Surrogate For Alpha Dom

Sinclair

I growl down at the man before me, who is younger than I thought he would be, for one with

such power. He has thick black hair and a day’s worth of stubble on his thin cheeks. The man

glares up at me with dark, angry eyes and opens his mouth to speak but before he can, I slap him

– hard with an open palm.

–

The man gasps with surprise and pain, his eyes going wide as he stares down at the floor, and I

smirk. I doubt this man has been slapped anytime recently, if ever. He has the smug look of

someone used to being in charge.

But he’s in my house now.

“You’ll speak when we tell you to speak,” I growl, and then I turn to the head of my

–

reconnaissance team, who is standing against the wall, his hands on his knees, panting a little.

Craig isn’t a small man to see him so undone by the efforts suggests that this diminutive priest

is, indeed, powerful in other ways.

“How did you catch him?” I snap. Craig looks up at me and does his best to straighten up.

“We followed the leads, sir,” he replies, looking me in the eyes, “that we gleaned from the

conversation with the other priest, who wished to remain anonymous. They were…fruitful. We

found this one’s lair, for lack of a better word. It was actually in a sewer -in an abandoned

maintenance room. He was living there doing…” Craig hesitates and then shrugs. “Forgive me, Sir,

for the dramatic language, but ‘arcane magics‘ are the only words coming to my mind now. Lizard

skins…and and snail shells, in jars – he had a cauldron –”

“Thank you,” I say, interrupting and nodding towards the head of my investigative team. “You.

will give your details to Alastair, as soon as you can. For now, though I want everyone here for

the interrogation.” I lean forward towards the priest, who watches me with wary eyes and a

clenched jaw.

my voice and slowing my words, “will

need

man, then, by baring his teeth at

which makes him faulter. And then I step

are tensed, ready to rip this man’s head off. Roger steps in to take

Roger commands, his arms crossed as he looks

people want with my brother’s

expression that shows all of

him blandly for a moment and then

team standing behind the priest

places it swiftly against the priest’s neck.

making him shriek and twist in pain, but my

The priest goes

leg of the chair to get the

with my

as the priest looks up at Roger

the priest says, shaking his head

a smile growing on his face. “You are already…too

starts to laugh – really, truly laugh, as

upstairs –

as I recognize it, instantly, as Ella.

Ella

sitting here, tense, in my rocking chair by Rafe’s basinet, one hand on the edge

quietly

–

a little tapping sound at

little bird – maybe a squirrel

I saw a black–masked face calmly tapping

my body turning to ice as I froze, as he quietly pointed

for him.”

–

then it seemed to go so fast – the man pulled back his arm, and made a fist,

window

should have broken his hand – Sinclair paid to have those

head–first, into the room through the hole he made with his fist, the rest of the

cracking and

–

the moment he hit the floor, only half an instant later,

my child’s rolling basinet behind me and screamed –

the rocking chair away and back into the corner now, Rafe in his cradle behind me, as

foot of the window. As he stands, my heart

–

–

men behind him, working their way up to the

unnaturally fast –

his feet now, grinning at me, starting to prowl