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

scruff, gentle fingers digging deep into my fur until they reach my skin. I’m not scared.

is. The only other man left alive in this

like

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

blood. Something soars in me at the sight of him like that – my warrior mate with his barbarian soul.

Our

moment, and then he sees the determination

“Give him to me,” he demands, just once. The man does so, immediately, blood dripping from his trembling arm, knowing that his

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

me, and this

prowl another step forward.

me, palms out.

a waste of breath.

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

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

gurgling to the floor with me on top of him, growling down into

leaves his eyes.

it’s done, I turn back to my mate,

his mouth curved up on one side

my human body, standing up, the

and running down my neck. And then, with perfect control,

his arms as I stare down at

that echoes in my ears.

hear him, it means

I’ve done my job. I’ve

Sinclair

as Roger bursts into the

command them to stay with the priest – to make sure that

happening up

the priest was secure, they were to come

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

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

– how did you

look down at her, a little surprised at

the woman