The Alpha Surrogate Luna

A Stranger With Golden Eyes

William’s POV

Stepping out of the back seat into the cold night air, an agonizing, quiet burn spreads across my ribs, making every breath feel like sharp glass. I pushed the heavy car door shut with a dull thud, resting my gloved hand against the dark roof for a brief second to steady my balance. The dark, silver-tinted veins under my collar were creeping higher every week, a constant reminder that this terminal illness gave me less than three years to find a surrogate, secure a biological heir, and stop North America from falling into civil war.

My blood ran cold with irritation as I caught two low-level rogues trapping a young woman in the alleyway. They were pinning her against the rough brick wall, holding her thin arms while the larger one raised a fist toward her face.

"What do we have here?" I muttered, my voice echoing low through the damp stone passage.

The two men spun around in total surprise, their aggressive posture collapsing the moment my shadow stretched over them. Releasing a fraction of my Alpha aura, I crushed the attackers under a suffocating weight until they scrambled away into the dark in absolute terror. Their heavy iron knuckledusters hit the cobblestones with a loud clatter, their hasty footsteps fading quickly down the main street.

I looked down at the young woman, expecting her to cringe or beg like everyone else in court, but she stood tall, her rare silver-and-gold eyes blazing with an unbroken, fiery pride that instantly commanded my respect. She kept her shoulders squared, her small fists clenched tightly at her sides as she stared directly into my eyes without flinching. Her worn clothing and dirty skin showed three weeks of harsh survival, yet her stance remained as regal as a queen standing in a hall of marble.

"Are you harmed?" I asked, stepping closer to observe her face in the pale light of the car headlights.

"I can handle myself," she replied, her voice firm and dripping with sharp defiance despite her ragged breathing. "Who are you, and what do you want with me?"

"You were about to be dragged away by bottom-feeders, little one," I said, offering a small, dry smile. "A word of thanks would usually be appropriate."

"I did not ask for your intervention, sir," she said, lifting her chin to look me straight in the eyes. "I do not owe debts to strangers in expensive luxury cars."

"Fair enough," I said, taking another step forward. "My name is William."

She eyed me up and down, scanning my tailored dark suit and silver hair with deep suspicion. "Gloria," she said quietly, giving me nothing more than her name. "Now, if you will excuse me, I have somewhere to be."

Her legs wobbled slightly as she tried to step past me, her body clearly exhausted from weeks of starvation and stress. Reaching out to steady her, her natural scent washed over me—a soothing aura that miraculously dulled the severe pain in my chest—and I knew right then that this fierce, disgraced noble daughter was the only woman worthy of bearing my child.

The sharp, burning agony in my ribs softened into a gentle ache the second my fingers made contact with her skin. My jaw tightened in genuine disbelief as I looked down at her small hand rest in my heavy grip, realizing that her mere presence was suppressing the lethal black veins crawling beneath my collar.

"Release my hand, William," she demanded, though her voice lacked its earlier sharpness as she looked up at our connected fingers.

"You are shaking, Gloria," I noted softly, keeping my grip firm enough to support her weight without hurting her wrist. "And you have nowhere safe to go in this district."

"That is none of your concern," she spat back, attempting to pull her arm away from my grasp. "I do not need pity, especially not from an outsider."

"This is not pity," I told her, my tone turning serious as I looked into her unique eyes. "This is an opportunity for both of us."

"An opportunity?" she asked, her brow furrowing with suspicion. "What could a wealthy man like you possibly want from a disgraced, penniless girl from House Sorensen?"

"I know exactly who you are, Gloria," I said, leaning in slightly so my words carried clearly through the quiet alleyway. "I know about your family's fallen crest, I know about Julian's betrayal, and I know you buried your guardian alone in the border mud three weeks ago."

Her breath hitched in her throat, a flicker of deep pain flashing across her silver-and-gold eyes before she locked it behind a wall of pure anger. "If you came here to mock me like the rest of the court, you can save your breath."

"I am offering you protection, unlimited wealth, and the power to crush the men who ruined your life," I said smoothly, watching her face closely as every word registered in her mind. "In exchange, you will agree to sign a private contract with me tonight."

Gloria narrowed her eyes, her lips pressing into a thin line. "What kind of contract?"

"A surrogate agreement," I stated bluntly, without hiding an ounce of truth from her. "You will bear my biological heir, and in return, I will place the head of House Sorensen's enemies at your feet."

She stared at me in stunned silence for a long moment, processing the heavy weight of my unexpected offer while the quiet engine of my car hummed nearby.

"You want me to carry your child?" she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

"I need an heir with a spirit as unbroken as yours," I replied, stepping back slightly to give her room to breathe, though I did not break eye contact. "And you need a shield strong enough to stop Julian from putting your head on a spike."

Gloria looked down at her worn boots, then back up at my face, her jaw setting firmly once again. "And if I refuse your offer right now?"

"Then you walk back out into that dangerous fog, and those debt collectors will return with twice as many men in an hour," I said calmly, opening the rear passenger door of the car for her. "The choice is entirely yours, Gloria Sorensen."

She glanced down the long, dark alleyway toward the main street, then turned her eyes toward the open car door and the plush leather seat inside. She took a slow, deep breath, her fingers clutching the edges of her thin coat as she stepped toward the vehicle.

"I will read every single line of that contract before I sign anything," she said, lifting her chin proudly as she crossed the pavement.

"I would expect nothing less from you," I said, holding the door steady as she slid into the back seat.

I closed the heavy door, walked around to the driver's side, and climbed into the front seat before pulling the vehicle out into the fog-filled street. The quiet warmth of her scent filled the small space of the car, continuing to soothe the agonizing fire in my chest as I drove toward my private estate.

When we reached the massive iron gates of my mansion outside the city limits, I parked the car in front of the grand stone entrance and turned off the engine. I stepped out, opened her door, and guided her through the tall mahogany doors into my private study, where a thick leather-bound document rested on the large oak desk.

"This is the official surrogate agreement," I said, pointing toward the desk while taking a fountain pen from my jacket pocket. "Take all the time you need to review the clauses."

Gloria walked over to the desk, her eyes scanning the neat black ink written across the heavy paper. She picked up the pen, her hand remaining remarkably steady as she turned to face me one last time.

"If I sign this, you guarantee my family's name will be cleared?" she asked, her voice echoing in the quiet study.

"I give you my absolute word as an Alpha," I answered truthfully.

She dipped the nib in ink, placed the paper flat against the wood, and signed her full name at the bottom of the page without a single second of hesitation.

I picked up the signed document, looking down at her fresh signature, but as I turned to lock the paper inside my private wall safe, a sharp, violent pain suddenly exploded across my chest, forcing me to drop to one knee as dark silver blood spilled from my lips onto the carpet.