by Angela Foxxe
"Most media outlets are filtered by the various organizations, but the Deep Web is something a little more difficult to control. There are plenty of stories, testimonies, and various other images and sources down in the deep, dark of the internet. Those are harder to get rid of.”
“This is the last part of the exam,” Tasha said finally, shaking her head. “This is the last part, right? I mean you’re messing with me. If I buy into this, I get booted from the examination process and the less gullible applicant goes on to win the surrogacy spot?”
“Unfortunately, no,” a voice said from behind her, making her almost jump out of her skin.
*
It was very rare that Tasha ever felt taken aback by the sight of a man, but the person standing in the doorway was like staring at a volcano erupting in the foreground of the most magnificent sunset she had ever witnessed. His eyes were as bright as stars, capturing the light and reflecting it back at her from his bright, green eyes that looked like they had been etched out of pure jade.
His skin was pale and clung to a perfect bone structure that made her believe that God truly was a sculptor. After all, there was no way that random chaos and coincidence could create someone so stunningly handsome. His chin looked like it had been chiseled from the finest bone in the world and his blond hair was perfectly trimmed, the kind of trim that only came with lots of money and time in a salon.
He stood there nonchalantly and effortlessly mysterious with his hands in the pockets of his custom tailored suit. He smelled of money and it was a smell that Tasha could really get used to. She wondered who he was and why he was there, but the answer really wasn’t all that important to her. He was welcome to stay as long as he wanted. There was no rush for him to move on. Dressed in a suit that was dark jet with pale blue lines as thin as needles running down it, he looked like he was ready to own the world.
“I just had Ms. Olivia and Ms. Jonlin escorted from the building,” he informed her in a voice that spoke to her from across space and time, like he was sending out a signal form some distant home world, beckoning her to return and take her place next to him.
“Ms. Roland, this is Dane Matterhorn,” Mr. Grayson said dismissively.
“Bullshit,” Tasha said in the most unladylike exclamation of her life.
“In the flesh,” Dane said with a grin and a shrug. He stepped into the room and took a seat across from her and she could actually smell his soft, subtle cologne that reminded her of the forest and tranquility.
“Mr. Grayson here is a snob and a boorish fellow to explain what is happening and since you’ll be my surrogate, I wanted to be here to help you through the process.” He looked at her and all Tasha could do was stare at him. She was certain that deep in the back of her mind, she probably felt like a fool and a moron all rolled into one, but nothing was computing and nothing was making sense to her. “All of this is true and I’m sorry to throw you into the deep end like this, however, we are on a schedule.”
“Why is that?” Tasha found her voice and tried to compose herself.
“Infertility,” he shrugged as if it were the most common explanation in the world. “You see there are fail safes in nature to ensure that Shifters don’t take over the world and extinguish humanity and the most effective fail safe is infertility. Shifters cannot reproduce with their own kind. This is particularly difficult for the women of our kind, unless you’re into lots of free sex without having to worry about getting pregnant. Usually that wears off.
"So, it’s left to the men to reproduce, but most men are only fertile for a limited number of weeks until their biological clock shuts down for a while. Until modern medicine, it was very difficult to track this. I am reaching the zenith of my fertility and in order for me to reproduce I need to have a compatible woman who is fit to carry on the legacy of the Matterhorn Group’s heritage. That person is you.”
“What?” Tasha furrowed her brow and was officially not following along with any of this. “No, I was hired to be a surrogate and I am supposed to carry the child of two people, I didn’t sign up to have my own child inside of me.”
“Actually, you did,” Mr. Grayson informed her. “Ms. Roland, you are in the unfortunate position being revealed the truth of a contract you did not read before signing. Now, there are several routes we might take, but as you can see, Dane is a wonderful individual of high moral standing. You don’t have to be worried about him. The child you conceive will be taken care of by the Matterhorn Group and will be given the best of this world. I assure you that.”
“But I won’t have access to him?” Tasha felt something very close to a momma bear rising up inside of her. “Or her, what if it’s a her?”
“Doesn’t matter,” Dane said with a charming smile on his lips. “I will love my child no matter what. Mr. Grayson will tell you that you can have no part and that you have already signed over any legal rights you have to the child, but I’m not as cold and stoic as our head lawyer is. I’m more than willing to arrange it so that you can have an active role in our child’s life, should you wish it. Most surrogates do not. They find the whole process unsavory and violating, which I agree and understand. But, we are a desperate people.”
“You said that there were routes I could take?” Tasha shook her head, not understanding this.
“Natural conception or medically,” Dane said to her. “The choice is entirely yours.”
Normally, the proposition to have sex with Dane would be the most glorious thing that she could ever be given and she was more than willing to have sex with him, but this was so strange and this was so weird. They were going to pay her five million dollars to give up her hybrid monster of a child. Did they seriously see no problem in that and have no moral issue with the fact that they were essentially taking her child from her? She wanted to scream and vomit all at the same time, but she couldn’t find it in her to do it. She felt like she was going to pass out.
