2. Micah

"How's the circuit going?" Micah asked.

Micah and Conner had been best friends since they were young. Micah was a self-made billionaire. Conner's brother, Zac, was the alpha of the Nightshade Wolf Shifter Pack. Conner was a professional bull and bronc rider in the rodeo.

"It's great. I'm taking a couple of weeks off to recuperate from the broken ribs I suffered. That bull bucked and then slammed me into the fence. I'm pretty sure I heard the bones crunch as they got caught between the bull and the slats."

"Ouch. I don't know why you do it. You must love pain." Micah grinned, shaking his head.

"It's the rush, Hoss," Conner said in his best Western accent.

"You're almost as bad as that old daredevil, Evel Knievel. I think he broke every single bone in his body several times."

"I'm not that bad. I've only broken a few bones, and I don't even notice them, except for my leg. It still aches once in a while," Conner said. "I broke it ten years ago and it healed quickly thanks to a healer witch and my good shifter genes. However, it twinges when I move wrong or the weather is going to change abruptly."

"You sound like an old man." Micah laughed. "You're able to predict the weather based on your bones."

"I'll have you know that I'm a young pup yet." Conner laughed. "How have you been doing?"

"I'm okay, I guess."

"You miss Angie," Conner said. It was a statement, not a question.

Angie was a mundane human who was adopted by wolf shifter parents. She had recently gone through the mating ceremony with Noah, the alpha of the Silent Paw Wolf Shifter Pack. Her family had been billionaires. Micah and Angie had grown up together. They had also worked closely together on several charitable projects. Micah had always liked Angie and was about to ask her on a date when Noah exploded into the picture.

"Yes, I do," Micah admitted. "I still talk to her all the time. She comes to the human world at least twice a week because we have several projects that we're working on. I was happy when she rejected Noah as her mate, but he won her over. I guess she and I weren't meant to be."

"There are a lot of women who would give their right eye and left arm to be your mate," Conner said.

"I might be ready to settle down, but I'm not desperate." Micah laughed. "What I loved about Angie was that she wasn't a gold digger and she didn't act like she was rich. She was sweet and had a great sense of humor. She could even cook and clean, even though she didn't have to."

"You want Cinderella," Conner said.

"Yes and no. I want someone who is down to Earth. A woman who is smart and can talk about more than the latest fashions and her makeup. She has to be strong enough to stand up to me without being a total bitch. She needs a good sense of humor," Micah said. "Those women are few and far between."

"I'm guessing it would also help if she was pretty," Conner said.

Micah grinned. "Yep. Hard to go to bed with someone who needs two bags over her head first."

Conner coughed and laughed at the same time. "You nearly killed me. No jokes when I'm taking a drink. You know Caroline Jenkins has a thing for you."

"Yeah. She makes it pretty obvious. She does everything but wear a sign," Micah said. "There is no way on God's green earth that I would even think about her."

"She's pretty."

"On the outside. However, she is a stuck-up elitist, narcissistic bitch. The sound of her voice sets my teeth on edge. I've seen how she treats other people, which makes her ugly as homemade sin."

"Well, you aren't wrong," Conner said. "How's the business going?"

Micah was big into real estate and had companies all over New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, Texas, and Oklahoma. Even though he was worth billions, he still liked getting his hands dirty. He bought houses, fixed them up himself, and flipped them.

"I bought a neat, four-bedroom home that needed a lot of work. I've ripped out all of the carpets and cupboards. I'm going to completely redo the bathroom and replace the hideous salmon and sea green tile in there. I'm also going to upgrade the kitchen. By the time I'm done with it, it will be worth three times the price I invested in it."

"I bet old Gavin loves seeing you with broken nails, busted knuckles, and covered in dirt and plaster." Conner grinned, referring to Micah's father.

"It drives him crazy. Almost as much as the fact that I'm not mated with anyone yet," Micah said. "I do have to admit, though, I wouldn't mind having a couple of pups to inherit everything."

"You could always adopt. Or, if you wanted the kid to have half your DNA, you could go with a surrogate. I overheard Jade and Olivia talking about the shifter surrogate agency run by Dr. Cameron Ratliff. He must be busy because he actually put out the word that he was looking for women to be surrogates," Conner said.

"That's an interesting concept," Micah said. "I couldn't see myself wanking off into a cup while watching a porn movie or looking at one of those magazines."

"At least your sperm would go toward a good cause." Conner grinned.

"True that," Micah replied.

They called it a night because Micah had an early morning meeting.

Although the meeting went on for at least an hour longer than it needed to be, he was pleased. His business was going great. Agents were selling land, commercial properties, and houses as fast as he could acquire them. He had several housing communities in many different areas and they were selling like hotcakes. The gated communities and senior communities were also selling as fast as they could be built.

