Accidental Surrogate

Ella

We dash across the square, my hand clasped in Cora’s, adrenaline moving my legs for me even despite the face that I don’t have the strength for it. As we run, debris and smoke fly around us. The humans are pressing their advantage, shelling the center of the city with abandon after they heard the prince is dead. They know Sinclair must be regrouping, so they’re doing as much destruction as they can while they can.

My eyes are on the temple steps ahead of me but for a moment – just a moment – my mind turns to my mate.

He is the one responsible for the prince’s death I know it for a certainty, without having to ask. He wouldn’t let anyone else take the final blow – it was vengeance and it was his. But the prince – that photo of him on the board room table – it had looked like it was in the palace My eyes flick to the palace building to my right – does that mean is Sinclair in there?

We’re close to the temple steps now, just feet from them, really. But I have to try.

I tug at that bond within me, the one tied to that deep place somewhere behind my ribcage.

Dominic? I call, my inner voice breathless with the hope of it. My wolf gives a few excited nips, anxious inside of me, wanting to be with him, to smell him –

I wait, heart pounding, as Cora and I reach the steps, our feet thumping to match my heart’s frantic rate. Cora takes the steps two at a time, pulling me up behind her until we reach the clear and empty marble expanse at the entrance of the temple. The temple, miraculously, has been untouched by the human’s fire. Perhaps the Goddess has had a hand in shielding it for us, just until we got here.

“Are you ready?” Cora asks, panting. “Do you know what to do?”

I turn my attention to her, nodding, but can’t help myself from glancing back at the palace.

“What?” she demands, following my gaze. “What is it?”

My sister shouts, taking me by the shoulders and giving a

think he’s in there,” I confess, turning my eyes suddenly full of tears – back to my sister. “ Cora, this could kill me if I

me harder. “No, Ella,” she yells, her voice desperate and angry at once. “No! You are the daughter of a damn Goddess, you will not die in the deliverance

believing. I have to believe this, or else I won’t have the strength to survive it. I place my hands on my stomach, reaching for the bond that I know still exists between me and my baby, but which has grown so weak in the past few days that I can barely sense it. I pour my

I open my eyes, my gaze newly steeled and prepared for the challenge to come, she nods once and turns to face the square. I set my shoulders and stand next to her. I take her hand and close

rate falls to a peaceful resting rhythm, my vision starting to go violet behind my eyelids. I sink lower into myself, seeking the base of my being. My wolf curls up inside of me, finding peace

that tug. The one behind my ribcage. The

Ella?

fly open as I gasp and I cry out. “Dominic!” I shout, my eyes frantically searching the

pants, looking around, frantic. “What is

breathe, my eyes still

looking at me with sorrowful eyes.

setting my jaw.

a word to him Dominic! I shout in my mind, my wolf

his pleasure at hearing from me, his terror that I’m here in this horrible place, in the middle of the war. I’m in the palace – I’m

there’s… there’s something I

He asks, and I can hear the humor in his tone, even beyond the fear. I can’t help the little

respond,