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.

I hiss, my body shuddering with

look at each other with grim

was spot on — another week and we’d be

"I’m sorry, child."

priest professes gravely,

would not do this if there was another

ever experienced before, takes

are screaming at me to run, to get away at

me that whatever these men intend will be far worse than anything the doctor or

there isn’t

attackers far larger and stronger than I am bearing down on me.I try to scream, but the second

sink my teeth into his palm, but he

wrenches me away from the door, propelling me further into

my legs, and I’m lifted

against their hold, my screams muffled and

blood seeps into my mouth, the metallic tang fanning the flames in my already sour

and I’m gagging, fighting for air and struggling to focus

them — I’m powerless

a feather swaying in the wind for all the effort they expend to contain

the air, sounding very far

thick with grief and pain more complex than

voice, tinged with

"It’s too much."

"Just a little more."

floating above

"We're so close."

idea where these sounds are coming from, and the priests

continue with their task with single-minded focus, and i’m nothing more than

thrust onto the floor and pinned

my wrists while the other sits on my

extracts a shimmering silk cloth, it’s pearlescent sheen glimmering like moonlight, glowing in the

it around my body, it tightens around me with the unyielding force of

it round and round

arms are locked against my sides and

and soon they’re wrapping

over my mouth, the priest finally removes

second of my scream escapes before the moonlight closes over my gaping lips, locking my face into

breathe, though I don’t

life - my mind is awake but I’m trapped in my

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

to identify the sounds: the clink of glass? The jostling of beads? novelebook

moment before drops of moisture seep through the silk and onto my

stones or crystals placed in

to fight the cocoon, that foreign electricity in my veins warning me that I won't

of time, but I refuse to give up hope

to chant then, speaking a language I do not

swirl around the small room, carrying