When that meeting was done, he called Martha, his secretary, into his office.

"Is that old apartment complex in downtown Albuquerque still available?"

"Yes," she said.

"Did the inspectors determine it was structurally sound?"

"It is," she said.

"Awesome. Get with the builders. Have them gut the apartments and bring them up to code. We'll have a place for homeless veterans and families. The bottom floor will have a daycare, counseling, social services, and a learning center. The rent clients pay will be put into a savings account, so when they are ready to move into a different place, they have a deposit for utilities and a home."

"Should I start putting out feelers for people to work those services?"

Micah thought about it for a second and said, "Let's wait until we are about ready to open our doors."

"Sounds good," Martha said. "I'll let Garth know."

"Don't know what I would do without you, Martha. You know, Angie threatened to try to steal you away from me."

"She did, huh. That could be tempting." The older woman winked at him as she went back to her desk to get Micah's next project put in motion.

Micah went to the mountain and shifted. He ran for a while until he was out of energy.

As he walked back to where he hid his clothes in the tree, he thought about the new project. Angie would have loved the idea. Thoughts of Angie made him think about the fact that he wanted a family. He wanted kids to inherit his legacy.

Conner's suggestion bounced around his brain like a ping-pong ball. There were a lot of kids who needed homes, and the idea of helping one of them intrigued him. However, he would like at least one child who would have his own DNA.

He was busy, but there was no reason why he couldn't take the time off to raise a child. When the baby was very young, he could have Martha run everything. She could hire assistants to make sure every detail of the business was seen to. Garth didn't need supervising. He just needed to know what project was next and he was off like a hurricane.

Micah pictured himself changing diapers, holding the baby, feeding the child, and taking care of it. Ronnie and Michelle, tiger shifters who were officially the caretakers of his property and who ran the place, but were more like family, would be glad to help. He liked the image. It felt right.

Dressing quickly, he went back to his office and called the fertility clinic, which was also the surrogate agency, and made an appointment.

The call had just ended when his father, Gavin, walked into his office without knocking.

"Dad, you can't just come in here without knocking. I might have been in a meeting or working on something important."

Gavin ignored him and sat down in the chair across from him.

"How is business going?" Gavin asked.

"Fine," Micah said, preferring not to talk about his business with Gavin.

Gavin had a hard time understanding that this was Micah's company, built from the ground up by Micah, and that Gavin had no say in how it was run.

"Leslie and Jason called me yesterday. They are going to be grandparents again," Gavin said.

"How nice for them," Micah said, knowing where this conversation was headed.

"You need to find a suitable mate and start a family before you get too old. It will make you look more stable, and you'll get even further in this business."

"My business is fine, as is my reputation," Micah replied.

"I know you had a thing for Angie. She wasn't suitable anyway, because she wasn't a shifter. But get over her and find someone else. You don't even have to be in love, which is a myth anyway. Just mate with someone and get her pregnant. You can carry on if you're discreet."

"You are disgusting. Is that what you do to Mom?"

"That's none of your business. I would, however, like to see my grandchild before I die," he said.

Micah grinned to himself. I think I'm about to help you out with that, but I doubt if you will be happy with my method.

"Dad, I'm really busy. I'll see you later."

Gavin opened his mouth as though he was going to argue, but Micah stared at him, crossing his arms over his chest. Gavin left.

For the first time in his life, Micah actually felt nervous. He looked around to make sure no one saw him walk into the fertility clinic. The waiting room was empty. A tiny woman dressed in scrubs led him to a room where he could fill out the paperwork in private.

He had just finished answering all the physical and mental health questions when the doctor walked in.

"What can I help you with?" he asked.

"I want to have a baby," Micah blurted out. Then, he laughed and said, "Not me, personally. I would like to have a surrogate carry a child for me."

"Do you want to use your own sperm?"

"Yep," Micah said.

About an hour and several tests later, the doctor came in and said, "You're healthy and you have a high sperm count. I have portfolios for all the potential surrogates for you to look through. Please remember that this is highly confidential."

"My lips are sealed."

The women all sounded great. However, one stuck out to him. She was very healthy and incredibly intelligent. She was very beautiful, in the classic, "girl next door" look. He knew that he was being a little vain, but he wanted nice-looking kids.

"She's a bear shifter," he muttered to himself. "That means that the kid could be a bear shifter if her eggs are used. That could be interesting."

"Doc, I would like to meet Lucy before I make up my mind."

"I'll set up a time. The receptionist will get back to you in the next day or so."

Micah left, his heart racing. Was he really going to go through with this?