Accidental Surrogate

Accidental Surrogate Chapter 358-Ella

I push my suspicions aside as I come to Cora’s side as she explains to Conner – the bright, red-haired young man who noticed that the men who attacked me didn’t transform into their wolves – our plan.

“Sure,” ,” he says, blinking up at both of us when Cora asks if he’d be willing to let me try to heal him with the Goddess power. “Um,” he says next, hesitating a little, “does it hurt?”

“Um,” I reply, rubbing an anxious hand up and down my arm, “I don’t think so? But then again, I’ve only tried it on myself?” I look over at Cora to see if she has any ideas, but she just shrugs.

“Consider it a very experimental treatment,” Cora says, turning back to Conner. “But I think Ella is right – it never seemed to hurt her before, when she used it. Or that one time I used it. But if it works!” she gives him a big smile now, “I think you will be a very happy little guinea pig!”

“Guinea pig?” he asks, confused. “Will I is this going to transform me into a guinea pig!?”

“No,” I say, laughing and sitting down on the edge of his bed, reaching for his arm, which he pulls away from me in sudden anxiety. “Seriously!” I say, laughing still. “That’s just a common phrase – you don’t know it? Maybe it’s a human phrase. For like, a creature who gets experimented on first.”

“Oh,” Conner says, relaxing a little but still looking at us warily. But then he nods, letting us know that he’s on board. “Just a lot of strange….magic, I guess, these days. Magic that I don’t think we’ve had a lot of exposure to before.”

“You’re telling me,” Cora murmurs, checking some final details as she runs a hand over her stomach, which is hosting what we can best describe as the first human-wolf hybrid pup ever conceived.

Conner doesn’t get it, but I do, and I give her a bright grin, which she returns. “Okay!” she says. “Conner, can we try it on the burn on your arm?” she asks, pointing to the gauze on his right forearm. “I think that’s a minor enough wound that it could be a good place to experiment.”

“Okay,” he says, moving to unwrap it. I lean eagerly forward, but regret it immediately when he pulls the gauze away, wincing as he reveals an angry, wet red wound. I sit back again, grimacing at it, reminded again of why I didn’t become a nurse. But then I steel myself and sit closer, looking up at Cora. “How do I start?”

don’t know, Ella,” she says, waving a

a little shrug. And then because it feels strange not to be doing anything to engage with the wound, I reach out and hover

fall into the state than it has been before – maybe because I’m not wounded, or growing a child, or stressed in any real way. This time, the relaxation comes almost immediately and I find myself sinking quite deeply into that space

Ella,” Cora whispers next to me, and I can tell that she’s excited but working hard not to distract me

seek for pain. I feel the gift move then, as it’s done before – it sweeps through me first,

it a little push, asking it to look…further than me. To go outside. And it feels, a very little bit, like the time that I passed it to Cora – though it’s hard to compare, because I had been

I feel like I have so much more control – like I don’t have to shove the entire gift into someone’s hands before I collapse

I can begin to feel a very real pain in front of me, radiating up towards my hands. And so I give it a little nudge, and push the gift towards it, and I feel it flowing

gasp, and Conner inhale sharply, but I do my very best to not let myself be drawn away,

ebb, and steady. Until I can’t feel it at all. And then I pull my hands back, and lay them in my lap, and take a few deep breaths as I

Conner are staring at me, their jaws wide open. “Did it work?” I breathe, curious. And neither say a word, so I dart my eyes

own mouth falls

His wound it’s…

– so that I can bring it closer to my eyes. And as I study it I realize that the wound is not gone it’s just…fixed. The skin has closed over what was a few moments before a pussy, bloody burn. And it’s not as if the magic has unmade the wound and returned the arm

it. On Conner’s arm is a new patch of flesh, still tender and pink and hairless, without any of the freckles that cover

and then up

smile on his face, the tears in his eyes, I burst into joyful laughter myself, hardly able to believe it. And then Cora lets out a shriek of joy and throws herself on top of me in a crazy hug, knocking me back against the bed

she shouts, so excited she stumbles over the words.