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.

away!" I hiss, my body shuddering with these

men look at each

another week and

"I’m sorry, child."

gravely, closing the distance

would not do this if there

anything I’ve ever experienced before, takes over my

me to

worse than anything the doctor or

there isn’t anywhere

I am bearing down on me.I try

his

wrenches me away from the door,

my legs, and I’m lifted off

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

tang fanning the flames in my already sour

rises, and I’m gagging, fighting for air and struggling

do or how to fight them — I’m powerless in their strong grips, and they seem completely unaffected by

in the wind for all the effort they

pierces the

with grief and pain more

tinged with

"It’s too much."

"Just a little more."

voice, floating above me,

"We're so close."

have no idea where these sounds are coming from, and the

than

the floor and pinned

wrists while the other sits on

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

but when they begin wrapping it around my body, it tightens around me with the

enclose me in the fabric, winding it round

sides

the fabric’s punishing grip, and soon they’re wrapping my head, as if

the silk falls over my mouth, the priest

moonlight closes over my gaping

able to breathe, though I don’t understand

life - my mind is awake but I’m trapped in my own body, unable to move

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

the sounds: the clink of glass? The jostling of beads? novelebook A bottle

a moment before drops of moisture seep

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

the cocoon, that foreign electricity in my veins warning

know I’m running out of time, but I refuse to

chant then, speaking a language I

room, carrying arcane power older