Surrogate For Alpha Dom

#Chapter 179 — Bound Trigger warning — Assault (non-sexual)

Ella

"It’s all right, Ella."

The first priest says, approaching me as one might a skittish horse — with slow, measured movements and hands exposed to show he holds no weapon.

"We only want to protect you."

"Protect me from what?" I question shakily, my back flush against the locked door.

"You have a very powerful magic inside you, and if it's allowed to come out you’ll be exposed.We can’t let that happen." He explains, using a tone much too gentle to be trustworthy.

It’s as though he’s trying to trick me, to convince me he’s kind when he truly intends malice.

"I don’t have any magic." I insist, wishing that I did.

Maybe if I was magic I might be able to put a stop to the things happening here — to protect the others without bringing harm to myself.I was so preoccupied with this statement that I almost missed the second piece of information.

"Exposed to what?"

"You do, it just hasn't shown itself yet."

The second priest sighs, keeping his distance but watching me with sharp eyes.

"At least not in ways you understand.Tell me, have you never noticed how much stronger you are than your peers? That you can hear and smell things from much greater distances? That you can run faster, jump higher, suffer greater injuries with less pain?"

He inquires, his hawkish gaze searing into me, "do they not follow you? Gravitate to your side and obey you as a leader?"

My head spins, making me dizzy with the possibilities.He guesses correctly, but that can’t be because I have some sort of special power.It's just the way things are...isn’t it? "And exposed to a world you cannot yet join."

The first man adds.

"It must happen when the time is right - but that time is a very long way off."

"I don’t understand."

I squeak, a sense of pure dread settling in the pit of my stomach.

"We know, Ella."

The second man proclaims, "And I’m sorry that this must happen, it will not be pleasant, but it is necessary for the future of our people."I shake my head, fighting back tears.

Their words are triggering every alarm bell in my young mind.I know what men do to little girls under the guise of necessity, the pretense of helping or protecting.

And I know exactly how unpleasant things can get.

My blood runs cold, and my pulse races, triggering a strange new energy deep in my bones.

It pulses through me like a bolt of electricity, a wild thing writhes just beneath my skin, feral and rabid — begging to be free.

hiss, my body shuddering with these new

each other with grim

spot on — another week and we’d

"I’m sorry, child."

first priest professes gravely, closing the distance between

would not do this if there

anything I’ve ever experienced before,

at me to run, to get away

far worse than anything

isn’t anywhere

bearing down on me.I try to scream, but the second priest clamps his hand over my mouth before

his palm,

me away from the door,

man grabs my legs,

violently against their hold, my screams muffled and garbled as

tang fanning the flames

and I’m gagging, fighting for

— I’m powerless in their strong grips, and they seem

feather swaying in the wind

the air, sounding very

my own, thick with grief and pain more complex than the sheer fright in

tinged with concern, joins

"It’s too much."

"Just a little more."

second voice, floating above me,

"We're so close."

coming from, and

single-minded focus, and i’m nothing more than a pawn

thrust onto the floor

restrains my wrists while the other sits on my kicking legs, pulling his tool bag to

pearlescent sheen

but when they begin wrapping it around my body, it

enclose me in the fabric, winding it round and round

are locked against my sides and my legs

muscle in the fabric’s punishing grip, and soon they’re wrapping my head, as if they intend to mummify

falls over my mouth, the priest finally removes his hand from my

half second of my scream escapes before the moonlight closes over my

able to breathe, though I

- my mind is awake but I’m trapped in my own body,

only lie there motionless, my brain screaming at my nerve endings and muscles to move, to do something - anything! But nothing happens because this isn’t a dream from which I can wake, this is real, and it’s only the

and I strain to identify the sounds: the clink of glass?

a moment before drops of moisture seep through

are laid over my body, stones or crystals placed

my veins warning me that I won't be

I know I’m running out of time, but

then, speaking

carrying arcane power older