Accidental Surrogate

Ella

“NO!” I scream, but the word is transferred instantly to a roar as I transition into my wolf, my

but I barely bones and body shifting in a flash. It hurts – less than it did the first time, of course – notice it because I shake myself out of my captor’s hands and am halfway across the room at once, leaping for the man who holds Rafe, my jaws gaping. He goes a little pale, taking a step

backwards and putting out a hand towards me to stop me –

But that hand, it disappears into my mouth. And I snap my teeth down.

The man’s scream pierces my sensitive ears as my teeth meet together around his wrist, as I wrench my head to the side, tossing his torn hand aside, savoring the taste of his blood in my mouth. He screams again as he looks at the bloody stump I’ve left behind, as I prowl another step

forward –

But suddenly, I feel a great blow against my shoulder that sends me staggering sideways

And then, almost at the same instant, I hear what sounds like an explosion behind me – I don’t

turn to it, my eyes fixed on the man who holds my son in his arms – but I know, through the bond,

through some other wolf instinct, that it is Sinclair.

I don’t take my eyes off the man who holds Rafe, instead finding my feet and beginning to prowl

slowly forward towards him again. He backs up, step by step, looking over my shoulders at his

colleagues as they die. I can see the progress of the battle in his expression, in the fear that comes

into his eyes, in the blood that drains from his face as he realizes that he’s not getting out of this.

room. That he’s going to die here, but not until he watches all of his friends die first.

I hear the ripping sounds my mate makes in his gigantic wolf form, the screams of the masked

men as he takes them down, his snarls and his roars, the rending sound of flesh. And each blow

rings through me like a song as I bare my teeth at the man holding my child, as I stare him down.

It doesn’t take long for Sinclair to finish. I didn’t think it would.

—

only moments later though surely it was minutes – before

gentle fingers digging deep into my fur until they

this room is my mate, and only

me like that.

all right, Ella,” Sinclair says, a growl still resonating in his voice, the fury still

at my mate, covered in our enemies‘ blood. Something soars in me at the sight of him like that – my warrior mate with

Our

meet for just a moment, and then he sees the determination in me and

demands, just once. The man does so, immediately, blood dripping from his trembling arm, knowing that his cause is lost – perhaps looking for some clemency

and turns away from the man, from me, walking away from us, shushing our child and bobbing him lightly

and this man,

prowl another step

his hands towards me, palms out. “Please,” he

a waste of

for him, my paws hitting him in the chest first and slamming

wall moments before I sink my teeth into his

on top of him, growling down into his face as the

leaves his eyes.

when it’s done, I turn back to my mate, who stands in the middle of a room covered

gore, his mouth curved up on one

human body, standing

my face and running down my neck. And then,

arms as I stare down at my child, who cries his little scared heart

every scream that echoes in

I can hear him, it means that he’s

job. I’ve kept

Sinclair

taking Ella and Rafe with me as Roger bursts into the room, followed by

to make sure that we kept him, as

up here.

once the priest was secure, they

my god,” Roger says, his eyes going wide as he looks at the blood all over

the bedding, all the walls, even the ceiling – and at the

“What the –

for Rafe,” Ella explains, and I look down at her, a

to my brother. This is the woman who cried