right. I’m home. I won’t let anything bad happen to your siblings or Delilah.” I assured him.

“Thanks, Zio.” Lando smiled and hugged me. “I never understood why you and Zia Delilah stopped talking, but maybe now that can change.

“Yeah. I guess we’ll see.” I nodded. 

“Now move along. I should go see Delilah and assess the situation.” I shooed him in the direction of the main house.

“I’m glad you’re back, Zio.” Lando chuckled as he walked away. 

I sighed and leaned against the wall once he was out of sight. Fuck. I’m going to do this. I can do this. Right?

‘I don’t like your plan.’ Lucius shook his head.

‘Wouldn’t be the first time you didn’t like something I did.’ I rolled my eyes.

‘But this is about our mate.’ He protested.

‘No. This is about a pregnant patient and the health and safety of her already high-risk pregnancy.’ I corrected him.

‘She is our mate. You can’t just ignore that.’ Lucius sighed.

‘Yes, I can. Just like Delilah ignored me for over two years, I can ignore what she is to me.’ I scoffed.

‘I wish you luck. Because how do you plan to heal Delilah without TOUCHING her?’ Lucius proudly pointed out a massive flaw in my plan. 

‘Shut up with your logic. I’ll deal with it.’ I grumbled as I pushed off the wall and marched back to her door. 

‘So…. we going to knock? Walk in? She is supposed to be on bed rest. She may have gone back to bed. She might be crying right now because you WALKED away.’ Lucius questioned as I stood there for too long.

‘She walked away first, over two years ago.’ I bitterly reminded him.

I didn’t wait for him to answer or bother with knocking. I opened the door and walked inside. I clenched my jaw to steal my nerves against Delilah’s overwhelming scent. This will be harder than I thought, but I’m stubborn enough to pull it off. It’s the only way to get through this without losing my temper.

“De… Signorina Fayte.” I called out, correcting myself to try and distance myself from all things personal, including using her name.

She didn’t reply, and I was forced to venture deeper into the guest house. I knew which room she was in by the strength of her scent. I gulped back my worry about what I might walk into as I opened the furthest bedroom door. 

“Signorina Fayte?” I did my best to keep my voice even. 

I didn’t want her to hear how uneasy I was about this. I also hoped not using her name would clarify that I was not here to discuss anything personal. I’m here in a professional capacity, and that’s it. I sighed at the sight that greeted me. I was expecting a narrowed look filled with anger. 

Instead, she was asleep, a half bowl of linguine upside down on the bed. It must have fallen over when she fell asleep. I didn’t think I was outside that long. I frowned and checked my phone. Yeah, it wasn’t that long. And while I’m sure carrying four babies, two of them being Alpha blood, is draining, this is concerning.

‘Something isn’t right.’ Lucius growled. ‘Don’t you smell it? Under her scent….’

‘Blood.’ I completed his sentence as I picked it up.