His Human Surrogate (Monsters Love Curvy Girls #2) - Michele Mills Page 0,17

and yet it seems private at the same time. I imagine the two of us sitting out here, drinking coffee or Traq together as we watch the morning sun glitter on the lake. It sounds lovely.

Stop it.

I’m not going to be sitting here with Berg, ever. It’ll be Berg and his future Hyrrokin bound. I’m just his friend and his gestational surrogate.

I frown and walk back inside.

I begin to realize the furniture in here is new. Berg got himself a new bed? Wow, it’s very big. I carefully sit on the edge, testing out the mattress, and decide I really like it. It’s built in the same kind of bold design as the house, but much more low-key. There’s a nightstand on either side of the bed. There are two chairs on the balcony, as well as two large comfy chairs in a sitting area in front of the dormant, crumbling fireplace.

I stand and wander into the dated but operational restroom and find two sinks.

Two cleansing units.

Two separate closets.

My heart hurts. This place is all set up for Berg to live with a bound. Apparently, even though he’s having me carry this offspring, he still holds out the hope that one day he’ll find his bound. A true mother for his child, and maybe a female to give him more children.

Berg will be a great father and husband. Whatever female gets his heart one day will be truly lucky.

I turn and walk out of the restroom, trying not to cry.

I need to hold it together. I knew what I was getting into when I signed up for this. I don’t belong here, in this house or in this room. I’m only the emergency house sitter. He must’ve thought it was a good idea to ask me to do this, because unlike his mother and brother and his best friend, I was obviously not busy and had plenty of time on my hands, so I was the perfect being to ask for this kind of imposition.

I rub at my eyes, angry with myself. Enough. No one made me do this, I did this to myself. I put myself in this situation. It will be okay. Berg can’t help it if he doesn’t have the same feelings for me that I do for him. It’s not his fault he’s so freaking sexy.

I use the cleansing unit and put on my pajamas.

Then I pull out some bedding from a box clearly marked “bedding” and I snuggle back against a fluffy pillow and under Berg’s blankets that, dammit, smell just like him.

And I type out a long, heartfelt message and then hit send.

7

Bergelmir

I find myself daydreaming about the day I took Chloe to the fertility med lab.

She thinks she had an embryo transfer. No. My female was filled with my seed. I assaulted the doctor and forced him to perform the procedure I wanted. I used my wealth, strength and power to have my female illegally impregnated with our offspring, and I’d do it all over again in a heartbeat. She has no idea what I’m capable of, if pushed. No idea who I really am. If she knew the real me, would she want me as her bound?

In fact, no one knows who I really am. My team and my brother might be the only beings in my life who have an inkling of the real me.

To the world I’m Bergelmir Touchstone, the silent and solitary younger brother of Aegir Touchstone, and the son of the famed hero Buri Touchstone. My father died saving the planet while leading Operation Helr against the Surellians—there’s a statue of him next to the Presidential Fire Palace. Meanwhile, my older brother is the financial genius who single-handedly pulled our economy out of a decade-long economic depression.

I am proud of their accomplishments, but I work at a much more secretive level.

I hide my identity when I operate in the field, and the citizens of Tarvos only see the Bergelmir I allow them to see—a carefully crafted version of myself to throw off any hints as to my real objectives. In reality I’m a Black Ops specialist. And I’m not a nice male. I’ve killed. I’ve tortured. I’ve flamed whole military bases. I blow up vehicles for breakfast.

This is why I find it annoying that unmated females often gaze at me with undisguised lust. They want to be my bound, but they don’t know the real me. They only know my cover—the former soldier who now runs a high-profile