“I’m guessing this won’t be a normal pregnancy,” Tasha looked at Dane, her eyes full of fire and confusion.
“No, not for the child,” Dane said soothingly, his voice was like melted chocolate. “You won’t be able to tell the difference, but the child is very fragile and needs a strong mother. We know what we’re doing here, however, and we’re going to make sure that our child survives. That’s why you’re not allowed to leave the penthouse suite that you’ll be given. Should you wish it, I will be here the entire process with you.”
“Please, let’s keep this professional,” Mr. Grayson urged. “You can get mushy and sentimental after the briefing.”
Was that all this was to him? Was it just an official meeting where he discussed the terms of what was being done to her? She was probably nothing more than an incubator to Mr. Grayson. She wanted to claw his eyes out. She thought about her father calling her a whore and it turned out that this was exactly what she had been turned into. Sure, her client was fabulously handsome and wealthy beyond all measure, but she was a glorified whore who would be selling her baby at the end of the meeting. She felt like she could feel the fires of hell lapping at her feet as she sat in the office.
“When do I need to have my mind made up?” Tasha asked nervously.
“You already have,” Mr. Grayson said again. “You’ve already signed the contracts. This contract is simply the removal of your rights as a parent and you’re compelled to sign it based on the previous contracts you have signed up to this point.”
“That’s not what I’m talking about,” Tasha growled at him. “Whether I’m going to fuck him or have you stick a needle in me.”
“You have two days,” Dane said calmly.
She could see the anger and the fire inside of Mr. Grayson’s eyes as she stewed across the desk from her, clearly callous to this whole situation. How many times had he forced women to sell their babies to Matterhorn before? It disgusted her.
“I’m here to speak to if you need to talk to someone and I assure you that everything will work out for the
best. I don’t want this to be a harsh or difficult process for you. Whatever we need to do to ensure that you’re comfortable and that you’re happy, I’m more than willing to do.”
“Then take me to the penthouse,” she said, grabbing the tome of a contract and refusing to sign it right then. She refused to do anything more that would give Mr. Grayson satisfaction. She looked at him scowling at her, tapping his pen on the top of his desk.
“You will need to sign that,” he informed her. “You have approximately nine months to settle your qualms and internal issues.”
“Terry,” Dane hissed, rising from his chair, clearly angry by the entire exchange. Mr. Grayson turned his attention to his client and shrugged dismissively. “This way, Ms. Roland.” Dane said, holding out his arm for her.
Strangely enough, Tasha found herself taking it and feeling the warmth of his body against her. It felt right to her.
*
The day of the impregnation, Tasha was still getting used to the luxury of the penthouse that she had been given. Sure enough, it was a suite that was beyond anything that she could imagine. It was larger than the home her parents had lived in for the past seventeen years of their life—the home they had upgraded to. This was something magnificent and powerful that made her want to scream and dance, running through the entire thing and explore every room and the amazing balcony that was hers with a hot tub beckoning her to relax and sink into the simmering waters of pure comfort and relief.
But there was a sinister cloud that hung over everything in this place and she couldn’t shake the fact that she was being prostituted out to Matterhorn Group. This was the dark truth of her fortunes and she was going to have to come to terms with that. Mr. Grayson had been right about that and it was gnawing at her with each passing moment. She was going to have to sign the contract or everything that she hoped to earn from this dark period in her life would be gone.
She had to remember that she was here for a reason. In the end, she was going to have to give up a child anyway, so why didn’t she just make it her own. It was a lost child, regardless.
That made her feel cold and callous, but as she walked through the suite, she knew that this was something that she was going to be fine with. That was something she had also come to terms with. Not only was she breaking down her defenses, crumbling them over the passage of time, but she realized that it was something she was going to be okay with in the end.
After all, she wasn’t dumping her child in a dumpster or leaving him in a back alley. Her child was going to have the best life that a child could ever hope for. Even with five million dollars in her bank account, she wasn’t going to be able to give him what Dane and the others at the Matterhorn Group would be able to.
This was for the best.
When she had come to terms with that, she found that she was able to relax and actually enjoy what it was that she was slipping into. She was able to explore the suite and to focus on the last real obstacle that she had in her path and that was whether or not she was going to actually sleep with Dane.
When he had brought her up to the penthouse, he had been a gentleman and everything that she could have hoped for in a man. He answered any question she had, avoiding the secrecy that she would have expected from his kind and even though she was angry and rude, he was polite with her. She realized that he could have thrown her into a dungeon and raped her for days until they were certain she was pregnant if they wanted to and would have the legal ability to get away with it, but he was being genteel about the whole thing.
That was strange and welcoming to her and when she looked into his eyes, she knew that there was something more there than the desire to have an heir. She could feel it in the air around him.
He wanted her.
