Accidental Surrogate for Alpha novel Chapter 446

#Chapter 446- Wedding Preparations

Ella

“Ella!” Cora shouts from the closet, her voice a little frantic. “Ella, help! Please!”

I turn quickly towards the closet, a biscuit and a cup of coffee in each of my hands and Rafe strapped to my chest in his little carrier. “What’s wrong?” I call as I hurry towards her.

But I see the problem immediately as I come to the door, with Cora wrapped up in yards of fabric and one of the stylists tugging fervently at the buttons which close the back.

“It doesn’t fit,” Cora says, her face worried.

“What?” I say, my eyes going a little wide. “But we did a fitting two days ago did you -”

“I guess I got bigger,” Cora sighs, looking down at the little baby bump that makes me so happy to see. “I don’t know – it would be a ridiculous thing to consider with a human baby, but with the way these wolves grow? In leaps and bounds?” She looks back up at me, shaking her head. “I’m sorry Ella what the hell are we going to do?”

“We’re going to use the back-up dress,” I say, grinning widely and shoving the rest of the cookie in my mouth while I put my coffee down on a shelf. Then I move for a big white box I’ve kept secretly in the corner under a pile of other big white boxes.

“Oh, thank god,” the stylist murmurs under her breath, making me laugh.

“Can you call the seamstresses?” I say to the second stylist, who nods and steps away to place a call on her phone. “We might need some last-minute alterations.”

“I can’t believe you planned all this, Ella,” Cora sighs as I take the top off the box and reveal an identical wedding gown, just one size larger. “How…how did you even have the foresight to see this coming?”

“I had a wolf pregnancy too!” I say, lifting the dress out and carrying it over. “I remember how unpredictable it is. At least you aren’t being flown over to another country right now in a middle of a war.”

“True” Cora says, beginning to strip off the first wedding dress as I hang up her second and begin to steam it. “This is….slightly less stressful than that. But only barely.”

I laugh a little, shaking my head and glancing over my shoulder at her. “So,” I say, eager. “Are you excited?”

“Um,” Cora says, her voice high and noncommittal-

I gasp a little and turn fully to her now. “You’re not excited for your wedding!?”

“Ella!” she says, laughing and shaking her head at me as she steps fully out of the dress and the stylist takes it away. ” You know that none of this has been important to me, and that Roger and I already had the mating ceremony to end all mating ceremonies. So,” she shrugs, “this all makes me more anxious than anything.”

“Aww,” I say, moving to my sister, the steamer still in my hand. “Don’t be anxious, Cora. It’s going to go beautifully!”

Cora sighs and smiles at me before dipping her head to kiss Rafe on his. He burbles up at her, happily kicking his legs, making her laugh. “You’re more comfortable in the limelight than me, sis,” she says with a smile. “The way you handled the coronation yesterday-

“I was a mess at the coronation! I ran backwards! I cried!”

“It was perfectly you though,” she says, raising her eyebrows at me with a smile. “Everyone loved it. I loved it.”

“I didn’t do it, the aids did!” I laugh, but I turn my face up for a kiss, accepting the compliment. Sinclair bends a little, kissing me lightly, before turning towards the aid who bustle up the aisle.

“Are we ready, sir?” she asks, looking up from the ipad settled in the crook of her arm. “To begin letting the guests in?”

Sinclair looks at me and raises his eyebrows. I nod eagerly and smile at the aid. “I think so. Let’s get this started!”

The aid grins at me and eagerly rushes off as Sinclair and I head to the front of the room, where we intend to greet as many guests as we can as they come in. Of course, we won’t be able to say hello to them all – far too many – but I intend to do my best.

“Ready, little prince?” I ask, smiling down at my baby, who looks up at me and gives a happy little squeal, passing excitement down the bond and making me laugh.

“We’re lucky he likes crowds and attention,” Sinclair murmurs as the aids move to the doors, starting to pull them open. “If he was a shy prince, he’d have a much harder time.”

“He knows how much we love him, and how much everyone else does too!” I say, unable to help squeezing my little baby and covering his little head with kisses. “How could they help it? He’s such a cutie.”

“Just like his mama,” Sinclair murmurs, dropping a kiss to my own head that makes me smile up at him.

But before we have time to say anything else? The doors are open, and the crowds start to fill the room.

“Welcome!” I call, stepping forward to greet Cora’s first guest.