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.

and slowing my words, “will be long,

if need be.”

his teeth

at him, which makes him faulter. And then I step away, secretly grateful for it, because

rip this man’s head off. Roger steps in to take my

looks down at the man strapped to

people

just grins at Roger, a too–wide expression that shows all of his teeth. “No,” he growls, a

Roger stares at him blandly for

team standing behind

it swiftly against the priest’s neck.

through the priest’s body, making him shriek and twist in pain, but my man,

pulls it away quickly. The priest goes a little slack in his chair, panting.

try again,” Roger says, kicking the leg of the chair to get the

with my

up at Roger again

matter,” the priest says, shaking his head and holding his gaze.

growing on his face. “You

he starts to laugh – really, truly laugh, as a crash of glass sounds and a

upstairs –

heart stops as I recognize it, instantly,

Ella

in my rocking chair by Rafe’s basinet, one hand on the edge of it –

him quietly as he falls

–

a little tapping sound at the glass of his window

a little bird – maybe a

saw a black–masked face calmly tapping on my

body turning to ice as I froze, as he quietly pointed to the basinet

coming for

–

pulled back his arm,

window

have broken his hand –

the room through the hole

the window cracking and shattering

–

the floor, only half an instant later, my instincts came back to me, and

behind me

the rocking chair away and back into the corner

feet at the foot of the window.

–

–

men behind him, working their way up to the window and through it

unnaturally fast

man in the lead is on his feet now, grinning at me, starting to prowl