Page 1 of His Surrogate Omega

Chapter One

An end in the beginning…

Gray ushered the boys from the long black limousine, handing over umbrellas before they exited into the near torrential downpour. Once out, he rose to his full height and opened his own umbrella before trailing behind the three young men through the maze of headstones. Still water seemed to creep in and roll down his back somehow. A shiver raced down his spine along with a droplet of cold water. The scent of open earth, death, and the cold, wet ground filled his nose. On he trudged. Just a few more hours and he could collapse.

Planning the dual funerals, all while moving the boys into the house, had been a mind-numbing exercise in multi-tasking—a skill he’d always assumed he lacked. Together he’d sat with what was left of his family, making the hard decisions he had no desire to make.

Their walk ended, and they turned to face the two black shiny coffins side by side as the rain splatted against their metal exteriors, his mind a swirl of emotion.

Fortunately, there was a small tent over where they’d been asked to sit. Gray closed his umbrella and sat in the lone row left for family. A few others crowded in under the awning and stood behind them, silent as the graves around them.

Gray stared at the caskets, his mind as numb as it had ever been over the last week.

Far back in his mind, he thought he recalled his grandparents’ funerals. It happened so long ago, it was hard for him to be sure if the glimpses in his mind were correct. With a bit more clarity he could see his father and his papa’s funerals, one not long after the other—as so often happens with long-bonded alpha and omega mates.

Memories of people murmuring their condolences as he stood there trying to act strong, barely hearing the empty words that fell from their lips, came to mind. Today, there would be more of those and again, he had to act strong…

When he was anything but.

Especially as he hadn’t planned to bury his own brother and his brother’s mate. Or have to hold on to the pieces left behind.

Gray glanced down the row at Avery, the eldest of the three boys.

At nearly twenty, Avery was more man than boy, especially now. His nephew was already pursuing custody of ten-year-old Auggie and thirteen-year-old Lake, which had left Gray again feeling like the outsider in his own family, but how could he protest? The boy was whip smart, like his papa and father. Avery was responsible. Trustworthy.

Unlike me.

Gray was the air-headed artist of the family. The one no oneeversaw as responsible. But then, he hadn’t done much to prove otherwise in his lifetime, either.

Yet here he was, feeling more responsible than he’d ever felt in his life. It made his throat tighten. He clawed at the black pants he wore, his knuckles growing white as he dug into his thighs, trying to feel… anything.

Avery can’t raise the boys on his own… Nor would I make him try. I can be responsible.

I can.

And I will.

His stare moved back to the caskets.

For him… I’ll do whatever I can.

Gray’s heart thundered in his chest… the panic coming in waves. He heard the preacher begin the service but couldn’t listen to one word. His own mind was too chaotic.

What came next for them?

Four omegas under one roof, with no income, no alpha to protect them…

How in the hell were they going to make it without an alpha?

Gray turned back to those shiny black coffins, his throat so tight he could barely breathe. And in that moment, it hit him like a ton of bricks. Logically, he’d known it, but he’d focused on the necessities. Helping Avery plan the funeral. The logistics of moving the boys. Making sure the day-to-day bullshit of life happened when all he wanted to do was slide under the covers and not come back up for a week or three.

If he focused on those things, then he didn’t have to think about the obvious.

Silver was gone.

His beautiful brother was simply…gone.

The one person he could always turn to and tell anything. His best friend. His confidant. His lifeline to the outside world.

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