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.

—

it was minutes – before I feel a warm human

into my fur until they reach my skin. I’m not

in this room is my mate,

like that.

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

covered in our enemies‘ blood. Something soars in me at the sight of him like that

Our

then he sees the determination in me and nods once.

me,” he 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 if he obliges us

arms and turns away from the man, from me, walking away from us, shushing our child

it’s just me, and this

prowl another

his hands towards me, palms

it’s a waste of breath.

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

wall moments before I sink my teeth into his neck, ripping out

man falls gurgling to the floor with me on top of him,

leaves his eyes.

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

mouth curved up on one side into a proud

into my human body, standing up, the man’s blood still covering the bottom

And then,

wrap me in his arms as I stare down

relish every scream that echoes in

I can hear him, it means that he’s still

my job. I’ve kept him safe.

Sinclair

as Roger bursts into

them to stay with the priest – to make sure that we kept him, as I delt with

happening up

once the priest was secure, they were to come and help.

he looks at the blood all over

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

“What the – how did you

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

replies to my brother. This is the woman who cried when she saw Rafe’s first teddy