That was something that she also liked a lot, because truthfully, she wanted him. When she lay in her plush, luxurious bed, all she could think about was how much she wanted the handsome stranger that she had just met. She wanted him under the sheets with her and as she reached her hands down below the sheets and touched herself, she could only wonder what it would feel like to have him touch her. What was he like in bed? She wanted to know so badly.
In the end, all she could think about was the fact that she was going to be getting pregnant, so why shouldn’t she enjoy it? Why shouldn’t she get some carnal enjoyment out of this as well as some financial stability? She had come this far and beaten out all the other women who had wanted this. She should enjoy it. But was that crossing a line that she had best not cross?
A knock came at her door.
Her heart began to pound as she knew that the moment of her decision was upon her and it wouldn’t be much longer until she was either going to be on an operating table or Dane’s bed. Either way, she was going to have a tiny little person inside of her by the end of the day. Or so that was the plan. She had taken the fertility tests and they had done the examinations earlier in the week when she was going through the pain of the final phases of the application process.
Walking toward the door, she was painfully aware of the fact that she was wearing yoga pants, a tank top, and a long cardigan that dangled around her knees at the end. Wrapping herself up and painfully aware of the fact that she hadn’t put a bra on either, she reached for the polished handle of the door and opened it to find exactly who she was expecting and terrified of seeing standing right in front of her with the smuggest smile in the world on his face.
“Today’s the day,” Dane said with a soft grin on his lips. “Are you excited?”
“That’s one word for it,” she said nervously.
“There’s no pressure on which one you choose,” Dane said, letting himself in and walking toward the living room where he sat down on one of the immaculate white, leather sofas that Tasha was still too nervous to sit down on. “I like to believe that I’m a great guy and I would love to spend the evening with you. Honestly, you’re probably one of the most down to earth and normal women in my life and I respect that a lot about you. I would love to have the opportunity to make this as enjoyable as possible for you. Whether that means you let me stay the night with you or you go with the medical route, it’ll make me happy knowing that you’re satisfied.”
“You really know how to woo a girl,” Tasha said with a teasing smile on her lips.
“Well, I would gladly give it everything I have,” Dane said to her with a smile across his lips that was so inviting that she found the whole thing impossibly distracting. How could someone look this good and how could someone truly make her feel this way when she was in such a horrible and strange position?
“I don’t get out of this building a whole lot. You wouldn’t believe it, but the life of a mythical creature has gotten a whole lot more boring over the passing of the years. It used to be that we got to run around causing terror and fear wherever we wanted or had to. Now, it’s all stocks, meetings, and foreign assets. I wish I could go back in time and have a moment with whoever thought being a businessman would be more fun than being a mythical monster.”
“You sound like you’re actually lamenting the fact that you can’t run amok and cause mass devastation,” Tasha raised an eyebrow toward him.
“Isn’t that the dream?” Dane asked her with a shrug. “People are always looking for the fantasy where there are no rules or consequences to their actions. That’s why zombies are so popular. We want a frontier where there are no rules and there are no harsh responses to whatever it is we want. We want to take what we desire and not have to apologize for it or cut through red tape or jump through a million different hoops that only make us more discouraged and angry. That’s the dream right there. Take what you want and feel no regret.”
“So you just take whatever you want?” Tasha felt a dark thought creeping up in the back of her mind. She wanted him to desire her, to fascinate himself with the dreams and fantasies of taking her and having his way with her. She wanted that right now more than she wanted answers or freedom. She liked Dane. It w
as impossible not to when she was sitting there with him.
“I try to,” Dane said with a shrug. “It’s the only way to honestly be true to yourself and actually show who you are. But, there are social niceties and rules to uphold. We can’t just go around thieving.”
“Sure,” Tasha raised an eyebrow. “There are a lot of things that we can’t go around doing. But right now, I think there are a few things we can do.”
“Ms. Roland,” Dane raised an eyebrow of his own, matching her gaze and grinning like a wolf. “Are you attempting to take what it is you desire?”
“Maybe,” she said with a casual shrug. She didn’t want him to get cocky, so she decided to move the attention onto him. “So how does this work for you? You have a window of opportunity or something?”
“Pretty much,” Dane said with a nod. “There is an apex period of time where I’m most fertile and I have to act before the moment passes. Thankfully, you’re here with me to save me and give me the one opportunity that I have to gain a child. Also, there’s a crack team of doctors standing by to make sure that everything within our power ensures that this child survives.”
“How long is the window?” Tasha asked him, finding it so strange to be having a serious conversation about this.
“About two weeks,” Dane said quickly, like the number had been weighing on his heart for a long time now and that it had been festering inside of his brain.
“Two weeks,” Tasha mused, leaning back in the sofa and feeling it embrace her.
“That’s a nice chunk of time to make extra sure that it took. I think that it would need to be something that we constantly checked, right?”
“Most definitely,” Dane smiled, but she could see a soft, rosy blush on his cheeks as he looked at her with hopeful eyes. It was visible that he wanted this just as much as she wanted it. It was good to see that in his eyes. “Even after, I don’t think there would be much harm in making sure that it took hold.”
