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 these new

each other with grim

on — another week and

"I’m sorry, child."

professes gravely,

would not do this if there was another

ever

me to

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

isn’t anywhere to

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

teeth into his palm, but

from the door,

man grabs my legs, and I’m lifted

their hold, my screams muffled and garbled as the priest continues

tang

fighting for air

don’t know what to do or how to fight them — I’m powerless in their strong grips,

in the wind for

distant keening pierces the

thick with grief and pain more complex than the sheer

with concern, joins the

"It’s too much."

"Just a little more."

second voice, floating above

"We're so close."

sounds are coming from, and the

continue with their task with single-minded focus, and i’m nothing more than a pawn in their game —

onto the floor

the other sits on my kicking

pearlescent sheen

around my

me in the fabric, winding it

locked against my sides and my legs tightly

grip, and soon

mouth, the priest finally removes his hand

over my

breathe, though I don’t understand

one of my nightmares come to life - my mind is awake but I’m trapped in my own body, unable to

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

the clink of

moment before

objects are laid over my body, stones or crystals placed in

the cocoon, that foreign electricity in my veins

of time, but I refuse to give up

begin to chant then, speaking a language I do

carrying arcane power older